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

by Ray, Timothy A.

Gripping the phone, he looked away from his children as he said, “I don’t care what you have to do, but you get through this in one piece and get your ass back home to us. Okay?”

  “Okay,” he heard her reply softly, “I’ll try.”

  He handed the phone over to Caleb and picked his drink back up.

  It was going to be a long night.

  Chapter 28

  Good Luck

  Monica

  Malmstrom AFB, Montana

  “I hope you folks are set, because we need to bug out,” a man in black and gray fatigues said as he ran up to them. “Captain Weir says five minutes.”

  She had just finished her conversation with Caleb and had missed the first part of what the man was saying. She looked at Jenn and John, the look on their faces hinting at something that she was missing; she had no clue. Then it dawned on her; she had a family to call and they were alone. Whether due to the outbreak or choices made before, it didn’t matter. They didn’t have anyone to call in order to say goodbye. The guilt rose and she had to push it down by diverting her attention; there was no time for that.

  She glanced at the overexcited soldier, “We’re good.”

  He nodded and ran back towards a pair of X-49’s waiting on the tarmac. Probably the same ones carrying Sean and Joseph north at that very instant. Last minute errands were being run around it and the rotors were beginning to pick up speed. Putting her arm up, she blocked the buffeting winds and turned her head south.

  Her breath caught.

  Apache helicopters were on the horizon and there were constant lines of white smoke streaking from their noses at a downward trajectory. A loud crash struck them and she ducked, her hands protectively thrown over her head.

  “Holy shit!” John exclaimed in surprise.

  A Raptor dashed overhead, flying low to the ground and dropping ordinance just in front of where the helicopters were hovering. There was a loud explosion and a trembling beneath her boots. A pillar of flame rose into the sky in a violent display of color. Her eyes throbbed with the sudden flashes and she barely caught the sight of another jet flying in from the west, which came in and suddenly veered south. Another explosion rocked the Earth and the entire horizon was enveloped in orange flame.

  “Time to go!” someone screamed at them from the direction of the helicopters.

  “Monica, we need to get the fuck out of here!” John screamed in her ear.

  She straightened and looked at the chaos surrounding her, then glanced in his direction. He wasn’t panicked, he seemed in control, but there was a layer of something just beneath his eyes that spoke to his urgency and she was instantly on the move.

  Jenn was wiping tears from the corners of her eyes as she jumped in the back of the foremost helicopter, an armed soldier helping her up. John followed right after, but she remained fixed in place, staring at the forces streaming away from them. Tanks rumbled on their tracks and a few black Humvees screamed past, the soldiers on the back swiveling the guns as they bounced with the movement. Another Raptor roared overhead and that settled it for her; she grabbed John’s extended hand and climbed up by his side.

  “It must have been a larger herd than they thought,” John remarked, eyes diverting towards the cockpit.

  Jenn was sitting in her seat with her hands up over her ears, her laptop in a net pouch on the floor between her feet. She refused to look up and seemed to be trying to block the world out through sheer force of will.

  The soldier that had helped them into the cabin climbed aboard, four men immediately to his rear. They were all dressed in black and gray camouflaged fatigues, wore full protective gear, including gas masks and night vision goggles on their heads. They took seats across from them and a large man with thick hands sat on her left, blocking her view of the airport. He undid the clasp on his mask and pulled it away, his dark brown eyes falling upon her with interest. He stowed the mask as well as his helmet, checked to make sure the safeties were on his weapons, and then turned to pick up a set of headphones hanging behind his head. He motioned for her to do the same.

  Sliding them over her ears, she lowered the mic so it was before her mouth and watched as John followed suit. Jenn remained how she was, oblivious to what was going on, and seemed content to stay that way. She didn’t want to push the younger woman, she was under enough stress already; it was best to leave it alone.

  “A large caravan of survivors has come in from the south and they brought some friends with them,” she heard the gruff voice of her new seat-mate say; he did not sound the least bit pleased. She couldn’t blame him, but what did he expect? The President had announced to the world where they were holding up. Of course people were going to come running.

