Burden of Survival: Killing the Dead : Season Two (23 page)

“Everyone’s about ready to leave,” he said.

“Good.”

“You want us to wait while… you know?” he said with a nod to the bound prisoners.

“No,” I said. “You all go back to the island. Much to do there, I’ll be back in a few days.”

“What are you going to do?” he asked then paused. “No wait, don’t tell me.”

“Ok.”

“You want me to stay with you?” he asked. I could tell how much he didn’t want to so was actually quite pleased that he’d offered.

“No,” I said. “I want you and the others there to protect Lily.”

“That should be you.”

“I’m doing that in my own way,” I said. “She is safe at the moment and the chance of another threat like these coming while I’m away is ridiculously low.”

“Even so…”

“In the long run we need food, Lily needs food,” I said. “While she heals, the best way I can help her is to ensure that she has some way of eating when all the tinned stuff runs out.”

He blanched as he looked from the prisoners to the pigs and then to me. He knew what I was going to do and I doubted he wanted to stay after all.

“Best of luck then mate,” he said and I smiled at his change of heart.

“Before you go, you could check on the cellar for me,” I said.

“What do you mean?”

“I can do it myself it’s just that it will be easier with you and Pat.”

“No, I mean the cellars empty,” he said. “Cass said it was open when she arrived. She was pissed because she had to go down and make sure there was nothing down there.”

“The zombie that was down there?” I asked.

“Gone.”

He waved his goodbyes and headed back to the house as I contemplated what he’d just said. The zombie was gone. It had broken out or been released in my absence. Worse than that it had left the house and not stopped to kill the pigs.

While it wasn’t inconceivable to imagine that it hadn’t noticed them it was unlikely. After seeing those others, the ones that had infected Jenny, I was sure that the one eyed zombie I’d left in the cellar was a Feral.

Smarter than the others and dangerous, faster and more agile. It wouldn’t leave a source of food if it had any choice. The only reason to do so would be to leave it as a trap for others. To wait until I returned.

With a sudden prickling on the skin of the back of my neck, I scanned the treeline around the house. If the zombie was out there it would be watching. Waiting until the others left and I was vulnerable.
Interesting.

When the rest of the people had left I took my two prisoners inside. I locked each in a separate room and secured the house as I best I could. I went out to the pig pen and surveyed the three animals. Each of them were busily snorting and snuffling in the mud as they searched for more food. I selected the smallest and after a little effort, had it out of the pen and in my arms.

It wasn’t that big and I was able to carry it around the side of the house. Once away from the others, I killed and swiftly butchered it. I’d never really taken any pleasure in killing animals. That was always something I only ever gained from killing people. It was necessary though.

The world was overrun and the infection would be everywhere. Transmitted via flies and the like in summer, vermin and carrion birds. In the water if zombies got into it. We couldn’t avoid it so I wanted to be sure we could survive it.

I cooked some of the meat over an open campfire, the scent of the pork making my mouth water even though I knew what it had been eating. When it was ready, I took some upstairs. I removed the gag and hood from the woman and left a plate of chopped up pork on the floor.

“You gonna untie me so I can eat?” she asked.

“No,” I replied as I closed the door. She’d manage no doubt.

For the man, I pulled off his hood and gag and stared at him for several long seconds as I fought down the urge to kill him.

“You do good work,” he said. “If you were to join up with me we could take over this whole country.”

“Eat,” I instructed.

He looked down at the plate of chopped meat and shook his head. “No, I don’t think so.”

“Not hungry?” I asked.

“Oh starving dear boy,” he said. “But I don’t trust you.”

I grinned at him and he flinched.

“One way or another that meat will be inside of you,” I said. “Think about all the ways that can happen then eat it.”

“Well since you put it like that,” he said with an attempt at a smile.

I watched him eat and when he’d finished, I picked up the plate. I didn’t want him breaking it and using the sharp edges to cut his bonds or his wrists. I retrieved the plate from the woman and left them in their separate rooms.

That night was spent carefully watching the hills and trees around the house. I expected an attack of some sort but I didn’t know when or how. After several hours with nothing to be seen I had a couple of hour’s restless sleep until dawn came.

When I went outside to check on the pigs I found fresh footprints in the mud. Someone had been near the house during the night and I’d missed them. It was disconcerting to say the least. I tried to figure out where they’d come from but was useless at tracking in the countryside.

The day passed slowly. I checked on my prisoners, allowed them to use the latrine since I didn’t want to deal with the stench of them soiling themselves. That evening I fed them both again and spent another night watching the hills.

By the third day I had seen nothing but had found fresh prints several times and even marks around the door handles that I believed indicated that something had tried to use the handle. My prisoners were still healthy and showed no signs of infection.

Lily arrived on the fourth day with Gregg and Toby. I glared at my friend who shrugged to indicate it was out of his hands.

