Dead World Rising (Book 3): The Cure Read online

  Acknowledgements

  To Julie, always a good friend, editor and muse. My husband Bill, thanks for always listening.

  Dead World Rising Book 3 The Cure Chapter 1 Frankie

  Sixteen days, we'd been trapped in this god forsaken, damp, dirty, smelly bunker. Half starving, waiting for the storm to let up and the dead to leave, we were ratty, ill tempered and seeming to be always arguing. With everything we'd been through, Maggie and Jade getting kidnapped, thinking Maggie was dead, losing our home and then actually losing Tamara and Maggie, we'd always kept our hopes us. We'd never truly wavered from being ourselves, but now as we sat in the cramped, dark bunker, our hopes had faded, our morale had depleted. Jade seemed to have been most affected by the loss of Maggie and Tamara, she was cold, distant, and quiet.

  'We're practically out of food, aside from a few berries, we need to get out of here,' Troy said grumpily.

  'No, it's too dangerous. The storm still rages, and at night I hear them. The dead are still at our door,' Jade replied coldly. The rest of us remained silent, Jade and Troy had never seen eye to eye but these last couple of weeks, what relationship they had, began to crumble. In Jade's mind, she couldn't forgive Troy for wanting to leave her behind. I understood her anger, but I also knew that it was merely a moment of weakness on Troy's part.

  'I know that, but the longer we stay in here, the less chance we have of getting out alive,' he told her angrily.

  'If we leave now, we risk either getting caught in the storm or being eaten. I for one don't want to be running around in this weather.' I looked at the others, Jensen held my hand looking saddened at Jade's attitude, he'd known her far longer than I had. He knew more than anyone that this wasn't her. Brooke simply sat in the corner, seeming to be lost in her own thoughts.

  Delilah looked as though she wanted to speak, but before she could get a word in, Tessa piped up.

  'She's right dad, if we leave now we won't get far. It's best to wait the storm out, hopefully the dead will leave soon, then we can go,' she told him. He mumbled an 'okay,' but didn't look happy. As time passed, we all crumbled in our own way. Brooke would talk in her sleep, mumbling about her husband. Jensen became quiet and withdrawn, Jade was cold, Delilah had lost everything that made her unique in our little group. I would see faint tears sliding down Tessa's face in the night, as for Troy, he grew angrier as each day passed. It seemed that I was the only one who still had hope, I knew we'd get out of here and I knew one way or another we'd find out way back to ourselves.

  On our last night in the bunker, Jade and Troy had their worst argument, we all sat silent as it looked for a moment that they would actually hurt each other.

  'God damn it woman, we need to leave. Can you not see what this place is doing to our kids? You've already lost Maggie and Tamara, do you want to lose more!?' He shouted at Jade furiously.

  'Fuck off! Don't ever mention their names like that, I'm trying to keep my kids safe, if you want to run off into that storm and kill yourself and Tessa, go right ahead!' She screamed back.

  I could see their faces grow red, the vein on Troy's neck stood out looking like it wanted to pop. Jade's fists were clenched, never before had I seen her so angry, so full of hatred.

  'I knew I should have left you behind,' he spat.

  'And we never should have never brought you with us,' she hissed back.

  'And where would you be without my daughter and I, running round like headless chickens?' He said hatefully.

  'Ha, we'd be a damn sight better off without your foul mouth,' she told him. 'Oh god fuck yourself, you're nothing but a freak. Don't think I don't know the truth about why we left in a rush, you had some freaky vision that was clearly nothing more than a nightmare and you got scared,' he mocked.

  Jade got up out of her corner and marched straight over to Troy, she stood inches from his red face. She pulled her hand back, ready to hit him when Delilah and Tessa jumped in.

  'ENOUGH!' Screamed Tessa.

  Jade and Troy turned to her, shocked at her outburst. 'Dad, I didn't tell you what I overheard so that you could torment her with it. Given the fact that we DID run into a walker herd, I for one actually believe in her visions. And you,' she turned to Jade, 'need to stop winding him up. I know he's a royal pain in the arse, and believe me if he puts one more foot out of line, I'll smack him a good one. Now sit down and shut up, the both of you.' she told them sternly.

