Contents

  Title page

  Copyright

  Disclaimer

  Phil Maxey Books

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter Fifteen

  Chapter Sixteen

  Chapter Seventeen

  Chapter Eighteen

  Chapter Nineteen

  Chapter Twenty

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  Chapter Twenty-Six

  Chapter Twenty-Seven

  Chapter Twenty-Eight

  Chapter Twenty-Nine

  Chapter Thirty

  Chapter Thirty-One

  Chapter Thirty-Two

  Chapter Thirty-Three

  Chapter Thirty-Four

  Chapter Thirty-Five

  Chapter Thirty-Six

  Chapter Thirty-Seven

  Chapter Thirty-Eight

  Chapter Thirty-Nine

  Chapter Forty

  Chapter Forty-One

  Chapter Forty-Two

  Chapter Forty-Three

  Chapter Forty-Four

  Thank you

  DEADRISE

  Infernal Contagion Book 3

  by

  Phil Maxey

  Copyright © 2024 by Philip Maxey

  All rights reserved. This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the publisher except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

  The Work of Phil Maxey, aka Philip Maxey, may not be used or accessed in any manner which could help the learning/training of artificial intelligence technologies.

  First Printing, 2024.

  https://www.philmaxeyauthor.com/

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or locales, is purely coincidental.

  OTHER BOOKS BY PHIL MAXEY

  Cascade Universe (In order)

  Cascade Prequel Book 1: Encounter

  Cascade Prequel Book 2: Extinction

  Cascade Complete Series Box Set: Books 1 - 8

  Earth Clash Complete Series Box Set: Books 1 - 4

  Cascaders Book 1 (on going series)

  Other Series

  The Scourge Complete Series Box Set: Books 1 - 6

  Extinction Gene Complete Series Box Set: Books 1 - 6

  The Glitch Complete Series Box Set: Books 1 - 4

  Blood and Power Complete Series Box Set: Books 1 - 5

  Infernal Contagion Book 1: Deadfall

  Infernal Contagion Book 2: Deadweight (on going series)

  CHAPTER ONE

  Location: On the A417, near Wantage.

  Day Three.

  12: 37 p.m.

  The floor beneath Joe rattled. Each bump through the van’s suspension making itself known to the thirteen occupants crammed in the back, with what it seemed like, Greg’s entire life packed in boxes.

  Joe felt the weight of his eyelids as he sat with his head back against the aluminium shell, with Tia asleep by his side. Since the interruption on the motorway his exhausted mind lurched between images of Tia, buried beneath clawing limbs, to her grandmother’s screams, to the smug look on the dead guy’s face when he thought he had found treasure for a London gang boss. Or was it warlord? Whatever Swanson called himself, he was no longer a ruler of any part of the capital considering it was now all a smoking ruin.

  It didn’t matter. What did matter was he was moving away from wherever Liz had been taken, so during moments of clarity he spent what brainpower he did have, sizing up the people he was travelling with. Who could be depended on, and who not. Who perhaps could be persuaded to leave the Guardians and head south with him to find and rescue his wife.

  He looked past the boxes in front of him, across the van to the others. He had learned a long time ago to make quick initial assessments of people. When you were in country you had to.

  The youngster, Ken, hadn’t taken his eyes from his computer tablet, while listening to some kind of music which was just audible over the sound of the van’s engine and the tires on the road. The teen was doing something that he didn’t want the others to know about, that much was obvious. It was also obvious he wasn’t happy in the group. Maybe a candidate to help find Liz. Problem was, Joe didn’t trust him.

  Next to him, Mathew seemed asleep. Someone, Joe did trust, but doubted he would be convinced to leave Greg. Then there was Stew who was doing his own thing on his phone. Ken’s computer hacking teammate had died a day earlier. Everyone knew it apart from Stewart. Or maybe he just ignored what people had told him. Who knew, either way, Joe wasn’t sure if he was someone that could be counted on.

  To his left was Grace. Trust worthy and Joe still couldn’t see why she was with Greg. There must have been something which held her to the group, and that certainly wasn’t her husband. The writer was the odd man out, although being with the Guardians, no doubt saved his life. If Harry could be persuaded to leave, then probably so to Grace.

  Connie, Ember and Frank he felt he could count on but Clara and Argo were die-hard supporters of the old Australian.

  So those were his options. He just needed some time to convince them of the positives to leave and he hoped a day or two spent where they were headed would be enough time to do that. For now, after what they had just lived through, he wanted time to rest and heal, in all ways. A place where Tia would feel safe. And give the kid a chance to grieve her grandmother’s passing without the threat of the dead crashing the party.

  The sound of a motorbike’s engine roared past and a few seconds later the van slowed to a stop, with the sound of Greg grumbling making itself known from the front.

  Frank pushed open one of the rear doors and a waft of fresher air moved into the rear of the van. Mathew opened his eyes, stretching his arms. “Any zombies around?” he said to Frank who stood outside.

