Killing the Dead (Season 2 | Book 2): Dark and Deadly Land by Richard Murray Read Free Book Online

actively trying to understand it better. It seemed important to her at times that I understand such things and even participate.
    “Will do,” I agreed which seemed to please her.
    As the chatter continued, I tried to pay more attention to what they were saying and more to the point, the underlying meaning. It wasn’t long before a headache began to form and I admitted to myself that I just didn’t ‘get’ it.
    The night wore on and to my dismay, we had no encounters or excitement of any kind. It was well past midnight by the time we reached the far end of the hill and paused to look down into the dark valley below.
    “Is that a light?” Cass asked breathlessly. She seemed to be especially weary and I wondered if it was because she was pregnant. She’s never seemed particularly unfit and had usually shown great stamina before.
    I decided to watch her and pay attention. My experience with pregnancy was non-existent but I had heard that it changed the people involved and I was interested to see how it did so.
    “Looks like it,” Pat said. His expression – what little of it that I could see in the moonlight – was intent as he stared down into the valley.
    “Friendly or not?” Lily asked.
    “Must be living people,” Becky offered. “Zombies don’t use lights.”
    “We’ll need to be careful,” Gregg said. “Take it one step at a … hey, where’re you going?”
    The last was whispered loudly to me as I descended the hill. Why the debate about who or what it could be? When you could go down and find out. If they weren’t friendly then we could kill them and if they were, then I would have to avoid doing so. It wasn’t that hard and for the life of me, I couldn’t grasp why they insisted on making it so.
    Each step on that walk down had to be placed carefully. A misstep would lead to a fall and at worst a broken ankle. Stuck out in the middle of nowhere with no medical aid and zero chance of making it back to the island safely would be a death sentence.
    Half way down I found a worn trail that I guessed the occupants of the hamlet below had used to hike the hills. It made the going easier and before long the others caught up with me. Each of them had their weapons to hand and I smiled in the darkness as my heart rate increased.
    A stone wall bordered and separated fields around the properties. Outbuildings of various size loomed up in the darkness and carried on the wind were voices of real living people. I headed towards the light.
    An open barn door revealed the source to be an old-fashioned oil lantern that had been hung from a hook on an old oak support beam. Animals could be heard shifting in the darkness and a man and woman knelt with their backs to us on the straw covered ground beside a black and white spotted dairy cow.
    They were talking loudly and hadn’t seemed to notice our arrival as they went about their task. As I stepped through the door the high pitched cry of a newborn animal sounded and a miniature version of the cow was helped to its feet by the man.
    Mucus and blood covered the creature that turned on shaky legs towards its mother. I admit that the sight of the newborn covered in its birthing fluid was not pleasant and that accompanying odour, less so.
    “Hello?” Lily called, apparently deciding they were not a threat.
    The couple turned in alarm and I got a good view of them in the lantern light. Both in their fifties with greying hair and weathered skin. She had the bright eyes and lines around her mouth that indicated she smiled often. He already bore a frown and looked to one side where a shotgun had been left to rest beside a bale of hay.
    “What’d ya want?” the man asked, his voice heavy with suspicion. I pulled my knife from its sheath and edged closer to the shotgun. If he ran for it, I’d gut him before he got off a shot.
    “Please,” Lily said as she placed a hand gently on my arm. “We mean no harm. Truly.”
    “Where are you from dear?” the woman asked