Part 20 (1/2)

As they finally made their way past the corner, the hope that they would be able to gain access to the rail line here, vanished. Imran had been correct in locating a section where there was a crossing, but what they saw before them seemingly ruled this one out for sure. There, blocking the road in front of the gate they would need to pa.s.s through, was a large abandoned truck. Unfortunately the vehicle had not come to a controlled stop and its trailer sat parked at an angle across the road. It was unusual to see one so large this far from the major roads and they were surprised it had managed to get this far along the small winding lanes.

*Oh, for f.u.c.ks sake!' Liz said, looking at the huge vehicle that might as well have been a cruise liner, for all the chance they had of moving it. *How the h.e.l.l did that manage to get here? And what a stupid place to leave it.'

*Well, we'll just have to look for another crossing,' Alice said, taking the map from Imran, *there must be another one not too far away.'

*Sod this! I'm just going to take a quick look before we write this one off' Liz said, opening one of the side hatches and jumping down to the cracked road before the others could stop her.

*Imran,' Charlie said, knowing there was no point calling Liz to get back in, *Cover her.'

Immediately, Imran flipped open the top hatch, his bow already armed with an arrow, as he watched Liz gingerly walk over to the lorry. With bits of the tarmac crunching under her feet, she slowly made her way to the lorry, her sword held low but ready. Liz briefly paused to listen for any of the tell-tale moaning of the Dead. If any were around and caught sight of her, they wouldn't be able to help but let out a hungry moan, so the fact that all she could hear was the chorus of bird song was promising. Following the side of the lorry to the cab section wedged against a garden wall, it was clear they wouldn't be getting onto the tracks that way. Liz looked up at the dark blood smeared windows of the cab and knew whoever had been driving had not left this world peacefully. Even as she stared up at a flaking handprint on the gla.s.s, she could see the pathetic Dead man inside begin to stir, the presence of her living flesh bringing life to his previously still form. He had become one of the Dead so long ago that Liz knew there wasn't a chance in h.e.l.l that he could break the gla.s.s to get to her, so she ignored him and doubled back to check out the rear end instead. Although there was a little room between the end of the trailer and the garden wall on this side, there was still no way near enough room for even Delilah to squeeze through, let alone the cart too. Cursing their bad luck, Liz was about to return to the cart when she notice that a little further down a section of the fence blocking their access to the track had been removed. Curious, she walked past the end of the trailer to take a look. When she got there, a smile slowly crept across her face as she realised what she was seeing. There, leading up to the gap in the fence, were the ruts in the mud caused by a cart's wheels. Following them backwards, they led down the bank and into one of the back gardens. Taking care that she didn't inadvertently step on anything Dead in the high gra.s.s, Liz tracked the carts route, through the overgrown garden and onto a small brick patio at the side of the house. As she crossed the patio she could see that two wooden garage doors blocked off the road from the back of the house. Crossing her fingers that there wouldn't be a car the other side of the doors, she undid the simple latch and let the doors swing open.

*Yes!' she said to herself smiling, as the sight of the back of their cart came into view.

Having not only found a way onto the tracks but also a sign that someone had quite recently come this way, the group had a new sense of hope that their hunch about the Reverend using the train lines to bypa.s.s red-zones, might just be correct.

They made surprisingly good time travelling along the tracks and Charlie sat there grumbling away under his breath, kicking himself for not thinking of it sooner. It was ideal. The line afforded them uninterrupted travel and with the tracks going straight from A to B, they saved a lot of the time that they would usually spend on the winding country lanes. The only drawback that Charlie could see, was that if they didn't want to risk damaging the wheels they would have to find another crossing where the tracks sank lower. Only there, would the cart's wheels be able to roll back onto a normal road easily without a risky b.u.mp up and over.

So they were pleased that after only a few hours they began to see the motorway coming up in the distance. Liz breathed a sigh of relief when they first realised the track continued over the motorway via a bridge rather than a tunnel. Despite the high fence that would have kept the Dead from the tacks, she didn't relish the idea of travelling through a dark tunnel. With not being able to see what was in front of them, you didn't know what could be lying in wait. Any pleasure they felt by approaching the motorway so soon, began to evaporate when they got close enough for it to be more than a distant rusting manmade scar across the landscape. Living at Lanherne, in their relatively hidden away existence, it was easy to sometimes forget just how much Man has lost to the Dead. Obviously each had had their own horrific experiences and they had certainly all lost many they loved when the world had changed. But to witness the rusting evidence of the devastation stretching off into the distance was breath-taking in its scale. As they approached the bridge that was to take them over the motorway, Charlie turned to them and spoke in a serious hushed tone.

*Look, we don't know how many of the Dead are still lurking around down there, so until we're over the bridge we're on silent mode. Got it? Last thing we want is a h.o.a.rd of the Dead trying to climb the embankment up to the track and heaven help us if they managed to get through the fence, they'd be on our tail all the way to Carnglaze.'

