Death Plague Omnibus [Four Zombie Novels] (45 page)

The shovel lay right where I'd left it, making me wonder what my sister had used to bury those bodies; we only had the one shovel. As I picked it up, I then saw traces of dried blood and flecks of soil spattered on the underside. So she had used this after all and put it back once she was done.

I sighed, imagining how traumatic these last two days must have been for Danielle.

"I thought you'd go for that," she said. "It took me bloody ages to find it, Colin. I also find out that you'd sharpened the edge."

I nodded, picking it up and walking back towards her. "Are you going to stay here?"

"If you don't mind?"

Her eyes found their way back to my thigh again. What was going through her mind? It then clicked that I could just as easily find out, slipping inside her head should be a piece of cake; after all, I had done once already. "I won't be long, Danielle," I said, looking directly at her. Whatever I had done the last time now failed me totally. I refrained from frowning and rushed up the first flight of stairs.

The remaining body, Mr Cooper, lay in the corner of the landing. Cold and stiff, the congealed blood around his corpse contained a half a dozen insects, all dead. Had they drowned in his stinking fluids or had they died from consuming his flesh? I took a step back, my heal bumping against the next step. I vaguely remember seeing him stumble as his wife had attacked him. So why was he dead now? This thing should be trying to get up round about now, desperately trying to bite pieces out of me.

I leaned forward, placed my fingers in his hair and pulled his head away from the wall, grimacing as much of the man's insides stayed stuck to the light blue paint. The body fell when I let go, showing me an empty skull.

Had Danielle done this to him? The man's brain stem was severed, and his brains scooped out and squashed against the walls. Most of the grey lumps had already slid down the wall to end up in a small pile in the bottom corner, resembling red streaked frog spawn. I frowned, not understanding any of this.

Danielle would have to help me sorting out this mystery; after all, she must have a clue how this had happened. That would have to wait until I had taken care of dad. I gripped the shovel tighter and continued to make my way up the stairs. I won't lie here, my heart rate was going through the roof. It wasn't fear, though. It was excitement. I was actually looking forward to pushing this shovel through his face. This would be my first zombie killing, and this time I didn't intend to mess it up.

How could I be so cold hearted? This is my dad that I'm talking about! Yeah, I know, those words did go through me as I passed the second floor. I'm sure that similar feelings went through mum's head right before my dad smashed it against the wall. I suddenly stopped halfway up the stairs. I could now hear him moving about. It sounded like he was travelling from one end of the bedroom to the other and back again. His movements weren't the reason why I stopped. Mr Cooper died the same way as my mum. Somebody had slammed his head into that wall, and that somebody had to be Danielle.

Jesus, she really had been busy while I was out of it. My urge to get my dad’s termination in the bag so I could fill in the gaps in my knowledge intensified. I raced up the last few stairs, and ran down the corridor, only pausing to look into Danielle's room. The bodies really were gone; she'd even cleaned the carpets.

I stopped outside the bedroom. He was still pacing back and forth, and I heard the floorboards creak as he stepped on them. I had no idea why he was doing that, nor did I care. I just wanted to get this over and done with. I placed my hand on the door handle and turned, jolting as the memory of Danielle doing the same popped into my head. It struck me there and then like a flash bulb going off in my head. I knew exactly how the other Cooper had died. She hadn't come to me first. My sister had run straight to mum and dad. Opening the door and seeing what had happened to mum must have been the real trigger, the image that had really sent the woman plunging into the abyss.

If the dead Mr Cooper hadn't been stumbling about on the landing, I really do believe that she would have taken out her rage on me instead. That zombie had inadvertently saved my life.

I prepared myself,

So trying not to grin like a loon, the door swung open, showing me that dad hadn't eaten much more of my mum since the last time; she might not have changed much since Danielle had last looked in here, but the rest of the room had. In the past couple of days this room had changed from a slaughterhouse into a surrealist nightmare with browns, dark green, and black dominating the picture.

His repeated footsteps had left a shiny brown path from one end of the room to the other. Like the landing, I saw numerous insects, but none of them were active. Did this mean that these things just wouldn't rot away? I shivered to myself, imagining how the city would look in a few months from now when most of the inhabitants were dead.

The door swung wider, bringing my dad into view as he continued to pace. I lifted my shovel; this was going to be so easy. That lumbering body wasn't a match for me. I took once step into the room, getting ready to whack the bastard, when it jerked to a halt, wobbling on both feet before turning its head. The bovine gaze left it, and for the first time since leaving Danielle, I felt fear as it growled low in its throat, lifting its lips. It looked like a rabid dog. I took a step back, almost collapsing as black waves of hatred slammed into my mind. My new ability wasn't as dormant as I originally thought.

