Safety Lost (Killing the Dead Book 3) (22 page)

“We shouldn’t have left our friends.” Lily said darkly.

“Perhaps not.” I said, “Though I can’t see what difference it would make to have a couple more people back at the camp if the zombies do find it.”

“I just hate not knowing that people I care about are safe. I have lost too many people already.” She said miserably.

“Well then, let us get rid of these pesky creatures outside and we can head back.” I said with an awkward pat on her shoulder that raised a slight smile.

“Ok, do you want to borrow my axe?” she said.

“No, I think that this boat will have something that I can use.” I said as I walked across to the double windows set into the back wall of the cabin.

“What will it have?” Lily asked as she followed me.

“Well according to the safety guide, this boat should have some equipment I can use” I said as I pulled open the windows, letting in a spray of rain and wind.

“What equipment?” Lily asked loudly to be heard over the storm.

“If I find it I will show you” I said as I grasped the roof edge and pulled myself through the window and up onto the cabin roof as the first gunshots sounded from the front of the boat.

The wind buffeted me and seemed to be trying its hardest to blow me off of the boat. I crouched low and gripped the edge of the roof as I looked along the length of the boat.

A dozen white rings were secured to a metal rail that ran along the length of the roof. Each one was a flotation device that would be a great deal of use if someone fell overboard but would do nothing against a small horde of zombies.

I used the life rings as hand holds as I made my way slow way along the rain slicked roof. I really didn’t want to slip and fall overboard. Aside from the shallow water and the rocks waiting just below the surface, the undead waiting on the shore may get over their fear of the water if I landed at their feet.

As I neared the front of the boat the zombies noticed me and increased their wailing. Several were already lying on the ground, dropped by the bullets of my current companions. I ignored the zombies as I found what I was looking for.

Attached to the roof, just above the door was a boat hook. I lifted it from its mounting and ran my hands along its length. It was nearly two metres of solid wood with a stainless steel pointed tip. Just below the point a hook jutted out to the side.

From what I had read in the guide, the boat hook was of use when docking and undocking but was used mainly to help hook and pull things out of the water. I had a different use in mind and I grinned happily as I made my way back along the boat.

“What is that?” Lily asked as I climbed inelegantly back into the cabin. I explained what it was and how I intended to use it as I closed the window and shook off the water that covered me.

“Well it looks like you will have the chance.” Lily said with a nod towards the three men at the opposite end of the cabin who had ceased firing and had put down their guns.

“We managed to kill maybe a dozen” Matthew said as we joined him.

“So now what?” Shaun asked.

“Now we go out there and finish off the rest.” I said with a smile.

“That’s a lot of zombies to kill with one axe and a spear” he said sourly.

“You can use your guns as clubs” I suggested, “Not much use without bullets anyway.”

“Ok then” Matthew said, “We go out the hatch and fight our way through thirty zombies in the hopes that one of them has a key. I don’t think it will work that well.”

“No.” I said, “We will be a little smarter than that. You and Lily can stay here by the hatch and keep their attention on you. The rest of us will slip out of the back window and make our way to shore.”

“Then we head behind them. One of you” I said with a nod towards the two newcomers, “Will grab their attention and lead them away. We can then pick them off from behind.”

“It could work.” Matthew said. “Ok let’s do it.”

“You want us to join you when they start moving away?” Lily asked.

“I want you two to start looking for the keys” I said. “You will need to go through the pockets of any that we kill.”

“Great.” Lily said as she pulled a face. “It sounds like a fun task.”

“It could be worse” I said with a grin and a sideways glance at the newcomers.

“Ok let’s get started” Matthew said as Lily reluctantly offered her axe to Shaun who took it with a wide smile.

Chapter 31

The wind and rain weren’t letting up. A fact that I was grateful for as it would help mask our presence from the undead. With a final glance towards Lily I climbed out of the hatch and dropped into the water.

