Star Drawn Saga (Book 1): Death Among The Dead: A Zombie Novel (32 page)

Tentatively at first, she moved one foot backwards and then, when nothing happened, another. Step by step, she backed her way along the hallway away from the bloody beast still consuming poor Kasey’s brutalised body; at any moment expecting it to abandon its fallen quarry in favour of the warmer flesh escaping it. Odelia was four metres from the scene of carnage when she at last decided to turn and run. Darting along the corridor as fast as her late-middle-aged legs could carry her, she took the first turning presented to her; hoping or rather praying that now she was out of sight she was also out of mind.

Back at the bloody banquet, Brother Alex’s corpse paused in it enthusiastic chewing, its mouth suddenly opening to allow the red sinewy contents to fall unwanted to the floor. Something had changed within the warm wet flesh that it had so eagerly stuffed in its mouth only moments before and even as it pushed itself slowly back up to its feet, Brother Alex’s corpse dismissed the now twitching body at his feet that had once captivated him so.

Standing in the shadows Father Matthew watched in silent rage as the thing that had been Brother Alex rose to his feet and then Kasey’s corpse sat up seconds later. He knew even with God guarding his soul, his body stood no chance against these two newly Corrupt creatures, especially if they attacked him together. So, realising that there was nothing more he could do for the already damned Brother Alex and Kasey, he quietly backed away, turned and made his way to the chapel; praying all the while that the two unholy fiends separated so whoever encountered them next at least stood some chance to survive.

***

Brother Gregory pressed his back against the bookshelf, desperate to make himself as small and as unnoticeable as he could. He knew something else was in the library with him, he could hear it and whatever it was, it brought with it the smell of blood and shit.

When he had first heard the screams Brother Gregory’s hand had frozen mid-turn of a page, the thin sheet of paper suddenly quivering in his grasp as the fear took hold of him. Sat on the far side of the library where the shelves were still used to house their collection of books rather than just more potted seedlings, he had spent the afternoon enjoying the warmth of the afternoon sun and a soft breeze coming through a single set of shutters that had been left open. Yet as the cries echoed through the castle his blood ran cold and all of a sudden this little golden patch of heaven was little more than a death trap highlighting his very presence.

‘
Safety in numbers or better on my own?
’ he had debated, weighing up the pros and cons of each decision, deciding one minute only to then change his mind the next.

Ten minutes later and he still hadn’t moved from his spot or even completed the action of turning the page of his book, but it was when he heard the strange sound of what could only be described as wet footsteps coming from somewhere else in the room that he realised he may have left it too late. Cursing himself for not at least closing the heavy library door when he had a chance, Brother Gregory at last relinquished his grasp on his book, placing it silently down on the table in front of him and slowly moved to stand. It was only when he was half up, his knees shaking from the controlled effort, that he remembered to place a hand on the back of the chair to carefully ease it out; after all, the sound of chair legs scraping across a floor would do little to ensure his continued existence, far from it.

Once free of his chair, Brother Gregory cautiously stepped away from the table, leaving behind the once comforting pool of sunlight for the safety of the shadows around him. Silently he made his way along dim book-lined aisles, each footfall slow and precise, until, for no particular reason he stopped. There was nothing to rationally merit this specific point in the library. The shadows here were no darker than anywhere else in the room. Nor was it really any closer to, or further away from, the door to make a difference one way or the other but with each fleeting movement of shadow caught in the corner of his eye or the sound of a soft wet step reaching his ears, Gregory knew his time and luck were running out, fast.

Suddenly the coppery scent of blood mixed with the stench of recently soiled underwear became stronger, filling the air around him and alerting Brother Gregory that his potential death was dangerously nearby. Sure enough, as he peered through one bookshelf to the next aisle he saw the dark figure of a man pass by. Even in the dim twilight of the library, Gregory could see it was or rather it had been, Kevin Harrison. The swathe of blood drenching his front, turning his blue shirt and trousers almost a wet glossy black, told Gregory all he needed to know about the physical state of the man walking past him. Kevin Harrison was very much dead, that was clear, and with each unholy step he took, his blood filled shoes would squelch, nauseatingly; leaving in their wake a bloody trail a testament to his passing.

