Six Days With the Dead Read Online Free Page A

almost shaking with anger, thinking of the possible danger they had put Anne in, ‘Look, we’ve got a good thing here in the Convent and if you don’t want to help keep it all running then perhaps it’s time you moved on?’
    She could see the panic in his eyes. The last six months had been the safest he had felt in years and he really didn ’t want to be forced to leave.
    ‘ No, I’m sorry Liz, please, I’ll do my bit. Don’t make me go back out there.’ He said, getting up.
    ‘ Well just stop pissing around then. We’ve all got to work together here to survive and if we can’t rely on each other then it’s all going to get shitty, real quick.’ she replied, as Damian finally hang his head in remorse.
    Alice glancing over the wall, tutted.
    ‘Looks like we’ve got company after all, guys,’ she said, pointing at the base of the wall with her bat.
    The other three le ant over the rail, seeing what Alice had noticed.
    There , below them, were two of the Dead. Attracted by their argument, they reached their decaying hands to them in desperation. The larger of the two had once been a man, probably in his forties, Liz guessed. He must have been infected around six months ago from his mottled greying pallor and state of slow decomposition. The lower half of his face had been ripped away by his hungry attacker, leaving a dark clotted mass of broken teeth and torn flesh. Part of his scalp had also been torn, showing the yellowing skull beneath. Perhaps someone he himself had then gone onto attack had tried to put him down but the attempt had been unsuccessful. A strip of dry leathery skin now hung down over his left ear, a testament to the valiant but fruitless efforts of someone in their last moments. His tattered shirt was darkly stained with his own long dried blood and in areas, putrid puss had leaked from his decaying body leaving oily smears of filth. Darkly sunken eyes looked up at them, the usual milky film, barely hiding an imploring hunger that would burn unceasingly.
    But it was the other figure that made Liz ’s heart sink. Looking to be no older than Anne, the Dead child was as equally grotesque as her taller counterpart. Naked, apart from her underwear and a single sock, her small sunken torso was covered in bite marks. A clear indication that this poor creature had been taken in a most horrific manner. One arm, its hand missing entirely, had been stripped down to the bone at the wrist. Her once blond hair hung lank and thin, partially covering her face. On one side of her head sat a small clip with a ladybird motif. Liz could not take her eyes away from the clip. Like a window into the Dead child’s life, it was a reminder that this horror had once been loved and cared for, as Liz had been. What had this creature’s parents done to keep their child safe in a world full of monsters. Was the Dead man actually her father, somehow tied to the child even in death. Of course, Liz would never know who they had been and what story they had to tell but one thing was certain, they would find release today. 
    ‘ Right, lets do this.’ Liz said, reaching for one of the leather neck protectors hanging on the pegs with the gauntlets.
    The Dead were fond of diving for exposed necks and hands, so they had made leather neck coverings that buckled all the way from the shoulder to the jaw line. They were a little un-comfortable if you had to wear them for a long time but Liz herself had been saved by this layer of leather between herself and the Dead more than once.
    ‘ Do you want me to get Mohammad? With his bow he can sort this out without going out there.’ Sally asked, making her way to the ladder. 
    ‘ No, Alice and I can handle this. Just stay up here until we’re done, just in case.’ Liz replied, as Alice handed her a pair of gloves.  
    ‘ You ready?’ Alice said, as she finished doing up her final buckle.
    Nodding, Liz walked down the walkway. On the count of three the two women each threw over