I waded towards shore as the two newcomers splashed into the lake behind me. I felt a definite itch between my shoulder blades with them behind me but I was fairly sure that they wouldn’t do anything until the zombies were dealt with.

Lily and Matthew were leaning out of the hatch shouting taunts at the undead who seemed to be straining against an invisible barrier at the water’s edge, eager to move forward but unable to do so for fear of the water.

Shaun was leaning close to Gary and speaking almost directly into his ear to be heard over the storm without alerting the zombies. With a final nod Gary set off running into the trees and left me crouched amidst the stone and dirt of the shore with Shaun.

We waited for nearly ten minutes, my legs were aching and I was shivering with the cold. Eventually Gary must have made his way around the zombies because their attention slowly changed focus from the boat to something further along the shore before they started their slow stumbling walk away from us.

A glance at Shaun indicated that he was ready so I set off at a brisk jog, the sound of my movements shrouded by the storm. I approached the last zombie of the pack without being noticed and hooked its leg with my boat hook.

The zombie fell to the ground and Shaun leapt forward to slam the axe down against its skull. We both paused a moment to ensure we hadn’t been noticed before I hooked the next. We repeated this tactic several times, working well together as we followed the group of undead around the island.

We had killed a dozen before the trailing zombies noticed us and turned towards us. Six undead left off their pursuit of Gary and attacked the closer prey that happened to be Shaun and I.

I swung the boat hook and managed to pull another zombie to the ground before thrusting the point at its head. I missed and had to jump back out of the reach of next creature as it tried to make a lunge at me.

With little room to swing the boat hook I jabbed the point into its chest. The hook part stopped the point sinking too far into its flesh and I did little to stop the creature. I pulled back on my weapon and jabbed again, this time I caught it above the eye and the steel point broke through bone.
      

The zombie stumbled and then fell to the ground lifeless. I pulled free the boat hook and immediately thrust it towards the next undead creature. A quick glance showed that Shaun had killed two with the axe and was chopping at a third. The one I had knocked down first was almost back on its feet.

My thrust caught it high on the cheek and pulled away a fair amount of skin but did no real damage before the zombie was close enough to grab hold of me. I dropped the boat hook and reached for the combat knife sheathed at my belt with my right hand as I closed my left around its throat and pushed with all my strength as I tried to keep its gnashing teeth away from my exposed flesh.

Its grip was strong and its fingers dug painfully into my shoulder and arm. Dark crimson blood from the wound I had made in its cheek was running down its face and onto my hand where I gripped its neck. I had a moment’s desperate hope that I had no open cuts on my hand before I pulled free my knife and stabbed it through the creature’s temple.

I staggered as the corpse sagged against me and I released my hold on it. I looked across at Shaun as he finished off the final zombie. He had killed four to my two and I grimaced at his look of disdain. I quickly wiped off the knife on the zombies clothes before sheathing it and picking up the boat hook.

We had to jog to catch up with the pack of zombies that were moving slowly around the island. Another eight fell before the final four turned towards us. I held one at bay while Shaun used the axe to good effect on another. Gary ran in and used the butt of his shotgun to crush the skull of yet another.

Shaun killed the last two with his axe and we stood in silence and looked at each other, weapons raised and ready. The boat was on the opposite side of the island to where we stood and Lily and Matthew were nowhere in sight.

“You killed our friends.” Shaun shouted.

“I did” I agreed and grinned which seemed to infuriate him.

“We were going to kill you today” he said.

“You were going to?”

“Yeah.” Gary said, “We have a different idea now.”

I stared at them as they stood amongst the corpses of the zombies we had killed and waited for them to elaborate.

“Your friend is here” Shaun said with a wide smile.

Gary snickered and they both slowly backed away out of range of my weapon before taking up position standing beneath the trees for the limited shelter they provided. I watched them for a few moments as I tried to understand why they weren’t going to try and kill me.

“We have the keys” Lily yelled as she came up behind me. “Everything ok?” she asked with a glance towards the two newcomers who were staring back at her with predatory expressions.

