Killing The Dead (Book 15): The Gathering Storm Read online

  “Cholera.”

  “That’s diarrhoea isn’t it?” Cass asked.

  “Not just that. The biggest problem is the dehydration but it comes with rapid heart rate, muscle cramps, low blood pressure. It can and does, kill.”

  Just what we needed.

  “How did they get it?”

  “The most likely causes are contaminated water or fish and seafood that hasn’t been cooked properly.”

  “A big part of our rations,” Admiral Stuart said quietly. “What steps are you taking to stop this from spreading?”

  The poor woman just shook her head at that. She looked weary beyond words with dark circles around her eyes and sallow skin. Her unwashed hair had been tied up in a messy bun and her clothes had been worn for several days. Likely slept in too.

  She was overworked and had little help and that was just dealing with the usual problems that people came up with each day. An outbreak of cholera could be the breaking point for her.

  “What can we do to help you,” I said.

  “Antibiotics would help with some of the worst cases but hydration is the best thing. The problem is that a lot of the people won’t realise just how bad it is or, if an entire family comes down with it, might not be able to leave to ask for help.”

  “Christ,” Lou said as he looked at the admiral with growing alarm. “If people die and turn…”

  Wonderful.

  “Lou,” I said and he turned back to me. “Break off as many of the CDF soldiers as you can and have them go door to door. We need to make sure we get help to those who need it and contain anyone who has this.”

  “Yes, ma’am.”

  “I need more supplies,” the doctor said. “Vitamins, antibiotics, even just saline. Anything and everything really.”

  “We’ll add them to our list,” Admiral Stuart said taking out a pen and scrawling on the pad before him.

  “Minister Shepherd has promised to have some basic census data for us in a few days,” I added. “As soon as we have that, we can begin assigning people for training.”

  “Will all due respect, ma’am. I don’t have time to train anyone.”

  “I understand that but we have the medics and anyone with even basic first aid training can be of help to you, yes?”

  “Yes. Thank you.”

  She rose and nodded a farewell before turning on her heel and walking from the council chamber. Despite her weariness, she kept her head up and made an effort to offer thanks to the soldier who opened the door for her.

  “We need to get her some help or she’ll burn out and we’ll be in real trouble,” Cass said as she watched the doctor leave.

  “Add it to the list of things we need to do,” I replied with a bitter laugh. “Item one thousand and ninety-eight, find the doctor more help.”

  She placed a hand on mine and smiled as I looked at her. She understood my bitterness and no doubt felt the same way, she just managed to hide it better. I shook my head and waved her away.

  “I’m sorry. I’m just tired.”

  “Of course,” Admiral Stuart said. “We can finish another time.”

  “No. Might as well do this now. I have a meeting in an hour that I need to attend.”

  I pressed my hand against my stomach at that thought and couldn’t quite shake the worry. It was always the same when I went for a checkup. I was terrified I would hear something had happened to my babies and I honestly didn’t know how I would cope with that.

  There was so much to do each day and more and more, I was finding that I couldn’t fix most of the problems that were arising. Worse than that was the fact that I could clearly see some bigger issues building on the horizon and when they arrived we would be truly fucked.

  I hadn’t yet come up with a way to avoid them either.

  The doors opened and a tall woman with an angular face and determined look in her eyes strode in. Her long dress was almost comical in the manner it covered her from neck to ankle and I swallowed down my mocking laughter.

  I was becoming far too bitter and cynical.

  “Miss… Mason, is it?” Cass said. “How can we help you?”

  The woman stopped several feet from where we sat and smoothed down the skirts of her dress as she turned her head, looking at each of us in turn. Finally, she harrumphed and tilted her head back, lifting her chin so that she could stare down her nose at us.

  “We demand to know when you are removing those cultists.”

  “And why would we do that?” I asked with a sideways look at Cass. “They have done nothing but fight and die for us.”

  “They are a death cult! Their very presence is an affront to the right-minded men and women of this island.”

  I had to wonder if in her mind the right-minded people were just the religious zealots who had gathered together under one united banner, or if she meant everyone else too.

  “We have told you before and nothing has changed. All are welcome here, whether you approve of their beliefs or not.”

  “They are heretics and are not welcome!”

  “By you, perhaps, but plenty of others are more than happy to have them here.”

  I glanced at Cass as she said that. It was a slight exaggeration but still an exaggeration. While the Dead were not quite as reviled since the battle when they had held off the horde of undead, they were still not universally loved.

  Still, they had quite a few new recruits and that was likely a part of why some of the more religious-minded were upset. The major religions had never really learned how to play well with other members of their own sects let alone outsiders.

  “As we speak, the Dead are training to fight the zombies that seem determined to try and wipe humanity out of existence,” I said, surprisingly calmly considering the growing anger I was feeling for the irritating woman. “While you and your people are spending your days in prayer or talking about how upsetting they are.”

  She sniffed loudly and I set my jaw and clenched my hands into fists as I fought down the urge to rise up and slap the stupid out of her.

