Wake the Dead 2 (Wake The Dead Series) (17 page)

Alex unhooked the motor for the boat for what he hoped would be the final time, as Selina worked ahead of him to drag the boat to the riverbank. Slowly managing the hilly surface once again, Alex got to the boat and gently placed the motor in its place.

“C’mon, Shadow,” Alex called, waiting for the wolf to follow his direction. He repeated his command once again, more forcefully, and within a few seconds, the wolf appeared and trotted down the hill.

“Guess he really wasn’t hungry, huh?”

“Nah, he’s probably keepin’ up on his huntin’ skills. Ya know, we gotta stay sharp if we’re gonna survive this world, right?” Alex asked rhetorically with a sigh. “In the boat, boy,” he said, as Shadow approached, eventually placing one paw into the boat. He stopped midway until Selina finally nudged him the rest of the way and then climbed in after.

“Let’s get this over with, then,” he said, guiding the boat out into the river.

A silent somberness fell over the boat.

Chapter 14

Nick stood on the drawbridge in the distance as if expecting them to be coming. It always surprised Alex just how
‘on’
that guy was all the time. Or so it seemed to him, anyway.

Phil was up above on the parapets, sword in hand, shield strapped to his back, his chainmail coif donning his scalp once again, as if he were expecting a war to break out any minute.

“Glad you made it back,” Nick said once the engine cut off. He held an outstretched hand to help Selina out of the boat while Alex handed him the rope, which Nick tied around the post to settle the boat. Shadow gingerly reached for the firm footing of the wooden drawbridge, found his footing easily enough, and leaped out of the boat. Alex followed suit, Nick aiding him out and onto terra firma.

“Guess you found something?” Nick asked, finally releasing his grip on Alex’s hand.

“We did, yeah,” Selina said, jogging in place for a few seconds. “Foot fell asleep.”

“How are your patients?”

“Well, good news is that Hannah is up and about, but she has been feeling woozy again these last couple days. I’m keeping Liz away from her—”

Nick stopped mid-sentence, clearing his throat. Alex stared at him wondering what he was going to say just then, but did not pursue it. He remained silent and let Nick continue.

“But one of your ‘rescue-ees’ didn’t make it. The Indian woman, Mira, she had a seizure in the middle of the night. We think, anyway. And…well… she choked on her own vomit. I'm sorry, man.”

“Well, that sucks. At least she died here and not out there, I guess,” Alex said, watching Shadow head into the outer courtyard. He could see the zombies still reaching hungrily through the bars of the gateway in the distance. It seemed unreal to him as he stood there, shaking away the sickening feeling.

“Yeah, that’s true,” Selina agreed. “Can I see Hannah?”

“Talk to Liz first,” Nick said, waving her in and bowing low. As Selina began to head into the inner courtyard, Alex saw Liz approach, give Selina a hug, and the two walked away, talking in animated gestures.

“You sure you wanna go?” Nick asked him again, trying to maintain eye contact.

“I'm sure. We found a Forester in really good shape. Less than twenty thousand original miles. Just changed the oil, too. You guys keep the rig.”

“So, there’s that, there ya go, eh? What about if we brought the wolf inside?”

“What about Ben’s cat?”

Nick shrugged.

“Nah, man. I appreciate the offer, but I don’t wanna put you guys out. It’s cool.”

“All right, man. Suit yourself. We’ll be here if and/or
when
you ever wanna come back.”

“And I appreciate that. More than you know. But she—
no
, scratch that—w
e
want to head south. Gonna try to make it all the way down to the Carolina coast. Besides, I’m tired of dressin’ in layers.”

“Carolina’s eh? You aren’t from around here then, are you?”

“Originally? No. I was born in the Carolinas and I moved up here in my teens. My parents moved us for a job. Years later, when they were goin’ back, when I was in high school, I met…
her
. Then my life changed.”

“Your wife,” he stated more than asked. “So she had family up her in Pennsy? That’s pretty far.”

