Search for Safety: Killing the Dead Book Two (7 page)

He was unconscious and bound with rope at the hands and feet. Blood glistened wetly on his dark skin from a number of cuts and grazes. I used my knife once again to cut through the ropes as Cass ministered to him.

“Thank you” she said as I cut the last bond. “I thought those bastards were going to kill us.”

“How many others are there?”

“Just two. I only saw the three of them.”

“How did you come to be in here?” I asked her.

“We were trying to get to safety” she said indicating her brother, “our car broke down a few miles down the road and these three found us. They said they we could stay here for the night and they would fix the car in the morning.” She shook her head in disgust.

“When we got out of the car, one of them hit Gregg with the butt of his rifle and the others kept kicking him. Then they brought us in here and tied us up. Then that bastard...” she spat towards the dead man, “he came in and started hitting me, saying he liked to hear his girls scream first.” She shuddered.

“Ok, well I am going to deal with the two in the house. It would be helpful if you stayed here at least until I have finished so that you don’t alert them to my presence.” I told her.

“Wait. Why? Why not just get away from here?” she demanded.

“The group I am with is close enough that they will be at risk if I don’t finish here” I said, “Besides; we have a girl at our place who has suffered at the hands of these men. It’s time to stop them.” I told her in what I hoped was a convincing and sincere tone of voice.

Cass nodded slowly. She could at least get behind that rationale I thought. I was reasonably sure she would give me a little time to complete my work before she left and I could live with that. With a last backwards glance I saw her tending to her brother and satisfied that she wouldn’t cause me any trouble, I left the building.

I had no intention of going around the back of the building and facing the dog, so I walked as stealthily as I could across the muddy yard to the front entrance. The door was solid wood and I had no way to see beyond. I peered through the keyhole but it was far too dark inside to see anything. I debated whether or not to enter. Eventually I decided that they would likely miss the man I had killed before too long so I would have to go in.

The door wasn’t locked and opened with little noise onto a hallway. Immediately before me a set of wooden stairs led up to the second floor. A door at the end of the hall was open and revealed nothing but darkness beyond. To the left a door was ajar and faint light spilled out along with voices. I glanced at the floor and was relieved to see a filthy and threadbare carpet that would cut down on the noise I would make.

I crept close to the door and peered through. As I had guessed it was the living room. A fire was burning in the fireplace and was the sole source of light. Two men sat on worn-out furniture drinking beer from cans. The room was in need of a good clean and judging by the number of empty cans and bottles that littered the floor, this wasn’t the first time they had spent the evening drinking.

They were joking about what their missing companion was likely up to with the girl and laughed as they spoke of the beating they had given the man. They showed no concern so far at his absence so I still had a little time. With the way they were drinking the beers it would only be a matter of time before one of them needed the bathroom. I crouched behind the door and waited as patiently as I could.

Somewhere in the house a clock was ticking. The sound could be heard even above the sounds that were coming from the living room. It was immensely annoying and soon began to grate on my nerves.

Before long I was counting the seconds with each tick of the damned clock. The men in the living room must have had bladders of steel because neither had moved from the room. A small amount of pressure on my own bladder made me fear that I would need the bathroom before they did.

I peered through the gap in the door again to just in time to see one of the men zipping up his trousers and putting a full bottle on the floor beside his chair. His companion had fallen silent and I began to hope he may be asleep. If they were too lazy to leave the room to go to the bathroom, it was likely they would just allow themselves to pass out where they sat. That would certainly make my task a great deal easier.

With a sigh I settled back down to wait once more and began to count the seconds as they passed. Surely one of them would miss their companion or decide to go to bed I reasoned as I peered through the door again. It had fallen quiet in the living room and the figures sat in their chairs were unmoving.

As I stood slowly attempting to exercise the muscles that were in danger of falling asleep, I decided that they must be sleeping. I slowly pushed on the door hearing a low creak as it opened further. No reaction from the men, so I pushed the door open wide enough to slip into the room.

My choice of weapon tonight was the knife. I would save the hatchet for the undead and use my preferred choice of weapon to take the lives of the two men. The two chairs sat facing each other on either side of the fire. I crept up beside the chair that was facing away from me.

Excitement was rising within me. I gripped the knife firmly in my right hand and slowly rose above the side of chair, my gaze travelling up the man’s still form as I looked for the perfect place to strike. I don’t know who was more surprised when my gaze met his.

“Who the hell...” he began loudly before I stuck my knife beneath his jaw and pushed with all the strength I could. Bloody froth burst from his mouth and his body jerked as he died. My joy was short lived as with a roar his companion grabbed a metal poker from beside the fire and leapt at me swinging wildly.

Chapter 7

I lost my grip on my own knife and was thrown to the floor by the weight of my attacker. I felt a sharp pain in my ankle and yelled in pain. My assailant was straddling me as he tried to hold me down and hit me with the poker at the same time, which fortunately for me meant that he couldn’t get enough force behind the blows to do serious damage.

As painful as it was to receive the blows on my arms, that was infinitely preferable to taking a hit to the head. The man attacking me was loudly swearing as he tried his best to beat me. Small flecks of saliva were flying from his mouth accompanied by the sour smell of alcohol and teeth that needed a good clean.

I squirmed beneath him trying to find some way to dislodge him. I managed to finally grab a hold of the poker he was swinging and we both fought over it. He snarled at me as he tried to push his weight down on the metal poker that I had managed to grasp with both hands.

The poker was getting entirely too close to my throat and I knew that if I didn’t do something, I would likely die here beneath a foul smelling lowlife. As much as I disliked doing it, I turned my head to the side and bit his arm as hard as I could.

Blood filled my mouth with its coppery taste and he screamed as he jerked away from me releasing his grip on the weapon. I spat the flesh I had torn from his arm at him and sat up as his weight fell off me. Giving him no time to recover I swung the poker and hit him first in the shoulder, then the head.

