Safety Lost (Killing the Dead Book 3) (12 page)

“They probably came from the town and were crossing the mudflats when the tide came in and caught them. They could have been there days or even weeks with nothing to do but lay in the dirt until something came past and caught their attention.” I said after a few moments quiet thought.

Julie shuddered with revulsion. “I am so sick of running away from those things.”

“Well,
we will be somewhere safe soon enough.” I said with more conviction than I actually felt. I was as weary of running as she was. I was also unconvinced that we would really be safe when we reached the lake, or even if Lily had made it there safely.

We continued walking in silence, broken only occasionally by the weeping of one of the children. Julie tried her best to comfort both of them and each time, I waited tensely for the crying to stop before we could continue.

As we approached the lake we began to encounter the occasional camp ground, mostly devoid of life. We saw no undead which provided some hope that they hadn’t made it out this way yet.

“We are here” Julie said as we stepped out from beneath the barren trees and onto a road.

“Here?” I asked as I looked around. The area seemed no different to any of the others we had passed through. Thick stands of trees lined the sides of the road and a short distance to the north a car sat unmoving.

“Just past those trees is the southernmost tip of the lake,” she said pointing, “So what do you want to do now?”

“I guess we follow the road” I said, “We are looking for a group of holiday homes surrounded by woods and beside the lake. That’s all I remember.”

“Ok then, let’s head north along the road and see what we find. We will need somewhere to stay soon though.” Julie said with a look to the kids who were sat tiredly beside the road as we talked.

We set off walking, Julie holding tight to Marks hand and for some reason Emma still insisted on holding my hand as we walked. I gave the car a cursory look as we passed but it was clear that it had been abandoned due to lack of fuel and anything of use had been stripped from it.

A light rain had begun to fall as the sun made its way towards the horizon and we were spending more time looking through the trees beside the road for anywhere we could shelter, than we were watching for trouble which is why I was so surprised when two men stepped into the road in front of us.

“Hold up a second folks.” The taller of the two men said. He was dressed in a dark windbreaker and jeans and had several days of beard growth. He was also carrying what looked, to my untrained eye, to be a hunting rifle.

“We’re just looking for someplace to stay, we don’t want any trouble” Julie said nervously as I continued to assess the men.

“We aren’t going to hurt you” the shorter man said. He was wearing similar clothing to his companion though had found the time to shave. He also carried a rifle.

“You aren’t?” Julie said with more than a hint of doubt.

“No” the taller man said with a chuckle. “We are here to make sure none of those zombies find our camp and to direct any one we do find to it.”

“Why would you be doing that?” I asked politely as I considered how quickly I would need to move to cross the dozen feet of space between us and ram my crowbar through his throat.

“Because that is what we were told to do.” Shorter man said. “Head up the road for another half a mile or so and you will find a turn off to the left. Head down it and you will find our people. They will feed you and give you somewhere to stay for the night.”

“Sure, we’ll do that” I said and the men nodded and stepped back into the trees as we walked past them. I glanced back over my shoulder more than once as we continued along the road, sure that they would try and shoot us in the backs as we walked, but the men just leant against the trees and watched the road.

“Should we trust them?” Julie asked in an overly loud whisper.

“I don’t think it would be a good idea.” I said.

“So what do we do, it’s going to be dark soon and we will need somewhere to stay.”

“Heading down a road towards a camp that has people with rifles doesn’t sound like a clever idea though does it?” I asked sarcastically. “I tell you what, when we reach the road you wait and I will go and check out the camp. See what kind of people we are dealing with.”

Julie nodded her agreement and we continued on. I scanned the trees around us as we walked. The lack of undead and the relative quiet had lulled me into a false sense of security. I had not been paying attention and being surprised by the two men had annoyed me.

By the time we reached the road that led to the camp the men has spoken of, I had been brooding long enough to be in a killing mood. I left the rucksack of supplies with Julie and the children before heading off through the trees with just the crowbar in hand.

I tried to move as stealthily as possible through the woods but I was an urban creature. I was not comfortable with nature and I still made too much noise for my liking as I approached the camp and crouched in the bushes at the edge.

A dozen cottages stood around a clearing. They were all single storeys and made of wood in what I could only imagine to be, an attempt to give them a rustic feel. Each of the cottages had decking along the front and one side and several cars and a blue transit van were parked between them.

Someone had built a bonfire in the centre clearing and sturdy wooden chairs and tables had been set around it. Several men and women sat at the tables and I couldn’t see, but could hear some children playing nearby.

It looked safe enough but I had to consider the motivations of people who would actively encourage people to join their camp. With winter setting in and no ready access to supplies it seemed like a foolish waste of resources to my suspicious mind.

I was debating what I should do when I felt something hard press against my back and a deep voice told me to drop the crowbar and slowly stand, which I did with a sigh.

“Turn around” I was instructed and I did so, to see two people standing before me. The first man was holding yet another rifle aimed directly at me. I had only a moment to wonder where they were getting all the rifles before the second person leapt on me and engulfed me in a hug.

“What...” I began.

“Hi Ryan” Lily said with a wide smile.

Chapter 16

“Lily” I said and tentatively returned the hug. It was not something I was comfortable doing and a year ago I would likely have been in a killing mood from the very thought of someone touching me uninvited. Now though I found that I was genuinely glad to see her.

“I take it you know him” Her companion said with humour evident in his tone.

“We’ve been waiting for him.” Lily said with a grin of her own before turning back to me. “We were worried you might be dead. You need to come to the camp the others will want to see you.”

“Speaking of others, I need to go and tell some people that it’s safe.” I said.

“Others? You mean you’ve made some new friends.” Lily said teasingly.

“Something like that. They are just a little way up the road; I’ll go and get them.”

