The Rotting Souls Series (Book 4): Charon's Coffers

by Ray, Timothy A.

  The other major difference was, they actually decayed. It hadn’t even been a week yet and already the undead that had been created on what they called Day Zero had begun to rot at a timetable none of them thought possible; other than Rosilynn that is. She nodded, “which means either he was an unlucky bastard and died in an accident, or something happened recently to start another outbreak.”

  “Another outbreak?” Mykala asked, confused. “That walker looked normal to me. I watch the Walking Dead.”

  He sighed. “I know your parents have held you holed up and protected, so you haven’t seen much of what’s going on out here, but very few of the dead leftover from the first couple of days are left standing. We saw evidence of that in Wilcox when we ran over a large herd that was literally crawling across the interstate.”

  “Crawling? Why would they do that? I don’t understand,” Mykala responded, glancing out the side window of the Humvee in the direction the zombie had fallen.

  It had failed to make another appearance yet. Which came to the other difference Ros had pointed out; the undead were just as frail as Humans. And like Humans, when a muscle is severed, the attached limb quit working. Maybe the thing had broken its neck; they could only be so lucky.

  “The Human body decays. Microbes begin to attack the dying flesh, insects begin to nest, and carrion creatures pick up the scent of death and move in. This virus, it may bring back the living, force them to run around like rabid cannibals, but it does not appear to stop the normal rate of decay associated with any dead organic material,” Rosilynn explained, her clinical mind at work. “Depending on the elements, like rain or dry heat, it differentiates how it decays, but not the reaction that nature has upon it. What you saw back there was someone that just died, not a week-old corpse. Those are literally starting to fertilize the Earth.”

  Mykala began to smile, “you mean that everything might be okay? This all might come to an end?”

  Letting out a long breath, he turned to look at the younger woman and forced a smile, “not if we don’t find a way to fight off this virus. Otherwise, we are always in danger of another outbreak taking place. All it takes is one person having a stroke, or having an accident, and another undead is created, starting the whole process again. Life as it used to be is over.”

  “That’s pretty grim,” Ros said in a low voice. “Can’t you let the kid have some hope?”

  “We can’t afford it; false hope has no place in this new world. Better get used to the idea and find a way to survive, to adapt, or Mankind will cease to exist.”

  Rosilynn rolled her eyes. “Would that be so bad? Look at what we’ve done to our planet! Maybe we deserve this! Maybe this is what the world needs to heal itself. No, don’t look at me like that, you know exactly what I’m talking about. And by the way, Mankind is not likely to go extinct, just the civilizations that thought themselves mightier than their weaker counterparts. There are tribes in South America, in Africa, who may not even be exposed. Remote pockets of Humanity that will continue to go on long after we are all dust. Just because America dies doesn’t mean everyone else does as well.”

  “Isn’t that patriotic?” he teased, giving her shoulder a shove.

  She didn’t take her eyes off the road, but he could see a slight smile on her face. “Oh, shut it. I know you get me. Looks like something rough happened up here. Better get that pad of yours ready in case we need to fight our way through.” They crested the rise and made a sharp right back onto the main highway. Corpses were scattered along their route and Ros slowed their progress as she tried to navigate around them. She could have hit the gas, but he knew she was seeing what he was; human beings not monsters. They hadn’t crossed that line yet and he prayed they never did.

  “Looks like a battle was fought here,” Mykala uttered, her face creased with unease. “Which side do you think won?”

  “I don’t think I want to know the answer,” he commented, staring at the townsfolk strewn about like litter. The only mercy were the apparent headshots. Someone was making sure that if they came back this way they didn’t run into a horde of undead. “I think this town is done with. I very much doubt anyone stayed behind, otherwise they’d be out here taking care of their dead.”

  Ros pursed her lips, “makes you wonder where they went off to, the inhabitants I mean. It’s like that craziness your cousin was saying, people migrating out of town. To where? This shit isn’t isolated, it’s all over the damned place. Better to fight on ground you know.”

