A man.
Dark hair.
Blue eyes.
Tall and slim.
This man was holding a thick tree stump in his hand. There was blood on that tree stump.
He stumbled down the ladder, and it was then that Ricky realised exactly who this man was.
"Riley," Mattius muttered.
Riley stood opposite Mattius. Mattius was still clutching the back of his head, where he"d been hit by the tree stump.
Behind Mattius, Kesha wailed.
Ricky saw Mattius putting two and two together. He lifted his pistol as Riley stepped towards him, the tree stump lifted. His finger tightened on the trigger.
"Don"t come another step closer," Mattius said. His speech was slurred. His balance wasn"t great either. But he looked like he needed another hit to really take him down.
Ricky took a few deep breaths. Despite the pain in his right side, he clambered to his left, shuffling around the side of the table, then underneath it. Mattius kept his half-conscious focus on Riley. But Ricky would have to be fast if he wanted to help. He knew that the second Mattius felt that consciousness slipping for good, he would pull the trigger, and it would be game over.
"You made... you made a mistake," Mattius slurred. From under the table, Ricky could see he was still staggering from side to side. "Coming here. You made a mistake."
There was silence, for a few seconds. Silence, as Ricky climbed out from under the table. As he stood up, right behind Mattius, trying to keep as quiet as he possibly could. He couldn"t let his teeth chatter together. He couldn"t even breathe on Mattius" neck.
"No," Riley said, the tree stump still raised. For a split second, Ricky saw Riley"s eyes make contact with his, and he took that as a signal. A signal to act. "It"s you who"s made the mistake."
Riley lifted the tree stump higher.
Ricky grabbed Mattius" arm and punched the gun from his hand.
Riley brought the tree stump crashing down on Mattius" head.
Ricky saw Mattius fall, and he felt that crack like he"d delivered it himself. He was lying down again on his front now, the gun in his shaking hand. He turned it around and pointed it at Mattius, who was on all fours. His head was bleeding badly in two places. But amazingly, he was still conscious, his eyes still twitching from Ricky to Riley and back again.
Blood covered his face, making him look even more demonic. He tried to splutter a few words, but it was pointless, his consciousness fast failing him. He crawled a few paces towards Ricky, and despite the bad condition Mattius was in, Ricky still couldn"t help feeling afraid.
Ricky turned the gun on him. He had to be ready to pull the trigger, to put him down for good.
Then Riley put a hand over the gun.
"No," Riley said.
"But he"s-"
"He"ll fall. Any moment now. He"ll fall."
Ricky watched Mattius claw his way closer towards him. The urge to just pull that trigger, even though it"d blow Riley"s hand apart, was strong.
But he had to hold on. He had to keep the faith.
He felt Mattius" hand wrap around his ankle. He felt his grip tighten. And bizarrely, it was like some of his energy was being sucked from his body, like he was growing weaker just because this monster had his hand on him.
"He"ll fall," Riley said.
Mattius struggled to look up at Riley. His eyelids were faltering as more blood oozed down his face. He opened his mouth, but nothing but a gasp came out.
Then, "Kesha... is... mine..."
For one split second, Ricky felt Mattius" grip around his ankle grow tighter than ever before.
"Mine," Mattius spluttered. "Mine..."
Riley shook his head. He smiled at Mattius. "No, she isn"t. Not even close."
There was another raging flicker of anger in Mattius" eyes as he made a lunge further up Ricky"s body, right towards his thigh.
Then his hand loosened.
His head hit the floor.
Mattius was out cold.
Chapter Ten.
When Mattius opened his eyes, the first thing he saw was Riley.
It was dark. It took him a few seconds to remember where he was and what had happened.
And then it dawned on him.
The hatch. He"d escaped his camp and made his way towards it. When he"d got here, he found Ricky alone in there. He"d tried to figure things out, but things had got... well, out of hand.
Then Riley had stepped in.
He felt a sharp pain on the top of his head and he remembered, then. He remembered what Riley had done to him. He"d cracked him right over the top of the head. And at that moment after he"d done it, Mattius had been convinced that it was over. That it was the beginning of his death. That Riley was finally getting the revenge he so dearly craved.
But here he was. Awake. Alive.
And Riley was standing opposite him.
It was totally silent inside, which meant the ma.s.s of zombies must"ve moved on. They"d be back, no doubt. And they"d be a problem for somebody else. You didn"t just have a ma.s.s of zombies like that wandering the country keeping themselves to themselves. Sooner or later, they"d swallow everyone up.
Mattius wouldn"t be around to see that, though. He knew that now.