“I’ll come with you. I’m not letting you wander off again.” Lily said and waved her companion away as he offered to come along. He gave her a knowing smile and turned to head into the camp as I led the way along the road.

“So what took you so long to get here? Where have you been?” Lily asked as she linked her arm with mine.

I answered her questions briefly as we walked and promised to fill in the details at a later time. As we approached the main road Julie stepped out from between the trees with the children in tow.

“I take it this is one of the details you will fill in later” Lily said in a whisper and I nodded.

“This must be your friend” Julie said as she introduced herself and the children. “I take it we are going to the camp after all.” She added with a look to me.

“Of course you are. We can make some room for you all.” Lily said with a strained smile as she released my arm and I enjoyed a momentary freedom of movement before Emma took a firm grip on my hand.

“I’m guessing you are all hungry” Lily said with a grin and a raised eyebrow when she saw Emma’s hand in mine.

“We certainly are. Though the kids might fall asleep before they have eaten anything.” Julie said.

Lily led the way back to the camp and kept up a polite conversation with Julie as they walked ahead. Julie carried Mark and I was left to walk along behind with the rucksack and Emma.

The tables around the bonfire had filled with more people and a small group had gathered by the road. Lily waved them forward and I was greeted by Pat, Gregg and surprisingly Cass.

“I thought you were dead” I said to Cass.

“We could say the same about you” she answered with a wide smile and didn’t seem offended by my lack of tact.

“Seems she is too tough for the infection to take” Gregg said with a fond look towards his sister.

“It’s good to see you mate.” Pat said, “Who’s the kid?”

“I’m Emma” she said quietly as she stared up at the tall people around her.

Laughter and cheerful chatter surrounded us as we moved into the camp. It felt odd to be surrounded by such general good feeling after so long without and even I felt a little cheered by the pleasant greetings I was receiving.

Lily led us across to a table and chased the rest of the people away as I sat down. With Julie choosing to sit on one side of me and Emma on the other, Mark had to sit beside Lily opposite us.

“Who are all these people?” I asked.

“We found each other on the way here” Lily said, “They had the same idea and we decided to stick together. It seems to have worked out for the most part.”

“What happened to you after you jumped in the river?”

“I managed to get to the river bank though I had to drag John most of the way” Lily said, “I heard you hit the water behind us, but I couldn’t see you.

John was able to walk at least and as much as I wanted to wait for you he needed Louise to fix his wound and we needed to warn everyone about the zombies that were headed their way” she offered an apologetic smile my way.

“When we got there we all knew we didn’t have much time so it was decided that we had to leave right away. I wanted to wait for you but it was too risky so I wrote you a note and left it in the clubhouse.”
      
“I didn’t go in the clubhouse it was full of the undead. I did find a note and some supplies in one of the cars though.” I said.

“When we had packed everything up I realised that you might try and use one of the cars so I made sure they were all locked but one, and in that one I left you another note and some supplies. I figured you would have more chance of finding it that way.”

“It worked” I said with a smile, “I was grateful for the supplies too.”

“Well after that, we headed this way. Cass was really ill for a long time but she didn’t turn into a zombie. Louise thought it was because some people will have a natural immunity to the virus and will carry it but not turn until they actually die.”

“That makes a lot of sense I suppose.” I said thoughtfully, it would be something to look into later.

“The trip here was a long one and I will tell you more about it another time. We lost some friends along the way and I don’t want to go into it.” Lily said sadly.

“Who didn’t make it?” I asked and received a jab in the ribs from Julie.

“Louise, Michael and Debbie” Lily answered and wiped away a tear.

“I’m sorry” Julie said and placed her hands on Lily’s, though it was my ribs that hurt so I felt that I should have been given an apology.

“It’s ok.” Lily said and wiped at her eyes. “We are here now and it seems safe so far. Tell me about your journey and how you met your friends.”

I explained what had happened that night in the river and how I had been drugged. I left out the part about killing Alex, the man who had drugged me. From the suspicious look I received from Lily I figured she would guess anyway.

The village was glossed over and Julie filled in the parts about the Outlet store and the caravan park. She too kept some things out of the tale as the children were around.

“How did you meet Emma?” Lily asked when we had finished talking.

“I found her in a service station” I said and nodded gratefully at Gregg as he brought over several bowls of pasta.

“He helped me” Emma said around a mouthful of food.

“Helped you?” Lily asked.

“A bad thing was trying to hurt me.”

“So he saved you from a zombie.” Lily said and Emma nodded.

“And from the bad men later.” Emma added.

“Bad men?”

“The ones in the outlet store” Julie said quickly. “They were going to kill Ryan and take Emma and Ryan stopped them.”

“He killed them” Emma added helpfully.

“Did he now?” Lily said.

“Yes, it was scary at first and all the blood made me cry.” Emma continued and Lily’s eyes narrowed as a frown appeared. I very much wanted the little girl to stop talking.

“I think I need to have a word with you alone.” Lily said to me.

“Now?”

“Yes.” She said as she stood up from the table.

“Back in a minute” I said to Julie and the kids before adding, “Maybe.”

I followed Lily across the clearing and between two of the cottages. She stopped before the tree line and turned to me with eyes seemingly ablaze with anger.

“You killed people in front of a child” She spat.

“I didn’t have a great deal of choice” I replied calmly.

“That’s convenient. How many people did you kill on your way here?”

“Four.”

“Four... so the three at the store and who else?”

“Does it matter? I didn’t break your rule, no one innocent died.” I said.

“How can I trust you?”

“Well I didn’t arrive here alone did I?”

“No. You didn’t.” She said thoughtfully. “Why did you bring them along? Did you think it would make up for killing those people?”

“Not at all.” I said. “I wasn’t going to leave a child alone. Emma wouldn’t have lasted five minutes on her own.”

“And Julie?”