  'Sorry,' Troy and Jade mumbled as they sat down.

  'Can we please devise a plan, without arguing?' Delilah asked, looking a little flustered.

  'I think you kids can figure this out, Troy and I shouldn't be involved in the discussion right now,' Jade said a little too calmly.

  'For once we agree,' Troy replied. We got to work on devising a plan, it wasn't easy what with both Troy and Jade giving us annoyed looks every five minutes. Brooke remained quiet, through our discussions and simply nodded when asked for her opinion.

  'There's a lot of countryside to cover before we get to the lab,' I said sadly.

  'I know, and with the lack of food it's going to be tough on us physically,' Delilah replied as her stomach growled.

  'It's been five days since we'd eaten, I can only hope that the water bottles I left outside haven't been knocked over,' Tessa said hopefully.

  'The storm seems to have calmed down, fingers crossed tomorrow will be better,' Jensen chimed in. When we woke in the morning, and peered outside, we found to our relief that the sky was clear and the sun shone brightly. Twenty-one days, we'd been in the bunker for. I sighed with relief as I breathed in the fresh air, while the weather was too hot for my liking, I was just glad to be out of the damn bunker. Jade looked at the map and saw that we were about a days walk from the laboratory, providing we didn't run into any trouble that is. We had no idea if there was any food left at the lab or if they were still safe.

  As we walked along for hours in the humid weather our stomach's growled simultaneously, we needed to find some sort of food and soon. While it didn't bother me, Jensen, Delilah and Tessa so much, the more mature people in our group were struggling. Especially Jade, she looked as if she was going to pass out at any moment. We'd taken what water was still outside of the bunker, it wasn't much and most of us downed it in seconds.

  I stood for a moment letting the others walk on a head, I spotted some bushes on the side of the road. I called to the others to stop for a moment, I knelt down in front of the bushes to see that there were some blackberry's growing on them, I couldn't believe it, you never got blackberries till August at the earliest, further evidence of the strange weather patterns these days. Score, I thought happily, I took out a small plastic tub in my bag that had once housed some heavenly home made cookies that Jade had made in Sanctuary. I could feel my mouth start to water at the thought of home made food, I shook my head and started picking some of the blackberry's. The others came over and did the same, while this wouldn't fill us up it would certainly stop us from starving.

  I don't know whether it was the heat, the lack of food or just that she stood up too fast but Jade suddenly collapsed. We all rushed to her side in panic. She was barely conscious, she looked very pale and not well at all, we had to get her out of this heat.

  Jensen and Troy carried her while Brooke and Tessa shielded her from the sun with their jackets, Delilah and I ran ahead to try and find somewhere for Jade to recuperate. A few minutes up the road I found a small farm house, I banged on the doors and windows to see if their were any walkers inside. Thankfully there wasn't, after a quick scope of the house, Delilah and I ran back to the others to inform them of what we'd found.

  We laid Jade down on worn out grey sofa in the
living room while the rest of us went to look for food and water. We had used our water during the walk, even though I was younger and more able to deal with this weather I still downed my bottle to stop myself from passing out. Brooke stayed with her while we looked, Jensen, Delilah and I checked the barn next door while Troy and Tessa checked the house.

  'Do you think she'll be alright?' Jensen asked worryingly.

  'As long as she gets some water,' I replied.

  'Why didn't she say she wasn't feeling well?' Delilah wondered.

  'You know Jade, she never wants us to worry,' I told them. We looked in the barn but found nothing but hay, we did find a well just outside the barn though. We pulled the bucket up and were glad to see water inside, we poured the water in our bottles and took it in the house. Troy and Tessa had not found any food though, but at least we had some water and berries.

  Troy held Jade up as I poured water into her mouth, she was awake enough to drink it and sat up looking a bit better. I think he wanted to help Jade, I know somewhere deep down, he felt awful for the things he'd said to her.

