Killing the Dead (Season 2 | Book 2): Dark and Deadly Land Read Online Free PDF

think I don’t know exactly what you mean by that.”
    “You do?” he asked as he turned to look fully at me, one eyebrow raised quizzically.
    “I do, so get in the boat,” I said in little more than a whisper. “We don’t need the distraction right now.”
    He stared at me for several long seconds, his eyes seeming to pierce me. Eventually, he shrugged and climbed down into the boat without as much as a glance back at the gathered crowd of people. I sighed and followed him.
    As boats go, it wasn’t a bad one. A flat stern and varnished wooden sides that curved forward to form a point at the prow. It had a sizeable engine that was mounted at the rear and Toby sat on the seat beside it. Pat and Cass were on the next seat, then Ryan and myself while Becky and Gregg sat towards the front.
    Ryan continued to watch the lone zombie while the rest of us waved and Toby started the engine. It spluttered to life with an unhealthy sounding growl as smoke issued forth. The noise was much louder than I’d expected and after so long without the sound of an engine, it was almost unpleasant to hear.
    We pulled away from the dock and I settled in to watch the land speed by as the boat moved across the open waters at a fair pace. My hand reached for Ryan’s and a smile came to me as he held mine firmly rather than pull away.
    I settled back to enjoy the journey. Toby was confident the diesel he had for the motor would last long enough to get us where we were going and then bring him back. The idea being that we would all bail out while he led any zombies away with the sound of the engine.
    With the faint spray of water cool on my face and the bright warming sun in the blue sky above us. I could almost imagine the world hadn’t gone to hell. I even allowed myself a brief fantasy of just being out on a boat with friends, enjoying the spring sunshine and blowing away the winter blues.
    Ryan finally gave up on watching the zombie as we moved further away from the island and settled onto his seat with a slightly bored expression on his face as he watched the land move by. He really needed to learn how to enjoy the small things.
    “Tell me about your family,” I said and he glanced at me in surprise.
    “Why?”
    “I want to know,” I told him as I let my free hand trail in the water, enjoying the feeling of it moving around my fingers. Gregg and Becky both looked back, their interest piqued.
    “Not much to tell,” he said. “I had a mother and father, brother and sister.”
    “Your parents weren’t divorced?”
    “No, they were still married when last I spoke to them.”
    “When was that?” Cass asked and he turned to look at her, seemingly surprised by everyone’s interest.
    “A few years ago.”
    “Do you not get on with them?” she asked with a quick flick of the eyes to her own brother. They had long since fallen out of touch with their parents who had reacted badly to the news their son was gay.
    “I get on fine with them,” Ryan said. “I just haven’t had anything to say for a while.”
    “That’s so sad,” Cass said and he shrugged.
    “What about your brother and sister?” I asked.
    “Brother was younger, sister older. Both married I think.”
    “You think?”
    “Well my sister married a few years ago and my parents insisted I attend. That was… unpleasant for all of us. My brother was probably married but he didn’t like me so I was spared attending that.”
    “I wonder why?” Becky said and he flashed her a smile. I squeezed his hand to bring his attention back to me. I’d need to have a word with her, those little jibes needed to stop before he took offence and reacted.
    “What did they do for a living?”
    “Parents retired, sister was a psychiatrist and brother was an architect.”
    “Both had good careers then,” Cass said. “What was it you did?”
    “A bit of office work, nothing exciting,” he said. “I had other interests more important to me than a career.”
    Cass swallowed what