Killing the Dead (Season 2 | Book 2): Dark and Deadly Land (7 page)

“Says a lot about you then,” Becky said to me and had to hide her giggle behind her hand as I glared.

“Try stroking her,” Mary suggested. “This is the first time I’ve ever seen her respond to, well, anyone.”

“Why would I stroke it?” I asked. “Animals tend to avoid me normally and I’m fine with that.”

“Just stroke her,” Cass said with a tone startlingly close to the one Lily used when I was refusing to do as she asked.

With a heavy sigh, I reached down one hand to tentatively touch the thick, dark fur of its head. Big brown eyes looked up at me and when no growl issued forth, I moved my hand down its back, letting my fingers move through the soft fur. It wasn’t too unpleasant, not that I’d admit that to anyone.

“Well that’s remarkable,” Mary said. “I’ve never seen anyone stroke her before. Even our other dogs avoid her.”

“They do?” Becky asked with a look of pure mischief crossing her face as she turned to me. “Looks like we’ve found the doggie version of you Ryan.”

“How do I make her go away?” I asked.

“You don’t,” Cass admonished before speaking to Mary. “I’ve never seen one with an all black coat before.”

“Oh you can get several varieties,” Mary said warming to the topic. “Her mother was bred to a friend of ours dog and all three of her pups had the same colouring, black with a reddish tinge.”

“Is she trained?” Cass asked while Becky giggled at my fruitless attempt to wave the animal away.

“Oh yes,” the older woman said. “She will obey Jonathan but he swears that she is too wild to be allowed to work the farm like the others. He was never comfortable having her out with the sheep.”

Becky seemed incapable of stopping her giggling and I was growing irritated. My food was finished so I thanked Mary and placed the plate in the sink at her instruction before leaving the house.

With nothing else to do, I headed over to speak to Lily to find out when she planned on leaving. She was talking cheerfully about engines as I approached and I stood patiently, waiting for her to finish.

“Should be just about done,” Jonathan said. “I have to admit it went a lot easier with your help lass.”

“My pleasure,” Lily replied. “It’s been far too long since I got to work on an engine.”

“You’ve been doing it long?”

“Misspent youth,” she said with a grin. “I hung around with a rough crowd and picked up a lot from them. Turned out I was quite good at it.”

“Aye well you certainly are that,” Jonathan said. He turned away from the engine, wiping his hands on a stained rag.

“Morning,” Lily said as she noticed my presence. “Who’s your friend?”

“What?” I followed the direction of her gaze and turned to find the canine sat silently behind me, its tongue hanging out of its mouth.

“Jinx?” Jonathan said. “Well now, what on earth is she doing just sitting there?”

“No idea,” I said with a scowl that the animal ignored.

Lily smiled at my irritation and threw her arms around me as she kissed me in greeting. I allowed it for a moment before pulling away, uncomfortable with the public display of affection. She just grinned.

The dog had its head to the side as it watched us and it seemed to have some understanding in those dark eyes. It came forward and sniffed at Lily’s hand, I was about to warn her not to touch it when she scratched it behind the ear. Much to my surprise and Jonathans, it gave no indication of displeasure at her touch.

“Well now,” Jonathan repeated. “Seems like she likes you two.”

“People keep saying that,” I muttered softly. Lily heard and rolled her eyes.

“Car should be ready in another hour,” she said. “Jon has kindly offered us a good bit of food and a map of the area.”

“Ordnance survey from when the kids wanted to go camping,” Jonathan said with a roughness to his voice that hadn’t been there a moment ago.

“As much as I appreciate the gesture,” I lied. “I’m not certain how much use a car will be to us. The roads are full of the undead.”

“This valley’s enclosed,” Jonathan said. “One way in or out by road and if you follow it all the way north you’ll pass by Derwent water and come to Keswick.”

“The town that Toby mentioned,” Lily said. “That road, the A591 or whatever leads right there. Sort of.”

“What do you mean?”

“That road will meet this one,” Jonathan said with a gesture to the lone road. “But the A591 curves around before splitting to the east and north-west.”

“How does that help us?”