It stumbled towards me, fingers clenching and unclenching while continuing to fill my thoughts with its simple sewer-like images of it ripping me into tiny pieces. I gasped out, fearing the torrent of vile thoughts was going to tear my mind apart.

Its grave stench hit me like a speeding truck; I coughed and just managed to duck before those outstretched fingers found my flesh. The pause allowed me to slam home my mental breaks, giving me enough time to realise I was so close to allowing this thing to do what it craved.

I swung the shovel in a wide arc, the sharp blade biting through fabric and flesh, opening up a rent in its chest. It loomed over me, and I knew it was about to fall. I rolled to the side, leaving my weapon where I'd dropped it.

My dad released a howl of anguish as it slammed into the carpet. I crawled away, biting my lips as his arm snatched out, its fingers wrapping around my shoe. This was so fucking wrong, these bastards weren't supposed to be this fast. It's almost as if it knew that I was somehow different now.

I kicked back, loosening it hold and jumped to my feet. I ran over to the window and snatched up a large kitchen knife. It felt so weird. I remembered him sitting both me and Danielle down in the edge of this bed, right at the start of the outbreak and showing us the collection of weapons that he'd positioned on the dressing table.

The thing was already up and lumbering towards me. I only just managed to get my knife hand up before the zombie lunged forward; we both fell back onto the bed, and my hand caught between our bodies.

It opened its mouth, black stained teeth snapped down, missing my nose by millimetres. I did the only action left. I brought my free hand up and did exactly what my dad did to mum. I pushed my forefinger into its eye socket, feeling like I'd just pushed it into a long glass of ice cream.

Its movements lessened and I sensed its alien thoughts beginning to weaken. I screamed out in fury, finding enough strength to push it off my body. It rolled off the bed, my finger slipping out of its socket with an audible plop. I followed it down, bringing the knife up above my head before bringing the blade down, the metal slicing through its other eye socket.

It was finally dead. I stood up, leaving the knife was it was, shaking like a leaf. What had just happened? That thing hated me; it was also scared of what I was. I turned my head, sensing more movement. Danielle stood in the doorway.

"Are you okay?"

"I think so." What was I now?

My sister stepped over the remains of mum and wrapped her arms around my waist. "We finish up here, Colin, and then we need to leave."

I looked down. "What's the point? The rest of the city will be just as bad as this now." In my mind, I saw dozens more zombies acting in the way violent way as dad. Out there, I feared that my life would be measured in minutes.

"That's simple. We need to find out what you are now." She stroked my head. "Both of our lives will depend on answering that question."

"There was no mistaking the menace in that last statement.

Chapter Five

Familiar Patterns

That scruffy family were wise to keep their distance. It had been such a long time since I'd feasted this well. Believe me, full humans were very difficult to come by these days, even one as skeletal as this one.

I lay back against the hard wall and giggled to myself. Listen to me, the restaurant critic. What was I talking about? All humans were as thin as my last meal. Just because the species were whittled down to a few scattered mobile tribes, it didn't mean that food was now bountiful, far from it. The old ways of the hunter gatherer were now the fashion. A nomad existence meant no more farming. They literally did live off the land. After twenty years since the end of civilisation, the concept of a tin of beans and fast food joints were already fading from memory.

They peeked through wattle and weft, their frightened eyes watching me yawn and stretch out my limbs. I guess that they knew of the potential consequences of getting too close to a sated hunter, unless they were just being very cautious. Either way, it was for the best for all parties. Lions and tigers, probably bears as well (remember them?) would get all lazy once their bellies were full to the brim of meat. Not us though, no way.

Dark energies coursed through our systems, making us feel as though nothing could stop us. Like the most potent drug ever developed. We literally did hear colours and see sounds. At least, I used to. Right now, I just felt a little bit sick. I guess that fucking tainted flesh was still bothering me, and was probably another good reason for those to keep away from me.

I did wonder why my brain took me back in time, though. That had never happened before. I always considered myself to be a forward thinker, never to dwell on the past. What was the point in looking back? Nothing could be changed, and nothing learned, either. I mean, come on, if you didn't learn the first time, you're hardly likely to learn the second time are you?

The frightened voles took a timid step back into their main room. They jumped back sharpish when I smiled. It took me a moment to realise that I still would have had bits of the enforcer still stuck between my teeth, and I must have looked pretty grotesque. I stood up and cleaned lumps of flesh out from between my fingers and wandered over to one of their chairs, vaguely wondering if they had any spare clothing. These rags glued to my skin were most uncomfortable.