Holding his breath, less the very action of his breathing itself alert Kevin’s corpse to his presence, Brother Gregory moved back deeper in to the shadows and willed the creature to move on, praying it leave him undetected. Then, as luck would have it somewhere in the castle a woman began screaming for her life, the impending and inevitable loss of which Brother Gregory selfishly hoped would draw the hungry cadaver out of the library and away from him.

‘
Come on! Come on!’
he thought, wishing Kevin’s corrupt shell would respond to the screams and be enticed away. ‘
It’s dinner time…can’t you hear her? Go and stuff your face!
’

But Brother Gregory needn’t have worried, for in this one thing the response of the Dead or the Corrupt as he called them, was assured. No sooner had the first terrified scream reached its ears than the cadaver’s head spun, eager to locate its source. Tilting its head to one side, the deep wound at its throat gaped sickeningly with each movement while its pale milky eyes burned with an unquenchable need. For a second Kevin’s hungry gaze seemed to rest on Brother Gregory hidden deep amongst the twilight shadows, turning his blood to ice and causing the control of his bladder to instinctively fail him. But onward roamed the cadaver’s searching stare, until, with squelching footsteps, it abruptly turned and darted along the aisle away from him.

For what seemed like an eternity but was in fact just five short minutes, Brother Gregory waited, standing in a pool of his own urine while he strained his ears to hear any other movement in the library. Only when he was quite sure he was alone, did he tentatively make his way along the maze-like rows of bookshelves determined to ensure his own ongoing survival.

Reaching the end of the shelves, Gregory paused, making sure once again that he was still alone before making his move. Reassured that he was indeed the sole occupant of the library, living or otherwise, he quickly stole a glance from behind the bookshelf to inspect the rest of the room and more importantly the object of his goal, the open door. Apart from a set of bloody footprints leading in and out of the library, some stray splattered droplets on the floor and a smeary handprint on one of the glass fronted bookcases that house the seedlings, the library was all as it should be.

‘
Shit,
now’s the tricky part!
’ Gregory thought to himself, knowing there was no way to know if anything lay in wait beyond the open doorway until he finally committed himself and moved away from the safety of his hiding place.

‘
Come on, Gregory. Fucking, come on!
’ he continued, his own thoughts chiding himself for his lack of action. ‘
On three… one, two…
’

But Gregory’s own body prevented the need for him to reach three, for as someone’s desperate wails echoed along the corridors beyond the library, his legs seemingly made the independent decision for him to move. Darting forward, Brother Gregory found himself sidestepping the bloody footprints smeared across the wooden floor and instinctively making a reach for the handle of the large heavy door.

Leaving it to the last moment, lest his worst fears be confirmed, Gregory finally allowed himself to glance up from the bloody trial left by Kevin’s passing to see what, if anything, stood watching him from the hallway. For a split moment, his breath caught in his throat as the image of a figure rushing toward him stamped its way across in his panic filled brain. But as the details of what he was actually seeing finally rearranged themselves and became clear, he realised it was in fact only Beth Keys approaching and thankfully she was still very much alive.

‘Brother Gregory!’ she cried, desperately waving at him as if afraid he hadn’t seen her.

‘Hurry!’ Gregory hissed, glancing left and right fearful Kevin’s corrupt corpse would return at any moment.

‘Oh, sweet Jesus!’ Beth sobbed as she ran. ‘The Corrupt, Brother Gregory, they’re on the island. How could they…’

Whatever Beth had intended to say suddenly faded from her thoughts when she saw the look on Brother Gregory’s face inexplicably change, his eyes suddenly widening in shock. He was now looking at something behind her, something fearful and terrifying; and whatever it was, it was sprinting along the corridor behind her.

‘No!’ she managed to whimper, still a good five metres from the safety of the open library door.

