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

by Ray, Timothy A.

  Rushing down the corridor, Weir slammed himself against the left wall at the end and chanced a quick look around the corner. “Four hostiles, firing from covered positions.”

  She lowered her weapon and reached for the knife sheathed in her waist. Putting a finger to her lips, she stepped quietly around the corner and tried to decide her course of action. The men were oblivious to their arrival, but that would change the second they began firing. They wanted to end this quickly, not start another pitched battle of back and forth.

  Padding softly on the floor, the gunfire masking her approach, she went to the first man on the right, slid a hand over his mouth and slit his throat. The body bucked, the gun fired rapidly, and the man’s head slammed back into her chest, but she remained still and calm—focused. When the lifeblood had drained out and the corpse was lifeless, she slid the knife into the man’s brainpan and ensured his non-resurrection. Then moved to the left, coming around a hastily turned over couch, and repeated the same process over again. Two shots popped from her flank and she startled, her fingers slipping from the man’s mouth, allowing him to scream. Cursing, she clamped her hand tighter and looked over her shoulder, surprised that she wasn’t dying from gunshots.

  Weir hovered over the other two men, his sidearm in hand. Turning, he shrugged, “didn’t see the point of waiting. Remind me never to piss you off.” His eyes watched as she disposed of the corpse she’d been holding, took care of the zombie threat, and looked to the other two men.

  Headshots; problem solved.

  “Bravo team, advance in teams towards the west entrance,” Weir spoke into his earpiece, shoving the couch out of the way and clearing the doors. Then he turned and motioned back along the hallway. It ran the length of the front of the building and she could hear more of the enemy firing from that direction. “Let’s clean house.”

  She nodded, sheathed her knife, brought up her AR-15, and started forward once more.

  Chapter 37

  12:19

  Joseph

  Ninth Compound

  The male doctor approached one of the soldiers and began motioning in Rankin’s direction. There was a nod, and the soldier that had been hanging out in the corner joined his comrade. Together they walked towards the adjacent cell.

  There was a click and the door lock released. It was odd, because he could have sworn it was his door and not Rankin’s. He looked to the female doctor and found her staring at him, slightly nodding his head. Well, I’ll be damned.

  “What the hell is going on?” one of the men asked, looking over his shoulders. “Unlock the door.”

  He had begun moving the instant he recognized the nod for what it was and had already cleared the doorway, the rail gripped tightly in hand. Before they realized what was happening, he jammed the end through the exposed neck of the first man with every bit of strength he possessed.

  There was a series of noises coming from the doors and the soldiers that had been confined now surged to life. They were being given a chance to live, and they took it. Rankin shoved his door from the other side, knocking it into the man turning Joseph’s way. Unbalanced, the soldier stumbled backwards as the Sergeant thrust his way through and into the open.

  There were two shots and a flurry of activity from the other side of the room, but he saw none of it as the adrenaline pumping through his veins kept him focused on the task at hand. Throwing the dead body on the floor with the tip of his railing, he let go and moved towards the assault rifle rising in his direction. Rankin hit the man in the jaw as Joseph’s foot came up and kicked him square in the nuts. The two men nearly bumped heads as they reached for the weapon. He let the man have it. Turning to the body of the man he’d killed; he had another readily available for pickup. His fingers tightened on the grip, the familiarity making him smile, and he rose up to deal with the man who begun all this shit.

  Sean was gone.

  Two of the men that been released were lying on the floor dead. The doctors were nowhere to be seen, but the sounds coming from under the table where they’d been standing did not sound promising.

  “Did you see where he went?” he asked Rankin.

  The man shook his head, “no, but I’ve got a promise to keep.”

  A head poked up over the table edge at the sound of their voices, and a bloodied face grinned at them. Leaping with inhuman strength, the former soldier cleared the table and ran straight for them. The man was not dead, judging by the flush of his face, the bulging of the man’s veins, and the lunacy in his eyes. Yet, all that had remained of the soldier that was, was gone. It had been replaced by pure rage.

