Safety Lost (Killing the Dead Book 3) (13 page)

“She knew the way here.” I said.

“Is that the only reason?” she asked.

“Well she could also help look after the kids.”

“That’s all?”

“What other reason would I have to bring her?” I asked with puzzlement.

“No reason.” She said with her tone softening and her frown thankfully fading a little. “So you stuck to your promise?”

“I try not to break a promise.” I told her.

“That’s good to know.” Lily said as the smile returned slowly. “I am glad you made it here.”

“So am I.” And to my surprise I was.

“You aren’t a total lost cause.” Lily said after a moment.

“I’m not?”

“You had no reason to help the children and you still did so. It gives me some hope for you.” She said with a low laugh as she took my arm and led me back towards the tables.

Chapter 17

We spent an hour or so, swopping stories and getting reacquainted. Jim was still around though he spent more time with a few religious folk and Eric had also survived the journey. He didn’t come over to say hello but I did see him watching from across the fire.

John was subdued by the death of his parents and though he still had bandages around his arm, he seemed to be recovering. Rachel largely ignored me which I was fine with. Liz had come out of her shell a little and was helping Claire and her daughter Maggie prepare and serve food.

Several more people that I had not previously met were introduced and I smiled and nodded and immediately forgot the majority of their names.

“This is Howard” Lily said as a balding man with glasses wandered over. He was jovial and it was clear he had recently lost some weight, though he still retained some chubbiness. He was wearing a white shirt and black trousers beneath his thick jacket and it was easy to imagine him in a suit and tie on a Monday morning.

“Hello. Your friends have told me a lot about you.” Howard said. He spoke quietly and seemed to take pains to enunciate each word clearly.

“It is a pleasure to meet you” I said after a glance from Lily, though I ignored his out-thrust hand.

“Yes, well I am sure you will make a great addition to our little group.” He said as he sat down beside Lily. “We could always use more people to keep a watch out for those zombies, or to go on scavenging trips.”

“Supplies are low?” I asked.

“They are fine for the moment, nothing for anyone to worry about yet. I am concerned that snow will be upon us soon though.” Howard said and glanced at the sky as if expecting snow to be falling as he spoke.

“I will be happy to help out in any way that I can.” I said and directed my most sincere seeming smile towards him.

“That is wonderful to hear. Now if you will excuse me I have some things to check on.” Howard said with a broad smile that seemed genuine. “I am sure Lily can arrange somewhere for you to sleep.” He finished with a nod to Lily and a wave before wandering over to another table.

“He seems nice.” Julie said.

“Oh he really is.” Lily agreed. “He works hard to keep everyone together.”

“I am sure he does.” I said as I gathered the rucksack and stood up. “So where can we stay?”

“Julie and the kids can stay with Claire and Liz.” Lily said and gestured Liz over. “You can take the couch in the cottage I am sharing with Cass and Gregg if you like.”

“Fine by me.” I agreed though Julie looked annoyed.

Liz was a pleasant looking girl and showed no physical signs of the abuses she had suffered back at the stables. She was still shy and quiet around me but soon had the children chattering away. She led them and Julie to the fire to meet Claire and Maggie and I suffered through a hug from Emma before she left.

“The little girl seems to like you.” Lily said with a laugh.

“That is easy to understand. I am a loveable person.” I said with a wink.

“Come on, I’ll show you to your couch.” Lily said with a grin as she stood and took hold of my hand before leading me around the bonfire and towards one of the cottages.

I stood behind her on the decking as she fumbled with the lock. It was interesting to note that they still locked the doors when they weren’t in the cottages. I could see other people filing into the other dwellings as the bonfire was allowed to die down.

The lock clicked behind me and I turned in time to see Lily enter. I followed along behind and stood in the darkness as she lit a couple of candles.

“No electric lamps?” I asked.

“We haven’t found any yet.” She replied as the first candle flared to life and illuminated the cottage interior.

