The Soul Eater (Chronicles 1): The Book of Roland

by James Master

  “Is Gary Starke still in the mansion?” Jessica's eyes came back out of her lackadaisical stare to look at Roland with a fright in them. That was all Roland needed to know. Ashley thought she heard footsteps coming from the hallway. She stood up as Roland looked at her questioningly. She pulled her single shooter from her pocket and peaked out the door into the hallway. After a moment of seeing or hearing nothing, she sat back down shrugging. “It must’ve been my imagination.” Roland's hand that had reflexively reached down to comfort his holster relaxed a bit.

  He turned back to Jessica. “He is still here isn’t he, Jessica?”

  She nodded, wiping away a few tears. “He was here, he tried... I think he was going to rape me.” Roland felt the anger for Starke accumulating inside of him. His hand was about to shatter the coffee cup, Ashley placed a hand over his and looked at him and shook her head as if saying, Not now, you would frighten the poor girl. Roland's slowed his breathing and forced himself to calm after a minute. Ashley looked from Roland to Jessica.

  “Go on and tell us what happened Jessica.”

  “He was going to... you know... I could see his.... well before he could I remembered some of my self-defense lessons daddy paid for me and I kicked him in the crotch. He went unconscious. I got up and went upstairs to where my father was sleeping, but when I got there, he was dead. I mean a zombie.” Roland was impressed that the girl could wrangle a zombie his size and tie him down. He commented on this, but Jessica shook her head.

  “He was tied up when I got there, that man must have done that.” Roland looked at Jessica and knew that he was going to regret the next words that would come out of his mouth.

  “Jessica, would you like to join us and travel to the capital? We are trying to get revenge for what Starke has done to us; you might get in on that as well.” Ashley looked sharply at Roland and spoke up.

  “Can I talk to you in private Roland?” She stood and walked out of the room, into the hallway. Roland stood and looked down at Jessica. “I'll be right back honey; Ashley wants to talk to me. Don't move I'll be right back.”

  When the door to the kitchen was closed Ashley talked softly, but fiercely. “What are you thinking? She can barely tell us the time of day, let alone defend herself from the undead! She’ll be dead weight. We might as well carry her every step of the way.” Roland listened to every word Ashley spoke with sincerity, but when he spoke it was with a stern edge to it.

  “She’s in shock. What would you have me do? Leave her in this place for her to die?”

  “She is far from dying Roland. I looked at the supplies she has. She could live here and still be well off.”

  “Until when? Until another Starke comes in and rapes her? Maybe she runs out of food. Maybe the power runs dry and the gates open? I will not let that happen if I can. If you would like to trade places and wait here while she and I go and get Starke....” Ashley pushed Roland up against the wall suddenly. He could see jealousy, hurt, and anger mixing around in her eyes.

  “I know you don’t want to take her with us, but she needs us. I happen to remember a girl in need of help at a grocery store once upon a time.” The arms that were still on Roland's chest softened then. “Whatever Roland, you’re in charge. Let’s get moving.”

  Jessica was just staring at the speckled table when she heard a noise she hadn't heard since the outbreak started. It was a distinct unmistakable sound she always heard when her father returned from a long day at his job. She thought that he might be returning from work when she remembered that her father was now a zombie. She then thought of the zombies at the gate wanting to come in. She jumped from the table and rushed into the hallway that her two interrogators had ventured. The door swung out suddenly catching Ashley in the back sending her headlong into the opposite wall. Roland was able to catch Ashley, after rebounding off the wall.

  Roland grabbed his still dazed companion and started after the girl. Jessica ran out to the main foyer and looked outside. The horrified look on her face told Roland that nothing good was happening. He left Ashley to support herself on the staircase as he ran over to the kicked in door. He followed Jessica's horrified stare saw that the gates opening. The undead were spilling into the driveway like sardines out of their can. Roland could already hear their moans. They sounded hungry.

