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

by James Master

  “Nothing. Not even an empty shell. Unless you count the ones in the foyer back there. Are we completely out?” Roland laughed replying, “Well not completely, we have some rifle bullets, but other than that we are pretty much out.” He turned from Ashley to the stranger from Rochester.

  “Well, this is the second time we have seen you, but the first time we have stopped to chat. I'm Roland and this is Ashley. The girl over there looking quite pensive is Jessica, she lives here. What should we call you?”

  The Lone Warrior looked from Roland to Ashley to Jessica, then back to Roland. He sheathed his sword and announced once again in the corny English accent.

  “There are some who call me..... Tim.”

  A quiet fell across the front lawn of the mansion until it was broken by Roland’s hysterical laughter. Ashley looked over at the laughing fit then over at the stranger.

  “Tim? That's your name?” Ashley looked at Roland quizzically. “Why is that funny?” Roland looked at his young companion with a large smile on his face. Ashley liked the way it looked on him.

  “That's a line from ‘Monty Python and the Search for the Holy Grail’, a British comedy way past your time.” He turned back to Tim. “So you’re Tim, the Enchanter?” Jessica walked up next to Roland and Ashley.

  “More like Tim, the Zombie Hunter.” Tim simply nodded in recognition. “Now, I have to take my leave and you must follow your own path, Roland.” He started to turn and leave when Roland stepped forward. “Wait a second. Leave? Why?” Tim the Zombie Hunter turned and looked Roland in the eye. Roland saw the man's eyes, filled with determination, strength, and a calm serenity. In Roland’s eyes, this was a man that he would be lucky to have traveling with them. He was the exact opposite of Starke. Tim spoke not in the fake English accent, but in a clearly articulated accent that reminded Roland of a politician that Roland once heard on television.

  “Roland, our paths will most likely meet again. I had to intervene just then because you had intervened with my death in Rochester. I knew that I was done for when the gun fired an empty bullet. You changed that when you killed that zombie. I knew that you would have died just now so I had to intervene in your demise, just to even the score. For now, we must part. May the wisdom of God carry you swiftly and safely to your destination.”

  *** 6 ***

  “Are you alright Roland, you weren't bit were you?” Ashley scanned Roland from top to bottom and was relieved when Roland shook his head. He turned to Jessica and pointed to the gun she carried at her side.

  “Where did you find that? Are there more?” Jessica smiled and nodded. “Daddy had a huge obsession with guns and bullets. He taught me some things about handling a gun and how to aim, though I never really had much practice. Please take me with you; I don't want to stay here alone in this house anymore. I want to be with people. Not people like that hideous man. People like you and her. Please?” Roland thought that if it was up to Ashley, the girl would be keeping company with a pile of corpses instead of taking up the back seat of the Taurus. Roland nodded and received a scornful but quick look from Ashley.

  “As long as you keep yourself useful. That's all we ask, is that you share the load. As for our friend, I think he will come along when he realizes that he can't get out of the gate.”

  Ashley mouth suddenly dropped as her eyes slid past Roland and at the front gate. Roland turned and at first didn't notice anything about the gate, but then found that the Zombie Hunter was nowhere to be found.

  He looked back at Ashley and asked, “Where did he go? Did you see?” Ashley nodded. “He just vaulted over the gate.”

  Jessica commented also. “What a strange person.”

  *** 7 ***

  After entering the employee's entrance instead of climbing over the piles of zombie bodies, the trio walked into the kitchen. Roland and Ashley followed the directions that Jessica gave them to find the gun room that held all of Ben's guns and ammunition while Jessica went upstairs and started packing what she would need to travel.

  Roland and Ashley walked in silence down the hall. Roland could feel Ashley's anger and resentment and knew why she was emitting such angry emotions. Roland said casually, “Jessica seems to be getting better. Maybe she might prove worthwhile after all.” Ashley harrumphed and Roland could just see her face getting all scrunched up. He didn't want to look over, mainly because he didn't want her to see him smiling.

  They reached the door to the Gun Room and stopped. It was a solid oak door with a big round gold knob. Roland eyed the lock above the doorknob and looked at Ashley finally and his smile broadened when he saw that her face was all scrunched up.

  “Nothing can ever be easy. It has to be done the hard way.” Ashley harrumphed again and said under her breath, but loud enough that Roland could hear.

  “Maybe you could have Jessica to open the door; she must be useful for something.”

  Chuckling despite Ashley's growing anger, Roland took a lock pick set that he had found in the Rochester Mall and tried his hand at picking the lock. Ashley leaned back against the wall and folded her arms across her chest. While working on the lock he spoke to Ashley but faced the door thinking that it would probably get the same results.

  “So what do you have against Jessica anyway?” Roland was almost done and the only thing he heard from Ashley was the grinding sound of her teeth.

  Soon he heard the lock click open and he let out a sigh of belief. “I didn't know that I would be able to pick it. I guess I could have just kicked the door down, but you know about hindsight and all. Alright, now will you please tell me what you have against Jessica?” He stood up, groaning a little as he did. He leaned on the wall opposite of the one Ashley leaned against. They stared at each other for a minute before Ashley looked away and started explaining.

  “I don't know her, but I know her type.” Roland was puzzled.

  “Is that all? You don't like her because she is a type of person you don't like. Isn't that a little childish?” Ashley shook her head and ran a hand through her hair.