“Well I’ve been north,” Jonathan said. “Where those roads meet was an almighty pile of wrecked cars and trucks.”

“The zombies can’t go into the town,” Lily said with an excitement that I didn’t quite see the need for. “They all mill around a bit and then move off to the east.”

“There’s a couple of roads that lead almost around the town but you’ll need to travel through at least part of it. After that, the road will be mainly clear all the way out to the coast.”

Lily looked at me and smiled brightly. It was hard not to respond in kind but I still had doubts. If nothing else we would have something that needed killing at least.

“You go tell the others while we finish up here,” she said. “Take your new friend with you.”

I glanced down at the dog who looked back and even gave its tail a quick wag. I exhaled a sigh and left her to it, the animal following behind.

Gregg seemed excited by the news and ran off to tell the girls while I went in search of Pat. I eventually found him standing on the small dock and staring out across the still water. He didn’t seem to notice my approach until my feet made the wooden boards of the dock vibrate. He glanced back over his shoulder and saw that it was me.

“Not in the mood mate,” he said quietly. “Not now.”

“In the mood for what?”

“For you,” he said. I could detect some anger in his tone and I wasn’t sure what the source was.

“Why not?”

“Oh for fu… fine. You want me to tell you,” he snapped as he twisted to face me and jabbed at my chest with one finger, his face screwed up in anger. “I’m still pissed at you.”

“You are? What for?”

“Really? You really don’t get it do you?” he shook his head and spat onto the boards at our feet. “That nonsense back on the trip to Coniston, leaving Jenny in the woods tied up and alone. For being the world’s biggest prick who doesn’t even see how much people give a damn about him. Take your pick.”

“Jenny was infected and looked like she would turn anyway,” I said. “We were attacked by hundreds of zombies, what would you expect me to do?”

“That’s the thing you’re confused about?” he visibly uncurled his hands that had formed into fists and stepped back away from me. “I get it mate, I really do. You’re a killer and that’s what you bloody love to be.”

“Yes,” I wasn’t sure of the point he was making so I tried to pay attention and concentrate on what he was saying.
      

“That’s what you care about and not the rest of us. You think of yourself and that’s it,” he sighed and looked away. “You never think to ask any of us about what we want do you? About what we’re concerned about.”

“Gregg is so fucking miserable these days that he volunteered to go and babysit a cellar full of zombies for you. Lily, the woman who loves you, is tearing herself up inside trying to forget the men she had to kill, Cass is pregnant and terrified of what that will bring and me… I’m going to become a father in the middle of the zombie bloody apocalypse and I am beyond terrified.”

He looked at me again and his eyes were red-rimmed and I was fairly sure it was turning from anger to upset. I had a brief wish that Lily was with me, she understood this sort of thing in ways I couldn’t. She’d know what to do.

“I need a friend,” he said. “We all need a friend. You go around as if you don’t have a care in the world except for when you can’t find someone to fucking kill. Our world has collapsed around us and you’re having fun. It’s not good enough anymore, I’ve had enough of it.”

“What are you saying?”

“Of course, I need to bloody explain it to you,” he said. “You need to do more for us. You need to work on being part of the group. We appreciate your ability to kill the zombies and believe me when I say we are grateful for the times you’ve saved our lives. It can’t continue though.”

He seemed to be genuinely upset so I considered my words carefully before I spoke. I needed to say something that would bring him back on side. The last thing I wanted to be bothered with was all this emotional nonsense every five minutes.

“You’re right,” I began and he blinked, apparently surprised at the admission. “I’ve never had friends before so I don’t know how to be a good one. This emotion stuff… I can’t always grasp and by the time I figure it out, it’s well past the time it would have been useful to know.”

“This new world is fun for me,” I paused and reconsidered what I was about to say. “Not just because of the killing but because for the first time in my life I can be the real me. More to the point, I don’t have to hide who I am around the rest of you and that, to me is something incredibly precious.”

I risked a glance at him, a flick of the eyes to gauge his reaction and as best I could tell, he was considering what I’d said. I thought back to the time before the end of everything when I had to pretend more often so I could blend in with the world.

“All of this comes easy to the rest of you but for me it is hard, incredibly hard at times,” I said. “I will try, though.”