  *** 12 ***

  Starke had indeed been listening in on the conversation that Roland was having with Jessica outside the door. He left when he heard about the secret basement exit. He quietly retreated to the security room just as Ashley had poked her head out of the kitchen. When he got there, he threw the manual switch that opened the gate. Laughing, Starke made his way to the basement. He hoped that Ben hadn't used a key to open it.

  Chapter Ten

  *** 1 ***

  Roland watched the zombies shambling up the driveway, he came up with some options.

  Ashley could see the frantic look in his eyes, but there was also something in them that suggested that he was thoroughly enjoying himself. She pulled Roland's M1 out and aimed it at the oncoming horde. She was about to fire when Roland shook his head. “Don't fire till you see the decay in their eyes.” He started to laugh as he turned towards the staircase. “I always wanted to say that. Don't fire yet, draw back to the stairs.”

  “Why?” Roland sat on the stairs and pulled out his weapons he had collected. He made sure the double barrel was loaded, his pistol as well. Ashley had the one shot and the snub-nosed detective's special he looted from the dead cashier. His rifle was in good hands, but glancing over, he saw that Jessica was still by the door watching the undead advance.

  “Jessica dear, please come over to us. You shouldn't be so close.” Jessica looked back at Roland and Ashley and nodded weakly. Roland was glad that Jessica was getting a grip on reality finally. The things Roland needed of her were going to require her cool being kept in check. He raised his pistol and aimed at the advancing zombies.

  “Jessica, where would the gate control be kept?”

  “In the security room, Daddy usually goes there a couple times a day to monitor the undead. I guess he doesn't do that anymore, though.” Roland could see the girl start to fall back into the abyss she had just climbed out of so he kept her on task.

  “Can you and Ashley go and shut the gates? That way no more zombies can get in.” Ashley and Jessica both looked at Roland in surprise. Jessica and Ashley were about to complain when Roland cut both short.

  “Now is not the time to question me on any matter. Just do as I say and we might get through this.” When the first zombie pushed his way through the hole where the door used to be, Roland pulled the trigger and shot it in the head. The second staggered over the first, its eye splattered as the next bullet penetrated the eyeball. Ashley waited for a second, mentally judging what to do, but followed Jessica to the security room. Roland was pleased when she did because he didn't want the girl to see him get slaughtered. He quickly pulled the trigger twice in rapid succession ending two more zombies’ undead life.

  “Maybe they’ll start to pile and barricade themselves. That would make my day.” When he said that the bodies spilled into the foyer and two more zombies rushed into the mansion.

  “Of course not.” These were fresher undead and Roland had to wait till they were both three feet away before firing the last shots into their brains. Roland pulled out the speed loader on the pistol and quickly changed rounds. Just in time too, because five more zombies grouped themselves into the door frame.

  *** 2 ***

  Starke heard the gunshots as he entered the underground corridor. He laughed as he looked down the narrow passageway. “He chose to fight the bastards instead of chasing me. How heroic. Probably couldn't get that princess to move outta that chair she was in. Well, just in case, I'll leave a breadcrumb for the man.” He looked around and saw a golf cart sitting at the edge of the tunnel. He better survive or it’s my ass, he thought as he started the golf cart and sped down the tunnel away from the battle overhead.
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  *** 3 ***

  Ashley and Jessica made it into the security room; Jessica looked around with a confused look on her face. Ashley waited patiently for a minute before asking, “Don't you know which one it is?” She was starting to get rather irritated with the girl. Jessica turned around and faced Ashley with what looked like frustration.

  “Well of course not, daddy always did everything. All I know is that the gate switch is in this room. He told me so.” Ashley pushed her aside and took a turn looking confused. There were probably a dozens of switches with tiny labels under each switch. She was expecting a simple big red button that said in bold letters GATE SWITCH. After about two minutes, she found in the open position. She gripped the handle and pulled it up into the closed position.