I had certainly stayed in worse places recently. The cottage was quite spacious and tastefully decorated. The kitchen was open and had the usual appliances as well as a table that was attached to one wall, with four stools around it.

The living room had two sofas and I chose the one that faced the fireplace. It was comfortable and I sank back into the cushions with a sigh. It had been entirely too long since I had been comfortable.

“This place has two bedrooms.” Lily said, “A double bed in one and twin beds in the other. Cass and Gregg took the twin beds and I have the main room, so you can have your choice of couch.”

“I am sure this one will be just fine.” I said as she handed me a drink. I took a sip and was pleasantly surprised to taste apple juice.

“Enjoy that while you can, it’s the last of the juice.” She said as she flopped down beside me. “Now tell me the whole story of what happened and leave nothing out.”

After a momentary pause to gather my thoughts I spoke at length about my journey and what had happened since we had separated. I left nothing out and was honest about everything as I knew I had to be with Lily.

“That’s quite a story” she said with a sigh as I finished. “I can understand your killing the three men who attacked you at the outlet store, but you shouldn’t have done it in front of the little girl. The other man though, that’s a gray area.”

“He drugged me.” I pointed out.

“Yes but he didn’t do it to harm you” she said and sighed once more. I waited patiently for her to think things through. I knew the terms I had agreed to. No killing innocents and if she decided that the man was innocent, then I would likely be faced with an uncomfortable situation.

“Well it’s done.” She said finally. “If he hadn’t delayed you, then you may have been back in time to travel with us. If you were, I doubt we would have lost the others.”

“Oh?”

“I will tell you about it some other time.” She said and wiped away a tear that was threatening to fall. “I am glad you made it here though.”

“As am I. Though I am not sure what to do now.”

“What do you mean?”

“I spent so long travelling, moving from one place to another to get here that it just doesn’t feel right to stay in one place yet.”

“Yeah, I know what you mean. You will get used to it though. It’s generally ok here.” Lily said.

“Generally?”

“Yeah it’s a strange set up. We have three groups of people who have all been stuck together by circumstances and not by choice. Arguments are fairly common.”

“Why is that fellow... Howard? In charge?” I asked.

“Well, as I said we had three groups. We decided that it would be best to have a council of people to lead us. One person from each group and then a general vote for one of the three to be the guy who has the final say.”

“And this Howard fellow was voted as leader?”

“He had the largest group. Most of the votes went his way so he is in charge and Eric and Matthew are his seconds.” Lily said.

“Eric? The Eric who was at the clubhouse?” I asked and Lily nodded. “Why weren’t you in charge?”

“I didn’t want it.” She said, “I wasn’t in a good place when we arrived and I didn’t want to be responsible for anyone.”

“So what is the setup here?” I asked and she seemed relieved at the change of topic.

“Matthew is in charge of the guards and scavengers, Eric deals with supplies and day to day tasks of running the camp. Howard is mainly in charge of keeping everyone together without killing each other. The evening bonfire and shared meals were his idea, a way for everyone to bond.”

“So I take it that everyone has a job of some sort?”

“Yes. Any newcomers will be given an assignment and if you don’t like it, you don’t share the supplies.” Lily said and looked up as Cass and Gregg entered.

“How is it just the three of you in here?” I asked, “The other cottages looked like they had larger groups living in them.”

“That’s our fault mate.” Gregg said with sideways glance at his sister.

“People don’t trust me.” Cass said at my confused look. “They think that I might infect them since it didn’t turn me into a zombie, they think I’m a carrier.”

“Yeah and some of them don’t like gay folk.” Gregg added with a laugh.

“Lily is the only one who would share a place with us. It means we have plenty of space at least.”

“What jobs do you all do?” I asked.

“Guard duty for us” Cass said and indicated Gregg. “It means we sit out on one of the roads for hours on end, away from all the good clean people, while we watch for newcomers.”

“I go on scavenging runs when we do them.” Lily said, “I think they will be glad to have you along to help with those. Plenty of zombies out there.”

