Killing The Dead (Book 17): Siege Read online

  The helicopter was huge, larger than the one that Gregg and I had flown in towards the first ship out in a storm not dissimilar to the one that we were in right then. Painted slate grey, with a flattened nose and twenty odd meters in length, it certainly seemed formidable.

  I left the two men arguing quietly, pleased that I had ensured my friend would at least survive. As I watched Briony once more, I felt a quickening in my blood as the realisation that I might not, occurred to me.

  It was beyond thrilling and I had to force myself to breathe normally.

  A short distance beyond the helicopter pad, we found the first body. A Genpact mercenary by the look, wearing full body-armour over grey fatigues and a heavy coat. His throat had been ripped out, assault rifle left lying on the deck.

  There was no damage to the skull that I could see but he had not reanimated. His eyes stared up at the sky as the blood slowly spread beneath him. It seemed that I was right and the two parasites had either destroyed each other or were stalemated as they battled for control.

  Even so, I jammed my blade into his skull just to be sure.

  “You do not want the gun?” Briony asked as I moved on past the dead man.

  “No.”

  I knew that answer would likely frustrate her and I smiled, hurrying my steps as more bodies began to appear out of the storm.

  Two of Briony’s, judging by the lack of protective clothing and the ice clinging to their bodies. The bullet holes in their heads were a good indicator too.

  We pushed on towards the control tower, headed for the bulkhead door that led inside. I grabbed the handle and pulled, grunting at the weight as the wind pushed against it. I gestured for Briony to lead the way and followed her in.

  With my knives in hand, we moved along the corridor, following the sounds of gunfire and stepping over the bodies that littered the floor. The stench of gunpowder filled the air along with a haze of smoke.

  Several of my minions were down and more of Briony’s people. The mercenaries were retreating, corridor by corridor, using their assault rifles to good effect. Here and there we found a dead merc, but the majority of the bodies were ours and I wondered if I had miscalculated.

  Briony’s hand shot out, grabbing me and pulling me back as a burst of gunfire filled the adjoining corridor. A high-pitched shriek sounded and a brief smile touched Briony’s face.

  “Come,” she said. “The battle line is near.”

  I scowled at her giving me instructions but followed her anyway, moving slowly, well aware that she would make a useful shield should anyone fire upon us.

  One of her people was feeding on a mercenary and she hissed at him as we passed. He leapt to his feet and ran ahead, blood coating his face and hands.

  We arrived at the control room as the last of the mercenaries died and I pouted a little, as I realised that I had missed most of the fighting by babysitting, Briony. Thirteen of my own minions remained and only three of Briony’s.

  I surveyed the large room for a moment before I grinned and called out loudly to my minions.

  “Kill the Infected now.”

  Chapter 25

  She lashed out with one hand and I blocked it with my left, striking at her with the blade I held in my right. Briony hissed at me, as she jerked her head to one side and leapt back, long-fingered hand lashing out, tearing through the soft flesh of one of my minion’s throat.

  The others, obeyed my order and leapt on the few remaining Infected, knives rising and falling as they delivered a final death.

  “Just you now,” I said with a grin.

  My minions turned from the bloody remnants of the Infected and I let out a laugh. She had nowhere to go and I could take my time in finding the most fun way to kill her.

  Briony hissed once more, the sound like that of a snake and then turned, running straight towards the control consoles. She leapt, crashing through the glass windows and dropping out of sight.

  I stared after her with an open mouth.

  “Well… that was unexpected.” I looked at the minions, standing there confused. “Well? Go after her!”

  Most ran for the doors while a couple attempted to climb through the broken window. While it wasn’t a sheer drop to the deck below, it wasn’t an easy climb down at the best of times. In the middle of a snowstorm it could only be foolishly dangerous.

  I made my own leisurely way down the stairs. I was pretty sure that she wouldn’t flee far. She still needed the information I had, and I’d seen her strength. She’d just ripped a man's throat out without even seeming to try.

