Family Matters: Season 2 Book 3 (Killing the Dead 9) (11 page)

Once the cauldron was above the flames, a series of men and women came out of a door behind it carrying buckets full of water. They filled the cauldron and set up another over the next fire before doing the same for that.

“They’re getting ready to make the evening meal,” Cass said as she saw where I was looking.

“Really?”

“Yeah, they’re going to make stew or soup. I can’t remember which. The big pot things came from the museum storage. They’re probably hundreds of years old.”

“I take it the well is in that room behind them?”

“Aye.”

For several more minutes, I watched the people work. There were some hanging washing on a line over by the far wall and at one point, a group of three people headed towards the rear of the castle and climbed into the boat. Off to forage or scavenge for something or other.

One thing I did notice was their lack of weapons or any kind. I scanned the courtyard, noting the group of children playing, the men stacking wood, the few people laughing as they chatted in groups. Not one of them had a weapon and something seemed off as though there was an undercurrent of tension that I could just about feel.

“How do they defend themselves?” I asked Cass.

“They don’t,” Pat said and I turned to him. “From what we can tell, they avoid the undead when they can and they haven’t really had any living people threaten this place.”

“Wouldn’t take much to overrun it,” Cass muttered. “A few people with knives would be able to take this place easily.”

“Gabe said that when they went out scavenging, if someone gets caught, they’re left behind,” I said as I thought back to when we had first found him, tied up and tortured for the location of this place.

“They’re asking for trouble,” Pat agreed. “And they’ve been bloody lucky so far. Zombies haven’t come in large numbers and no one has given away their location.”

“Shh,” Cass said as she nudged me and looked immediately contrite as I gasped in pain. My vision blurred as tears formed and by the time I had cleared my eyes, a young woman was stood before us.

“Hi,” she said. A pleasant greeting from a pretty young woman in her mid-twenties as far as I could tell. She wore just a thin t-shirt and jeans despite the cool air and her smile lit up her face, though didn’t seem to touch her eyes.

“Hey,” Cass said. “Good to see you again.”

“You too,” the woman replied as ran one hand through the thick blonde hair that fell past her shoulders. She stood with her other hand resting on her hip in a stance that seemed designed to make her look as appealing as possible. “Glad you’re up and about.”

“Thanks,” I said as I glanced at Cass, wondering who she was.

“This is Georgia,” Cass said. “She’s probably the reason your fever has faded.”

“Oh no,” the woman insisted as she waved away the compliment. “I might have helped a little but it was you who put up the fight.”

“Helped?” I asked.

“A bit of yarrow tea when your fever was peaking and some willow bark for the pain,” Georgia said. “Evelyn wasn’t too impressed with the idea at first but since we had no other medicine… she agreed to give it a try.”

“Homeopathy?” I said and she nodded.

“Something like that. These plants have been used for thousands of years for their medicinal benefits and since the world we knew is pretty much over, it’s a good time to remember the old ways.”

“Old ways.”

“Sorry,” Georgia said. “I was a bit of a hippy before all this happened. You know, crystals and paganism. I never knew it would come in so useful.”

“Well, if that is what I’ve been tasting in my water these last few days, it isn’t pleasant but it seems to have helped, so thank you for that.”

“Oh you’re welcome,” she replied. “To be honest it was nice to be able to help someone.”

“What do you mean?”

“We’ve had some sickness here,” she said and a frown formed on her pretty face, as though she took it as a personal affront to her skill that people had been sick. “Then some deaths and we still don’t know if it was from eating something they shouldn’t when foraging or something picked up from all the undead.”

“I’m sorry to hear that,” I began but was interrupted by the sound of a voice carried down from the sentry tower. We all looked towards the sound to see one of the men pointing beyond the castle walls and calling down into the courtyard.

“Zombies?” Pat asked as he rose to his feet. He glanced to me and back the way we had come, no doubt wondering if he should go get his club or carry me to safety. I placed a hand on his arm and he looked down to me.

“Go get your club, best be prepared.”

