Dead Days Zombie Apocalypse Series (Season 8) Read online

  Bob had dissented. He’d been caught trying to spark tension within the ranks to boost his own stature.

  And Mattius really, really wanted to know what was going on inside that old camp where he’d left Riley to die.

  Hanging Bob’s brother over the zombie pit seemed like a perfectly viable option.

  Mattius and Ricky walked away from the window. They descended the stairs, smiling at people—citizens—as they passed.

  “And you heard back from Bob?” Mattius asked.

  Ricky nodded as they made their way outside, to the back of the main building Mattius called home. It was an old hotel, right on the edge of the woods. One of those woodland retreat kind of places. Hidden in plain sight. “The camera we strapped to him ran out of battery a few hours ago. But before it did, we saw this.”

  Ricky pulled out a tablet computer. There was a weird battery pack attached to it, and the back of the tablet had been prised away. It looked cumbersome, like one of the IT nerds had fiddled around with it using technical means that Mattius was way too old to understand. But the important thing was, it worked. They had a way of communicating.

  And Mattius was looking now at recorded video footage of…

  He saw the man pulling his fist back.

  He saw him kicking Bob’s head.

  He saw him being dragged away, frothing at the mouth like a rabid dog.

  There was no mistaking who it was, and the anger and fury in his eyes.

  Riley.

  He sensed Bob wanting to open up, as he walked slowly out towards the zombie pit. He sensed his fear, and wanting to tell Riley the truth about how he’d been sent there to spy, his brother used as leverage.

  But he didn’t.

  Of course he didn’t.

  “Oh, shit.”

  Mattius heard Ricky and he looked up, wondering what the problem was.

  It didn’t take him long to see it.

  “Damn,” Mattius said.

  Bob’s brother, Paul, was hanging over the zombie pit by his wrists.

  Somehow, the zombies had reached him. They’d stretched right up and yanked at his ankles, dragging his legs down.

  They dangled onto his legs with their teeth.

  His body had been so pulled down by the undead that it had split in the middle, stretching his skin and tearing his intestines out.

  The look on Paul’s gagged face was one of fear. Total fear.

  He hadn’t turned yet. It must have only happened recently.

  “Well, that is a shame,” Mattius said, as the zombies feasted away on Paul. “A real shame. Make sure none of those zombies can get out of that pit.”

  “I’ll get Trev on it.” Ricky started to walk away. “About Riley, though. What do you want to do about him?”

  Mattius wasn’t sure what to say, in truth. Mostly he just wanted to know if he was alive. He was out there, the man who’d butchered his people. Who’d set his old home alight, burned his face in the process. He was out there, and sure, he looked broken. But he looked angry, too. Very angry. “We’ll monitor the situation,” Mattius said. “For now, we batten down the hatches and brace for the siege. Riley’s irrelevant to us right now in the grand scheme of things.”

  Mattius left Ricky with a few of the others to clear the zombies from Paul and pull him down from the post above the pit.

  He walked back inside the main building. He climbed to the fifth floor, then back into his room with his favourite window, his favourite view.

  He looked out and in the distance—far, far in the distance—he swore he saw a cloud of dust and mist.

  And the closer he listened, he thought he could hear the cries of the undead echoing, getting gradually closer.

  Was this his punishment?

  Was this what he deserved for what he’d done?

  He was interrupted from his thoughts when he heard a different kind of cry.

  Right beside him.

  “Oh, darling,” he said, walking over to the cot right by the window.

  He lifted Kesha out of her cot, patted her back. She was crying.

  “Ssh, now,” he said. “Ssh. I’m here. I’ve got you. You don’t have to worry about a thing.”

  He held on to Kesha—precious Kesha, who meant the world to him—and her crying eased.

  He’d do anything to hold on to her.

  He’d do anything to protect her.

  And Riley wasn’t going to stop that.

  Because she was his now.

  CHAPTER FIVE

  When Kane heard the door sliding open and saw the light peeking through, he couldn’t help smiling.

  Today was going to be a beautiful day.

  He saw the figure walking towards him and gosh did she look beautiful. Melissa, she was called. She was young, probably early twenties. And despite all the trials and tribulations of this awful world, she still maintained that beauty about her, that grace.

  He would very much love to stick his knife into her body and see what she looked like inside out.

  Alas, Kane had bigger, bolder ideas.

  Melissa walked up to him and crouched opposite him. She didn’t look into his eyes. She didn’t interact with him. She never did. “Open up.”

  Kane chuckled, his back sore from all this time tied up in here, all this time propped up against this godforsaken wall in this godforsaken cell. “Now, now. Don’t you think we should at least go on a date first?”

  Melissa didn’t look impressed.

  Kane sighed. “Don’t you trust me to feed myself by now?”

  “I won’t ask you again,” Melissa said, swirling the bowl of awful porridge around with a rusty metal spoon. “Open up, or I’ll force it down you.”

  “A girl with fight. I like that.”

  She slapped Kane across the face then stuffed the porridge into his mouth, almost touching his tonsils with the spoon.