  Rankin’s gun bucked and the soldier’s head jerked. Then the body fell forward and skidded to a halt right at the man’s feet. “The blood debt owed by that man will never be fully paid,” the soldier said as he kicked the body to make sure it was truly expired, and moved on.

  He walked towards the banks of computers and laboratory equipment, the sounds slithering from in front of him sounding like a pack of dogs tearing into a ribeye. It was a horrid image, and as he cleared the table, he was disgusted to find that his imagination wasn’t far from the mark.

  The last soldier and the male doctor were tearing into the woman that had freed them. “Damn, I hoped that she would make it,” he whispered with regret. She had risked her life for theirs and it was a damn shame he couldn’t repay the favor.

  “She sacrificed herself for us, let’s not let her suffer any more than she needs to,” Rankin replied, taking aimed shots and killing the two frenzied men. Then he stepped over to the woman, looked down upon her with a sorrowful countenance. “I’m sorry.”

  The woman struggled to say something but her throat was gone. Her fingers trembled, but pointed at a wall to the left. Then it fell lifeless to the floor.

  Rankin shot her once through the skull, then turned to look in the direction she pointed. “What the hell was she going on about?”

  He was already moving in that direction as he ground his teeth. The man was a fucking obsessive piece of shit when it came to crap like this. Why could he just use a door like any other normal Human being? Sliding his fingers into hidden slits on the wall, he gave it a push and the surface gave way. “Come on, he’s got enough of a head-start already. It’s time we end this.”

  Chapter 38

  11:07

  Monica

  Ninth Compound

  Weir cleared the last of the dead, his men on the coms informing them that they were on the way. The mercenaries they had been facing were not prepared to meet a battle on two fronts and none of them even knew what was happening until it was too late. Their own eyes must have been blinded, because there were plenty of cameras to alert them to what was going on. Although they hadn’t been as stealthy as she would have liked, they still had gotten the job done.

  She probably had Jenn to thank for that.

  The Captain went to the large double doors, the battle over, and threw them open. She could hear the sounds of thudding feet and knew that reinforcements were on their way. Letting her weapon drop, she wiped her forehead with her arm and smiled. So much for Sean’s private military.

  “Monica,” Jenn’s voice echoed over the com.

  She went to answer but her words were cut off as something struck the back of her head and her vision went black.

  Chapter 39

  Virus

  Monica

  Ninth Compound

  When she opened her eyes in the dim lit room, she saw something that shocked her mind so bad she almost passed out again. Her head was throbbing, her vision pulsing, and there was an inner rage building that threatened to shut her mind down completely and let the feral monster within loose. Jenn was locked in a passionate embrace with Sean, their lips molded together, her hands squeezing his back with such need that Monica was surprised they still had their clothes on. “What the fuck?” she cried, struggling against the straps that held her in place. She was upright in a chair with what appeared to be tie-downs
wrenched over her legs, arms, and chest. “You’ve got to be fucking kidding me. Are you insane?”

  The younger woman broke from her kiss, turned her head and smiled. A shiver snaked up her back. There was such evil, such malice and hatred in the woman’s eyes, that she felt her soul tremble with fear and panic. “Looks like she’s finally awake,” Jenn commented, squeezing Sean’s arm. “I think it’s about time. Go check on formula?” The way she said it sounded like a sexual innuendo, her voice soft, her eye lashes flickering, and Sean was nothing but putty beneath her stare.

  Sean nodded, then left the room, leaving the two women alone.

  This couldn’t be happening. No way it was what it looked like. “Okay, enough of the games. Untie me before he gets back,” she begged Jenn, holding onto hope that it had all been a ploy, some way of getting to Sean so that they could both end him.