  “We will not tolerate this!”

  “You are welcome to leave!”

  Her eyes widened at that and her cheeks reddened as she sputtered some reply that I didn’t catch as the blood thundered in my ears and I glared down at her.

  “Listen well for I shall not repeat this. We are almost all that remains of humanity and when this war with the undead is over and we rebuild our world, we will not simply repeat the mistakes of the past. If you want to believe in your god then you are welcome to do so but you will not force your beliefs on others.”

  I gave her one final glare and added, “if the Dead can grasp this, then so can you.”

  She stared at me open-mouthed for a moment and then spun about, before stalking angrily from the room. The soldier that opened the door for her smirked as he did so and I sensed approval from him.

  Not that it should matter, but it did. It was nice to know someone out there wasn’t intent to be against me.

  “You should be careful,” Cass said warningly. “the True Believers are a growing faction.”

  “I have no intention of suppressing peoples beliefs but I will not tolerate them being imposed on those who don’t believe the same,” I said sourly and then sucked in a deep breath before turning to the others. “I’m sorry. It’s been a trying few weeks.”

  “No apology necessary, ma’am,” Lou said with a kind smile and the others murmured agreement.

  “What’s next?”

  A clerk came in with a depressing listing of our current stocks and he was followed by the spokesman for the fishermen with a request for leave for the crews of the fishing boats. It was granted since they worked damned hard but even the extra day I gave them would mean an almost six per cent drop in our stocks.

  We needed more food, more supplies and more trained people. I was almost at the point of hoping that we did lose some people from the cholera outbreak as it would mean fewer mouths to feed.

&nb
sp; “One more thing,” Admiral Stuart said and I rubbed at my eyes and looked his way.

  “What is it?”

  He passed over a map and I glanced at it and then back at him with one raised eyebrow.

  “What’s this?”

  “The Isle of Man,” he said in that same, quietly confident voice of his. “With the limited reconnaissance that we could perform we have established three likely landing locations.”

  “These triangles?” Cass asked, pointing at the triangles inked on the map in black.

  “Yes.” The corner of his mouth turned up in a slight smile. “We will land there and establish our beachheads. Our engineers will raise defences around them and once secure, we will begin our march inland.”

  “What are these circles for?” I asked and his smile grew.

  “Storage depots. Some of them would have been looted but many of them should be untouched.”

  “Food supplies,” I mused. That would help.

  “You can see that each of the towns are marked with a letter and number. A, B and C, for the three battalions that will be moving through them and securing them in order.”

  “Very good,” I said. “When can you launch?”

  The Admiral looked over at Lou who nodded, some unspoken agreement passing between them.

  “A week, two at the most.”

  “So soon?” Cass asked, surprised. “We’re ready then?”

  “Almost. I have a list of the resources we will need to accomplish this and I will warn you now, it’s not going to please you.”

  He passed over another piece of paper and my eyebrows rose almost up to my hairline as I read it. Not please me was an understatement. It was a great deal of our available resources to spend on one mission.

  Not that we had much choice, but if those food depots he had marked didn’t contain the supplies he hoped then we would have cut our four months of rations down to two for nothing. Although, that growing cynical part of me thought callously, if we lost even half of the three thousand CDF soldiers he was allocating to the assault, we would have fewer mouths to feed anyway.

  “Two weeks,” I said softly. “We will go then.”

  Cass looked at me and I could see the understanding in her eyes. Two weeks would be more than enough time for Ryan and Gregg to return. Two weeks to get them back to me just in time for me to send him away with his acolytes to be at the head of the assault.

  I hated the thought of sending him into danger straight away but I honestly believed that with him leading his people we would have a better chance of actually winning the fight.

  But for that to happen, he needed to get home to me, to us and some small part of my mind had begun to think that wouldn’t happen.

  Chapter 14

  “This was your stupid idea,” Gregg said as he threw all of his weight against the door. “Oh, it’ll be fine, mate. We’ll draw some of them off and use them. Muppet!”

  I couldn’t really argue the point as I stabbed at the hands that were blocking the door from closing. One by one, they were pushed back and the door slammed shut, allowing Gregg to turn the key.

  We backed away from it, watching it carefully as it shook from the weight of the bodies pressed against it, their withered hands slamming on the wood. I flashed him a grin and wiped the sweat from my face with my sleeve.

  “Could be worse.”

  “How the hell could it be worse?”

  He had a point.

  My oh, so cunning plan to draw a few of the undead away from the small community had not gone as expected. Rather than the few dozen I intended to use later, we had almost half of them. That was, by my estimate, around a thousand zombies following us.

  Now, that wouldn’t necessarily have been a problem. They were slow and stupid after all. But then, apparently, my speed wasn’t what it had been before. After just a short time my foot was sending stabbing pain up into my leg with every step and my ribs ached as my breath came in gasps.

  All too soon we began to slow and the zombies gained on us. Then we came to Aberfeldy.