Gregory’s mind fought to reconcile the bloody and savage creature even now closing in on Beth with the quiet and almost annoyingly apologetic image of Kasey that still lurked in his head. The two were at such great contrast that if it hadn’t been for the corpse’s thick red hair, now matted and dripping with her own blood, he would have denied the reality of what he saw entirely. But there was no denying the claw-like hands reaching for Beth Keys and there was no denying the woman was simply not going to make it. So as his eyes flicked back to briefly lock with Beth’s terrified gaze, Gregory made up his mind. He could not risk, or rather he would not risk, Kasey’s corpse getting into the library and worse, getting to him, so he began to close the door.

‘Brother Gr…’ Beth started to say, unable to understand just what she was seeing; her words abruptly turning to a shriek as a bloody hand grabbed a fist full of her hair.

‘Arrgghh!’ she screamed, her panic causing a chunk of her hair to be painfully ripped from her scalp as she fought to reach the already closing door.

But Kasey’s cadaver would not let its victim escape so easily and even as Beth stretched out her hand imploringly to the disappearing image of Brother Gregory, it threw itself onto her back; clawing and tearing at her clothes, its hungry mouth agape and awaiting its first taste of warm bloody flesh.

‘No!’ cried Beth, falling to the floor under the weight of Kasey’s cadaver; the sound of the door finally closing on her barely registering as a set of teeth bit deep and hard into the flesh of her shoulder.

***

‘Move!’ shouted Rod, his cry at last snapping Jane from her frozen terror.

Tearing her eyes from the three bloody figures charging towards them, Jane thrust Riley away from her and in the direction of the open cottage doorway. She didn’t need to see the look of fear on Rod’s eye to know it would be a close call as to whether they would all manage to get inside and secure themselves in time but no matter what happened, even if she had to sacrifice herself, she was determined Riley would be saved. Glancing down at the heavy frying pan, now just beyond her reach, she debated for a split second the merits of stopping to retrieve it but with the first of the hungry cadavers now only ten or so metres away, and getting closer, she knew she simply didn’t have the time to spare.

‘Hurry, woman!’ shouted Rod, gabbing her sleeve to push her onward just as she had done with Riley.

With her eyes set on the gaping doorway just a few meters ahead of Riley, she at least knew he was going to reach it. Yet even if he did get inside in time she knew this hardly guaranteed his survival; for many a survivor had still been torn to pieces as the Dead smashed their way through non-barricaded windows or doors hardly meant to withstand a foe that feels no pain.

‘Upstairs!’ Rod bellowed from behind, just as Riley crossed the threshold of the cottage.

For a moment the boy’s head darted blindly back and forth until he locked onto the small shadowy staircase to his left, leading to an unpromising and flimsy looking door at its top.

With Riley disappearing into the cottage ahead of her, Jane risked a glance at the nearest corpse and instantly regretted it. The closest Dead man, his face little more than a monstrous patchwork of bloody bite marks surrounding a ragged gaping hole where his nose once was, held such wild hunger and demonic intent within his milky glare that Jane almost stumbled. Luckily at that moment her fingers brushed against the wooden surround of the door and with an unceremonious shove from Rod behind her, she found herself falling inside.

‘The windows!’ shouted Rod, slamming the door behind him just a body collided with the other side of it. ‘The shutters! Close the shutters!’

Landing heavily on all fours, Jane knew she had no time to acknowledge the sudden shooting pain in her knees. So with tears in her eyes and a determination to survive moving her onward, she pushed herself up from the tiled floor and thankful to hear Riley bounding up the stairs, taking them two at a time, darted over to the first set of windows.

‘The latch!’ called Rod, noticing Jane’s frantic attempt to move the first shutter only for it to stay locked in place. ‘Un-hook the latch holding it back!’

Looking over at Rod, his crow bar still clutched in his fist as he braced the jolting door with his back, Jane wondered if the noseless Dead man had already been joined by his bloody compatriots and if so, should she be helping to hold the door in place instead. As if to answer her question a hand suddenly slammed against one of the small panes of glass in front of her, sending a worrisome crack shooting across it.