  “Yet you’re not in Vegas,” he returned and patted her leg. “Not that I’m complaining. I’m still amazed you two made it out of there.”

  “Probably wouldn’t have if the military hadn’t responded the way it did,” she returned. “They were pretty Johnny-on-the-spot with their reaction time. They were bombing the crap out of the city by the time we left.”

  He thought back on that harrowing time and was grateful, not for the last time, that they were able to get out of town before the shit hit the fan. According to Sabrina, it got bad. If it hadn’t been for Ben—he stopped there. He had been told what had happened when the system got shut down and the guilt was still plaguing him. He should have insisted on doing it himself, then maybe Rodger’s family would still be alive. “Mykala, do you see anyone you recognize?” he pursued, not seeing many with gang colors and increasingly getting worried about the road ahead.

  She shook her head, “but then, I only saw a couple of them. Our guards were kept light, they needed most of them to watch the adults.”

  “Well, shit. We need to think of what we’re going to do if we run across them further up the road,” he remarked, trying to come up with some sort of plan; there was just too many unknowns and not enough information.

  “I know what I’m going to do,” Rosilynn told him confidently.

  His eyebrows raised, not the least bit surprised that she was thinking ahead of him. She had a good head on her shoulders and could sometimes see things from angles he couldn’t. “And that is?”

  “Run their asses over.”

  Chapter 12

  Only the Dead Remain

  Monica

  Icecrown Compound

  “Okay, you realize that Sean probably knows we’re here now, right?” she asked Mark, both of them standing next to a tree, staring out across the wooden barrier and the large wall towering before them.

  “I’m pretty sure he already did,” Mark replied with a grim smile. “I mean, who are we kidding right? Kind of naïve to think we could storm the castle unnoticed.”

  The wooden wall that ringed the compound had been carefully breached and a path created across the moat to the wall beyond. A large group of ladders were tethered and secured to the wall. Her eyes nervously gauged the heights that they would need to climb; not to mention how exposed they’d be while making it.

  The older man that had brought them there eyed the wall nervously, eyes searching its length for signs of life. “This portion should not be left unprotected, something’s wrong.”

  “I’m not so eager to find out what,” Naima murmured.

  She ignored it and glanced at Jenn. “Are we close enough for you to get into the system’s Wi-Fi? Maybe get some eyes on what’s going on in there?”

  Jenn had taken a seat at the base of a large Ponderosa Pine to their rear, her fingers tapping away quickly, finger zooming over the mousepad on the center of the laptop’s keyboard. “Working on it. The bastard changed the security protocols. Might take a minute.”

  “Vitarius, how do you feel about going up there and taking a look around? You’re our sniper,” she asked the young boy in camo milling about watching them.

  “Oh sure. I’m also the one guy that’s totally expendable, right? Not one of yours? This how you plan on paying me back for that Huey mess?” he snarked, standing still and shifting his weight from one foot to the other. “Because I don’t feel like pulling that “hold your hat up and see if someone shoots it” kind of game.”

/>   She rolled her eyes and was preparing a retort when John stepped forward. “I’ll go. If someone was going to come out and greet us, they’d already be here.”

  “Or they’re biding their time,” Vitarius interjected, eyes focused on the heights above.

  “You just cover my ass from down here, can you do that, Sport?” John returned, eyeing the youth.

  Vitarius paused to consider his options, then nodded his head, bringing his rifle to his shoulder. “Watch yourself. Just because you can’t see nothing doesn’t mean nothing ain’t there.”

  “It should really be me going,” the older man offered weakly, his son hanging onto his side, fear upon his face.

  John slapped the man’s shoulder. “No worries, I’ve got this.” The former-sheriff stepped forward and raised his weapon, eyes fixed on his surroundings, not trusting anything.