  Jenn laughed, “you really are an idiot; the whole lot of you. Why is it the man that everyone always looks to first? It’s never the woman. Coming from another man, I get it. Their egos are so fucking big that they think we’re too weak and fragile to pull any of this off. But from you? I had hoped that at least you would have been less of an ignorant pathetic bitch, but I see that I was wrong.”

  “Jenn, that’s—,” she started but got cut off by a slap across the face. It was so sudden, she hadn’t prepared for it, and her neck pulsed with agony. This really is happening. What? How? How did I not see this sooner?

  “That’s not my true name. Hasn’t been for a long time. My name—is Kayha,” the woman stated proudly.

  She froze, her cheek pulsing, tingling with pain. Gooseflesh rose on her arms and her breathing stopped. “That’s impossible. She’s dead.”

  “You mean the sorry piece of crap that they claimed was me is dead. I—am very much alive,” the woman declared, grabbing a chair and sliding it so that the back was facing her. Then Jenn straddled it made it so they were face to face. “I let them believe it. I’ve lain low, kept under the radar, but I’ve always been there. Waiting. Watching. Planning. But hey, now the wait is over. I finally get to finish what I started in Boston.”

  Kayha was the name of the hacker that not only made it possible for the terrorists to get the bombs they needed for the Boston bombing a few years back, but also shut down the entire eastern seaboard’s power grid during the rescue operations. Footage of the capture, then execution of the hacker, was broadcast on national television with as many views as the announcement of Bin Laden’s death. People cheered in the streets for weeks. No single woman had ever been as hated as Kayha had been—and now this charlatan across from her—no, it’s not possible.

  “You know, it’s taken a very long time to get here. I had to be more patient than even I thought I was capable of. Truly, you know how much work I’ve had to put into this? The years of computer work, planning, organizing, all to reach this one point? Now that it’s here, I can almost believe it’s all just a dream,” Jenn mused. “I mean, it’s nearly orgasmic how perfectly everything is going!”

  A shiver ran up her spine. “Why?” she asked, still unable to think clearly. She had to be in a nightmare, still conked out from whatever had hit her. The horror, the tragedy behind this moment, it couldn’t be real.

  “Why what? Why the zombie shit? Okay, so you want me to reveal my master plan like some villain in a Bond movie? That’s a male thing. Tell me girl, do we really need to play it that way?” Jenn grinned, giving her a shove in the shoulder.

  She held herself as steady as possible, trying not to flinch at the woman’s touch.

  It just can’t be.

  “You have waited this long, haven’t you? Don’t you want to brag? I mean, I’m going to die anyway, right?” she tossed back. Jenn was right, this was sounding like a fucking movie.

  Jenn’s smile dropped away and the look that replaced it would frighten children for years. It was worse than an evil clown in a sewer asking if you wanted a balloon. “Sean never did want any of this, you know. When we first met, he was just an overeager author that used to be a big shot and wanted to spend his later years having sex and writing stories. Sure, he was intrigued when the doomsday crap started getting tossed around, but he didn’t have any real interest in it. I had to show him something. Something horrible and tragic in order to get him motivated. So, I arranged for those ISIS freaks to get their hands on a bomb. They were supposed to use two, but their asses got caught before the other could detonate. So, there it was, just lying about. At least, until I got it into that religious nut’s hands with a note from God telling him to burn the City of Sin to the ground. Fucker didn’t have to take his time about it though. I was starting to think he had failed too. Though, he didn’t get to Vegas. Still, the Hoover Dam? Not a bad alternative.”

  She shook her head, trying to make sense of what she was hearing. The bomb at the dam? That was her? What? “No, that guy back in Montana said that was Sean. They have documentation,” she returned quickly, trying to keep her talking while her fingers tried working at the straps behind her.

  “Oh please. I wanted to laugh at that idiot when he said that. So smug, feeling like he had all the answers, when all he had was what I allowed him to see. Sean had it delivered, but I’m the one that gave it to them and told him where to send it. Tell me, can Todd do anything correctly without you there to guide him? Men need us,” Jenn purred. “Show them some tits, a little ass, and they’ll burn the world just for a little taste of what you have.”

