Dead Days: The Complete Season Two Collection (28 page)

Chloë rolled her eyes. “I bet I never see the snow again. I bet when it starts snowing you
never
let me go out and play and make snow angels in it.”

Keith coughed up something that resembled a laugh as he sat in silence with Smith. A good sign. As long as they were there for him‌—‌there for each other‌—‌they could get through this loss, they really could.

As Karen struggled to open the side door, footsteps echoed down the steps to the left of the lobby.

“Keith.” It was Mike. He had a flat look of regret on his face. “I’m so sorry. Shania was lovely. She was‌—‌”

“ARGH!”

The scream cut through Mike’s speech. The entire lobby turned around. It came from the side door.

From Karen.

From…‌

Fuck.

Karen was on the floor, right in front of the wide-open door, which danced in the breeze.

Blood sprayed out of her arm.

And behind her, storming into the room, the largest group of groaning creatures the group had seen in days.

“Quick!” Mike shouted at everyone. “Get upstairs. Get the fuck‌—‌”

“We gotta defend this place,” Matt said. Seth too emerged from the stairs, staring at Karen’s bleeding arm and the crowd of creatures storming into the lobby, so close.

Claudia grabbed Chloë’s hand. “Come on,” she said. “Come on. We need to get upstairs‌—‌”

“Get your weapons!” Mike shouted at Matt and Seth. “Get them, and get the fuck back down here as soon as possible‌—‌”

“ARGH!”

Another shout. Another scream. Only this time, a man.

Smith had been bitten trying to run to the stairway. The creature on top of him sunk its teeth into his sinewy neck. Blood sprayed out everywhere. He clawed out his withered hand, dug his fingernails into the hard ground, as the creature bit even deeper, draining all colour from his face.

“Got the guns, boss!” Matt tossed a pistol over to Mike and handed Seth another one.

“To everyone,” Mike said. “Keith. Claudia. They can shoot.” He fired his gun at the first of the creatures heading towards him, smacking it straight in the chest.

Matt hesitated as he stared at Claudia. He probably wasn’t staring for long, it just felt like forever it was so intense.

“I can shoot!” Chloë shouted. “Mum, tell them I can shoot‌—‌”

Matt grimaced and threw a gun at Claudia. He threw one at Keith too, but this gun simply bounced on the canteen table and fell to the floor, Keith completely ignorant of it as a creature closed in on him.

“Keith!” Claudia shouted. “Pick up the fucking gun!”

But it was too late.

Keith closed his eyes and sat in that chair as a creature pushed him down, biting right down into his neck. He didn’t shout. He didn’t scream. He just let it happen. His time had come.

Claudia looked ahead. There were at least twenty creatures in the lobby. They were surrounded. There was no way they were getting upstairs. Mike shot at some, Matt shot at some, Seth shot at some.

Claudia tried, but the gun was stuck. The trigger was jammed.

Three creatures closed in on her and Chloë. She held the gun up. Kept on trying to fire, but still nothing was happening. Chloë backed into her. Her little warm body pushed right up against her.

“Matt! Mike! Seth! Please!” Claudia shouted.

Mike looked over, but he was too focused on the creatures heading his way.

Matt and Seth pretended to be too focused on the creatures heading their way.

“I’m sorry, Chlo,” Claudia said. So this was it. This was how it ended for her. Karen had gone to get some ice and now it was going to end. “Just‌—‌just hold my hand. Hold my hand.”

But Chloë didn’t hold Claudia’s hand.

She slipped free of her grip and leaped forward towards the canteen table.

“Chloë!” Claudia shouted.

Chloë’s crawl under the table distracted a few of the creatures. Bought her a bit of time. But now her daughter was stuck. She was trapped under a table. She was a goner. She was dead. She was‌—‌

Chloë lifted the gun intended for Keith, aimed at the creatures from under the table, and she fired.

The first shot went right through the head of the creature closest to Claudia.

Claudia backed up. It was all she could do. She backed up as her daughter fired, and as creature after creature fell, some of the shots hitting right through the heads, some of them in the legs, sending the creatures tumbling to the floor.

The numbers were dwindling. They were going to survive. Some of them were going to survive, after all.

Chloë emerged from under the table. Claudia didn’t even try to hold her hand as she lifted the gun and fired, again and again and again.

Three creatures left.

Two creatures left.

One creature left.

Then…‌

Nothing.