  Ashley watched the monitors as the gate started to close on the horde of undead. They were still trying to come through the gate. She watched in grotesque fascination as one got its arm stuck and subsequently sliced off. It didn't even notice the arm being chopped off. She looked on one monitor and watched Roland using his pistol to pile the bodies on the broken down door. She ignored Jessica as she hurried back out into the main foyer to help her companion. Jessica watched the battle in her house for a couple more minutes until she too left the security room.

  Roland was getting low on ammunition when Ashley returned to the battle. “Come to join in on the fun?” Ashley nodded and looked at the corpse-filled foyer.

  “How many did you kill?” Roland was glad that the undead were giving him a rest. The second wave was beginning their trek down the driveway. Roland was also glad to see Ashley safe and unharmed. He was afraid that Starke was still lurking somewhere in the house.

  “Jessica okay?” Roland had also noticed the poor girl hadn't followed Ashley. Said companion looked over her shoulder and back into the hallway. “I don't know. She was with me when we left the security room. Maybe she is hiding in the kitchen or her bedroom.” Roland nodded thinking that was probably true. He couldn’t help but think of Starke however.

  He retreated up a step, sitting down on the fifth step. He laid down his pistol and fished out what remaining ammunition. “Before they arrive, look around the house for whatever ammunition you can find. Look for any gun cabinets, closets, even dresser drawers. Try looking in Benjamin's pockets for a key. The lockers, if any, will most likely be locked.”

  Ashley leaned on the ornate banister. She folded her arms across her chest and looked at Roland cross. “Why can't I fight? I know how to fire and reload a gun. I'm even a decent shot. So why not?” Roland looked tiredly at the person standing in front of him. When he first met her, she was an afraid little teenager who could barely hold a gun. Now, standing before her, she was a tough, hardened woman that Roland was proud and ashamed of at the same time.

  “Without ammunition, we’re dead. I am not thinking about this fight either. I think we can win this one. I'm thinking about the next one. We can't get anywhere without ammo. So please, go find some. Even if I have enough for the next wave, it might be close. Besides, the sooner you leave, the quicker you'll be back.” She unfolded her arms and sighed heavily.

  “Alright Roland, for you I’ll find some bullets. Don't kill all the zombies alright?” With that Roland watched her climb the steps up to the bedroom where the dead man lay. When she was out of sight, Roland pulled out the remaining bullets he had left. There were six shotgun shells, three more speed loaders for the pistol, and some .338 for the M1 which Ashley currently carried. Roland counted more than thirty undead marching up towards him. Roland figured he could kill at the most twenty-four of them. That left six zombies with his machete. “Well, I haven't survived this long without some kind of luck. Hopefully whatever is helping me keeps doing its job.”

  *** 4 ***

  Jessica was drifting down the empty halls listening to the gunshots start to taper off. She was still in shock over what had happened earlier that day. Her father dead, Starke's assault, the arrival of Roland and that annoying Ashley. I mean, her outfit doesn't even match. Those shorts are too high up for her legs, she thought as she turned down the hallway and into her father's private study. She walked around his large oaken desk and sat down on his comfy chair. She leaned back smelling her father’s familiar cologne. She remembered the last time she was in this room. It was when her father was trying to teach her how to properly load and reload the guns he owned.

  “But daddy, I won't ever need to fire one of those things. You will be doing the shooting. Those things will never get in so why all the lessons? It's not like I'll need to use it.” Her father sat in the chair she sat in now waiting for her to finish. He held out a 9mm Sig Sauer to his daughter. She reluctantly took it and looked down the barrel of the 9mm. Her father lifted a gun dictionary and slammed it down onto the large oak desk. The resounding crash of the book made Jessica drop the gun on the floor. Ben stood and retrieved the weapon from the floor. He sat on the edge of the desk and sighed.

  “You’re dead. The gun accidentally went off and you took a bullet right between the eyes dying before you even knew what happened. Good thing, however, that the gun was not loaded. Never look down the barrel of a gun without checking if it’s loaded or not.” Jessica took the gun and looked at the inside of the grip where the clip should have been.

  “You mean if the clip thingy is in or not.” Ben laughed despite her naivety. He pulled the stock of the gun back and showed her the chamber of the weapon.

