War of the Dead Read online

  He was shorter than I’d expected but carried an air of authority with him. He was clearly used to command and getting his own way, judging by the stubborn gleam in his eye and the set of his jaw. He was ready for an argument and expected to win.

  Thickset like an older man who had spent long years being physically fit but couldn’t quite escape the middle-aged spread as he’d gotten older. He wore the same fatigues as the rest of us though his insignia of rank was prominent.

  “So,” he said in that same rough voice I had heard in the basement. “You’re awake.”

  “It would seem to,” I agreed pleasantly.

  He wore a sidearm, much like the one I had been wearing before I woke up in the meeting room. No wonder he felt we were no threat. Just the three of us, unarmed and him with a holstered gun.

  “Where are my people?”

  “You’re people? You mean those cultist freaks?”

  “Are they alive?”

  “For the moment.”

  That was something then. An open war between the CDF and the Dead was something I really wanted to avoid, even if I had come perilously close to starting one by bringing them into the facility in the first place.

  “What the hell are you doing to the people here?” I demanded.

  He just gave me a long, hard stare and mentally dismissed me as he leant back against the wall and folded large arms across his broad chest. I stared at him, nonplussed for a moment and then Cass decided to try to get answers.

  “As a member of the government that you claim to serve, I demand you give us some answers.”

  “What are you? Oh yeah, minister of bloody education and keeping people occupied.” He grunted a short bark of laughter. “I don’t answer to you.”

  “I shall be bringing this before the rest of them…”

  “If you survive.”

  His casual threat cut her off completely and she stared at him in shock. She had a daughter, who was surely in the forefront of her mind just then. I could empathise.

  “Colonel,” Lou tried. “What is your reason for detaining us?”

  “Minister Shahid will be here shortly,” he said with a look down at the watch he wore. “Any minute now in fact.”

  So, he was waiting for her to give the order then. I couldn’t decide whether that made him a smart man or just stupid but loyal. Either way, it meant that our fate was still to be decided and from the one meeting I’d had with her, I was pretty sure it wouldn’t go in our favour.

  I turned back to the window, presenting my back to him so that I could show that I wasn’t scared of him in the slightest and gently turned Cass with me. She gave me a questioning look and I spoke, softly so that just she could hear.

  “Do you still sew a pocket into all of your clothes?”

  She rolled her eyes and said, “Yeah, why?” then realisation came and she let out a short burst of breath. “Risky.”

  “It’s the only chance we’ll get.”

  “Give me the word,” she said after a moments thought. “Will be like old times.”

  “You know it, sister.”

  Her smile was radiant as she leant in and wrapped me in a quick hug.

  “I like the sound of that.”

  “Me too.”

  “Christ above,” Colonel Smith said. “If I wanted to hear this sort of nonsense I’d have stayed home with the wife. Sit down and shut the hell up!”

  I waited just long enough to show that I wasn’t cowed by him and then went to sit at the table. The last thing I wanted was to give him an excuse to bring more people into the room.

  As I sat, I reached behind me and tried to check the small pocket sewn into the inside waistband of my jeans. Then I smiled as I felt it and was assured it was still there.

  We waited in silence, the colonel watching us and glaring balefully. Cass fidgeted with her fingers on the table before her, seemingly unable to keep them still, while Lou sat stoically, face drawn like a man who was waiting for his death. Which he likely was.

  I was almost relieved when the door opened and Shahid walked in. The tension in the room was practically unbearable by that point and I was itching to find out what the hell was going on.

  She paused and looked at each of us in turn as the door was pulled shut behind her. With a shake of her head, she crossed the room to sit at the head of the table, forcing the three of us to turn so that we could face her.

  No doubt she considered it a power move, putting her ahead in whatever little twisted game of politics she was playing with us. In truth, it simply made her look weak.

  Admiral Stuart commanded a room simply by being in it, while Ryan, when he wanted your attention, would seize it. Neither of them would resort to playing silly games of one-upmanship.

  “You made a mistake coming here,” Shahid said without any introduction.

  “What are you doing here?” Cass demanded. “Who else knows about this?”

  “I have the backing of the First Minister. That’s all you need to be aware of.”

  “You’re creating zombies,” I said. “Worse than that, you’re creating Reapers and killing people to do it!”

  Cass stared at me, mouth hanging open as she heard that. I wished I’d been able to take the time to tell her but it hadn’t been possible.

  “Please!” Shahid said, her mouth twisting in disgust. “You think we can afford to feed people in a prison? Don’t be naïve.”

  “They are still people! The one chance we have of surviving this whole mess is if we look after each other. We’re all that’s left of the human bloody race!”

  “No! They committed crimes and as such have proven themselves not worth saving. No one will miss them and we simply cannot afford to hold them indefinitely.”

  Seeing no real way of changing her mind there, I chose another tack.

  “Why are you keeping so many zombies?”

  “We need to understand them,” she said quite simply. “To study them.”

  “But why?”

  “We need a cure, or perhaps a vaccine would be more appropriate.”