“Yeah. Sara had family here, I didn’t get along so well with mine, she loved the change of weather, and I made my peace with it for her sake. Eventually I even kinda liked it, too. But since Selina brought up headin’ down south again, I kinda liked the idea. I do kinda miss the warmer weather, too. Hardly any snow at all.”

“I gotcha, my friend. It’s all good. It might be really hard to get all the way down there, but I wish you the best of luck. Sincerely.”

“Thanks, Nick. You guys have been great. I can’t thank you enough.” He held his gaze and shook nick’s hand firmly “Lemme get in there and say goodbye to everyone else before I start to get all misty.”

“Hah! Sure thing, kid. Get outta here, you’re burnin’ daylight.”

Alex headed into the castle and then stopped and made his way right back to Nick and stood staring at him in silence for a long minute.

“Yes?”

“I just wanted to say that I’m truly sorry about Ben, Bryan and the rest of your losses.” He slapped Nick on the shoulder and the man nodded somberly, saying nothing more. Alex turned and headed back inside the castle, finding everyone gathered around the table in the Great Hall with a feast of sorts spread out across the table.

“They made a going away meal for us!” Selina said, excitedly holding hands with Liz.

“Where’s Hannah?” Alex asked.

“She turned in. not feeling well,” Liz said. Phil, James, and Laurie, who appeared to be in better shape than when he’d last seen her, sat on the opposite side of the table. There was the distinct smell of chicken permeating the air. Alex glanced inside a pot, then another and another, seeing the succulent-smelling chicken, mashed potatoes and corn, along with a few other vegetables and beans in more pots.

Alex turned around to see Nick standing behind him. He was smiling and shrugged sheepishly. “Couldn’t let you go without a party, could I?”

“I guess not. You didn’t have to….”

“And Kelly’s tossin’ a fresh chicken over the side for Shadow as we speak,” he added, taking a seat at the head of the table.

“That should keep him out of trouble,” Alex said taking a seat across from Selina and filling up a plate. He felt the steel of the Glock in his back and removed it, placing it in his pack and then putting that on the floor under his chair. The scent of the chicken made his mouth water. He hadn’t realized until that very moment that he hadn’t eaten anything substantial in days.

“Do you sleep with that thing?” Liz asked Alex, pointing to his chest. Alex felt the compound bowstring across his back and shrugged.

“I don’t even know I have it on most of the time. Guess I got used to it,” Alex said, running his thumb along the inside of the leather strap that kept the quiver on his back, too, which was set on the opposite side of his back. He removed them both and placed them on the floor too.

“I don’t even know I have a sword strapped to my hip either until I go to sit down,” Selina added, removing her belt and scabbard.

The group proceeded to enjoy the meal, and each other’s company, sharing similar stories about wearing medieval armor, and carrying weapons, and how it had become matter-of-course these days. They continued to converse about that, which then led them to discussing how much simpler life was before the virus outbreak, Kelly eventually joining them and partaking of the meal and conversation.

Kelly was, of course the only one to have the slightest complaint about the meal, citing words and phrases such as ‘overcooked’ and ‘spiced all wrong’. They each took turns laughing at the absurdity of his self-deprecating diatribe.

You’ll be able to take us tomorrow to our car?” Alex asked Nick, stuffing a piece of chicken into his mouth.

“Sure, man. We’ll all fit in the boat? The three of us and Shadow?”

“Should, yeah,” he answered, savoring the mashed potatoes and really enjoying the food. “Thanks, Kel. This was amazing, my friend.”

“Well, it turned out better than our boat,” he said, once more using a belittling tone.

“Always the pessimist,” Liz commented through a mouthful of food.

“Well, it’s still on the riverbank there. Just needs the side repaired where I yanked it off. It was my—“ Alex stopped his explanation mid-sentence, seeing that Kelly was laughing. “You’re fuckin’ with me. Okay, cool.”

“You guys gonna stay the night? If so, I got a spot for you
inside
with a bed and everything.”

“Bryan’s old room?”

“Yeah,” Nick said with a shrug, “but you’ll have to spend the night with Buster.”

“Right. The cat. Sure,” Alex said, wiping his face.

