Dead Days: Season 8 Part 6

But in the moonlight peeking through the window, Riley knew Bob wasn't really here.

His intestines had been cut out of his body and left in a b.l.o.o.d.y sack on his lap. One of his eyes had been punctured. It looked like his throat had been cut, but Riley couldn't be too certain.

The hairs on Riley's arms stood on end. He took a step back. He had to leave this place. He had to get out. He had to- Then he felt something press against his back and felt the breathing on the back of his neck.

His body went cold. Cold with the realisation of who it was, and of what'd happened.

"He was delicious," Kane said. "But he was just the starter. And now it's time for my main course."

Riley swung around, trying to struggle free of Kane.

But Kane smacked him over the head with something heavy.

Riley fell to the floor.

Darkness closed in.

Chapter Seven.

"You have to get your revenge, Riley..."

Riley heard the voice. Jordanna's, Chlo's, even Anna's, he wasn't certain. But this time, he didn't linger in unconsciousness. He didn't stay submerged in the blackness that had surrounded him last time.

This time, he opened his eyes.

It was still dark, sure. But not the kind of darkness he saw in his dreams. It looked like sunrise was approaching, the sky turning that weird shade of blue that Riley had seen one too many times since the fall of the world-and he saw it enough times before the dead walked, in all truth. He was outside, in the woods. He was sitting upright against a tree. His head ached, and he could taste blood on his lips. He tried to move his hands, but they were in cuffs.

What had happened?

What had...

He saw the silhouette in the corner of his eye.

It was walking towards him. No; hobbling towards him. He heard the groan. Smelled the stench of death.

He struggled against the cuffs. Tried to break free.

He had to get out of them.

He had to get out of this situation.

He had to- He remembered it, then.

Finding Bob's body, brutalised and mutilated.

Then hearing Kane's voice.

And then a smack over his head, now... this.

He drifted back to the present moment. He felt the creature's hand dig right into his shoulder. Its nails were sharp, as were its bones.

It gripped down and groaned as it leaned in to take a bite- Then Riley felt blood splatter across his face.

Someone had pressed a knife through the creature's skull.

When the creature fell to the ground, the person behind it grabbed that knife and pulled it away. Riley realised then that it was his knife.

"Does a decent job. Not my preferred murder weapon, though. Oh. Rise and s.h.i.+ne, by the way. Fancy some porridge?"

Riley leaned back against the tree. Kane stood over him, holding on to Riley's knife. In a sense, Riley always expected it to come to this, somehow. He wasn't sure how this moment was going to be reached. He didn't know how it was all going to play out or how the chess pieces were going to fall just in the right place to create the circ.u.mstances where this chance showdown became possible.

But here it was.

And here Riley was, cuffs around his hands, Kane standing over him like so many people had stood over Kane.

"How's it feel now the boot's on the other foot?" Kane asked. "It must be hard."

"Kane, stop this bulls.h.i.+t."

"See, this is what I don't like about your att.i.tude. You're so cavalier about what I want. What I desire."

"Because you're a f.u.c.king nut."

Kane laughed. "You know, you've seen what I can do. You've seen what I'm capable of. And still you don't take me seriously."

"You had an opportunity to kill me," Riley said. "Back when you found me at the camp. You had an opportunity, but I told you to go after Kesha and make sure she was safe."

"That was before you decided to slice away half of my hand."

"You deserved it."

"I probably did."

The pair of them were quiet for a few seconds. Kane was still. Riley didn't have any desire to know Kane, not really. He had no longing to understand him.

But there was curiosity. How he'd ended up this way. What drove him to do the things he did.

"You know, while you had me as your prisoner, I thought about this moment a lot of times. It always played out in different ways, but it always ended in the exact same way."

"Let me guess. Me being butchered."

Kane smiled. "Something like that. Sometimes you flee. Sometimes you struggle. Sometimes you take it like a man. But it always ends in the same, inevitable way. But of course, there's something I have to do first, before I kill you. I have to stay true to my word of taking everything from you. And you know what that means. Who that means."

Riley lunged towards Kane, but he just knocked him back down and pressed the knife to his neck.

"Woah," he said, seeming excited by the turn of events. "Woah, now. We'll have none of that s.h.i.+t. When I say I'd rather keep you alive, believe me, I mean it. But I won't hesitate if I have to kill you right here. Understand that."

"You leave Kesha alone."

"She really does mean something to you, doesn't she?"

"You'll never find her. Even if you kill me, you'll never find her."

"Oh, really?" Kane asked. "So before I killed Bob. When I'd taken a portion of his insides out. When he told me exactly where Mattius' camp was. I'm supposed to just ignore that kind of information, am I?"

Riley felt his body turn to mush. "Liar."

Kane laughed some more. "Not a word of a lie."

"You're bluffing."

"I am, am I? Maybe I am. Maybe. I guess we'll just have to see while we're on the journey now, won't we?"

He pressed the knife right up to Riley's face. He moved the knife around slowly, like he was tracing a drawing.

"You know, I always think us post-apocalyptic warriors look a lot better with battle-scars. Don't you?"

Riley clenched his teeth together. His heart raced.

"I mean, it sure as sugar makes you look more rebellious. It makes you look pretty intimidating. But Christ. Think of all the fun we could have in this world with scars. I mean, I could just trace a nice big d.i.c.k on your head right now. I could carve "I LOVE c.o.c.k" onto your forehead and see how you cope then. See how seriously anyone takes you then. See how much of a role model to Kesha you'll be then."

Again, Riley lunged for Kane. But the lunge only made the knife scratch into his forehead, blood immediately trickling down his face.

"Oh, look," Kane said. He dipped his mangled hand stump into the blood and sucked some of it up. His eyes sparked the second the blood touched his lips. "Looks like you've got the drawing started for me."

He pressed the knife down harder.

Riley closed his eyes and held his breath.

And then he heard the footsteps.

He opened his eyes. Kane had stopped carving.

When he looked around, he saw why.

Creatures were coming.

Ten of them. Maybe more.

And they were closing in.

Fast.

Chapter Eight.

Riley saw the creatures closing in and he knew how near to death he was all over again.

There were ten of them, possibly more. It was hard to tell because the trees were in the way. But their groaning was loud and echoey; a groaning that still made the hairs on the back of Riley's neck stand on end to this day. The smell was intense. The air even tasted of rot.

And Riley was still sat up against a tree, Kane standing over him with a knife to his head, cuffs around his wrists.

He saw that Kane was distracted. He saw him looking the other way at the oncoming undead, here to spoil whatever sick, s.a.d.i.s.tic plans he had for Riley.

Part of Riley wanted to kill Kane right here. To find an opportunity to put him down. He'd let him live once, and look how that'd turned out.

But he remembered what Kane said.

Bob had spoken to him. He'd told him where Mattius' camp was.

Riley wasn't sure whether Kane was lying, whether he was telling the truth.

But just that mere uncertainty about everything made Riley want to keep Kane alive after all.

Well.

Just a small part.

He booted Kane in his stomach as he rose to his feet. His hands were cuffed behind his back, so he lifted his foot again and kicked Kane towards the crowd of oncoming undead.

He didn't stop to see what happened to Kane.

He just turned around and ran into the woods.

The more he ran, the more disoriented Riley grew. He had no idea which direction Kane had brought him, or which direction to head. It sounded like the creatures were all around, closing in from every direction.

And as he ran, he saw Jordanna, Chlo, Anna, all of them in his mind, all of them screaming at him.

"You've made a mistake!"

"Get back for Kane. He knows where Mattius is."

"Don't leave him to die or Mattius will win."