I threw my dream into the bin where it belonged and attempted to piece together what I'd salvaged so far about this town that shouldn't even fucking exist. Nothing that I had learned bode well for my Danielle, that's for sure. It might only be a few weeks since she left me, and although the girl was far tougher than the average human, even she would struggle in a place like this.

The voles crept forward. This time I stayed still, not even smiling at them. As the older male stood in front of the table wringing his hands, I took the opportunity to surface scan his mind. Just a light touch, nothing too deep. I didn't want them to scurry back into their little hidey holes. Time was precious, and I needed more information.

It took effort not to laugh. These idiots weren't as informed as I'd hoped. The only reason why they hadn't approached had nothing to do with a hunter's temperament. While I slept, they hadn't stopped chattering, forming opinions, theories, counter theories, and counter arguments. His thoughts were like looking for beginnings and ends in a pan full of spaghetti.

I now knew about the serum, that none of them were safe. "Come here, and sit down," I said, hooking my forefinger and giving it a little wiggle. The male vole tentatively obeyed and sat opposite me. I leaned forward. "You associate killing with eating. You must know that both actions are not mutually inclusive." His nose involuntarily wrinkled, my breath must have stunk.

This man then shocked the hell out of me by returning my smile and moving forward until his nose was almost touching mine, He blinked, and a solid wall came down, his thoughts and fears safely behind it.

"We wouldn't have lasted this long if we couldn't protect ourselves," he said. "You're new to this town, that much I do know. That, and although you're a hunter, you really are nothing else I have ever witnessed." He sat back. "You're right; you could quite easily slaughter all of us. Did you not believe we already knew that before we agreed to help you?"

The woman walked up behind the man and placed her hands on his shoulders. "We know that you're here in search of a woman, your sister. We can help you. In return, all we ask is for—"

The woman's arrogant request died on her lips when one of her son's yelped like a terrified puppy. He'd gone from feeling hesitant, but fascinated, to expecting to be eaten in precisely one second. That was how long it took me to leave the chair, grab the boy, and place both my hands around his neck.

"Your next words might be the last ones that your child will hear, Linda," I said, softly. "How do you know that I'm here for my sister?" The child's heart beat so strong. The blood that coursed through his veins would be of a far superior quality to the watery soup that filled the enforcer's organs.

I made sure that thought reached their little minds as I already guessed what they were. I just wanted them all to be sure my intent wasn't a bluff.

"Please, don't hurt him!" cried the woman; she ran towards me and dropped to her knees. "I meant no disrespect." Linda looked back at her husband and released a quiet sob. "We are all that remains of The Tainted. The pure bred humans tried to hunt us to extinction and almost succeeded. There's a couple more like us in town, but they stay hidden, frightened to make contact with us."

I let the child go, watching him run over to his mother. Well, now wasn't this rare sight. I walked over to the seated man, bent down to his level, and looked deep into his eyes. Beneath that hastily dropped screen, I felt his terror and the fear he had for his family. There was something else I sensed as well, a feeling of comradeship. I had to chuckle, like this parasite was anything like me!

Imagine a stranger walking past you. All of a sudden they stop, stare, and you feel strange, like a cold slug has just slimed over the top of your brain. That stranger pulls a creepy smile and leaves. They smile because they've just plucked out your innermost desires or most intimate thoughts.

That's what the tainted were capable of doing. They mind rape you, leaving their victims feeling violated. No wonder the pure breeds had hated the bastards and had tried to wipe them out in the early days. Thing is, that's all they can do. Hunters have this ability, as well, but we use this gift to assess our potential victims or look for a weakness in our enemies.

Where did they come from? Like the vole said earlier, somewhere maybe hunters passed on some of their changed genetics in a bite, or perhaps some were scratched by the newly turned and didn't change. Who knows? Who cares? Right now, all I wanted was to get out of here with my sister intact. After so long on the road, with only ourselves for company, enclosed spaces with so many people around was making me feel claustrophobic.

"Stay out of my head," I growled. "If I sense any of you in there again, I'll kill you all."

The man nodded. The woman opened her mouth, but a sharp glare from the husband silenced her. I did as you'd expect. I said nothing about me staying out of their heads. Her thoughts weren't that deep anyway.

My bloated body lay slumped against the wall with the wet remains of my meal scattered around me. I looked disgusting. Chewed up lumps of the enforcer were stuck to the sides of my face. Weird, it's not often I see how I look from the eyes of somebody else. Even if I wasn't a hunter, I bet these guys would be scared of me. I must look like a bear next to a small flock of sheep.

I passed the six foot height mark when I'd turned fourteen. Since then I must have added an extra five or six inches to that figure. My changed condition had also piled on enough layers of muscle and fat to make a wrestler look anaemic. I was a frightening looking man.