“That’s all I ask mate,” he said. “I’m not asking to sit around a fire and talk about our feelings every night, but you know… be a mate sometimes.”

“I get you,” I said and resolved to tell Lily about the conversation later. She could probably explain what I needed to do to be a better friend.

Pat smiled, a genuine smile for the first time since he’d fallen out with me in the forest on the way to Coniston. He opened his mouth to say something and stopped as he saw my shadow sat on the dock behind me.

“When did you get a dog?” he asked with surprise.

Chapter 8 - Lily

Pat lifted the last heavy bag into the back of the range rover and slammed shut the door with a bang. I glanced in to see how much room was left and couldn’t help the frown that formed. Perhaps there was a little more than we needed after all.

The interior was all vinyl covered seats and plastic dashboard. It was likely twenty-five years old at least and wasn’t the luxury vehicle that the most modern versions were. There was space in the front for the driver and a passenger while the seat immediately behind would hold three people. That left space for one person to sit uncomfortably in the back cargo area with the boxes of root vegetables while our backpacks had been strapped to the roof rack. Definitely not comfortable for anyone but better than walking.

“We good to go?” Gregg asked as our little group gathered around. I looked at each of them in turn and realised just how much I loved each of them.

Pat helped Cass into the back seat to sit beside Becky as Gregg eyed the rear compartment as though he already knew he would be the one required to sit there. I smiled at him fondly, he was always so willing to put himself out so that the rest of us could be comfortable.

Becky had wound down the window and was tapping her hand against the dirty grey door, beating out some half-remembered tune on its weathered surface. I grinned openly as I caught sight of Ryan standing off to one side staring down into the limpid brown eyes of the gorgeous Alsatian pup that had taken a shine to him. He seemed to be locked in a battle of wills and his face was showing his confusion as he realised he was losing.

“I’ll drive first if no one minds,” I said.

“Fine by me,” Pat said as he climbed in beside his girlfriend. Gregg sighed as his gaze switched between the passenger seat, rear compartment and Ryan. He opened his mouth and then closed it before he let out a sigh and climbed in the back.

“Ryan?” I said and he glanced over at me. “Time to go.”

“Finally,” he muttered.

As he turned to walk around the range rover, he paused and looked up at the hills above us. Jinx, who had risen to follow him, stared in the same direction and a low growl issued from her. I followed their example and tried to see what they had noticed.

“What is it?” Becky asked and I shrugged.

“We in danger?” I asked him as I strode over to stand beside him.

“Yes,” was all he said as his hand moved to the knife at his belt.

“What is it?”

“You can’t see it?” he asked before shaking his head and pointing up to the hill top. “There, between that large boulder and the scraggly bush. You see it?”

I peered up at the area he had directed me to and was about to shake my head in the negative when what I had taken for a shadow, moved.

“Is that a person?”

“No, zombie,” he said.

“You sure?”

“Yes.”

“It’s not doing anything though,” I protested. “Just standing up there.”

“I can’t be sure but I think it’s following us,” he said. His muscles tensed as I placed one hand on his arm, afraid he would set off up the hill after it.

“What makes you think that?”

“Why else would it be up there?” he asked. “Our route along the river wasn’t hard to follow and for something tireless and willing to walk all night…”

“You think it’s that one eyed one from back near the island?”

I looked at him as though he were insane as his head moved just a fraction in a nod. I honestly didn’t know what to say to him and was saved from having to speak, by Jonathan and Mary coming to join us.

“Everything ok?” Mary asked as she handed over a large flask that I fervently hoped held hot tea.

“Zombie,” Ryan said with a tilt of his head to the older couple. Jonathan followed his gaze and his face wrinkled as he squinted to try and see.

“You sure?” he asked.

“Why does everyone ask that?” he asked with some irritation edging his tone.

“Be calm,” I whispered.

“It should follow us,” Ryan said to the older couple. “Keep watch for it leaving and be on your guard.”

“Aye we will,” Jonathan said.

“You best get going dear,” Mary said and hesitated before adding, “When you get up there and find the navy. Ask around for our son. If he’s there, tell him we’re safe.”