  “You didn’t see them further out?” John asked.

  There was a brief bout of static, then the soldier’s voice popped into her ear, “and it was best to allow them to come to us. If we stretch ourselves too thin, we risk losing parts of the line and exposing our flanks.”

  “Didn’t Obama order all the armed forces to withdraw to Montana?” she returned, curiously. There didn’t seem to be near enough on the base to account for all the forces the President had under her command; unless things were direr than they thought.

  “She did, but that doesn’t mean they listened to her. It’s hard to enforce orders when the world has gone to shit. There was a consensus amongst the military generals that it was the wrong call to pull out; to abandon the entire eastern seaboard. That was supposed to be left to the Navy. Every sea-worthy vessel is out to sea, maintaining a defensive position around the country, and aiding whenever called upon, but it’s got to be a horrifying place to be,” the man told them.

  One of the soldiers looked up at his words and she saw a coldness to the man’s stern gaze. “We’re out here dying while they just sit on their hands and watch.”

  “Stow that shit,” the man on her left snapped. If there was any doubt who was in charge, there wasn’t any longer. The soldier across from her stiffened and clamped his mouth shut. “This is not a naval battle, the most they can do is lend support. But every time we have called upon them, they’ve been there. Helped fight back the hordes in Washington when we got the President out. Without them, we never would have made it.”

  “Excuse me for saying this, but why have them at sea at all? It seems to me like we can use every able body that can wield a gun to fight off the undead. What use have they at sea?” John broke in and she noticed the Captain’s mouth twist slightly as he glanced at her companion’s eager face.

  There was a brief moment of silence and her eyes got pulled away by the constant flashes on the ground below. They had risen swiftly into the sky and as they banked, she got an aerial view of the battle taking place; her gut twisted. The land to the south was a shifting ocean of bodies, the occasional explosion creating small pockets of flame, but quickly refilled as the undead filled the gaps. The military war machine was not pulling any punches and she was unable to track the structured but seemingly chaotic attacks of the living as the undead struggled to reach them.

  Then they banked the opposite direction and the sight was ripped from her grasp.

  “As I said, not all the commanders agreed with the President’s order to withdraw. Some feel that this was a terrorist attack and that we should respond by force. Others, that it was a distraction to keep us looking in while we get invaded from without. And then there were the cowards, that understood that being at sea meant being out of reach of the enemy and increased their chances of survival hidden behind the term “continuity of government”. Fucking yellow-bellied swine, that’s the term I use,” the man grunted, then glanced out the window. “I have fought for my country for twelve years. I’ve lost a lot of friends, a lot of men under my command, and I ended up losing my family as well. I’ll be goddamned if I’m going to let a bunch of rabid corpses take her away from me,” the man finished, his voice going soft there at the end.

  “What I don’t get is, why are there so
many down there? When we were in Washington, we came across walkers that could no longer even walk, they had decayed so much. Why hasn’t that happened here?” she inquired, thinking of their arrival at the airport in Colville.

  John patted her on the thigh, barely felt through the padding of her suit, but enough to grab her attention. “It’s the people they lost on the way.”

  “Roger,” the Captain confirmed. “The survivors that came in said that it was a constant thing. Those that fell behind due to injury or accidents, or simple exhaustion, added to the masses chasing them, even as the older ones decayed past the point of functionality. We’ve got reports that most of the Delta-Zero walkers are down for the count everywhere but the New England states, where the cold seems to be preserving them a bit longer.”

  “Then all we have to do is hold on,” she observed softly, almost to herself.

  The helo banked once more and for a brief second, she could see the orange glow of battle to the west.

  “We’d better hope this Flaggerty guy isn’t full of shit,” the Captain snarked, “otherwise there won’t be anything left to hold on to.”

  Chapter 29

  Capacity

  Todd

  Compound 2

  His phone began to ring.