With equally serious nods from the other three, Charlie turned back round. He knew they already understood the danger they would be in if things went wrong, but better to repeat the obvious than put their lives in jeopardy.

*Right, here goes nothing,' Charlie said to himself.

With a gentle flick of the reins, Charlie coaxed Delilah forward. Not only was walking on the gravel, scattered between the sleepers, uncomfortable for the horse but the cloying scent of death hung in the air like an invisible fog making her unusually jittery. Delilah wasn't normally affected by the Dead in such a way, so Charlie knew there must a great number still on the road below them to unnerve the steady mare in such a way. Glancing down at the motorway below him, Charlie could understand poor Delilah's apprehension but they had a job to do. Step by step, Delilah slowly pulled them over the bridge. When they were just over half way across, Alice quietly slid aside one of the spy hole covers to look at the scene below them. What she saw made her breath catch in her throat and her heart pound frantically. She looked back at Liz, her eyes wide with fear, a nervous sweat beading on her forehead. Taking the unspoken hint, Liz also moved to take in the scene. At first all Liz saw were the mangled and twisted wrecks spreading way into the distance. It wasn't until one of the Dead stumbled slightly that she noticed them literally everywhere along the road. Below the bridge, the Dead stood in their thousands. They waited silently, shoulder to shoulder between the crushed vehicles, like an army awaiting command. In life these people had been trapped by their sheer numbers, dooming themselves to a hideous death and, so too now were the Dead. Unable to move forward or back, the Dead stayed motionless, just waiting for something living to catch their attention. Despite their vast number, she hadn't even noticed them at first because they had been so still. It didn't help either that the dried blood covering their decaying forms had turned a deep dusty red colour, matching much of the burnt and rusting wreckage about them. Liz gave an involuntary s.h.i.+ver and turned away from the nightmare scene below them. She knew that if this army of the Dead, even in their decrepit state, ever went on the march, there wouldn't be a wall high enough to keep them out. They would descend upon the living like a biblical plague of locust, devouring all in their path.

Everyone breathed a heavy sigh of relief once they had finally made it across the bridge with-out attracting the attention of the Dead h.o.a.rd below them. Even Delilah seemed to perk up once she had left the oppressive smell of the Dead behind her.

*Right, so how far till we can get back onto the road?' Imran asked, once they had left the motorway far behind them.

Charlie spread the unfolded map out to study their options.

*Well, we don't want to leave too early and give up the easy going too soon, but then we don't want to risk missing the exit the Reverend took either,' Charlie said, looking at each crossing they would come to on the map and following the roads there back to the caverns. *He obviously knows how to use the rail network efficiently and wouldn't give up the easy travelling until it was absolutely necessary, so I think this one here is our best bet.'

Charlie indicated a crossing a few miles down the track, leading from which were a set a winding roads which would eventually take them to Carnglaze and hopefully to Anne. With only Charlie's gut instinct to go on, they all agreed it was as good a choice as any.

*Here it is, coming up ahead' Charlie said, after they had been travelling for an hour.

*s.h.i.+t! The gates are closed!' he continued.

*So? We opened the other ones on the way back to Lanherne. We can open these,' Liz said, confused as to why Charlie was so het up about the gates.

*Yes, we can open them but the point is, it took both Imran and me to open them last time. The Reverend wouldn't stand a chance of manually moving that counterweight by himself and that wife of his wouldn't have been much help either, so he can't have used this crossing' he replied.

*Oh.' Liz said feeling a little foolish for not seeing what should have been obvious. *I guess we'll have to try the next crossing then.'

*I guess so,' Charlie said, a little put out that his hunch about this crossing had been wrong.

Delilah had just pulled them level with the gate and Charlie couldn't help but give it a dirty look as they pa.s.sed. Unsure of something Charlie pulled Delilah to a stop. He had noticed something that looked slightly wrong with the way the gate was hanging and wanted to check it out to be sure.

*That sneaky b.a.s.t.a.r.d!' Charlie said, a smile creeping across his face, realising he had been right about the gate after all. *Oh, he's a sly one is the Reverend Nathan Moore.'

Only now that they were level, could Charlie see that the counterweight had actually been neatly cut through at the pivotal point where it joined the bar part of the gate, so at first glance it looked untouched and impa.s.sable. With the actual gate part now just propped up against the post, it meant a single man could easily move the gate to the side, allowing a cart to pa.s.s and then close it afterwards to cover their tracks.

*Looks like we're on the right track then,' Liz said, nudging Imran to move over a little.

She had just returned after moving the gate aside for Delilah to pa.s.s and Imran had decided to spread out a bit in her absence. Instead of moving over, Imran pulled her closer to him, taking comfort in the closeness of her body.

*We'll get them Lizzy and we'll make them pay,' he said quietly into her hair as he breathed in her scent to calm himself.

