Star Drawn Saga (Book 1): Death Among The Dead: A Zombie Novel (10 page)

‘Pied Piper?’ he replied, glancing back at her. ‘You don’t know the fairy tale?’

‘Ermm, my dad was more the type to practice Judo moves at bedtime with me and my sister than read us a story,’ she replied, with a shrug of her shoulders.

‘Well, long story short, these villagers have all these rats and they hire this piper to lead them away but then refuse to pay him, so to teach them a lesson he makes all the children follow him into a magical mountain cave or something but there’s this crippled kid that can’t keep up and he gets left behind,’ Tom whispered in reply, using the reins to guide Star around the upturned remains of a souvenir stall, its faded bunting fluttering back and forth in the gentle breeze.

‘And the Dead here are supposed to be this kid?’ Fran suggested, nodding to the ruined corpses trying valiantly to follow the Dead horde in their pursuit of the living flesh that had entranced them so.

‘Hmm,’ he replied, chewing on his lip absentmindedly as a niggling thought started to form.

‘But that’s a good thing isn’t it?’ said Dave, looking from his brother to Tom and Fran. ‘I mean, if there’s only the damaged and broken corpses left here, doesn’t that work in our favour?’

‘I hope so,’ muttered Tom. ‘The sea-front promenade is the next turning… we’ll know more by then I guess.’

‘T…Tom, wh…what is it?’ asked Kai, realising there was so much more that the man wasn’t saying.

‘Nothing,’ he muttered, his past life as a taxi driver causing him to instinctively look left and then right for non-existent oncoming traffic as Star began to turn onto the main promenade. ‘Just a bad feeling, that’s all.’

‘A bad feeling,’ Max snorted, shaking his head while he picked at the dirt under his fingernails.

‘Max,’ sighed Dave, knowing his brother was surely about to say something obnoxious.

Waving away his brother’s interruption, Max continued to speak.

‘No offense, mate, but from what I’ve seen you’re clearly a bit touched in the head,’ he began, ignoring the hostile glares being flashed at him from Fran and Kai. ‘Now don’t get me wrong, whatever it takes for you to get through the day is okay by me….’

‘Generous of you,’ growled Tom, not even bothering to look back at Max.

‘But all I’m saying is perhaps someone a little more… ‘stable’ should be at the reins,’ Max continued. ‘Our lives are in your hands after all… and making any judgement based on a feeling, well….’

‘You’ve got an awful lot to say for a man who’s riding in another man’s cart,’ said Tom, at last glancing over his shoulder at Max, his cold stare almost challenging him to continue.

‘All I was saying,’ began Max, realising such a direct approach may have been unwise.

‘And all I’m saying is that you’re welcome to get out and walk the rest of the way if you like,’ said Tom, abruptly cutting off Max’s words.

For a moment there was silence in the cart as a battle of wills between the two men wordlessly played itself out, each of them vying for dominance. But here Tom had the upper hand and Max knew it; and no sooner had the challenge been voiced than Max realised his mistake. He was in debt to this man and his two travelling companions and even though Fran still held sway over him, it was clear to Max that Tom, being the older and more experience of the three, was the leader of this small group; and as such what he said became law.

‘Like I said… no offence,’ Max finally said in reply, although the words themselves clearly pained him.

Holding Max’s gaze a moment longer to push the point home, Tom eventually sighed, mumbled something derogatory under his breath and slowly turned his attention back to road. The stunning vista that greeted him instantly pushed Max and his lousy attitude to the recesses of Tom’s mind.

‘Wow,’ Tom whispered, slowly pulling Star to a halt.

There, spreading out just beyond a railing that ran along the length of the seafront promenade, was a vast expanse of glittering blue water. This vision of natural purity in itself would have been a welcome change after the decay and destruction that normally surround them on a day-to-day basis but it was the picturesque island with its castle majestically rising from the waters some four hundred metres offshore that truly made him stare in wonder.

‘Boats!’ said Riley in an excited whisper, pointing over Tom’s shoulder to the two white sailed vessels bobbing amid the waves far out to sea. ‘Look, Pete, look at the boats!’