  No, she would find a battleground more to her liking and take out my minions before finding a way to make me talk. It would just about make up for my missing out on killing the mercenaries, I reasoned.

  As I walked down the corridor to the bulkhead door that led outside, I paused and picked up the assault rifle that had been dropped by a mercenary as he died. It seemed simple enough to use and looked much like the ones I had used before.

  I made sure the safety catch was off and cradled it in my arms as I pushed open the door and stepped out into the storm.

  A scream sounded above me and a black-garbed body hit the deck with a thump. I looked up in time to leap forward, dropping into a roll and coming up with assault rifle raised. Briony hit the deck where I had been standing.

  Her coat had been cast aside and I saw the changes that had been wrought by her infection. The way her torso had lengthened, the black veins that ran across her grey skin. She held her arms outstretched, mouth opening wide as she howled her rage at my betrayal.

  I pulled the trigger.

  The bullets peppered her torso and she staggered back, seeming to hold herself upright by force of will as I emptied the entire clip into her.

  “Should have aimed for our head,” she said and laughed, mockingly.

  I tossed the gun to one side and pulled out my knives. A headshot probably wouldn’t have worked and besides, the germ of a plan that had been forming had blossomed into something truly exciting and I had no intention of killing her straight away.

  She leapt at me, hands flashing out as I ducked, dropping to the deck and rolling away, coming back up to my feet as she flew past me. I lashed out, blades cutting deep and yet still she laughed.

  “We cannot die.”

  Briony threw a punch, and my arm came up, brushing it aside. It felt like hitting concrete and I grunted at the burst of pain in my forearm. I ducked the next blow, booted foot kicking out. Knee, hip and then stomach, three quick blows that had her stagger back, just a little.

  The blood had stopped flowing from the bullet wounds and I swore as I danced back, away from another wild swing. I’d hoped she would bleed for longer, weakening her. As it was, she was still way too strong for me to risk rushing in.

  My only advantage was the months of almost constant training in anything combat related. She had power, yes, but she was still a research scientist and not a fighter. I, well, I was a killer and a damned good one.

  A minion ran in, knife raised, and she batted her aside without even turning her attention away from me. Even I could admit that was quite impressive.

  The deck was slick with snow and ice and I wasn’t entirely sure of my footing as I rushed in, spinning away at the last moment to avoid her punch and slamming my knives into her back. Which was when my footing gave way and I ended up sliding across the deck without my weapons.

  “We will enjoy turning you,” she said as she approached and I realised that I had miscalculated.

  She couldn’t kill me, because she needed the information that I had but she could make me one of her infected slaves, which would not be something I would enjoy. I didn’t very much like taking orders at the best of times.

  I scrambled to my feet and set off running towards the helicopter as more of my minions raced to join the fight. I let them distract her long enough to get to Gregg and Isaac.

  “The hell’s going on?” Isaac snapped as I came running up. “Wha
t’ve you done, Clever Bastard?”

  “It’s under control,” I snapped as I slid to a stop. “But I need a knife. Now!”

  Gregg pulled his free and handed it to me just as Briony came bounding up. She leapt a good seven feet and then howled as I ducked low but thrust the knife up high. Blood sprayed across the deck as she came crashing down and I spun to face her.

  “Surely that’s enough to keep you down,” I said as she struggled to rise.

  Briony was doing the best she could to push together the two sides of the deep gash that ran the length of her abdomen. She hissed and swiped at me with one hand as the fingers of the other sank deep into her own flesh, holding both sides together.

  I grinned as I approached her, keeping her attention on me. That way she didn’t see Isaac creeping up behind her with his heavy mallet held in both hands. He swung it high and brought it crashing down on her skull.

  Bone cracked and she slumped to the deck. I took a step forward, raising one hand to forestall another blow. I stared at her intently, concerned that he might have actually killed her and then her eyelid twitched and I released the breath I had been holding.