Here I was, sleeping like a baby. Hell, I was even snoring! These are so called sheep or voles, name your own timid creature, if you want. My point is that I was fucking helpless. They could have easily ended my existence. A deep knife thrust in the side of my neck or straight in my heart would have done the job. They watched me sleep, holding hands while shivering. They shook because they had watched me eat. None of them had plunged their mental probes into my head, they hadn't needed to. I had broadcast my ‘dream' out. It was so strong that even a pure breed could have seen and heard my re-birth.

I pulled my probe out and walked over to their one tiny window and sat down. I'd rather gaze out into this decrepit town than for any of them to see the unease on my face. Sure, they needed me—for whatever—just as I needed their knowledge. It didn't stop me from feeling disjointed. I've never relied on anybody but my sister since the world went to shit. This arrangement made me feel vulnerable, and I hated it.

"Start talking," I growled.

If there was an award for the most depressing town in existence, this place would win it hands down. The buildings, for what they were, all looked like they had been thrown up by somebody who'd only seen pictures drawn by a blind man. To make it worse, they'd dismantled the original structures to build their homes. It only added to that sense of unreality that I was inside somebody's distorted human playground. I blinked, wondering where that bizarre thought had crawled out from.

"This place has been here long before the dead rose up," said the older man. "Nobody can remember its original name. We don't even have a name for the town now, although some did used to call it Haven."

The inhabitants all looked as worn out and exhausted as the buildings. Considering the dead hordes appeared to give this place a wide berth, you would have thought that at least a couple of them would have felt relieved. It hadn't been a picnic for me and Danielle, living in the wastelands, and I was a hunter. These people had it easy. Then again, maybe not. After all, this place had a force of hunters living amongst them.

The man joined him at the window. "We're dying, hunter," he continued. "Not just us, we all are, the pure breeds and the Hunters." The man joined him at the window. "That enforcer is just one of many."

I wrapped my hand over his mouth. I really could bear listening to any more of his sob story. The bare bones were already there. These clowns wanted me to take out some high ranking idiot who'd decided to turn this questionable oasis into their own little fiefdom. "I'm guessing that you know where your new master lives?" His bulging eyes told me that I'd guessed correctly. "And you want him to disappear?" The theme tune to the A Team ran through my head. I had to smile, I couldn't help it. Who'd have thought that I'd turn into a gun for hire?

"I help you, and you worms show me where they are keeping my sister? So what's to stop me from dredging through your disgusting mind, taking what I want, and then killing the lot of you?" I leaned closer. "You've already shown me how to process your flesh. I could live here, feeding for the next few weeks. It'll be heaven."

The woman shocked the hell out of me by wrapping her skeletal arms around my waist. She leaned in and kissed the back of my neck. I won't lie, the experience was very enjoyable.

"For all of what you are, hunter, I believe that deep down you're still a good person."

I sighed deeply, trying not to react to her very correct assessment. Even the tainted should be allowed to live, I suppose.

There were a small group of large men heading towards this building.

"The change wasn't immediate," said Linda. "This town has always been a beacon for the humans and people like us, and believe or not, the occasional hunter. For the shambling dead, we are all food."

Those men wore black uniforms.

"It wasn't exactly a fucking utopia, but we found ways to work around our differences. Things changed five years ago, after a large group of strangers arrived, both hunters and humans. You won't be shocked to hear that your last meal was part of that group and—"

"Shut up," I snapped. "I'm not stupid. You already showed me that you have the ability to shield my mind from other hunters. Don't get all indignant; just tell me how close the hunters can get before they break through."

The man's answer never left his lips when he followed my gaze. "Oh no, that's too many! Way too many." He jumped up and pushed his sons towards the back of the room. "Linda, Colin, please, we need to go right now!"

I stood watching three of them striding over to this building. Their minds were buzzing with glee. I recognised the two who'd accompanied the human. They too sensed my presence and made no secret of what they wished to do with me. "I'll catch up," I said to the woman, not taking my eyes away from the three hunters.

They were speeding towards to building now. Their orders were to bring me back; like that was going to happen. None of those Hunters out there had eaten properly for weeks. Their eagerness would be their downfall. I turned and looked at the remains of my meal, making damn sure that those bastards saw exactly what I saw. They all slowed down, and not one of them had put the pieces together, but it didn't matter. They weren't going to come in here; that was my only intention.

"Thank you, enforcer," I said, hurrying over to the door. They were waiting for me as soon as I stepped into the street. Their slow minds had finally caught up. Fury and disappointment fed all three of the hunters, and it was ironic considering they all believed that I'd eaten infected meat, thereby denying them a meal.