"It"s funny, isn"t it?"
Riley"s voice snapped him from his thoughts. It broke the silence and made everything very real all of a sudden. Their roles had been reversed. And this time, Mattius was certain that Riley wasn"t going to show him the same mercy that Mattius had shown him. The same level of forgiveness.
"I don"t see much to laugh about," Mattius said.
Riley walked slowly towards him. The soles of his feet thumped against the tiled floor, like an apocalyptic death bell ringing away. "The way things change. The way things work out. It"s funny."
Mattius leaned his head back against the wall. He felt so ill. So sick. h.e.l.l, he felt ready. "Just do what you have to do."
Riley stopped, then. He crouched opposite him and looked deeply into Mattius" eyes. And Mattius saw something. He saw the loss Riley had been through. He saw the grief he"d felt at losing people so, so close to him.
And he saw the rage.
"You don"t get to decide," Riley said. "You don"t get to call the shots. Not anymore."
He reached behind his back and pulled out a machete.
Mattius" stomach turned.
If Riley was going to torture him, then he had to be prepared to accept that. There was no dignity in war. It was the death of a soldier, and he"d chosen the soldier"s life. Still, that didn"t stop the sweat rolling down the sides of his neck. "I won"t beg. The only thing I"ll beg is that you keep Kesha safe."
"See, that"s the thing," Riley said, lifting the blade to Mattius" throat. "She was safe. Before you came along. She was loved. She had people around her. Me. Jordanna. Chlo. It"s only since you got hold of her that she"s been in graver danger than ever before."
"Don"t pretend to me you knew how to look after that girl out here in the wild."
"We pull together," Riley said. "We always have. And we always will. And yeah, we"ve lost people along the way. We"ve lost them to the dead, and we"ve lost them to the living. But no matter what, we always push back. We find a way through."
Mattius sniffed up some bloodied snot. "Then do what you have to do."
Riley lowered the machete. He placed it on the floor right between them. "Again, I don"t think you"re understanding what I"m telling you."
He lifted Mattius" chin, so they were looking into one another"s eyes.
"I hate you. For what you did to Jordanna. For what you did to Chlo. I detest you. And I wish you a life of pain."
There was a pause. A pause where Riley"s bloodshot eyes focused even more.
"But I"ve conquered my rage. I don"t need revenge. Not anymore."
He reached down and picked up the machete. He took a few steps back. Mattius could hear he was taking some long, drawn out deep breaths. He couldn"t believe Riley had actually let him off the hook. After all this, he"d decided not to take out revenge on him.
"Then you"re a stronger man than I had you down as," Mattius said. "And maybe you"ll-"
He didn"t finish what he was saying.
He didn"t finish, because Riley brought the machete slamming down against his right shoulder.
He looked at it and saw the blood. The machete hadn"t cut clean through, but there was a deep, gaping wound there, which was pouring out blood. He felt sick and dizzy. He couldn"t process the pain. Not yet.
Riley pulled the machete out of his shoulder. Blood dripped down from the edges of it. The pain started to set in, to suffocate Mattius.
"See, I might"ve got over what happened," Riley said.
He brought the machete down again.
Mattius" right arm was dangling on by a string of flesh, the bone cracked.
He pulled it back up. "I might"ve made peace with you."
He swung it again. And this time, the machete took Mattius" arm clean off.
It fell to the floor, and blood spurted everywhere.
Mattius could feel nothing but pure, hot agony burning through his right side, suppressing his breathing. His face was going cold. Every inch of his body was in pain with what was happening.
Then Riley pressed the machete right into the middle of his chest, right against his diaphragm. He looked into Mattius" eyes again, but this time, he looked totally calm about what he was doing.
"But this isn"t for me," he said.
Then he pressed the machete into Mattius" chest.
Mattius felt his skin tearing. He felt the muscles slicing under the force Riley was applying.
Slowly but surely, he felt another load of blood start pouring out of his body, and another source of agonising pain crippling him, making it hard to breathe, hard to see.
But he did see one thing.
Riley.
Riley was right up in his face now. He was getting closer as he pushed the machete further into him. Mattius tried to beg, but blood spluttered out of his lips.
All he could think about was the girl, and the woman. Chlo. Jordanna.
All he could think about was everything they"d gone through.
All he could think about was how sorry he was.
"This isn"t for me," Riley said, as the machete pressed right towards the muscles in Mattius" back.
Then, Riley smiled. And the rage and l.u.s.t for revenge really did seem to lift from his face. He looked totally rational. Totally at ease with what he was doing. Totally exorcised of all his demons.
"This is for them," he said.