‘Riley,’ his mother softly warned, not wanting Peter to get excited.

But the damage had been done and although the hand over his mouth managed to dampen the squeal of delight building in his throat, the young man couldn’t stop himself from clambering his way to the front of the cart for a better look through the front viewing slit.

‘Ouch, Peter!’ hissed Fran, when in his excitement he accidentally stood on her toe.

Sensing her young master’s growing delight, Bella decided she wasn’t about to be left out and deftly made her way to the front of the cart to see just what all the fuss was about. With her tail thumping hard against Kai’s legs in enthusiastic anticipation she wriggled her head under Peter’s arm and with her nose and lolling tongue next to Tom’s ear, tried to fathom what had entranced him so.

‘Urghh… Bella,’ Tom muttered, giving the animal’s dribbling snout a gentle shove away from his ear.

He was about to tell Peter to go back to his seat when he caught a glimpse of the childish fascination dancing in the young man’s eyes and considering the way his world had so drastically altered within the space of a day, who was Tom to deny him this small piece of happiness he’d managed to find for himself.

‘Perhaps when we get to the island someone will teach you to sail?’ whispered Tom, placing a fatherly hand on Peter’s shoulders. ‘Would you like that?’

Again a muffled squeal was only just held in check by Peter as he vigorously nodded his reply, unable to tear his eyes away from the two boats merrily darting through the surf far from shore.

‘Well, how about you go back to your seat so we can get there even quicker, okay?’ suggested Tom, gently patting Peter’s back to make sure he was listening.

‘Yeah, come on Pete,’ agreed Riley, after some subtle prompting from his mother. ‘Sit next to me.’

Reluctantly Peter moved back to his seat, his gaze only relinquishing its hold on the boats at the very last moment. For a few seconds Bella remained by Tom’s side, still unsure just what had caused such excitement in her master but when it was clear whatever it was hadn’t involved something to eat or a threat, she curled up on what little free floor space was left and contented herself with keeping a watchful eye over her human travelling companions.   

‘We’ll be there really soon,’ Jane whispered, smiling as she gave Peter’s knee a reassuring pat. ‘We… we will be able to get to the island, won’t we?’ she continued, suddenly turning her attention to Fran. ‘I mean, what if the tide’s already in.’

‘Crap!’ spat Fran in reply, turning to Tom. ‘We didn’t think of that… have we enough time to get across?’

‘This may surprise you, Fran, but I’ve not memorised high and low tide times along the Cornish coast…’ Tom began, glancing back at her.

‘It changes anyway,’ Dave cut in with a shrug of his shoulders. ‘It depends on the position of the moon and sun relative with the earth.’

‘Yeah… and what he said,’ smirked Tom, nodding in Dave’s direction. ‘But considering the level of the water on the beach, I’d say it’s either on its way in or on its way out... can’t be sure really, I think this is going to have to be one of those wait and see type moments.’

‘Now, that sounds reassuring,’ mumbled Max, sarcastically.

Refusing to take the bait, Tom merely let his gaze slide slowly over to Max as if daring him to comment again.

‘And anyway, let’s get to get to the causeway first,’ he finally said, letting his attention return to others in the cart. ‘No point in worrying about it just yet… and if we have to wait a bit in here for the tide to turn...  it’s no great hardship.’

Turning his back on them, Tom gave Star’s reins a sharp flick, urging her onward again. With a gentle ‘creaking’, the cart’s wheels began to turn and Star was soon relaxing back into her slow steady rhythm, taking them closer to their goal one cautious step at a time.

Travelling along the seafront, they passed row after row of dilapidated hotels, ransacked shops and derelict arcades; while on the opposite side of the road, one after another sad looking abandoned souvenir stands nestled forlornly against the low sea wall. Unlike the section of coast where they had previously stopped, here a rocky man-made cliff, some four or five metres high, separated the road and the debris strewn shingle of the beach below. Presumably built as some sort of defence against coastal flooding the huge dark boulders were mottled with patches of drying seaweed and clustering communities of tightly shut mussels, all awaiting the welcome return of the tide. Because of this abrupt drop to the beach from the road, it was nigh on impossible for those within the cart to get a clear view of the base of these cliffs but more importantly there was also no way for them to know just how far or fast the tide was rising to greet them.