  He coughed, choking up a little of that porridge, but did his best to keep it down him. After all, they treated him even worse when he didn’t eat his food. They said it was wasteful, and that they’d leave him to starve.

  And Kane didn’t want to starve. In the early days of being captive here, he’d thought about starving. Dying seemed like a good option.

  And when the agony of his right hand, which was nothing more than a stump now after Riley had sliced half of it away after it’d been bitten… when the agony of his hand got too much after the hours of cauterisation, of disinfecting, of stitching, he’d wanted to die then, too.

  At least he was still here. At least he hadn’t turned at the mercy of the infection after all.

  Not yet.

  In a sense, Riley had saved his life.

  Prick.

  That said, the more time that passed, the more certain Kane was that there were better options than dying.

  Much better options.

  “Melissa, a question, if you’ll allow me that much.”

  She didn’t show any reaction. That was a start.

  “Before all this. Before you started firing arrows and fending off the deceased. What did you do?”

  Melissa glanced into Kane’s eyes and in that instant—in that beautiful instant—Kane knew he had her.

  “I’m not supposed to talk with you,” she said.

  “But we’re not talking. I’m just eating my porridge. You’re just feeding me. Nobody has to know.”

  Melissa sighed then lowered the bowl to her right, holding the spoon a fair distance from Kane’s mouth now.

  “I’ve seen the look on your face,” Kane said.

  Melissa narrowed her eyes. Rule number one: do not engage. She’d engaged. He had her. “What look?”

  “The look like you don’t belong.”

  “I do belong. I—”

  “Don’t fool yourself, Melissa. You’re an intelligent young woman. There’s no reason to play games here. I’ve seen the way you sigh when you’re out of their company. The way you change. And hey. You visit me on a daily basis, feed me. You must enjo
y a little time away from all that bow and arrow fantasy nonsense out there. Right?”

  Melissa looked over her shoulder and she let out a breath. “It’s good. What we’ve got. But it’s—”

  “Good to get away every now and then. Right.”

  Melissa’s eyes met Kane’s.

  For a moment, a spark of connection.

  Then it was gone and Melissa was forcing the spoon into Kane’s mouth again. “Eat.”

  Kane coughed back the porridge and then made himself swallow it. His eyes were streaming, his gag reflex triggered. “No need to be so rough.”

  “What do you want from me?”

  Kane smiled. “Melissa, I don’t want a thing. And I find it insulting that you’d think I was after anything more than what you want.”

  “And what is it I want?”

  “Someone to talk to. Someone outside your usual circle.”

  Again, Kane saw Melissa’s defences dropping. This was all happening too easy for him. Soon, he’d find the right moment. The perfect opportunity to draw Melissa in close.

  It might take a few more days, but she’d give him a moment to stretch his legs. He was sure of it.

  When she did, poor Melissa wouldn’t be around for much longer.

  And Kane would be out of this place.

  But not before he could finally take out his long-standing revenge on Riley.

  “Now I don’t mean to intrude,” Kane said, “but something tells me you hardly have a boyfriend around here, do you?”

  Melissa smiled a little. “Very observant.”

  Kane smiled back. He took deep breaths, keeping his cool. The smell of a kill was taking over his body, the imminence of it exciting him profusely. “Now as much as I’d love to volunteer, I just… I don’t know. I see how well you ladies are doing on your own, and I wonder what use for men you have at all in this place.”

  That spark again. That connection. That understanding.

  “You’re talking about Riley?” Melissa said.

  “Riley’s dangerous,” Kane said. “He’s a loose cannon. I heard how he treated that chap next door earlier.”

  “He’s angry.”

  “And he has every right to be after what happened to those poor souls. But please. You have to see I’m not the villain here. I’m not the enemy he makes me out to be. He took off my hand, for Christ’s sakes.”

  Melissa put the porridge bowl to one side. She put her hands on both of Kane’s knees, leaned in further. “So I’ll ask again. And this time, you’ll answer. What is it you want?”

  He smelled the sweetness of her breath and felt her hands on his knees. That electricity, that urge, was at breaking point.

  The urge to kill…

  He had her.

  “I just want to speak with Riley. Man to man. See if we can work our differences out. Surely there’s a way.”

  Melissa’s eyes twitched from side to side as she moved closer to Kane. So close that if his hand weren’t tied up, he’d be bashing her skull to a nice bloody pulp right about now. “You know what I like about you?”

  “Enlighten me.”

  She got right up to Kane’s ear, her body hanging over his, her hands moving down his thighs.

  “How fucking pathetic and desperate you’re growing every single day.”

  She punched the back of his mangled hand. She punched it so hard that he felt agony shoot right down it, even in the parts of the hand that weren’t present anymore.

  Then she slammed his head back against the wall and looked right into his eyes.

  “So I’ll tell you how it’s going to work. I come in here. I feed you your fucking porridge. And you eat it, like a good fucking dog. Understand?”

  Kane’s teeth chattered together. “Bitch.”

  “Cunt.”

  She smacked his head against the wall again and walked away, porridge bowl in hand.

  “I will kill you,” Kane said. “One day, when you’re least expecting it, I will get out of here and I will kill you. You understand that. Right?”