  Snatching it up, he glanced at it eagerly, expecting to see his wife’s number—but it was Caleb. “What?”

  “Dad, Bill just called, says you should get over to the other compound ASAP,” his son’s voice said in an overly excited voice.

  His head lowered and his shoulders hunched. What the hell could be wrong now? “Did he say why?” He was worn out, beyond exhausted, and wanted nothing more than to go to bed and sleep the rest of the day away. But as long as Monica was in danger, that would be impossible. What if she called and he didn’t hear it? He couldn’t take that chance.

  The sun was beginning its slow trek towards the western horizon and he only had an hour of daylight left. He had a bag of dog food in hand, the canines around him waiting patiently for their meal. Michelle passed by on her way to the pigs and gave him a questioning look. He simply shrugged and filled the dog’s dish, neck pressed against his shoulder in an attempt to keep the phone steady while he did so.

  “No, just that it was important,” his son relayed.

  He grunted, putting the dog food up and glancing at the small bit of black smoke hovering over the western skies. “Are you able to see anything on the cameras or are they still out?”

  There was a whisper of conversation on the other end as he turned to watch his daughter walk to the pens. Jim and Valerie had brought the kids out to tend to the chores and were standing next to a wooden fence, eyes carefully tracking the younger children as they fed the chickens.

  Shutting the gate, he began the walk back towards the main building, his feet kicking up dirt as he strained to hear what was being discussed on the other side of the line.

  Finally, his son’s frustrated voice told him that the feeds were still down, probably permanently disabled. He ended the call with a heavy sigh. That was going to be a problem if they didn’t get it fixed soon, they simply did not have the manpower to man a watch over there and would be blind without it.

  Matt was exiting the warehouse on his left and Todd waved him over. There were a couple of boxes in his hands—antacids and gauze. The antacids were probably for Rosilynn.

  Crap.

  They didn’t have a doctor to deliver the baby. If something were to go wrong—.

  “Apparently there’s a situation over at the other compound. Want to come with?” he offered, trying to grin his recent thoughts away.

  Matt appeared not to notice the uneasy look he was getting and smiled confidently in return. “Sure. Let me drop this off first. Rosilynn is seeing to Sabrina and Alicia’s wounds. Nothing much, but apparently, we needed more supplies. She’s working in the common room until we get the med-lab cleaned out.”

  He nodded as he kept walking. “I know, just going to take some time. We’re spread kind of thin. Maybe when we hook up with Bill, I’ll see if he could spare a few people to help us out.”

  Neither one of them spoke as they both contemplated the recent losses they’d suffered and those that were currently in harm’s way.

  “Monica is going to be okay. You know that, right?” Matt inquired suddenly.

  Harrumphing, he kicked at the dirt again and fought the urge to look north; she wasn’t there. “Do I?”

  Matt seemed overly optimistic as he said, “dude, she’s surrounded by soldiers that know their shit. I bet she won’t even have to set foot in that other compound.”

  “And because you just said that, she’ll have to. Don’t jinx this shit man, it’s too important to me,” he snarked, his anger slipping for a second.

  The veteran was undeterred. “I’m confident that she’ll come home, they all will. We aren’t talking about them flying into a combat zone, it’s a research facility. And if he was anal about safety and security here, you can bet they’ll be flying into a veritable Fort Knox over there.”

  He snorted, “Yeah, it’s a research facility. Guess what they were researching? The plague that wiped out the human race. Sure, everything is going to be just honkey dory. Thanks for the pep talk.”

  “Hey man, I’m just trying to help,” Matt replied, his smile suddenly slipping. “The scales have to balance sometime and I think we’ve paid our dues.”

  They had come to the main doors and he stopped, there was no need for him to go any further. “I think this is one bill that we’ll be paying on for a very long time. Go drop that stuff off, I’ll wait.”