  Grace posed another question to the former Marine. “How’s your side?”

  He lifted his sweater and jacket showing a neat pink hole above his waist, then turned around to show the equally healed hole on the opposite side of his back. “Almost… good as new.”

  She shook her head. “Remarkable. Whatever SentriCulture created, you can thank it for being alive.”

  Frank frowned, dropping his clothes down and looking at the forest which bordered both sides of the two-lane road. “Yeah, thank you strange world ending virus.” He looked at Mathew. “No. No zombies that I can see, although the trees are pretty thick here. Could be some lurking. You never know with those things.”

  As Stew stepped down from the back of the van, joining Frank, footsteps heralded Clara who looked into the back. “Can someone pass me that dark-green canister that’s behind everything else, and beneath the black plastic boxes? Greg say’s it’s the fuel I need.”

  Frank looked down the side of the van, then at the woman in the bike leathers. “Where’s your guy?”

  Clara kept her attention on Mathew who was poking around the boxes. “He’s gone,” she said.

  “Wait…” said Mathew, turning around to face her while the others did the same. “What? Gone? What you mean, gone?”

  The driver’s door opened. “Gone?” shouted Greg.

  She let out a sigh. “Yes. Gone! We broke up. Okay? Everyone got that? He rode off and he’s not coming back!” She looked back into the van and at Mathew who had stopped looking for the fuel. “Have you found it?”

  “Oh.” he started looking again.

  “Gone?” repeated Greg. “I’ve known Argo longer than I’ve known you.” He held his radio to his mouth. “Argo! You out there? Over.”

  She shook her head as Mathew walked between the people and boxes with the heavy looking canister, handing it off to her. “We parted company just after we left London… It’s been going on for a while…”

  “Meh,” said Frank. “Can’t say I’m going to miss him.”

  Clara walked away with her canister as Greg tried again to reach her boyfriend on the radio.

  Frank looked at him. “How much longer before we get there?”

  Greg shook his head, walking back to the driver’s side. “We get there when we get there!”

  CHAPTER TWO

  LIZ

  Liz paced back and forth in the ensuite-bathroom, consumed by a different kind of sickness.

  ‘Evacuated.’

  It was a word the man on the radio kept emphasising. That most of London had been, before the first bomb was dropped on the northern boroughs.

  “They got out... they… got… out…”

  She wanted to believe it. Had no choice to, but it had put a major wrench in her plan to return home, seeing home was now a pile of smouldering rubble.

  She still needed to leave. The monster had somehow returned and now had allies. Coming to the Mollet family home, rather than being a kind of revenge on J
ames’ memory, had transformed into a prison. As if the end of the world wasn’t enough of a nightmare.

  She couldn’t stay a moment longer. She still had the keys and she could leave whenever she wanted to. If James tried to force her to stay it would reveal his true intensions. The streets were littered with vehicles. She just needed to avoid the undead long enough to find anything that she could get the engine working on, and then head to the closest army camp. So that was it. Her mind was made up.

  She quietly pulled open the bathroom door and moved outside, trying to keep to non-creaking boards. Freya was asleep on her bed, a book on her lap. Liz couldn’t protect her any longer. That would be up to the others in the house to do.

  She opened the bedroom door and looked outside, both ways along the corridor which was empty then walked quietly to the top of the main stairs, which ran down to the front entrance. The house was mostly quiet. After hearing what had happened in London a few hours earlier, conversation had faded between those in the dining hall and everyone had returned to their bedrooms to reflect on events.

  Listening for movement from below, she quickly made her way down the carpeted steps, glancing into the foyer to make sure it to was empty, then walked confidently to the front door.

  “Where you going?” said Karl.

  Liz swore in her mind and within an instant decided against ignoring his question, instead turning around with a smile. He had a way of sneaking around the large house without being heard. She presumed that came from years of running the place. “I just wanted to get some air.”

  “We have a small garden out back.” He pointed over his shoulder, along the hallway. “It’s well protected with a high wall…”

  Liz tried and failed to think of a reason she needed to go out the front. She walked past him. “Down here, you say?”

  “Yes. Let me come with you. I think the side door is locked.”

  They moved into an area where the hallway narrowed and was adorned with photos. Liz couldn’t avoid seeing the elderly but proud couple and the young men standing in front of them.

  Karl caught the attention she was paying the pictures before she could look away, and stood near one of the larger photos. It was of a time when the brothers were just boys, with a thirty something woman standing on the deck, out of the front of the property. “That was before they had the front concreted over.” He smiled. “That’s Audrey. My mother.”

  Liz focused on the woman, then pulled back almost in horror.

  “What is it?” said Karl. Before Liz could reply, he spotted the reason for her reaction. “Oh… yes, that’s rather strange. I hadn’t realised before seeing this photo, how much you—”

  The boards creaked behind them and the hair on Liz’s forearm standing erect told her exactly who was about to make an appearance.