  'Thanks,' she said looking a bit embarrassed.

  'It's okay, you gave us quite a scare,' Troy replied looking relieved that she was lucid.

  It was the most concern and kindness that he had displayed towards her in quite a while, maybe it was progress, I thought optimistically.

  'I think we should rest here for a while before setting back off to the lab.'

  I was surprised that Brooke spoke, she was normally very quiet.

  Brooke always seemed to look like she was deep in thought, I often wanted to ask her what she was thinking about but as I didn't know her that well, I didn't want to intrude on her personal thoughts.

  'I think your right,' Troy replied interrupting my thoughts. Jade sat up slowly, I watched her as she did looking for any sign that she might need help. It pained me to see her so weak and frail, I hoped that we could get to the lab soon before her health really took a turn for the worse.

  It had been decided that we would stay for a few days until we gathered our strength and got some supplies, we boarded up the windows and barricaded the doors. There was not a single walker in sight, though by now I knew not to get too comfortable because they were never far behind.

  Jensen and I were giving the house a thorough going over to ensure that it was safe, we walked into one of the bedroom's when I heard a soft breathing noise. I looked around but couldn't see anything. I told Jensen to check the other bedroom's, I kept hearing the noise but I couldn't think where it was coming from. I went back out into the hallway and the sound started to dissipate, I pulled Jensen into the room and signalled for him to be quiet and listen.

  We both heard the noise and looked up, I saw a square wooden hatch above us. I grabbed a piece of wood and jabbed the hatch. I heard someone yelp in pain, the man called down that he was friendly. He jumped down from the attic and put his hands in the air defensively, I looked him over, he didn't look dangerous but then again the actually nasty ones never do.

  He was a tall man in his forties, with short black hair streaked with grey. He had dark blue eyes and dark skin, though I wondered whether it was from the sun or if he was a mixed-race man. He didn't look overly dirty, maybe he had been staying here for a while.

  'Don't hurt me, I'm friendly.' he said nervously.

  We put our weapons in our belts and called for the others, the man stayed where he was and didn't move.

  'I swear I'm not going to hurt you,' he pleaded looking worried.

  'What's wrong?' Troy asked as he walked through the door, he noticed the man and his eyes lit up.

  'Troy, is that you?' The man asked looking shocked.

  'Dom? You old sod, of all the people to get this far I knew you'd be one of them,' he walked over to him and hugged him tight.

  I felt relieved, we'd had enough of vile people to last a lifetime.

  'Ha ha, its been years. I'm glad to see your alright, it that Theresa?' He looked astonished when he looked at Tessa, clearly it had been years since he'd seen them.

  'Uncle Dom, I can't believe it's you.'

  She ran to him almost crying and clung to him.

  We all sat downstairs listening to Dom's stories of what he had been through, I was amazed that he had survived so long by himself. He was a quirky, cheerful man with a booming voice. It turned out that Dom had known Troy since they were boys, but they hadn't seen each other since before the outbreak. He had gone to Sanctuary but when he got there it had already been burned down, he gave us what little food he had and watched happily as we gobbled it along with all the berries we'd picked earlier.

  I looked over at Brooke and saw that she ate with far more enthusiasm and speed than the rest of us, given her physical appearance I had wanted to give her more of the berries but I didn't want her to feel like a charity case.

  'Where are you folks off to?' Dom asked politely.

  'We are going to find our friends, last we checked they were at an underground lab near Holywell Green,' Troy told him happily.

  I had never seen Troy look so cheerful, he was a completely different person around Dom. 'Mind if I tag along?' He asked sounding nervous. 'We'll have to discuss it as a group but it should be alright,' Troy smiled at us, clearly hoping that we would agree.

  I liked Dom, he was just the sort of cheerful guy we needed in our tiny group. I looked around at the others as Dom and Troy carried on talking, Jade looked much better than she had earlier though her face remained sad and thoughtful. Brooke was listening intensely and I could tell that she liked Dom, Jensen sat next to me holding my hand; he was often wary of new people but even he found it hard to keep a straight face while listening to Dom's story. Delilah laughed along with the others, I could tell she found him amusing. I thought that we would all agree to Dom coming with us, we could use more people and something in my gut told me that we could trust him. Though as Jade had become cold and distant, I wondered if she would welcome Dom as an addition to our group.