  Matt moved towards the door, then hesitated. Turning back, he let the smile drop completely and stared him hard in the face, “I’m not blind you know. Ros has been acting funny since the two of you got back, and now she wants Tums? Heartburn really isn’t her thing, unless we get a pizza loaded with sausage or Mexican food, and Pizza Hut doesn’t deliver out here. I know it’s something else. I have an idea what it means, and I want to say thank you.”

  Of all the things that he had expected to come out of Matt’s mouth—that wasn’t one of them. He was at a loss for words, and it wasn’t lost on his friend.

  “I know. Thank you for knocking up my wife, sounds strange, doesn’t it? Oh, don’t deny it. I saw the home pregnancy test box a month ago and put two and two together. She’s been wanting to have kids the entire time we’ve been married and it’s the one thing I have just not been able to give her. I can tell she wants to be happy, that she wants to share it, but she’s scared how I’ll react if it’s yours. What she doesn’t know is that I was reaching a point where I was going to suggest getting a donor, because whether it’s biologically mine or not, I want her to be happy, and this will do that. So, thank you,” Matt finished, his grin resurfacing.

  He tried to speak, but still couldn’t find the words.

  Matt laughed, “I tell you, hell must have frozen over. I’ve never seen you so stumped. I’ll go drop this shit off and we can be on our way.”

  He watched Matt go, then turned and leaned against the brick wall. He thanked me for getting his wife pregnant? And why is it so damned funny when I don’t have a response ready? Like I’m always Johnny-on-the-Spot or something?

  It was just—not what he’d been expecting since Rosilynn had told him about the baby. He had expected a Shane versus Rick type of fight. A bloody nose at the least. But if Matt’s hands hadn’t been full, he might have tried to hug him. It was just—weird.

  His lifestyle was unorthodox, he knew that. He had been told by more than a few that he was going to hell, that it wasn’t legal, that he was crazy, but even if he had believed in any of that, he wouldn’t have given it up. His marriage hadn’t been doing too well before they had made that change, before they’d sat down and discussed what it was that was broken and how to fix it. Opening themselves up, allowing other people in, it made them appreciate each other more, to know what they had, and to accept each other f
or who they were. It had turned everything around and for the first time in twenty years, he had been truly happy.

  Yet still, they had never discussed what would happen if he had fathered a baby with another woman. Samantha had a hysterectomy a few years back and Monica had her tubes tied after Skye, declaring that enough was enough. So, the two of them had no worries about condoms or possible accidental pregnancies, but Rosilynn was a different story. That hadn’t been planned, but they had used protection almost every time. Then again, he remembered his health class in high school preaching that it only needed to take once and grimaced.

  The sad part was, she hadn’t trusted him enough to tell him that she had been pregnant. He didn’t understand fully why. In a normal world, in a normal lifestyle, that would have mattered to him. But this wasn’t and he could not fault her for the choices she made. She had chosen her marriage first and if the situations were reversed, he would have done the same.

  “You ready?” Matt asked, startling him out of his thoughts and making him jump.

  “Jesus Christ!” he exclaimed, his heart thundering in his chest. “Did you have to sneak up on me like that?”

  “Dude, you were spaced the fuck out. A herd of elephants could have stomped through here and you wouldn’t have noticed. Still trying to work out why I’m not pissed?” his friend inquired with a raised eyebrow.

  They began their journey towards the nearby tunnel entrance as he nodded his head, “partly. Mostly, I was just reflecting on the last five years and how much my life has changed; even before the shit hit the fan.”

  “I can’t believe I spent so much time trying to get that promotion at work. Should have spent some time at home watching football or being with the wife. Seems kind of waste now,” Matt commented. “Probably seen my last pro-football game. No matter how all this shit turns out, it’s going to be a long time before we get back to that kind of life.”

  “Don’t hit me when I say this, but is it really all that bad?” he ventured, his mind unable to let go of notions that had been slowly creeping up on him over the course of the afternoon. He had been doing busy work, trying to distract his mind from what his wife was doing, and couldn’t help where his mind went.