  She shook her head, “do not clump me in with you. You’re insane.”

  Jenn slapped her again, this time harder. “Do not call me that, you bitch. You people are the ones’ insane. Just cows being led to the slaughter. Every year our resources get more depleted, more species go extinct, and war rages over trivial bullshit of “who’s got a bigger penis”. Do you know what? The government knew that 9/11 was going to happen, and they let it! You know why? A pipeline in Afghanistan and control of Iraq’s oil fields. It’s all about greed and who has the most power! We are destroying the Earth and no one will stand up and put a stop to it. Well, guess what—I have!”

  “By killing everyone in the process? Is that your master plan? To wipe Man from the face of the Earth?” she roared back.

  “Ingenious, wasn’t it? I just hit the reset button. I talked that lovable idiot into building this place, into researching this virus, and now after so many years, it’s finally ready. Tell me, do you really think that idiot Frisk got out of here with a sample if I didn’t allow it to happen? If I didn’t disconnect the feeds and distract the guards with false alarms so he could make his escape? Who do you think slowed the reports coming into the CDC and the government when it started to spread? I didn’t want it contained! You know, you should be thanking me. I could have killed Ben and his parents early on, long before he alerted you to what was going on, but instead, I put the feed up on his monitor so he could see it as soon as the news broke. You’re sitting here because of me,” Jenn told her, looking like she wanted a pat on the back.

  She wanted to spit in her face instead. “There isn’t a word to describe what you are, but thanking you is the last thing I will ever do,” she snarled instead.

  “You’re an ungrateful bitch, you know that?” Jenn growled. “That noob Ben, you all thought he was the shit. The boy was nothing but an amateur. I’m the one that ultimately designed our systems, that upgraded his tech when it was needed. I gave him toys that a monkey could figure out. And what does he do? He tries to wipe it all out by deleting the hard drives. Well, couldn’t let that happen, could I? I felt bad about that woman and her baby, but hey, a lot more women and babies died during this plague, what’s two more, right?”

  She struggled against her bindings, trying to will herself free. “You killed Ben?”

  Jenn laughed, “of course I did. Oh, come on, you all knew that Sean was getting support from somewhere. He is a writer! His defense contractor days were back before technology got where it is now. He can barely
program his DVR right. A misplaced shipment here, a deleted set of Humvees there, and your compounds get fully armed and ready for the end of the world. And no one even for one second suspected it was me.”

  “I will tell you this, though,” Jenn continued after a brief pause, “he didn’t know I was going to release the virus. He thought it was all an experiment. When he realized what had happened, he freaked the fuck out and ran, hiding in that Arizona compound like a little baby. Nearly drank himself to death in the process. Then Todd went and got wise, so he ran again to avoid answering your husband’s questions. Thought he could hide in Washington as well, but he finally came around. Realized he needed me.”

  As she said the last, Sean reentered the room, a black pouch in hand.

  “Isn’t that right, Baby?” she asked, turning the charm back on.

  “You know it,” Sean grinned, unzipping the bag and removing a syringe. A vial of green liquid was drawn forth and she watched in horror as he began pulling the plunger back. “Oh, don’t worry, this isn’t for you,” he told her after seeing the focus of her attention.

  Jenn was pulling up her sleeve, waiting patiently for what was to come next. “The rest was easy. Go to Arizona and act like I just happened to come to help, integrate myself into your group, and keep Sean one step ahead as you blindly flew north after him. He was already winging his way south with the men I sent him. Turning off the cameras so your idiot friends wouldn’t see them enter the compound? That was child’s play. But the fun part? I was coordinating his rescue from within that blasted helicopter, right under your nose! While that dumbass sheriff was out there getting his ass shot off, I organized the ambush that set my baby free.”