“Hello Ryan,” she said with a smile as she embraced me.

“Why are you not recovering at the island?” I asked.

“Because I’m fine and I missed you.”

“Really?”

“Yes really,” she said. “Is it so hard to believe that I might miss you?”

“Well he’s not that loveable,” Gregg muttered and received a glare from her in return. I smiled and nodded.

“He has a point.”

“Whether he has or not, it’s time to come home,” Lily said. “We need to talk.”

“We’ll give you some time,” Gregg said as he led Toby into the house.

“Talk?” I asked.

“Are they still alive?” she asked as she ignored my question.

“Alive and healthy,” I said with a frown. “The pigs ate a lot of zombie flesh and their meat isn’t affecting the prisoners.”

“So it’s safe for us?”

“Well I personally would avoid a diet heavy in it, but yeah. The small amounts the fish take in or that gets into the water should be okay. I even cut the inside of their mouths.”

“You did? Why?”

“To see if they’d become infected when chewing the meat with an open cut… still, nothing.”

“Then it’s time to finish here.”

“If you insist, let me just tidy up here and we can go,” I said. “You do need to know something else though.”

I explained about the zombie and she looked concerned. Rightly so, it was not typical behaviour and could become a huge threat to us.

“That’s another thing we’ll need to deal with,” she said. “First though I have to tell you something.”

“What?”

“I’m leaving,” she said. “Going to Scotland.”

“When do we leave?” I asked and she blinked rapidly then smiled.

“Just like that? I was about to give you a long speech explaining why I needed to go and asking you to come with me.”

“You can do that if you want but I really don’t care for the reasons. You want to go then I’ll go with you.”

“God I love you,” she said with a laugh as she leaned in to rest her head on my chest.

“Tell me anyway,” I said. “Just know that I’m going for you and nothing else.”

“Cass is pregnant, the zombies are changing. Some of them anyway. We can’t defend ourselves properly against threats like Marcus. We need help.”

“Help?”

“Becky said the navy is in Scotland with a large safe zone. They’ll have medical facilities and supplies. They might be able to spare some help to come down here and collect the rest of our people though I think they’ll be safe on the island until then.”

“As safe there as anywhere,” I agreed.

“You need it too,” she said and it was my turn to look at her in confusion. “Pat told me that you were… better after you killed the feral zombies. That you were more like yourself. Lucas, Harry and the other guard will have helped too won’t they?”

“Yes,” I said. No need to lie to her.

“But soon you’ll feel that need to kill again won’t you?”

“Yes.”

“If the zombies don’t help then you’ll need to kill people and I’ll lose you because we don’t have anyone you can kill.”

“Not unless another group attacks us, no.”

“I’ve felt what it must be like to be you, to kill. To be a killer. It scared me,” she said. “I want to help you and I think together we can reach a place where you don’t need to. It’s like an addiction and we can wean you off it.”

“No,” I said quietly. “That won’t work. When I can no longer kill anyone without breaking my promise to you then I will leave as I promised you I would. This thing we have, it won’t last. It can’t last because there will come a time when I can’t stop being me.”

Her body shook against mine and she shook her head in denial.

“I’m a killer,” I said gently. “A murderer. I have no place in a safe zone. I’ll take you there but after that, when you are safe in civilization… well, my place is out here, amongst the dead.”

Chapter 30

Lily

Gregg gave me a hug as we waited outside the house for Ryan to finish his grisly business. He hadn’t heard what we’d said but he could tell from my face that I was upset and needed it. He was a good friend and I was glad he’d be coming with me to Scotland.

We’d go because Cass needed to be somewhere she could have her baby safely and live free of the zombie threat. We’d go because my people needed help and that was the best place we could get it. We’d go because whether he believed it or not, Ryan needed help too.

It wouldn’t end in Scotland, I refused to believe that. He was trapped somewhere inside himself believing that he couldn’t stop being a killer. I fully intended to show him that he could.

The End of book 2.1

Note from the Author.

The very first book I wrote belonged to Ryan and Lily. These two became a part of the apocalypse for me. When it ended it was with the hope that a second season could begin. Separate from the first, in that you can read this without having had to read the others and showing the end times from not just Ryan’s point of view, but Lily’s too.
This was the first book in the new season and there are more to come as Ryan and Lily make their way to Scotland and perhaps discover that there’s a long way to go before the world can right itself.

I hope you follow along on this journey with them, much as I will be doing.

Richard Murray

For updates on the books and infrequent Tweets you can check out:
Richard
@Rhayn4

Or for a blog that is updated at least once a month, often more and will have updates on book progress check out:
rhayn4.wordpress.com

You can also find me on Goodreads:
https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/8340039.Richard_Murray
and on Facebook, though that is generally just the occasional picture of cats and angry rants about the weather.

Feel free to say ‘hey’ I do respond and try to do so promptly.