  We all settled down for the night, there were only two bedroom's in the house so we let Jade, Delilah and Brooke have one and Troy, Tessa and Dom had the other while we slept downstairs. Luckily the sofa was quite large so we could fit on it easily, we held each other as we fell asleep and I couldn't help but think that things were starting to look up.

  During the night I had the most intense, vivid nightmare. I was sat on the edge of a bed in a strange house, wearing shredded clothes, there was a tall teenage boy with long curly, black hair stood next to me, slashing me with a knife. He could not have been any older than sixteen, his dark blue, piercing eyes terrified me. I cowered in fear from him but it was no use, he continued his vicious attack. I put my arms up in defence but within moments I could see fresh blood sliding down them. I had faced so many terror's in this life, I'd killed people, seen others die and yet none of it had frightened me as much as this. There was something about this boy, the way he looked at me, that caused me to cower rather than defend myself. Why, I wondered, why was I not kicking this dickheads arse? This couldn't be me, I would never let anyone abuse me in such a way, I was stronger than that.

  It felt like the assault went on for hours, my head felt dizzy, I struggled not to be sick and I feltstrange, I couldn't explain it but I knew, there was something different about that version of me. Yet this was not the most shocking thing about this dream. Jensen, Delilah and Finn burst into the room followed by Tamara, Jensen beat the boy to a bloody pulp before he escaped. I didn't know what I was more afraid of, the attack, or seeing Jensen so angry, so hateful. To see his youthful, soft face turn to one of pure fury as he reigned blow after blow upon the boys head.

  I sat crying in Delilah and Tamara's arms as Jensen and the boy who was with them went to fetch me some clothes. I tried to wake myself up but I could not get out of the dream, the more I tried to wake up, the more dream seemed to pull me in.

  I couldn't tell if the dream was simply a nightmare or if it was visi
on of the future. The fear was so real that when I did eventually wake up I was shaking and sweating. I looked around and sure enough Jensen was laying next to me, I nudged him a few times until he woke up. I sat still shaking as I tried to tell Jensen what had happened, while the attack I had endured in the dream and seeing Jensen be that violent was truly horrific, it was seeing Tamara again that had truly shaken me. She didn't look how she did when we found her dead in Sanctuary, she looked a little older, her hair was much longer and her left arm had a new scar that ran from her shoulder down to her elbow. I laid down after telling Jensen everything, trying to relax enough to fall back asleep. He pulled me close and stroked my hair, there was not enough words to explain just how lucky I was to have him. I doubted even I would have made it this far without him, I squeezed his other hand gently as I tried to let the memory of the nightmare fade away.

  The next morning we were the first to wake up, we went to collect some more water from the well so the others could have something to drink when they got up. We sat down on the sofa talking about what to do next, when Jade, Delilah and Brooke came down. We handed them a bottle of water each, which they took graciously.

  'So what do you think of Dom?' I asked taking a sip of my water. 'I like him, he's seen a lot of the country and we could use some one with that kind knowledge, plus he has lasted this long on his own, so he much have great survival skills,' surprisingly Brooke was the first to offer her opinion.

  'I like him, he's a good laugh. And I think we all need a good laugh right now,' Delilah smiled.

  'I agree,' was all Jade said. I was beginning to really worry about her, I wanted to get Jade on her own to talk to her but I hadn't had the time yet. I looked at her wondering what she was thinking about, she hadn't been herself for so long.

  We waited for the others to get up so that we could tell them what we had decided, they came down after a while looking happier than we had seen them in a while. 'So then I got my leg caught in barbed wire, I saw the farmer running towards me and luckily he fell into one of the holes he had dug so I able to get away with a chicken. Man I had never eaten so good,' he laughed with the others at his story.