  Melissa turned around and smiled. “Not if I kill you first. Goodbye, Kane.”

  She left the cell and left Kane all alone.

  And when the darkness filled the cell, Kane couldn’t escape all the thoughts about what he was going to do to these people.

  To Riley.

  But more importantly, how he was going to snuff out Kesha’s life if she even still existed at all.

  He wanted to take the final bit of hope from Riley before finishing him for good, just like Riley had taken everything from him.

  Kane lay back against the wall, his back in agony, and he smiled.

  He hadn’t seen the arrow just feet away that Melissa had dropped on her way out.

  Not yet.

  CHAPTER SIX

  “You can’t just leave her to die, Riley. You can’t just leave her to die.”

  When Riley heard the voice, spoken from somewhere in the darkness right ahead of him, he felt his muscles slacken and his stomach turn. The hairs on the back of his neck stood right up. The main reason they stood up was because he knew who spoke them. And he knew where this was leading, just like it always led.

  He tried to struggle free of the darkness that surrounded him, but he was trapped, like he was locked in a cell of his own making.

  “You can’t fail us.”

  He tried to speak, to protest, but his lips wouldn’t open. In fact, it felt like he didn’t even have any lips at all, which was the cruellest thing, because there was so much he wanted to say, so many things he wanted to get off his chest.

  “You’ve failed us, Riley. Just like you always fail.”

  “No,” Riley said. And this time, the words came out. “I—”

  “You failed us. Unless you do what you have to do.”

  It was at that point that a light burst through the total darkness.

  It was then that the figures speaking to him emerged from the blackness and into the light.

  Jordanna was standing opposite him. Her dark hair hung down onto her shoulders. It looked greasy. Her skin looked pale. Much paler than Riley remembered.

  But as she edged closer, Riley realised why she looked so pale.

  There was a blade wedged right through her torso.

  Blood was still dripping down into the unknown blackness below.

  “Jordanna, please—”

  “You made a promise. A promise to me. A promise to Chloë. A promise to yourself.”

  “I want to get Kesha back—”

  “Then why aren’t you doing anything about it?”

  Riley lowered his head and felt the throes of guilt and the gnawing lust for vengeance suffocating him once more. “I’m trying. It’s just—”

  “These things take time?”

  The second voice came from Jordanna’s left. And it didn’t take a genius for Riley to figure out who it was.

  Chloë.

  Chloë was in a different state to Jordanna. She had both of her arms, and her head was fully intact. But there was a shadow to her, as well. A memory sparked in Riley’s mind of how she had looked back at him when it’d been impaled on that stake.

  A memory that made Riley want to vomit.

  “Chloë,” Riley said. “I’m sorry.”

  “Don’t say sorry,” she said, walking closer towards him. “I told you to keep Kesha safe.”

  “I tried. I—”

  “You haven’t tried hard enough.”

  “What the fuck do you want from me?”

  Riley regretted shouting right away. He regretted it because the angrier he got, the more the memories and the guilt of his past resurfaced to the forefront of his consciousness.

  He saw Ted dying in front of him.

  He saw Anna dying.

  He saw Pedro dying.

  He saw everyone he’d cared about, dying.

  He felt something on his arm then. A light touch.

  When he looked up, he saw that Jordanna was opposite him, completely
fresh-faced, completely intact, completely alive.

  “We’re your family,” she said, moving her soft hand up Riley’s arm in a way that he longed for so much.

  She looked to her side at Chloë, and Chloë smiled up at Riley, too.

  “We just want you to find Kesha. We want you to make Mattius suffer. For what he did.”

  It was when Chloë said those final three words that Riley saw it happening all over again.

  The slicing off of Chloë’s arm.

  The slamming of the machete into her skull.

  The stabbing of Jordanna.

  “Okay,” he stuttered. “I’ll do it. I’ll—”

  “You owe it to all of us, Riley. Not just to them.”

  That voice. It was so familiar, yet so distant. Riley hadn’t heard it in a long time. Not in his visions, not at all.

  But he knew who it belonged to.

  He saw her stepping forward, closer towards him.

  Her dark hair.

  That ever-present sarcastic smile.

  The freckles peppered across her slim face.

  “Anna,” he said.

  She stood in the middle of Jordanna and Chloë. Blood trickled down her face, where the bullet that Chloë had fired way back during the battle of Heathwaite’s had pierced through her skull.

  “You owe it to all your family. All of your dead family. Otherwise, it’s on you.”

  Riley felt the guilt building, then. He felt the lust for revenge intensified.

  Anna was right.

  Chloë was right.

  Jordanna was right.

  He had to get his revenge on Mattius.

  There could be no more waiting around. No more stalling.

  He had to get his revenge on—

  Just then, in the click of a finger, Riley saw fireworks.

  Chloë’s head split in two before his eyes.

  Blood spurted out of Jordanna’s chest and covered him in blood.

  And Anna…

  Nothing happened with Anna. She just drifted away. Disappeared, like a ghost returning to wherever she’d come from.

  But the further away she got, the less Riley remembered about her. The less he remembered the way her hair fell, the freckles across her face.