  He reached the base of the ladders with ease, then shouldered his weapon, reached out, and began his climb to the heights above. She watched his progress, anxious, her own weapon ready at a moment’s notice, eyes scanning for the upgrades that Todd mentioned Sean had put in. All that sci-fi high-tech crap didn’t seem to have been installed, or it simply wasn’t working. Was there even power to the joint?

  “I’m sorry, what’s your name?” she asked without looking at the older gentleman standing at her side. They had been in a hurry to get here and they hadn’t even exchanged pleasantries.

  “Jack,” the man replied with a croak. Apparently, his wife and two younger children had stayed within the walls when he volunteered to go guard the road.

  She recognized the concern in his eyes and temporarily thought of her home and the kids she had left behind. “Listen Jack, the military is inbound. No matter what has happened, they’ll be able to sort it out. I’m sure that something just came up and everyone is fine.”

  “Nothing has been fine for a week, lady. And you don’t much believe that either,” Jack replied in a harsh voice. “We’ve been waiting for the military’s help for five days, I’m not holding my breath.”

  “Got it!” came a voice from behind them. She severed her gaze, changing quickly from John to the hacker behind her. “The bastard may be smart, but he can’t write code for shit.”

  She wanted to break from the treeline and go look at the woman’s screen, but her legs refused to answer, her body rooted in place. “Can you bring up the compound’s aboveground cameras?”

  “Navigating there right now,” Jenn smiled.

  She nodded, then turned back to watch John as his head peaked over the top of the wall.

  “Fuck me,” Jenn muttered, just as John pulled himself over and out of sight.

  “What is it?” she asked, almost throwing herself forward to follow after the sheriff, but not wanting to do it before knowing what she was running into.

  Jenn’s eyes rose from the screen and her lips trembled. “There are undead everywhere, roaming the streets of the neighborhoods, trying to get into the houses.”

  Jack sprinted forward, turning mid-stride to tell his son to stay put. His hands were on the rungs of one of the ladders before she even turned to see what was going on.

  “Crap. Guess we’re going in,” she muttered, just as Mark broke from the treeline to follow after. “Vitarius, you’re with me. When we get over the wall, I want you up in the tower that overlooks the neighborhood. Be our eyes in the sky. Jenn, you stay here. Naima, I want you to watch over her.”

  “You want me to stay here? While you three go fight a horde a zombies? You’re joking, right?” Naima asked, eyebrows raised. “I mean, what else did you bring me for?”

  “You’re not all that comfortable with that gun yet, and it’s the only weapon you have. We can’t just start shooting off our guns, it’ll bring them all down on us. For now, I need you here, protecting her. We have another compound to get into after this one, and I very much doubt the connecting tunnel is still intact. Just do this for me, please?” she asked, legs already itching to pitch forward.

  Sighing, Naima nodded.

  Monica smiled with gratitude and ran after the departing men. Vitarius was a third of the way up, the older man starting to trail behind, but Mark had nearly reached the top. John’s head peaked back down on them and she could tell by the look on his face that he didn’t need to know what Jenn had found, he had already seen enough to give a clear idea what had happened.

  The families had thought they’d struck gold, a walled compound with housing, supplies, and a way to exist; to survive. What they hadn’t known and couldn’t, was that Sean had killed its previous inhabitants and allowed them free access to wander the subterranean portions of the compound unhindered. The second they opened up those doors, they were vulnerable to a threat they thought they had left behind. It was Day One all over again, just on a smaller scale.

  The only heartening thought was that the undead were attacking the homes. They would only do that if they thought there was food inside; there was a chance there were survivors. Sean or no Sean, she couldn’t just turn her back on them and leave them to die. She reached the top, pulled herself over with the help of Mark and John, which when she thought of it, almost made her giggle. What were the odds that apostles would be there to help her up? She shook her head, her eyes falling on the world beyond, and her breath caught. “Fuck.”

  “Exactly,” John returned sadly.

  The neighborhoods that had been constructed to the west side of the compound were swarming with undead; like the entire populace of Colville had taken up residence then suddenly died. This was going to be harder than she thought.

