Killing the Dead (Season 2 | Book 2): Dark and Deadly Land by Richard Murray

have too,” Mary said. “Maybe our children are out there somewhere, holed up and waiting for the right time to come home.”
    She had so much hope in her voice laced with a fear that she would never see her family again. I rose silently and rounded the table to embrace her as I whispered a promise to her. She smiled her thanks as her husband rose from the table once more and gathered his lamp.
    “I’ll show you to where you can rest,” he said. “Our water is pumped from our own well so feel free to use what you need.”
    “Anything you use in the showers will end up in the tanks we use for the fields,” Mary added. “Nothing goes to waste.”
    “Thank you,” I said as we all rose and began to gather our backpacks. “Really, this is so good of you.”
    We left her in the kitchen, sat at the table with a faraway look as Jonathan led us across the muddy yard. The circle of light cast by the lantern, our entire world and beyond it the unknowable darkness and the monsters it contained.
    A shiver ran through me and I moved closer to Ryan, his presence a comfort to me. No matter what else changed in the world, he was constant. His desire for death and violence at odds with the man I had seen he could be.
    “This one has two bedrooms,” Jonathan said as we came upon an honest to goodness log cabin. “I can let you into the other too if you want, but I imagine you want to stay together.”
    “That would be better,” Pat agreed.
    “I’m sleeping on the couch again then,” Gregg said with an exaggerated sigh.
    “You can take the floor,” Becky added. “The couch is mine.”
    “Keep the lantern,” the older man said as he handed it over to Cass. “I can make my way back in the dark.”
    “Thank you,” I said as he turned back the way we had come with a casual wave of the hand.
    Ryan pulled his knife free from its sheath and gestured for Cass to open the door, I reached out to touch his arm and he glanced back at me. The defences were up and I could see the darkness gathering behind his eyes. I released my hold and waved him away.
    He moved into the house and was lost to sight. We waited for several long minutes without speaking as I silently sent a prayer to ask that he not find anything. I believed the older couple meant no harm and didn’t want anything to happen to them.
    Finally, he appeared in the doorway as he slid his knife back into its sheath on his belt, “Clear.”
    “Let’s get some sleep,” I told the group. “Tomorrow we can see what state the car is in and figure out a route.”
    “You want us to take turns on watch mate?” Pat asked Ryan.
    “No,” I said. “Lock the door and barricade it if you really see the need but we all need sleep and I trust them.”
    “I don’t,” Ryan said. His eyes bored into mine as I stared back defiantly.
    “Do you trust me?”
    “Yes.”
    “Then believe me when I say I trust them and we have no need to stand guard.”
    He nodded once and turned back into the house. No further argument, no attempt to persuade me otherwise, just a simple act of trust. It was insufferable! I’d never been with anyone who was so willing to actually listen to what I had to say and more than that, trust that I knew what I was doing. I really didn’t know how to react to that which probably said a lot more about my screwed up previous relationships than anything else.
    We left Becky and Gregg bickering about who would get the couch and went to the bedrooms. Pat and Cass said goodnight as they ducked into the first room and I followed Ryan into the second.
    It was simple and bare of ornamentation with most of the items in storage for the winter months. The bed was wide and clean and I found blankets and sheets in a cupboard. Together we made the bed if not neatly then at least quickly.
    I was more than happy to get out of my clothing and slip under those clean sheets that smelt faintly of lilacs. It had been so long since I’d lain beneath freshly laundered sheets and