He nodded once and ran off, back towards the main hall. I looked over to Cass to see the same look of indecision on her face.

“He’ll probably bring your club too,” I said with a smile. “But I don’t think it’s a threat.”

A man I hadn’t met strode out of the wood and glass doors of the tea room, Gabe in tow. With a few short words, the people around him set to work. Space was cleared before the great wooden gates and a group of five people all worked together to lift the locking bar. The man atop the sentry tower fell silent as they set about their tasks.

“That’s Bryan,” Cass whispered and I nodded absently as I tried to get a clear look at him.

As tall as Ryan with the same build. He had thinning hair and thin-rimmed spectacles. He spoke quietly but with an authority that I recognised and as he glanced around the courtyard, his eyes met mine briefly and seemed to pause before moving on.

I watched as the gate swung open, the doors pulled inwards to settle against the stone walls of the castle and a group of men and women walked through. I could tell they were angry, not just from the looks on their faces but the way they held themselves and unlike the people of the Sanctuary, these ones held weapons.

Bats and metal bars mainly with the occasional knife. More than one bore the stains of frequent use against the zombies and at the sight of them, Gabe blanched and took a step back.

“Caleb,” Bryan said by way of greeting. “What brings you here? Finally ready to join us?”

“Join you! Nae man,” the one I took to be Caleb, the leader of this new group said in a loud voice as he looked around. “We’re here for vengeance.”

“What do you mean?” Bryan asked and looked genuinely confused, though I couldn’t help but notice Gabe's expression.
Oh no, Ryan what did you do?

“Two of our boys dead!” Caleb cried and angry murmurs came from the mob behind him. “My boys, and that same day, your son was seen running from the village with two strangers.”

As Bryan turned to look at his son who shrank away, I glanced to Cass who wore an expression just like my own as she mouthed, “Ryan?” and I sighed.

Chapter 13 – Ryan

Gregg blinked blearily and reached for the baseball bat that was propped beside the bed as he heard me open the door. He paused when he realised it was me and released his hold on the bat.

“Time to go,” I said in a low voice so as not to rouse his bedfellow.

“Alright mate, one min yeah?” he said as he wiped one hand down his face. He twisted to look over at the sandy-haired young man wrapped in the sheets beside him and looked back to me, his expression sheepish.

“No,” I said. “Don’t wake him, no point. We need to go.”

“Why can’t we wake him?” he asked in a whisper.

“Because we don’t need dead weight. Gather your things and let’s go.”

Gregg looked at me for several seconds before glancing to his companion and heaving a sigh. “Fine, I’ll be out in a minute.”

I nodded and stepped back out into the hallway, letting the door close behind me with a soft click. The sky outside the hotel was just starting to lighten and I wanted to be away as quickly as I could.

The girl, Charlie, didn’t stir as I went back into the room to collect my rucksack. I swung it over my shoulders and slid the arms into the straps as Jinx rose to her feet and yawned.

“Sorry, no food for you yet,” I said in a whisper that I was fairly sure she seemed to understand. She at least had the canine equivalent of annoyance cross her face and I grinned as I crossed to the bed.

She was sleeping soundly enough that she hadn’t heard me move around and I contemplated once more sliding my knife across her throat. That darkness within me needed a release and she was a fine candidate, except for being innocent.

All through the night, I had debated that with myself. Did it matter since Lily was likely already dead? My pact with her would be voided and I could kill with impunity. In the back of my mind, I was sure that I was already too late, so why then did I hesitate? Why the endless debate through the sleepless night?

A part of me wanted to say I was sticking to the pact, that promise I made, just because while I did it meant I still believed Lily was alive. But another part of me, a small and nasty part, insisted that my time with her had changed me for good. That I could no longer be the amoral killer and had developed a soft spot for the waifs and strays of this new world. It hadn’t been a restful night.

I kept my blade sheathed and stepped out into the corridor in silence. A gap in the curtains over the window set in the wall at the top of the stairs let in a thin shaft of early morning light and illuminated the gore covered walls and carpet.

