Six Days With the Dead by Stephen Charlick Read Free Book Online Page B

had been travelling with my brother Robert and his six year old son, Frankie. We had made camp in a decrepit old barn. There were no Dead around so we should have been ok. I was on first watch up in the rafters while they slept below and I swear I must’ve only fallen asleep for a few minutes but when I woke up…’ Tears fell from his tired eyes as he covered his face with his hands.
    William coughed , forcing down the emotion in an attempt to compose himself, ‘but when I woke up, I knew something was wrong. I could smell the blood straight away even from where I was sitting. I called to Robert but as he turned to look up at me I could see it was over. Those Dead eyes looked back at me and my brother was gone forever. He was covered in blood with a big slash across his neck. For a while I hoped Frankie had hidden himself somewhere but there was no sign of him, alive or Dead… When Robert had become slower I dealt with him and then went looking for Frankie. There didn’t seem to be any other Dead about so I left the wagon and just took the horse for speed. That was two months ago and I’ve been searching ever since. I haven’t found him yet but he was so small you see. He can’t have walked that far. He needs to be with his Daddy, that’s all I want, just to put him with his Daddy.’ William choked out the last words as tears fell freely from his eyes.
    ‘ Hey you never know, he may have made it to one of the Outposter’s homes and still be safe.’ Liz said, trying to sound reassuring but not believing her own words.
    ‘ Tell you what, I’ll take a few people out tomorrow to the closest Outposter holdings and ask them if they’ve seen Frankie, OK?’ Charlie said, resting his hand on William’s shoulder.
    ‘ Thank you… even if he’s one of the Dead, I just need to know,’ William said, wiping the tears from his eyes.
    Charlie gave a sad smile and got up t o leave the room. Catching Liz’s eye he nodded towards the door, wanting her to follow.
    ‘ We’ll have to warn the Outposters that there’s some bandit activity in the area at the moment.’ Charlie said.
    ‘ Sorry, what do you mean, bandits?’ Liz asked, confusion stopping her in her tracks.
    Charlie turned to Liz and said , ‘Since when have the Dead slit someone’s throat? And he said himself there were no signs of the Dead before, or after his brother died. So unless we’ve got a six year old psycho on our hands who killed his own father, then my guess is it’s bandits.’
    ‘ But what did they kill Robert for? They even left his horse’ Liz couldn’t understand some people in this Dead world. 
    The Living had enough odds stacked against them as it was, they really could do without ba nds of outlaws thinking life was so cheap, especially now that it was in such short supply.
    ‘ Who knows, Lizzy,’ Charlie said, as they continued walking down the corridor ‘some people are just looking out for number one, some people are scared and some people are just plain angry.’
    ‘ Angry at who?’ Liz asked.
    ‘ Angry at those who survived, I guess. They think, why did this person deserve to die and this person deserve to live. And I guess it’s just all got a bit mixed up in their heads. We’ve all lost somebody, if not everybody, and it hurts. Deep pain like that affects different people different ways. Some let it out and deal with it, while for others it turns inwards and consumes them like a cancer until all that is left is the pain.’
    They continued down the hall in silence, both lost in their own thoughts. Friends and loved ones long gone, suddenly remembered. Ghostly memories, appearing to tease their healing wounds. Not looking where they were going, they both walked right into Nadine as she came round the corner. As usual she had her nose in a book.
    Nadine had an amazing memory. Anything she read would be squirrel led away in her brain and could be called on when needed. When the world had changed Nadine had hidden away in