  “You didn’t see the resemblance Liz has to our mother?” said James to his older brother who looked somewhat puzzled.

  Karl shook his head. “Er… no, but yes I see it now. Anyway, I was about to show Liz our modest but I assured her, secure garden.”

  James lifted his arm, making Liz take a step back, another reaction which Karl noticed before his brother’s hand landed on his shoulder. “I think that’s a good idea. We shouldn’t be cooped up in this old house, even if the dead are walking around outside!” He looked at Liz. “Don’t you agree, Liz?”

  She forced another brief smile and nodded.

  Karl unlocked the door and opened it to a faded but well-cut lawn of roughly twenty-feet square, bordered on two sides by pink, red and white flowers in full bloom and on the remaining sides by a combination of lush bushes and the occasional tree, some bearing fruit and some looming above the house and exterior wall, just visible encasing the entire area.

  James broke the spell, and pushed past them both, walking across the small section of patio and promptly sat on one of the three garden chairs. “This was our father’s favourite spot!”

  Liz noticed Karl’s subtle frown at his brother’s comment, which then became a smile on facing his guest. He walked forward, ushering Liz with him. “Please make yourself comfortable. I’ll bring out some drinks for all of us and see if the other guests would like to take advantage of this fine weather we’re having.”

  Reluctantly stepped Liz outside as Karl walked the other way. As soon as the older brother was out of sight, her eyes flicked to the nearest, heaviest object that could be used as a weapon.

  James tracked her attention towards the small concrete statue and laughed, then threw his arm up. “Sure. Why not. Try again!” He stood and she took a step back, almost knocking over a small pot of orange and mauve flowers. “But this time it would be bloody obvious what happened, wouldn’t it? And if you think Karl would let you get away…” He stepped closer and Liz found herself up against the ivy-covered wall. “Me and him are cut from the same cloth…”

  Footsteps came from inside and the younger Mollet’s contorted expression of hate morphed into a smile just before the young female archeologist stepped through the doorway.

  “Oh, it’s quite beautiful out here,” said Sharon. She sniffed the air. “Don’t you just love the fragrance of Hydrangeas?” Liz nodded and the younger woman walked off into the middle of the lawn, looking down. “I wonder if this has ever been surveyed.”

  The muffled sound of voices came from inside. Others ready to join the burgeoning garden party that was forming outside.

  Liz wanted to scream. A few hours ago they had been listening to crackling reports from an unknown broadcaster that London has been bombed by what was left of the armed forces and that plans were in place to repeat the procedure across the other major cities. The country was literally being returned to the stone age, but not here. Not in this tiny piece of idyllic countryside ruled over by a monster and his brother.

  The General slowly stepped into the bright sunshine, which he frowned at, squinting, while holding the book which seemed to never leave his left hand.

  James pointed at the chair he was just seated in. “There you go, General. Best spot in the garden for you.”

  The older man nodded, walked forward and sat while the other three people in the house emerged. Freya held Karl’s arm, while Craig appeared with a tray of food which also contained the small AM and FM radio set they had listened to earlier.

  It suddenly occurred to Liz that the entire house would be outside. She would never get a better chance to search the rooms upstairs for car keys…

  Craig’s keys slipped from his side pocket and fell to the concrete slabs, causing him to swear and pick them up. He kept on going, moving alongside Sharon and sat on the grass with his tray and radio.

  “Have this seat, my dear,” said the General to Liz, pointing to the chair next to his, between himself and Freya in the other.

  “Oh,” said Liz. “Okay.” She sat down, her mind still working through possible escape routes, completely detached from those around her.

  “Do you feel sick? You look a bit pale.”

  “I… I’m fine. Thank you.”

  Karl looked across a scene which couldn’t have looked much different a few days earlier. He smiled then nodded to himself and disappeared back inside.

  The General nodded towards the doorway. “Good man, Karl. I’ve stayed here, every year for over three decades. The Mollets have always treated me well. You’re so lucky to have found this place!”

  CHAPTER THREE

  JOE

  A double thud came on the wall between the interior space and the cabin. “We’re almost there!” shouted Greg, who had given up driving duties to Harry.

  Joe shook Tia’s shoulder. She sheepishly opened her eyes and sat up.

  “I seriously need to use the bathroom,” said Stew.

  Joe looked at the others. Ken’s head was back, his eyes closed. His work on his computer seemingly complete.

  Mathew was rummaging through his backpack while Stew stretched.

  Joe looked to his left, at Grace. “You met this Groves woman before?”

  “No, but Greg always spoke highly of her.”

  “How do they know each other?”

  “She was one of the only scientists to actually return his call, last year when we were trying to get the authorities’ attention. She had contacts inside SentriCulture that were also passing her information. So it became an alliance of mutual benefit… Just a shame we couldn’t have made everyone realise what could… happen…”