“Sounds exciting” I said with a smile at the thought of regular violence.

“I am headed out tomorrow. We need to get some more food stored away.” Lily said.

“Supplies are that low?”

“We have maybe a month of food for all of us and that’s only if we stretch it out.” Lily confirmed.

“What is the plan then? Stay here for the winter and hope to scavenge food?” I asked.

“Pretty much.” Gregg said.

“I don’t know about your journey but I saw a great many undead out there and they are starting to move out into the countryside. This place has no real defences.”

“We are surrounded by woods and not on any main roads. We should be ok. Howard and the others all think that the undead won’t come out this way.” Cass said.

“What about Windermere?” I asked. “That town is to the north isn’t it? Has anyone been up there?”

“Yes I went. It’s still got people living there and some soldiers. They know we are here and have offered to do the occasional drive down to check on us.” Lily said.

“Soldiers. How many?”

“Around two hundred. They didn’t say much but I think they came here after they lost big time in one of the cities.” Lily said, “The captain in charge seems to be trying to make the town secure.”

“So a town full of thousands of people and soldiers who will all need supplies of their own for the winter.

“There are not thousands there anymore. Apparently a lot of people came out here when things went to hell and some of those brought the virus with them. A lot of people died.”

“I don’t know why we can’t just join up with them. At least with some soldiers to help protect us we will have a better chance.” Cass said.

“Yeah right, they would cut you open straight away to find out why you aren’t a zombie” Gregg said with a snigger and ducked as she threw a playful punch his way.

Laughter followed and the conversation turned to more familiar topics. I sat back in the ever so soft cushions and examined the unfamiliar feeling of being relaxed around these people. For the first time in as long as I could remember I felt comfortable with others.

It was a strange feeling and I was concerned. Familiarity and comfort would make it easier to slip up, easier for people to notice the differences within me. Far too easy for me to make that one mistake, that would see me alone and vulnerable again. I couldn’t afford that.

I would have to distance myself from others. Raise the walls around the core of who I was in an effort to keep them at bay. To stop them noticing my strangeness. I couldn’t help the sorrow that washed over me at the thought and I was taken aback by the very idea that keeping my distance would cause me any sorrow. I was still musing on that when I drifted off to sleep.

Chapter 18

The banging on the door wouldn’t stop no matter how much I tried to ignore it. With a grunt of annoyance I got to my feet and padded across the room with the thick woollen blanket Lily had provided, wrapped around me.

I opened the door and found Eric standing with fist raised, ready to knock on the door again. He was dressed warmly against the early morning frost and hadn’t changed much since I had seen him last. He still looked at me with suspicion in his eyes.

“What do you want?” I asked as I rubbed the last traces of sleep from my eyes. “What time is it?”

“Six o’clock and it’s time for you to earn your keep.” Eric said with a sneer.

“Earn my keep?”

“Yes. You are going to be working for me keeping the camp running.” Eric said.

“Why? I thought I would be joining the others scavenging for food.”

“I don’t care what you thought you would be doing. I still don’t trust you enough to have you running around with a rifle. I want to keep an eye on you and I can do that here.”

He definitely looked smug and I had to force back the urge to reach out and throttle him. “I do think that my skills would be better utilized doing something else.” I pointed out.

“Well I am sure you will find new use for your skills with an axe today.” Eric said and laughed.

With little choice, I quickly dressed and stepped out of the cottage into the cold morning air. Eric led the way through the camp towards the cottages that were closest to the waters of the lake. Several people were already up and about, busy with a number of tasks.

Claire gave a wave as I passed. She was rooting around in the back of one of the parked vans and I saw that it was packed full of packages of food.

“Is that where you keep your supplies?” I asked.

“Some of them. Not your concern though.” Eric grunted.

We walked around to the back of a cottage and I was introduced to two men who were busying themselves with hand axes and saws.

“These are Josh and Martin” Eric said with a wave. “You will be helping them today.”

“Doing what?”