The door was empty. Silence dropped down on the lobby. Claudia looked at Mike. Matt looked at Chloë. Chloë looked at Seth. Claudia burned with rage seeing Matt looking so stunned. He’d given her a duff gun. A gun without ammo. She wanted to shoot him, right there and right then. In fact, she probably would’ve, if it wasn’t for Mike falling to the floor, tears rolling down his cheeks, bawling like a baby.

“Mike?” Claudia said. She moved towards him. He was…‌‌Wait. He was cradling one of the creatures. A ginger male. In his twenties, by the looks of things. Despite the deaths of Karen and Keith and Smith, it was this creature he was cradling.

Matt covered his face with his hands. Seth just stood there, looking more surprised than Claudia had ever seen him.

“Mike, what is it?” Claudia asked.

That’s when she saw the face of the boy on the ground. Saw that square jaw and those bright blue eyes, just like his dad’s.

There was no mistaking the resemblance. It was Mike’s son, Stevie.

Mike’s son was dead.

Chapter Six

After Matt and Seth had blocked up the breached side door again, they moved the bodies temporarily over by the front door. They made sure to pop an extra bullet in the head of each fallen creature, just in case.

Mike sat alone with Stevie in his arms.

Claudia was on her knees. She mopped up the blood with a damp cloth. Chloë joined her‌—‌not something Claudia had asked of her, but something she’d volunteered to do. A silence hung over the lobby of Draca Hotel. A state of shock. One moment, it was just Shania who had gone. Now it was Keith, Karen, Smith. Stevie, who was a part of Mike. Everything had fallen apart. Everything.

Claudia wasn’t sure what to say to Mike. He seemed in his own world, staring into the dead eyes of his son. He was muttering things under his breath as tears rolled down his cheeks. Claudia couldn’t hear his words, but she felt his pain. This group‌—‌this group at the caravan park. They must’ve tossed Stevie out. Tossed Stevie out to be feasted on. Tossed him out for his dad to find. The way he’d come wandering through the door…‌‌that couldn’t be coincidence, could it?

“They planned this,” Mike said, almost like he was reading Claudia’s thoughts. His voice sounded distant. Detached. Claudia wasn’t sure whether he was speaking to her or just to himself. “They…‌‌Rodrigo. His group. They must’ve lured them here, somehow. Taunting me. Taunting all of us. Well, they got what they wanted. They got what they fucking wanted.”

He punched the bloody tiles beside his son’s limp body and descended into another fit of tears.

Chloë looked at Mike, then back at her mum with wide, understanding eyes. She’d seen death before. She’d experienced it, what with her sister and all the others. She knew what it felt like to grieve. Too well, perhaps.

“I say we hit em back,” Matt said. “Hit em right where it hurts. Can’t fuckin get away with this. Can’t fuckin‌—‌”

“We can’t go storming in there,” Mike said. “They…‌‌they outnumber us. Already did. And now there’s just…‌‌just five of us.” Mike’s voice crackled as he said this. He looked up at the bodies stacked over by the blocked-up front door.

“What ‘bout Dave?” Seth chirped in.

Dave was somebody who Mike apparently had on the inside at Heathwaite’s Caravan Park. A guy who had pledged loyalty to Mike, promising to deliver news of any interest about potential weak spots at the caravan sites, ways of forcing an entry.

“It’s risky,” Mike said, lowering his son down onto the cold tiles and brushing his hands as if he’d been handling something as minor as raw meat. “Any of us three go near Heathwaite’s and the guards will shoot us on sight.”

“If you have a man on the inside, then why didn’t you know about your son any earlier?”

This made Mike, Matt and Seth all turn around. None of them spoke for a few seconds. Claudia wasn’t sure why she’d splurged out those words, especially now. But it niggled at her. And the shock of all that had happened was still looming over her, doing funny things with her confidence.

Mike walked over to Claudia slowly. He smiled at Chloë as best he could, then looked Claudia in the eye. “I…‌‌I’m sorry. I haven’t been totally honest. It’s…‌‌my son. He‌—‌he chose the other side. He chose them.”

Claudia frowned. “Why would he do that?”

Mike shrugged. That was his definitive answer, right there. “But I knew they were just using him. And now I see that.” He pointed to his son’s dead body with a shaking hand. “Used him for all he was worth then tossed him away. Gave him a bit of hope. Gave me a bit of hope. Then snatched it away. That’s the kind of people they are.”