  “Find some way to secure her,” I said and the two men stared at me as though I were mad.

  I almost sighed as I realised that they couldn’t see the potential. The Genpact bunker was in the heart of a city. It would have been a monumental task to build it but they had the wealth and resources to accomplish it.

  More than that, with a city full of zombies above them, they were safe from prying eyes. Unless those eyes came attached to an Infected. A new type of zombie that the others feared, that they would shy away from.

  With her at my side, I could walk through that city right up to the bunker’s gates. Once there, I could make my way inside and kill each and every one of those people that had threatened my family.

  “How many of my minions remain?”

  “A handful, why?”

  “We’re going to use her to get us close to the Genpact bunker. Then, when she is no use, I will kill her.”

  “That’s the stupidest thing I’ve ever heard,” Isaac snapped. “You think the three of us, a handful of your death cult followers and this zombie woman can take on the entire Genpact base by ourselves?”

  “Yes.”

  Gregg groaned and buried his face in his hands.

  “You’re fucking nuts, Clever Bastard.”

  “Maybe, but I will do this with or without you.”

  “Better just do it, mate,” Gregg said to him. “Will be easier.”

  “He’ll get us killed!”

  “Nah. He’ll probably do as he said and actually win. It’s what he does.”

  “Aye, at a fucking price,” Isaac said with a disgusted look at the few remaining minions.

  “Send a message,” I called to Gregg. “Keep it short. Explain what we are doing and then turn off the radio. Lily’s going to be annoyed and it would be best that I avoid speaking with her for a little while.”

  I began to smile as the men set to work. Even if my plan failed, there was still the army that Lily was sending to the city. If nothing else, we would be able to prepare the way for them.

  Yes, I thought, it was going to be a fun few weeks ahead of me.

  Epilogue.

  I stood amongst the ruins of the medial centre, surrounded by the corpses of those brave soldiers and acolytes that had died to protect the rest of the island. I couldn’t seem to tear my eyes away from it.

  There, on the floor, that thing that had once been the prisoner. It was like nothing I had ever seen before and I had no idea what new hell Genpact had concocted but I was sure it wasn’t the last time they would unleash such horror on us.

  Cass walked up to stand beside me, eyes averted from the monster and a nervousness about her that I recognised as different to that which she would display around the beast.

  “What now?”

  “We’ve heard from, Gregg.”

  “They’re okay?” I asked, heart, seeming to leap to my throat.

  “Yes. They survived and the threat is over with. The mercenaries have been dealt with…”

  No more attacks on the island then. We had some respite, some time to prepare ourselves for the pirate fleet full of raiders that were about to descend on us.

  “What else?” I asked, knowing that there would be something.

  “They’ve gone ahead to the city, looking for the Genpact base.”

  My stomach lurched and I closed my eyes, shaking my head as I knew that I was about to get really quite upset.

  “And?”

  “Before the radio went dead, they said they would contact us when they were there.” She hesitated again. “They expect the army to be following behind.”

  “Knowing Ryan, he will have cut off communication?”

  “Yes, most likely.”

  “That man will be the death of me.”

  “What do we do?” she asked. “We can’t send anyone and we can’t tell them that they will be all alone.”

  “We do the best we can do defend the people of this island and hope they keep themselves alive until we can get out there to meet up with them.”

  I clenched my hands into fists and swallowed back my anger, even so, when next I spoke, my words were laced with rage.

  “Then, when we do you better bloody know that I will bloody kill him for doing this to me again!”

  Note from the Author.

  Another episode finished and I hope you enjoyed it. As you can tell, we are moving on to the finale, the end of the third season, and what an end that will be. There’s some great stuff coming and I hope you will join Ryan and Lily on the final part of this journey.

  As always, you can get updates on the Facebook page and if you have any questions or responses, by all means feel free to share them.

  Thanks for reading so far,

  Richard.