  That shouldn’t have surprised me but it did. A vaccine. A way to avoid being turned into a zombie when you died. That was something that we would need if we ever wanted to do more than just survive.

  “Reapers too,” Colonel Smith said gruffly. “We know what’s happening on the mainland. What we’ve faced so far is mild compared to the chaos that will come next. The war of the dead has barely started and we need a way to end it.”

  “If we can find a weakness, a way to kill them all without endangering those of us who remain,” Shahid said in a tone that was almost pleading. “We will have a chance at rebuilding.”

  “But until then,” I finished for her. “We have too many people and not enough resources for them all.”

  “Yes.”

  “So why aren’t we already dead or in one of the cages in the basement?”

  She hesitated then and her mask of steely competence dropped away revealing a woman who was tired beyond belief and bearing the burdens of our entire race on her shoulders.

  “We need you.”

  “For what?”

  I could guess, but I needed her to spell it out.

  “These… Deadmen. They listen to you, yes?”

  “They do.”

  “We need them out of the town.”

  I looked at her, confusion clear on my face and then turned to Cass who gave a slight shrug of her shoulders.

  “Why?” I asked, turning back to Shahid.

  “We need them to leave, just for a short time. There’s a boat down at the harbour that will take them out to sea where they can wait.”

  A simple enough request but I just didn’t trust her. She’d given no real reason why and the only ones I could think of were decidedly unpleasant.

  “No,” I said, finally. “I don’t think so.”

  Shahid glared but I didn’t blink or look away. She nodded, slowly, and turned to Colonel Smith.

 
“Move the plan up. Have your people in position for containment and make sure the crowd in front of the sports centre is as large as possible.”

  “Yes, ma’am.”

  He pushed himself away from the wall and strode quickly from the room as I gawped at the minister. I had a sudden suspicion of what they were planning to do and hoped to God that I was wrong.

  “You can’t do this!”

  “We have no choice,” she said. “There are too many people here and the vast majority of those who will be of little use in rebuilding society are here in the town.”

  She rose from the desk and gave me a look of pity.

  “It would have been easier to blame those deadmen if they had been away from the town. As it is, we can still make it work.”

  I reached behind my back, two fingers slipping into that hidden pocket. I could feel the cold metal beneath my fingers and was about to pull it free when the door opened and four men with cattle prods walked in.

  “See them to the cells. After tonight no one will question their absence.”

  I held up my hands, offering no resistance as they came for us. We couldn’t fight them all and we needed to survive to find a way to warn everyone. More than that, I needed to be conscious and alive long enough to kill the bitch, Shahid.

  Chapter 21

  “So, you dress all in black and run around saving people?” Isaac said and I nodded slowly as I rubbed at the chafing on my wrists.

  He turned to look at my minions who were one and all still knelt down with their hands bowed and he looked back at me.

  “How do you tell who is who?” he asked. “I mean, there could be anyone under those hoods.”

  “I know!” I was perhaps a little too irritated by his observation. “I’ve considered that myself and will be changing things. When I get time.”

  “You should find time, mate. It’s a real security issue.”

  “Thanks for the input.”

  He grinned and shrugged his broad shoulders as he turned to walk across to where their packs had been piled beside the pallet of stacked bags that were so important to them. My own weapons and those of my minions had been dumped on the ground beside them.

  Isaac reached into one of the heavy packs and pulled out a couple of silver pouches. He held one up and cocked an eyebrow as he asked, “You want one?”

  “Sure,” I said and he gestured me over to join him.

  I was well aware of the way Dawn’s eyes followed me as I moved towards our weapons and I made a point of stopping well clear of them as I took one of the offered pouches.

  “Nothing too exciting,” Isaac said. “MRE’s taste like shit but they fill you up at least.”

  “MRE?”

  “Meal ready to eat. Standard fare for the soldier on the go,” he replied with a grin. “Normally we’d heat them up first but time is short and I need some answers.”

  “Cold is fine,” I said as I tore open the pack to reveal some unappealing brown coloured goop.

  “Chilli.” Isaac passed me a plastic spoon and tore open his own pouch. “Means I get the spaghetti. Good times.”

  After a few days of eating mainly dried fish, I wasn’t ashamed to admit that I was looking forward to the taste of anything else. Even brown goop that looked entirely unappetizing. I dug my spoon in and tried my first bite.

  “Good, yeah?”

  “I’ve eaten worse stuff this past year,” I admitted as I chewed thoughtfully. “Not much though.”

  His bark of laughter was short and seemed genuine. He seated himself on the stacked sacks and dug into his own food as I worked through mine methodically.

  “Twenty-five thousand or more people, huh? That’s a bloody good achievement.”

  “I can’t take all the credit, though my people did help.”

  “Yeah, I’m sure. Where are you based?”

  “How about you?” I said, avoiding his question. “How many in your camp?”

  “Just a few, mate, just a few.”

  He chewed another bite of spaghetti that looked a great deal more appealing than the chilli I had and his eyes narrowed as he watched me.

  “You’ve survived a long time, you trained?”

  “No.”

