Saving The Undead - Book 2

Chapter 7 - Hatchets & Holes

With you till the end - Feat Sam Tinnesz (Produced by Tommee Profitt)

Blackness bled through the grangled branches of trees. The ground below was covered with a layer of frost and the moon, was nowhere to be seen, hidden behind thick, dark clouds.

The deer weaved between the the trees, stomping it's hove to uncover the grass beneath the icy layer. I blinked and my eyes began to burn, before I felt the same crawling sensation across my skin that always came after the bloodlust.

I used to be repulsed by it, I used to hold off as long as I could, but now, I didn't have many choices. If I let myself starve, I wouldn't be able to help Noah.

The deer had no antlers, so probably young female. She would sprint the moment I made my move but I didn't want that. After the night I had, the last thing I wanted to do was run after a deer.

I waited until she passed under the tree, where she continued to graze along the bark. Without hesitation, I dropped onto her back.

There was a loud crack as the deer went down, flailing violently to throw me off. Then, with a sudden loud snap of its neck, the deer dropped to the ground.

I always made their deaths quick, there was no need to prolong their suffering. They simply served a purpose, a gruesome one yes, but a purpose nonetheless.

As I feasted on the lifeless deer, my mind drifted to a dark place. One where I made Biotech pay for what they did to me. I knew revenge wasn't always the answer but as I swallowed the bits of raw flesh and blood, as it soaked into my clothes and stained my very soul, I couldn't think of anything else.

How was I supposed to accept what I had become?

I made the small track back to the hotel room where Shawna and Peter were waiting. It smelled like stale cigarettes and beer. The carpet was stained in various places that carried the scent of old blood and chemicals.

Shawna was seated on the single sofa with fraying pillows, her wet hair pulled in tight bun away from her face. She stared ahead, unblinking as if looking at nothing at all. Her eyes were stark and empty and I found myself feeling pity towards her for the first time since we met. She looks so lost. 

Peter was standing at the window, pulling back the yellow curtains, and staring at the road. The door clicked shut behind me and Peter's eyes snapped up to mine. "I think you need to take a shower."

I stared down. My clothes were soaked in blood, bits of mangled flesh stuck to my skin and hair from when the zombie's head exploded. Not to mention the additional bits of gross added by my hunt. I can't even muster up the disgust to be appalled by myself. It just is what it is. 

"Yeah, you're right."

I grabbed my bag from the floor and flung it over my shoulder.

"I'm going to get us some food," Peter said, sliding the curtain over the window and walking towards the door.

I don't wait to speak to Shawna, with Peter gone and us not running for our lives anymore, I have no idea what to say to her. Somehow, I'm numb, unable to articulate what's going on in my head. Once in the small bathroom, I wash away all the remnants of the past four hours. 

Mia's death plays like a macabre scene behind my closed lids. Yet I feel nothing. I keep drifting further and further away from everything I was, to something truly terrifying. Once all the grime is scrubbed from my body, I step out of the shower, hopping that Peter was back or Shawna fell asleep. 

Somehow, facing her now leaves me feeling empty. I push the bathroom door open and Shawna looks up. Her eyes are bloodshot and bleak, her cheeks tear-stained. She chokes on a sob and the dam seems to burst before my eyes. I shift my weight from one leg to the other and my chest grows tight at the sight of her anguish.