Inspecting the gouges in the plastered wall, made no doubt by fingers as someone was dragged along the hall, I had to wonder if the two youths had in fact cleaned the place of the undead themselves, or if they had found it abandoned.

“Ready,” Gregg said as he stepped into the hall. He glanced back into the room and his expression was, I think, wistful.

“Let’s go then.”

Along the hall and down the stairs, we paused by the front door as I pulled back the bolt and opened it just enough to look out and ensure the way was clear.

“Shouldn’t we wake them so that they can lock the door behind us at least?” Gregg asked.

“No.”

“Why not? It’s the right thing to do mate.”

“Will take too much time and have them pestering us to come with us. We don’t need that.”

“They could be helpful, I mean they’ve survived this long alone.”

“More likely they will be a burden that will slow us down and can you really imagine how long it would take to push someone back to the Sanctuary in a wheelchair?”

“Fuck you,” a voice said from the top of the stairs behind us and I leaned forward to press my head against the door.

“Great,” I said with a sigh.

“We save your fucking lives and give you somewhere safe to sleep and this is how you repay us? By creeping out without waking us.”

Gregg looked at me and I realised he wouldn’t be happy unless I spoke to them, so I crossed back to the stairs and looked up to see Charlie sat at the top in her chair.

“What exactly would you like us to do?” I asked. “You can’t even get down the stairs, what use would you be out there?”

“Fuck you again,” she snapped. She leaned back in her chair, the front end rising as she balanced on the two larger rear wheels. With a deft movement of her hands, she moved forward, her chair bouncing slightly as it bumped its way down the stairs.

I stepped aside to allow her to pass since I highly doubted she’d be able to stop and she bounced off the final step and glided to a halt a few feet away. She looked back at me with hooded eyes and I suspected she was nursing a hangover as well as fully disliking me at that moment.

“What you got to say now eh?” she said and I grinned.

“Bet you can’t get back up them.”

“Oh really fuck you!” she said as Gregg said, “Mate!”

“Fine, I get it,” I said as I held my hands up. “You aren’t useless but we need to move fast.”

“Do you know this area?” she asked and I shrugged.

“A little.”

“Yeah well I do know this area a lot, I know the hospital you’re going to and I know you’re pretty much fucked if you think you can get inside without my help.”

“Why?” I asked and she blinked as though surprised by the question rather than a simple denial of her ability.

“The hospital has parking lots on three sides, the larger two on the north and west. The east is smaller because there's a screen of trees between the hospital and the road.”

“What about the south side?” I asked and she grinned.

“Large open area with a landing pad for a helicopter,” she said.

“How does that help us?”

“The hospital’s built in a natural dip in the land, the roads leading past it are all a gradual slope leading down into the town proper. We’re actually higher above them here,” her grin widened as she looked at the both of us. “The landing pad is on land that was artificially raised up and the path from the pad to the southern entrance actually connects with the hospital on the second floor.”

I wouldn’t lie to myself by claiming that I wasn’t interested in what she was saying but at the end of the day, just by walking towards the hospital we would have seen that for ourselves.

“There’s nothing in what you’ve said that indicates why we should take you,” I said calmly as her face twisted into a scowl.

“Well listen up dude,” she snapped. “When the shit hit the fan and everyone and their fucking dog went to the hospital thinking they had some new super flu or something, the army stepped in. The place was organised, checkpoints, tents for those who had to wait outside and near the southern end where few people could enter the hospital is where they started to stack the dead.”

“I thought all the dead turned?” Gregg said.

“Not straight away,” she replied with a smug smile. “At first, a lot of people got sick and died. Then they started getting sick and turning. Personally, I think if we checked the bodies we’d find a lot of them had holes in their heads.”

“You suspect they turned and were put down?” I asked and she grinned.

“Score one point to you. Yeah, it was all over the net. When the military set up at hospitals like this one, it's because they knew what was happening and were trying to find a way to stop it. When someone died and turned, they were popped in the head and stacked out back for later. Just later never came because someone dropped the ball and the world turned to shit.”