  I was curious as to where he was going to lead the conversation and so was more than willing to let him do the majority of asking the questions. If nothing else, what he asked may well offer some insight into what he wanted.

  The others were openly watching us too, though Lucius kept one eye on the door and the sniper gave all her attention to her scope. It did mean my minions were being ignored which was something they had noticed and judging by the slight arm movements, were making good use of.

  “Not military then. Police? Fire?”

  “Nothing of the sort. Merely an office worker who learnt quickly.”

  “You’ve seen your share of danger though, yeah?”

  He tapped his cheek with one thumb and I smiled. I wasn’t ashamed of the scar that ran from just below my eye and down my cheek. In truth, I barely thought of any of my scars at all. Vanity had never been one of my vices.

  “The world is a dangerous place these days.”

  “True enough, mate.”

  Isaac finished his meal and screwed the pouch up before putting it back inside the pack. When I finished mine, he took it from me and did the same. Interesting behaviour, I thought as it showed he was clearly doing everything he could to avoid leaving a trace of their presence.

  That told me a lot.

  “You all seem to be in fine health,” I said. “Must have had somewhere nice and safe to hide this past year.”

  He gave me a tight-lipped smile and didn’t reply, so I pressed on with my next guess.

  “Nice gear too. Not military though, no, I think that perhaps you were once but when the zombies started to rise, you were working as mercenaries.”

  “Just kill him, Isaac,” Lucius called. “Then we can get the fuck out of here!”

  Isaac gestured curtly with one hand and his lips turned up in a smile as he nodded slowly.

  “Like I said, clever bastard.”

  “Why do you want to know where my people are based?”

  “Maybe we want to join you.”

  “I don’t think so,” I said. “There would have been easier ways to do that. I think you want something else.”

  “What?”

  “Not sure.”

  Which irritated me more than it should have. I was not used to mysteries since the world began to end. Everything had been fairly straightforward and while I had always enjoyed a good mystery, I couldn’t help but feel some irritation at so few clues.

  “Tell you what,” Isaac said. “We have no real desire to kill all your people and start a war. So how about you tell them you’re safe and well and to go back to loading your ships. That way we can go on our way without any problems and you’ll never see us again.”

  “Isaac,” Dawn said warningly and held up his hand to cut her off.

  “Sound like a deal?”

  “Works for me,” I lied.

  Whatever or whoever they were, I was pretty sure they weren’t innocents. The silently weeping woman was proof of that as there was no sign of her husband, though I suspected if we took the time to look properly we would find him somewhere near the houses.

  No, they were decidedly not innocent and I had already come to the realisation that I was going to kill them all, but not before I got some answers.

  “Isaac! We got a problem!”

  The leader of the small group of mercenaries lifted his gaze to the red-headed sniper.

  “What?”

  “Black moving in close.”

  “Well?” he asked turning back to me. “You gonna help us out?”

  “No,” I said and dived for the pile of knives.

  My hand closed around the hilt of a long-bladed knife as chaos and shouting erupted around me. I twisted and swung the blade in one smooth arc, biting deep into Isaacs' leg just as the
first shots were fired.

  The mercenary leader cursed and a woman screamed a wordless cry as the roar of an assault rifle filled the air. One of my minions lay dead, the other two fought with Dawn as Lucius fired above their heads.

  I grabbed a second knife and sprang to my feet, ducking behind a pallet and then around, trying to flank the gunman. He saw me coming and swung his rifle my way just as I threw the blade in my left hand.

  It spun end over end through the air and clattered against the metal door behind him as he jerked out of the way. The distraction gave me enough time to close the distance between us and my blade sank deep into his side.

  His eyes widened as his mouth opened and blood spilt out when I forced my blade up, beneath the ribs and into his lungs. I pulled the assault rifle from his unresisting grasp and spun around.

  A second minion was down and the third received a blow to her midriff that sent her to her knees. Dawn clubbed her with the butt of her assault rifle for good measure and turned the barrel on me as I raised my own.

  “Hold!” Isaac yelled.

  “Got the bastard!” the red-head shouted and I risked a glance up to see the long barrel of the sniper rifle pointed directly at me.

  I grinned at her and turned my attention back towards Isaac as he struggled to hold himself upright, hand pressed to the gash I’d made in his leg.

  “Fucker,” Dawn said calmly as she lowered the barrel and fired once into Jenny’s gasping body. “How’d you like that?”

  “I honestly couldn’t care less,” I said with a shrug of my shoulders.

  “So much for wanting to save everyone.”

  “Yeah, well, that was a lie I tell them,” I admitted. “I’m really just here because I like killing people.”

  I nudged the body of Lucius with my boot as I said it and let out a bark of laughter.

  “Now the way I see it,” I continued. “My people will have heard the noise and are coming. Might be a good idea for you to lower your weapons and surrender.”

  “Or we could just fucking kill you.”

  “True, but then I wouldn’t have the chance to torture you to find out where you’re from.”

  “Fucking nutter,” Dawn snapped. “Kill him and let’s get out of here!”

  Isaac grunted and lifted the walkie from his belt. He gripped it tight and spoke just three words.