Despite his words Tom couldn’t help but think about the point Jane had made and even as he guided Star around the burnt out shell of an ambulance he let his gaze wander back to the castle-topped island and the swathe of white crested waves crashing along at least two thirds of its base.

The reliable mare was just pulling the front of the cart beyond the wrecked ambulance when Bella suddenly sprang to her feet, her posture an exercise in tense alertness as a low growl began to build in her throat. Almost immediately Dave sprang to his feet, his arm reaching out to touch Bella but this time Tom had beaten him to it and already two of his fingers rested gently on the bitch’s nose, instantly silencing her warning growl.

‘Tom?’ hissed Fran, resting her hand on his shoulder as she looked past him through the front viewing slit.

‘Damn, I was afraid of this,’ he muttered, nodding toward the Dead crowd pawing at the walls of a small building built further along the sea wall.

‘What… what is it?’ asked Jane nervously, her arm subconsciously pulling Riley just that bit closer to her.

‘Well, it looks like we now know what made the Dead go walkabout,’ he said, nodding to the horde ahead of them and the large pool of congealed blood splattered across the road. ‘Looks like they ambushed a small group.’

‘And just how can you tell it was a group?’ asked Max, keen to score even the smallest points against Tom, while Kai silently reached past him to pull a battered looking pair of binoculars from a hook.

‘From the bloody mess on the road, clearly at least one person met their maker today,’ Tom whispered in reply, scratching at the stubble on his chin, ‘and then at least one managed to get away, causing some of the Dead to go on the march.’

‘So, just two then,’ interrupted Max, with a snort.

‘Max!’ warned his brother, noticing the muscles on Tom’s jaw tensing as he ground his teeth in annoyance.

‘And just what do you think got their attention, smartarse?’ growled Tom, jabbing a finger in the direction of the group of corpses huddled around the base of the single story building. ‘You think they’re just desperate to buy some candyfloss or something?’ 

With his face suddenly flushing with anger, Max’s eyes narrowed with barely concealed contempt.

‘Hmmm, I suppose a third person could have…’ he began through gritted teeth.

‘Suppose, my arse!’ laughed Tom, knowing he was right. ‘Only one thing whips corpses up like that and that’s the sight of a bit of living flesh. My guess is whoever’s there, they’ve managed to get up onto the flat roof somehow.’

‘Do… do you think they’re still there?’ asked Dave, his genuine concern for a stranger clearly fighting with his fear for the safety of his own family.

‘Even if they are, we can’t risk stopping to find out?’ hissed Max, glaring at his brother, almost daring him to contradict him. ‘There’s far too many of the Dead for us to handle. We’ll have to send a larger party back once we get on the island.’

‘N…N… No choice,’ stammered Kai, lowering the binoculars and slowly handing them over to Tom. ‘We’ll h…have to d…deal with them ourselves... look.’

‘Where?’ asked Tom, raising the binoculars to his eyes.

‘R…right,’ Kai replied. ‘The… the sign.’

‘Sign… sign… sign,’ Tom mumbled to himself, adjusting the focus slightly. ‘Oh, there it is… Crap!’ he tutted, suddenly looking back at Fran and the others. ‘Kai’s right, I don’t think we have a choice this time, we’ll have to clear some of those corpses… somehow.’

‘Why?’ whispered Fran, taking the binoculars from Tom to look for herself.

‘There’s an old sign saying something about crossing times,’ Tom continued. ‘It looks like the opening to the causeway is on the other side of that building.’

‘But the Dead, they could be just on this side… couldn’t they?’ suggested Jane, hoping they could slip past the Dead unnoticed to get onto the causeway.

‘It’s… possible,’ muttered Tom, seeming to momentarily drift off somewhere as other unheard voices suddenly claimed his attention.

‘I guess we won’t know for sure until we get closer,’ said Fran, jabbing Tom’s shoulder with the binoculars to draw him back from his ghostly world. ‘We’ll just have to wait till then to see what we’re dealing with.’