But this didn’t sit right with Claudia. Although she bought what Mike was saying about his son, and truly believed this story, surely there were other possibilities. “Maybe they didn’t kill him. Maybe he‌—‌maybe there was an accident. Maybe the caravan park is‌—‌”

“Would you to be willing to take a trip over there to find out?” Mike asked.

Claudia stopped and stared. “What…‌‌what do you mean?”

“Our man. Dave. He goes on a ‘supply run’ at ten a.m. every morning. Always loops out towards Silverdale. Usually on his own, but if he’s not it doesn’t matter anyway cause they won’t recognise you.”

“You want me to…‌‌to‌—‌”

“To pass on a message,” Mike said. He pulled a notepad out of his pocket and started jotting down words, scribbling them and writing them again.

“What’s the plan?” Matt asked. He seemed a little thrown that Mike hadn’t even come close to consulting him about some kind of involvement in this plan of his.

Mike popped the lid back on the pen. Handed the little note to Claudia with his shaking hand. “You need to understand that what we’re about to do is dangerous. Very dangerous. You’re going to have to lay low while it unfolds.”

Claudia shook her head. “I‌—‌I want to help. I want to, but my daughter, she‌—‌”

“She’s a good shot,” Mike said. “Better than most. She should go with you. Either that or she stays here with Seth and Matt.”

Claudia looked over at Seth. He smiled a little at this.

“I’ll hold your hand all the time, Mum,” Chloë said. She seemed way more excited about this than she should be, grinning and fidgeting. “I‌—‌I promise I’ll hold your hand.”

Claudia gulped. “What…‌‌what exactly are we going to do?”

Mike took a step closer to Claudia. She could feel him breathing on her face. Smell his mouthwash-drenched breath. “There’s a big group of zombies trapped in the gates of that big power plant over at Heysham. Matt and Seth are gonna let them loose. And we’re gonna lead them to the caravan site. We drop you off around Silverdale, you pass on the message to Dave…‌‌things should go smoothly from there.”

Claudia looked down at the note. Started to unfold it.

Mike’s hand landed on top of hers. It sent a shiver right through her body.

“It’s for Karen. For Smith. For…‌‌for my son.” Mike stared at her with those intense eyes. He was right. She had to act. She couldn’t let these horrible people get away with what they’d done.

“But the caravan park. If we…‌‌if we destroy the gates, then we have nowhere to stay. Seems like a waste.”

“We aren’t going to destroy the gates,” Mike said. “We’re going to scare them to the point where Rodrigo and his closest have no option but to leave. Then, we take the creatures out ourselves. Move in ourselves.”

Mike’s words made a kind of sense. But it didn’t sit right. Scaring Rodrigo away sounded fine, but surely there were innocent people at Heathwaite’s, too? Surely they weren’t all involved.

But then Riley had once told her that she needed to toughen up to survive in this world. To start making the tough decisions.

This was her tough decision.

“Okay,” she said.

Mike nodded. His eyes were still filled up with tears. “Good. Then we’d better get to it. You’ve got your guns, right? Just for safety.”

Claudia looked at the faulty gun that Matt had handed her. Then, she looked at Matt, bottom lip shaking, eyelids twitching.

“I’ll need another. And I’m going to need to test this one before I go anywhere.”

Claudia sat in the back seat of the silver Ford. Chloë was beside her. Mike drove them in the direction of Heathwaite’s Caravan Park. Matt and Seth were staying in Morecambe, making sure the group of creatures they’d just let loose from the confines of the Heysham Power Plant kept on following the right road.

With the body parts that had accumulated in the Draca Hotel bloodbath, leaving a trail wasn’t so hard. Perhaps it wasn’t showing respect for the dead, but it was utilising the dead to keep the living alive.

Claudia looked across the seat at her daughter. She was staring out the window at the sea. It was bright out there. A nice morning, if only the circumstances were different. But this was no morning like any other. This was the morning where everything had changed, and was about to change a whole lot more.

Claudia found herself thumbing the necklace that Chloë had given her. An early Christmas present. And now Christmas was in, what‌—‌five days? She’d lost track. But they were still here. Barely, but still here. Maybe they’d live to see another Christmas.

The necklace would be constant reminder that every day in the end times could very well be the last.

“I’ll have to drop you off just up the road,” Mike said, regret in his voice. He slowed the car down by some railway tracks. Up the line, a train had long ago ground to a halt, rusting in the open. “This is the edge of Dave’s circuit. Just keep your wits about you. It’s open, so it should be okay, but you never know. And remember‌—‌”