  A small market town with a couple of thousand people before the end of the world. Apparently, many of them were still in the town. Not in great shape, admittedly, but still kicking around and they responded to our arrival in typical zombie fashion.

  “Where the hell are we anyway?” Gregg asked as he kept a wary eye on the door.

  “Looks like…” I switched on my torch and shone it around the darkened room, seeing racks full of tins. “Paint.”

  “Paint?”

  “Yeah, tins of the stuff.”

  “Great! Just once I’d like to take refuge in a bloody gun shop!”

  I wasn’t entirely sure how that would help him since any weapon shop would have been looted way back at the beginning. I moved further into the building, shining the torch around as I pushed down the irritation I was feeling.

  William hadn’t mentioned that they had left the towns alone. A year and a half sat out in their little valley and they hadn’t bothered to clear the surrounding small towns and villages. I got that not everyone enjoyed the killing as much as I did, but as a simple measure to keep your own people safe, the eradication of any nearby zombies was a requirement for any community.

  “Not sure how long this door will last,” Gregg called. “Might want to see if there’s a back way out.”

  No doubt there would be. It was a legal requirement after all, but that didn’t mean it would be one we could use. The noise from the zombies outside would have already roused any others in the area and I had no doubt those that had been following us would be marching into town right at that moment.

  It was highly likely that we were surrounded, but I still needed to check. However, I was not going to be so foolish as to open the back door without checking first. The building we were in had two floors and was built of a solid stone with a grey slate roof.

  The windows had shutters pulled down over them and the front door had been open. With the key in the door and the shutters closed, my best guess was that the shop's owner had been in the process of opening up when attacked, likely early morning.

  That at least would mean that we were secure for the moment. Giving the zombies time to surround us fully, I thought with a touch of amusement.

  We were close to the centre of the small market town and as such, were not in a great position. It hadn’t helped that the only crossing point we could see had led directly into the town and with the small horde chasing us for the better part of the day, we’d not had much choice but to risk the town, foolishly assuming that being close to William and his people, they would have cleared out the worst of the zombies.

  “This door goes upstairs.”

  I glanced over to where Gregg stood beside a plain wooden door and gave a half shrug of my shoulders at his unasked question. We didn’t have much in the way of options.

  Gregg led the way as I limped up after him. The carpeted stairs were showing stains and I suspected that we would find something unpleasant waiting for us above. I pulled free my knife and grabbed his arm before gesturing for him to do the same.

  He paused at the top of the steps and pressed his ear against the door. “No noise.”

  “After you then.”

  He glowered at my grin but reached for the handle anyway. I lifted the torch and shined it directly at the doorway so that when the door swung open he’d have light. He turned the handle and pushed, taking a step back and raising his knife as the door swung inwards.

  A foul odour washed over us and I wrinkled my nose. Dust and mildew with the old stench of death and rotting food. Not a pleasant aroma at all.

  Gregg crept forward, his head moving constantly as he searched for potential threats and I limped after him.

  The condition of the small apartment above the shop suggested my theory was right. Dishes sat in the sink waiting to be washed, the dried on food long since reduced mould. A large part of the foul odour was coming from the kitchen bin and fridge.
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br />   As the power had cut out and the freezer compartment began to dissolve, the water had escaped and pooled beneath the fridge freezer, spreading across the floor to meet that from the overflowing sink.

  It had likely been some time before the water cut off and the apartment had been utterly flooded with water seeping down between the floorboards and soaking the carpet. Those floorboards were warped and unstable and the smell of mildew was definitely coming mainly from the carpet.

  Each step we took sent up puffs of dust and likely mould spores. I covered my mouth as best I could and crossed to the window. Once there, I threw open the curtains and let light stream into the room.

  Gregg moved over to the bathroom and pulled open the door. He recoiled from it, skipping back across the floor and raising his knife as he cried out.

  “You good?”

  He leant forward, peering into the bathroom, knife still raised and slowly nodded. “Yeah, yeah mate I am.”

  “What is it?”

  I crossed over to join him and he just gestured into the room and I let out a low chuckle.

  “You don’t see that every day.”

  The man had likely been the first one bitten as he opened up the shop. His partner, doing the dishes, would have rushed to help him as he staggered into the flat, hand pressed against the wound in his neck.

  She’d left the tap running, which accounted for the water damage, because by the time she’d reached him in the bathroom he had already begun to turn. Once he did, he had torn open her throat and in their struggle, kicked the door shut.

  Somehow, they had become wedged between the sink and the bath and stuck, slowly rotted over the past year and a half. With no food to sustain the parasites within them, they had begun to decay. Slowly, still, but faster than those that fed upon the living.

  Their insides had liquified and exited their bodies, pooling on the bathroom floor and seeping down between the floorboards. Their skin had begun to congeal as they rotted and in the little room, with no air movement and likely the radiator on full, they had sort of morphed into one mass of rotting flesh.

  Gregg gagged and turned away, pressing his hand over his mouth as the empty eye sockets of one of the heads opened at the sound of my voice. Its jaw moved, some dark remnant of a tongue poking out.