*This isn't about revenge, Imran,' Charlie said, looking back over his shoulder at three of the most important people left in his life. *It's about getting Anne, Alex and Emma's baby back from those lunatics, that's all. We're not here to conjure up some long drawn out torture for the Reverend and his wife, just to make us feel better. Because, believe me, down the road when you look back at what you did, it'll make you feel a heck of a lot worse about yourself. Bad things like that tend to have a way of leaving their mark on a person and once you've gone down that path you're never quite the same again. So no, we just get the kids back and put the Reverend and his wife out of action for good. Clean and simple, you understand?'

*Clean and simple,' Imran said with a sharp nod, but Liz could still feel the tension in his body and knew given the chance *clean and simple' would be the last thing on his mind.

She would have to keep an eye on Imran, if only to save him from doing something that he may regret in the future. Mohammed's death had obviously hit him hard and his pain was still blatantly raw, so Liz didn't blame him for this reaction. Nearly everyone she knew had lost people they loved to the Dead, but each had to find a way to move past their pain and anger, otherwise they became consumed by their grief. The pain could so easily become such an integral part of them, that something within them changed permanently and they became totally defined by their grief. Liz had met people like this, their anger and pain twisting inside them so they spent their whole time raging against the world and the other survivors within it. She didn't think she could stand to see Imran change in this way and prayed that with her love, he would be able to eventually move on to live the life Mohammed would've wanted for him.

Now that they had left the train line behind them, they were making slow pace again, having to manoeuvre around fallen trees, large potholes and the abandoned cars that were once again the norm. Each time they pa.s.sed a rusting vehicle, Liz would stare blankly and wonder of the untold story each held. There would inevitably be the rag covered remains, lying forever abandoned where they had fallen. Of course, all would have their skulls shattered or broken in some way or another and Liz would wonder if a friend or loved one had been forced to deal with their Dead travelling companion, for themselves to eventually join them in their un-natural Dead state. A decaying mess of rags and bones, surrounded by scattered weather worn possessions was not much of an obituary for a life lived and that's what depressed her the most. No one would ever know what had happened here or who had spent their last terrified moments on earth praying for an oblivion that would be forever denied them.

*What the f.u.c.k?' Charlie said, pulling Delilah to a stop.

With the others huddling over his shoulder, they looked out of the front view slit at the hanging corpse before them. There, held aloft by her manacled hands to a telegraph pole, were the remains of a Dead woman. A large and well fed rook perched upon her head, pecked lazily at the insects burrowing about in the thin lank hair hanging over her face. Noticing the unwanted visitors, the rook let out an annoyed call to those in the cart before returning to its meal. Alerted by the rook, the Dead woman slowly turned her rotten face in the direction of the cart, it was at that moment the rook decided to pluck out her remaining film covered eye. As the optic nerve stretched and finally snapped, the rook gave one final call before taking flight with its stomach churning meal held tightly in its beak. As if the tableau before them wasn't horrific enough, the fact that this woman had had the flesh stripped from below the knee only made it worse.

*From the look of her, I'd say she was put up there alive,' Charlie said, shaking his head with sad disbelief. *The Dead must have feasted on the flesh on her legs until she bled to death and turned.'

*f.u.c.k...' Imran said, summing the whole situation up in one word.

*My G.o.d! What on earth is happening to people,' Alice said, turning away having seen enough, *just when you think it things can't get worse, we find a whole new level of s.h.i.+t to deal with.'

*Do you think this is some of the Reverend's handy-work?' Liz asked, her concern and fear for Anne's safety increasing.

With a creased brow and a shrug of his shoulders, Charlie urged Delilah forward again. It was one thing to kill but this was torture born of an insane and unbalance mind, pure and simple.

Turning a corner in the lane, they were met again by another hanging corpse, this one had at one time been a teenage boy. His thin and under developed body was naked apart from the soiled underwear he wore, the Dead having torn the trousers from his kicking legs, as they fought to get to the flesh hidden beneath. As they drew level with the unfortunate creature, he turned to look at them, the hunger for flesh tearing at his very soul, clear to see as he let forth a whispering moan.

*s.h.i.+t!' Charlie said, realising the hanging cadaver was at just the right height to be able to look through the slit into the cart at him. *He can see us.'

*And that's not all, look!' Imran said indicating down the road.

There further along the lane was another pole, complete with a Dead man hanging from it.

*If they're all hanging at the same height, they'll all be able see us,' he continued, *and with each of them moaning as we pa.s.s, it's like some sort of macabre alarm system.'

*So that means we must be getting close,' Liz added, hopefully, *but we're going to have to find a way of silencing this alarm or they'll certainly know someone's on the way.'

*Hmmm,' Charlie said seriously, trying to come up with a plan.

*Well, I can shut them down from a distance but we'll have to pull up alongside them afterwards, I'd rather not waste the arrows and who knows what's up ahead,' Imran said, reaching for the top hatch.

*Do you think you can take out this one and the one further down the road from where we are now?' asked Charlie, peering through the front slit and judging the distance to the next pole. *We don't want to alert the one after that one that we're coming, so you need to pop up, take your two shots and be out of sight until we've reached the second one, where you get your arrow back and fire at the next one down the road.'