“I’m not sure.” I said, “Let’s get back to the camp.”

Chapter 32

The trip back to the camp was made in silence for the most part. We had managed to tie the rowboat to the boat and it trailed along behind as we made our way south.

Matthew had needed almost an hour of fiddling with the controls before he was confident that he could at least have some rudimentary control over the boat. He wouldn’t be trying any extravagant manoeuvres but he could at least get us back to the camp.

Gary and Shaun were sat at the back of the cabin talking in low voices as they alternated staring at either Lily or me. She didn’t seem to notice as she tried to keep watch out of the front windows for any dangers that Matthew couldn’t see.

I sat and watched everyone else as I considered what the newcomers had said. It was fairly obvious that they wanted to make me pay for killing their friends but I wasn’t sure how they would do that.

From the way that they were watching Lily I assumed that they would want to try and hurt her to cause me pain. I would keep watch on her and ensure that they didn’t do anything before I had the chance to kill them quietly.

“We’re here” Lily called as Matthew cut the engine and allowed the boat to gently slow before he gave the instruction for the newcomers to cast out the anchor which dragged along behind for a minute before it caught.

It seemed that we were all ready to head back to the camp and we wasted no time in dragging forward the rowboat and climbing in. The two newcomers were once again designated to row, which they did with only a small amount of grumbling.

We pulled the rowboat up onto the shore and secured a second line from the boat to a sturdy looking tree before making our way into camp.

The bonfire hadn’t been lit but each of the cottages had some light shining in the window. The newcomers left without a word and headed straight to Rachel’s cottage. Matthew spoke quietly to Lily before he left to his own residence.

“I’ll be glad to get in out of this rain.” Lily said as we walked across the quiet camp. I nodded though I wasn’t paying attention as I watched Shaun and Gary enter their cottage.

We entered our own little home and left our weapons beside the door. Julie and Cass sat in the living room talking quietly as Emma played at making houses with the playing cards. They greeted us warmly as we removed our soaked jackets and boots before we sat down and Lily filled them in on what had happened.

While she was talking I grabbed my blanket and went into the bathroom to strip off my wet clothing. I wrapped myself in the blanket and hung the soaking garments over the doors. It was unlikely they would dry without any real source of heat but I hoped that they would dry a little.

I returned to the living room and sat on the couch beside Lily. She finished telling them about the boat and then went into the bedroom to change out of her own clothing.

“You didn’t have any trouble with Gary and Shaun?” Julie asked and I shook my head.

“I couldn’t get in to see Liz. Rachel and that horrible Candice woman kept saying she was resting whenever I tried.” Cass said.

“Did you talk to Howard?” Lily asked as she rejoined us. She was wrapped in a blanket and her hair was still damp as she sat beside me.

“He just said that he didn’t think there was anything wrong” she said, “He is useless as a leader. No balls.” She spat.

“I’m worried about her. I don’t like the idea of leaving her with them after everything you’ve told us.” Lily said with a sigh.

“Perhaps I should pay them a visit tonight and put an end to this once and for all.” I said quietly for Lily alone.

“No, we can’t risk it.” Lily replied just as quietly, “Besides I don’t think Rachel will let them get away with that sort of thing. She is a pain, but she isn’t that far gone.”

I shrugged and sat back as the others talked about the food situation and the plan to move everyone out to the boat. The mention of food made my stomach rumble alarmingly loud and set Emma off into giggles.

“I’ll grab you some food” Julie said, “Just cold pasta today but it’s better than nothing.”

She filled a couple of bowls from a covered pot that had been sitting on the kitchen worktop before handing one each to Lily and me along with a spoon apiece.

“Thanks” I said as I spooned the first mouthful of pasta into my mouth. It was very cold and faintly slimy but filling none the less.

The door banged as a thoroughly soaked Gregg and Pat entered the cottage. They looked tired and had splashes of blood on their clothes.

“What happened?” Cass asked her brother with concern.