My assailant was lying silently on the floor and I tried to stand. My ankle screamed in protest when I tried to put my weight on it. I was concerned it may be broken, that could quite easily be a death sentence in a world with roaming undead.

I sat on the floor and did my best to wipe the blood from my mouth. I had no idea what nastiness was carried in that mans blood and I didn’t want to find out. I reached across and checked for a pulse. To my delight he was still alive. I pulled myself up on the chair that still contained the dead man and pulled my knife free before sitting once more beside the unconscious man.

It took only a moment to clean the blood from the blade before resting it gently against the side of his throat. I stared down at him a moment, taking the time to enjoy this brief moment of peace. It would have been a great deal more pleasant if he were fully awake, but with limited mobility it was probably best not to wait. I drew the blade across his throat cutting deeply through the flesh. Blood sprayed from the wound and I scooted backwards away from him to avoid the worst of the spatter.

Several minutes passed by as I quietly sat with the dead men and just enjoyed the pleasurable feelings amidst the peaceful solitude. This was the joy I wanted, the feeling I craved. The quiet pleasure of a kill done in peace, no matter how much fun killing someone in a fight could be it could never truly compare.

Eventually the pain from my ankle seemed to insist that I move. I left the bodies where they lay and hobbled as best I could to the front door. I made my way to the first of the vehicles, pleased to see that these louts had also subscribed to the view that it was better to leave your keys in the vehicle just in case you needed to move quickly.

I pulled open the door and climbed into the driver’s seat. “Hey” called Cass as she ran over from the storage building.

“What?”
      

“My brother needs somewhere safe to recover. Can we come with you?”

“What makes you think it will be any safer with me?” I asked her with a grin that no doubt looked truly atrocious with the blood I was sure was still on my face.

“You said you had a girl that these bastards had hurt back at your camp.”

“So?”

“If you are helping her, and you killed these guys to stop them, that tells’ me enough to risk it. We don’t have too much choice here.” Cass said.

I was far too tired and in too much pain to argue so just said, “Fine, but you will have to get him in the car, my ankle is hurt.”

She agreed and ran off back to the building. She disappeared inside and returned a moment later with her brother in tow. He was mobile but that was about it. His face was swollen and I doubted he could even see out of his eyes they were that puffed up.

Cass helped him into the back seat before closing it and moving to stand beside my door. “You move over. If your ankle is hurt it’s probably best that I drive.”

With a grunt I slid across to the passenger seat as she climbed in. Despite the condition of the buildings this farm had a number of items that we could use and someone would have to come back and do a thorough search. For now though I just wanted to get some rest. I gave Cass some directions and she reversed slowly down the driveway.

We drove slowly without any lights at my insistence. I was in no condition to fight any zombies that may be attracted to our headlights. Cass was a careful driver and soon pulled up beside the van with no real problems.

We clambered out of the Land Rover as the door opened and Pat looked out. I called him over to help and after a quick word with someone inside he ran over to join us.

“What happened to you?” he asked as I limped around the front of the Land Rover. I must have looked terrible, once again covered in blood and I was feeling every ache. I waved away his questions and instructed him to help Cass with Gregg.

Pat was happy to do so and I made my way slowly to the front door. Lily was standing in the doorway arms crossed as I awkwardly approached. “Are you going to let me in?” I asked with some concern when she didn’t move. I wondered if she had decided I was no longer welcome.

She stared at me a moment before stepping aside and I did my best to get past her without putting any weight on my sore ankle.

“Go sit in the living room and get that foot elevated” she said as I passed. “I will be in to join you soon. We need to talk.”

I resisted the urge to groan. I was in no mood to talk about anything and I was fairly sure I knew what she would say. I just hoped she would allow me a few days to get fully mobile before kicking me out.

My coat was removed and placed as neatly as possible on a hook beside the front door before I went and collapsed onto the couch. It was comfy enough and the coffee table was a convenient height to place my foot on. I managed to remove my shoes with only a little extra pain and tried my best to relax as I listened to the others bustle around in the rooms beyond.

Above the mantle a clock ticked as it kept time. I was really beginning to hate the sound of a ticking clock. I closed my eyes and tried to pretend it wasn’t there.

I was beginning to doze as the sound of the door opening roused me. Lily walked in with two mugs held in her hands. She placed one before me and I was delighted to see that it was a hot cup of tea.

“How’s your ankle?” Lily asked sitting in the chair to the side.

“Painful but I will live.” I told her as I picked up and sipped the tea. It was lightly sweetened and after barely having enough water to drink for a week, more than welcome.

“They are dead then?”

“Oh definitely they are, yes.” I said with a genuine smile at the memory.

“Good. I know I shouldn’t be happy about it, but I am. They didn’t deserve to live.”

I nodded in agreement and wondered where this was going.

“Liz is upstairs asleep, in case you were wondering.” Lily said and I shrugged not sure what to say. “You weren’t wondering though were you?” she asked.

“I imagine that if anything had happened that I needed to know you would have told me.” I said.

“Most people would have cared enough to ask though” she said with a sigh. “This is what I mean Ryan.”

Once again I nodded to indicate understanding but in truth her point was eluding me. “What did you want to talk about that couldn’t wait until morning?” I asked her.

Lily shook her head at me and rolled her eyes. “This is what I wanted to talk about.”

“About Liz?”

“No. About the fact that you don’t care about anyone but yourself.” She said with exasperation. “If it doesn’t directly involve you, then you aren’t interested and we need you to be interested in others.”

“Why?”

Lily sighed again and sat back in the chair considering her words before she spoke. “You said when I met you that you didn’t think we would survive this alone. That’s why you wanted to join together yes?” she finally asked.