“Cool. Cause we found a bottle of Bacardi Rum,” Kelly said, standing up and heading over to a cabinet along the wall, retrieving the rum and a 2-liter bottle of coke. “This is probably flat, but it’ll do. And I've got a pot of tea cooling for iced teas.”

“Wow, pullin’ out all the stops!” Selina shouted, clearly swept up in the excitement.

“I'm in, just lemme spend a little time with Shadow and I’ll be back,” Alex said, standing and heading out of the room. As the sounds of the laughter faded, he was somber in the fact that he was leaving.

These are really kind folks. I'm gonna hate leavin’ here more than I thought.

Minutes later, he found Shadow lying near the chapel where they’d been spending their nights. The zombies, relentless in their pursuit of flesh and moaning to get at them, were ignored by the wolf. Alex stood over the resting wolf and eventually lay beside him as the two shared a long bout of silence until Alex’s heavy eyelids got the best of him.

“Alex,” called the sound of Nick’s voice through the cloak of darkness that had encroached upon them. He had been asleep for a little while, he realized, sitting up and looking for Nick in the gloom.

“Yeah, Nick. What’s up?”

“You seem a bit more brooding than usual. Thought I’d check in on you.”

“Well, I’m a grown man. I don’t need you checking up on me,” Alex said through his abrupt awakening, a bit harsher than he intended.

“I know I'm not your dad, man. Just was concerned is all.”

“Well, if you must know,” he said sarcastically, trying to defuse the sting of his prior comment, “I’m a bit concerned about the future. Mine and Selina’s I mean.”

“Not just the future of mankind, huh?”

“Well, that too. But I mean, carryin’ on with our species. Ya know, killin’ the fuckin’ undead completely; startin’ a new generation of mankind, raisin’ kids even,” he added, staring up at Nick who still stood over him. “You know,
that
kind of thing.”

“Well, I know I’ll be doin’ my part. We all will here, I guarantee that. We’re gonna beat this zombie-virus.”

“Ya think so?”

“I know so. And I’m gonna make sure that my son or daughter knows, too.”

“Liz is pregnant?”

“Yeah, man. It’s why I’m trying to keep her away from Hannah, too. I’m not completely sure she’s a hindered percent rid of whatever she had.”

“Which is what you were gonna say earlier?”

“Yep. But either way, we’re naming the baby Alex.”

“Really?! Well, that’s’ cool.”

“Yeah, you seem to have made a lasting impression on my wife. Although naming a daughter ‘Alexis’ was a bit hard on her.”

“Yeah, she wasn’t very fond of her, huh?”

“No, but she died a hero, so it wasn’t that hard a sell suggesting a variation—namely Alexandra. Anyway, just thought you should know that the future is what you make it. Nothing more. Nothing less.”

“I got it. I think we’ll be okay,” he said, looking to the skeptical face of Nick. “Look…you’ve got another mouth to feed with Laurie, your wife is pregnant, and we’re not even certain that Hannah is really better, right? I’m sure you can use the extra food and meds without us for the winter, right?”

Nick stared at him in silence, clearly pondering that reasoning and shaking his head. “Time to get back to your woman,” said another, much softer, feminine voice from the darkness. “And we better get inside before we need a flashlight to make our way, tiger,” added Selina, holding an outstretched hand to Alex, interrupting the conversation he and Nick were having.

“We’ll maybe talk some more later, okay?” Nick said, starting away from him and then stopping. “I wish you the best of luck, Alex.”

Alex took Selina’s hand as Nick strode off again, and they came together in a hug before Alex released her and bent low to rub the top of Shadow’s head playfully. The wolf barely moved, apparently exhausted from the day’s activities.

The pair eventually made their way into the castle, gathering up their gear. A smiling Liz showed them to their room for the night. It was complete with a worn-in mattress that looked very comfortable to Alex, who was more than exhausted. There was a single fold out table where many candles had been used and subsequently had twisted into one giant assembly of wax and wick on a large porcelain dish. The candlewick was burning. A dresser occupied the center of the opposite wall, and a rather large orange cat sat atop it quietly, barely regarding the two of them as they entered. Beside the rather large cat was a lantern.