  “See where the chamber is? A single bullet can be in here without the clip inserted. Just because the ‘thingy’ isn't in doesn't mean that the gun is safe. Always check the safety also. It's right here.”

  Coming out of her thoughts, she opened the center drawer and found the same 9mm her father kept in case of emergency. She picked it up and ejected the clip out of the gun. The clip was full minus one, telling Jessica that there was one bullet in the chamber. She inserted the clip back into the gun and then checked the safety. After checking that the safety was on, she stood and made her way back into the main foyer.

  She thought of Starke as she held the gun, her hand gripping the handle of the weapon so tight that her knuckles were quickly turning white. She would never be taken advantage of again, she thought as she spied Roland shooting his last shotgun shell into the head of a zombie.

  *** 5 ***

  Ashley looked in the pockets of Ben's corpse, but finding nothing except for a set of car keys. She threw them at the wall in frustration. She looked in his dresser, desk, the closet, even the bathroom. Nothing in the room seemed to have any association to guns or ammunition. The only other rooms upstairs were the movie theater and Jessica's bedroom. Ashley knew that no guns were in that whiny princess’s room. She doubted that girl could even fire a gun without falling on her ass. Ashley was pretty sure that the movie theater wouldn't have any guns in there, so she decided to get back to Roland and report her failure. When she thought of Roland, she realized that she didn't hear his gunfire any longer. Frightened, she ran down the long hallway.

  Roland fired his last shotgun shell into the face of death. Well, undeath anyway. The blast sent blood and gore into Roland's face, blinding him for a moment. He felt the cold arm of death grip him and pull him through the door frame, over the wall of corpses he had been making. He fell hard on the marble steps and rolled down in the middle of a group of six zombies. He heard the moans growing more aggravated seeing live prey. Quickly wiping his eyes with the back of his hand, he thought of the machete that was on the floor next to the steps and cursed him for not putting it in its sheath which hung uselessly on his belt.

  The zombies were less than five feet from him and closing fast. He was about to stand when a strong arm gripped him from behind and forced Roland to his feet. He was expecting the zombie to bite him but was not disappointed when he didn't feel anything biting him. Roland spun around and didn't see a zombie but a man. The man was familiar, but Roland couldn't quite place the face. He did, however, knew where he had seen the s
amurai sword that the stranger now drew from his back.

  “Stay where you are and you won't be in my way.” The stranger spoke in a bad English accent. Roland thought that the stranger was trying to cover his voice for some reason. The zombies that had surrounded the two men now were no more than three feet away.

  The stranger lunged out with his sword and decapitated the head of one of the zombies. He then took a step to his left and carried the blade through the neck of another zombie. The momentum the stranger had allowed him to glide easily over to the third zombie, decapitating it as well. Roland saw the three decapitations but saw it as one fluid motion. To say that he was impressed was the undead calling the living food. The undead behind Roland bent down to devour their prey, but all were decapitated as well by the stranger's last swift stroke of the samurai sword.

  Jessica was at the door before the stranger had decapitated the third zombie and was also amazed by the grace that the tall lanky person held. Ashley had been leaping down the stairs two at a time and was looking over Jessica's tall frame to try and see what had become of her friend. Roland stood and looked around for more zombies. He was glad to see that the gate was closed and that the zombies were all taken care of. He looked at the stranger and watched as he wiped the gore from his sword on one of the undead's shirts. Roland turned around to see Jessica climbing over the bodies carefully with a gun in her hand. Roland was wondering where she found that when he also saw Ashley right behind her.

  Ashley vaulted over the bodies and the stairs and ran towards Roland, but stopped short when she saw the stranger standing next to a pile of zombie heads. She looked at Roland's face shocked, “That's the guy from Rochester. What the hell is he doing here?” Roland walked over to Ashley and shrugged his shoulders. “I am not going to complain about his timing I would have been dead if he hadn't come along. Did you find any ammunition?” Ashley shook her head.