  Chapter 13

  Roadkill

  Todd

  US 191

  “Okay, got it,” he said into his phone, hitting the end button and glancing at Ros. “Joseph says it looks like they’re heading to Compound 1.”

  She kept her eyes on the road. They had hit the switchbacks and she’d been forced to slow down. It wouldn’t do anyone any good if they slammed headfirst into any trees. “Then the main road is out. They’ll obviously have that covered. What do you want to do? Hike?”

  He shook his head. “Not particularly. But heading straight into them isn’t a great idea either. Don’t want us to end up like Michonne and Hershel, on our knees in front of another Governor.”

  “Oh, hell no,” Mykala exclaimed, making him smirk at the lost look on Rosilynn’s face.

  “Come on. All this prepping and you never even bothered to watch the Walking Dead?” he teased.

  Rolling her eyes, she spared him a quick glance and flipped him the bird. “Not all of us have leisure time to just lay about watching TV all day.”

  “I don’t do that all day,” he grinned.

  “Are you two talking about sex?” the youth exclaimed from the backseat and Ros’s face blushed. “I’m old enough that you don’t need to talk in code, you know.”

  “See what you started?” Ros snarked and he couldn’t help the chuckle that issued forth. “This isn’t about your age, Sweetie. I don’t know how you have any time to do anything else, the busy schedule you keep,” she directed his way, obviously referring to Samantha.

  He narrowed his eyes and watched as they neared the turn off. There was a small group of zombies walking along the road heading north; a few stragglers bringing up the rear limping from injuries sustained in a recent battle. He nodded at them, “maybe we should take care of this. Don’t want them showing up at the compounds by accident.”

  “Do we really have time for that?” Ros returned. “Kind of on a tight schedule here, champ.”

  “And who’s fault is that?” he queried. It hadn’t been him that had called the NSA. “Let’s take care of this. I literally don’t want it to come up and bite me on the ass later.” Ros slowed the vehicle, even though he could tell that she really wanted no part in it. He brought the pad up, then thought better of it. They were awfully close to the road heading into the compounds. If he fired the guns, everyone within miles would know exactl
y where they were. “Mykala, stay here. We can handle this,” he told the youth, who seemed eager to hop out as he opened the passenger door.

  “I can help,” she protested, eyes on the undead that had turned to glare at them. They were still fifty yards down the road, but they looked fresh and eager to eat. They’d be on the move in seconds. Her eyes seemed fixed on something, then her jaw lowered. “What the hell?”

  “What?” he asked, immediately concerned.

  “That one in blue, that’s Renny,” Mykala said, as if not believing the words that were coming out of her mouth.

  He turned and looked at the creatures that had broken into a run and fast approaching their position. He didn’t have time to figure this out; it would have to wait. Stepping clear of the Humvee, he reached down beneath his seat and retrieved the hatchet he had placed there. He would switch to his AR-15 if he had to, but only if things got rough. Rosilynn’s katana flashed in the mid-day sun and she stepped forward to greet the first unlucky walker to dare get close to her.

  There were close to twenty altogether and in hindsight, he should have stayed in the cab and used their guns. If that was truly Renny approaching him, then what kind of threat were they facing? Who was turning off their cameras? Were the survivors carrying on with their boss’s orders?

  Rosilynn had disposed of three by the time his axe found a target. The blade buried itself in the skull of the closest walker, a gangbanger with a gaping wound in his chest. Another came at him from the side and he jerked on the axe, but it refused to budge. The walker it was buried in crumpled to the ground, the weight yanking his axe free with a sickening expulsion of body fluids and bone. A hand gripped his suit and pulled at him. He brought up his padded elbow and socked the creature in the jaw. There was no maneuvering room to get his axe up and the press of bodies was shoving him backwards. Teeth gnawed, fingers gripped, and even though Ros was right there, she was on the other side of the vehicle and unable to help.