  “It is childish, but she reminds me of all the snobby, bitchy, prissy girls from high school. She even looks like one of them. It just really irritates me is all. I'll get over it soon enough, so don't worry about it. She better not hold us back, though.” She smiled at Roland and he thought he saw the genuineness of the threat.

  Standing away from the wall, Roland opened the door open and stuck his head into the closet. The room was actually larger than Roland had expected when he heard that it was a gun closet. It was about the size of a bathroom. Roland thought that it might have been a bathroom before it was a gun closet. He spied a drain that looked like it might have belonged to a sink or toilet that confirmed his suspicions. There was a table and a peg board that hung many small arms. Roland picked up a 9mm similar to the one Jessica had found and examined it.

  He found the pistol was well oiled and taken cared for by Benjamin he supposed. He turned in the small confines of the room and saw that there was a tall gun locker. He took one step to cross the room and was afraid he would have to try his hand at lock picking on the locker, but was actually happy to find that when he opened the latch it wasn't locked after all.

  When he opened the locker Roland had a small heart attack. It was even better than he could have imagined. There was a twelve gauge shotgun, a Remington .308 rifle with scope, and an enormous cache of bullets for just about every caliber. He looked back at Ashley who was peering into the room. Her curiosity was too much for her, she finally had to step into the room, her shoulders almost touching Roland's. She looked at the pistols hanging on the walls and marveled at how many there were. She picked one from the wall and ejected the clip from it and found it empty. She looked over at Roland and held out the clip.

  “Where are the bullets?” Roland laughed gleefully as he removed the ammo boxes and placed them onto the table. Ashley laughed with Roland.

  “Aha, there they are. There are lots of them.”

  *** 8 **
*

  Roland and Ashley carried all the ammunition and guns from the closet into the dining room, sorting out the sizes of caliber as they brought them in. It was almost an ironic situation because they had too many guns. They wouldn’t be able to carry every piece of weaponry. They almost couldn’t carry all the ammunition. It made Roland think of the number of zombies they could take down. If they’d had enough time he might have had Ashley and Jessica do some target practice, but they needed to get back on Starke’s trail. Roland had found a large duffel bag in the gun locker and now was loading all the bullets in it. Ashley looked at the guns arranged on the table and saw a problem arising.

  “What are we going to do with all these guns? Are we going to take all of them?” Roland sat and looked at the table full of zombie killing devices and thought about it for a bit. He picked out the Winchester twelve gauges, the .308 Remington six nine millimeter pistols from the group and loaded them into another gun tote. The rest were left on the table.

  “We leave the rest of them. This amount of ammo should last us for almost a lifetime. At least until we get to Starke. Good thing our weapons carry the same size caliber. As soon as our new companion arrives we will depart.”

  Just as Roland said that they both heard something falling down the stairs. A second later, they heard another crashing sound following the first. They exchanged looks of alarm and rushed out to the foyer where they heard the sounds.

  Roland was the first to reach the foyer. He didn’t hear any of the sounds that brought him here, but he did hear Jessica swearing silently under her breath. He reached the stairs and tripped over something large and heavy. He fell over it and fell flat on his face. He looked up and moved just in time to avoid being smashed by a suitcase. Roland rolled onto his back and sat up. He looked at what tripped him as Ashley walked up to him, offering her hand to him.

  “You know, you looked like Dick Van Dyke.” She helped Roland to his feet and they both looked up at Jessica, who was halfway down the staircase with a large purse in her hands.

  “Sorry about that Roland. You told me to pack for a day or two. I am all ready to go.” She flashed a smile that looked to Roland as if she was coming out of that fragile state and back to her old self. Roland thought that that might not be such a good thing.

  Ashley laughed and looked at Jessica. “What do you mean, like this is all your stuff for a day or two? We could fit everything we currently have into one of those suitcases. What the heck are in those things anyway?” Jessica glided down the stairs. Roland noticed that she had put on new heels, skirt, and blouse. She ticked off the items in her suitcases like a person checking off items on said checklist.

  “I have my skirts, blouses, nail polish, portable hair dryer and curler. I have sunglasses, nail files, and of course my shoes. I also have some cardigan sweaters just in case it gets cold out. If it stays warm and sunny then I have my sun tanning lotion and other oils.”

  She gave Roland a wink and put in, “If you play your cards right, sugar, you can rub the oils on my back.” She giggled giving Ashley a cautious look. “Don't be going through my clothing, honey. I know how badly you need new apparel and some fashion tips, but don't think for one second that gives you the authority to wear my things. Would you guys be so kind as to help me carry those to our car?”

  Roland laughed at the sight of Ashley carrying Jessica's suitcases and looked up at Jessica. The thought of oiling the lady down was very thought provoking, but not during a zombie crisis. Ashley said something about what a bimbo Jessica was and that dropping dead would happen or something to that effect under her breathe.

  He watched Ashley stalk back into the hallway; he thought she would be busy loading guns, no doubt thinking of using them on Jessica. Roland gave another laugh and looked at Jessica, she returned his look.

  “My what an ill-mannered silly little girl she is. I just wanted to get things straight.” She gave Roland a once over. “I like getting things straight. Don't you?” Roland ignored the subtle suggestion and moved on.

  “Speaking of getting things straight, I thought I would be the one to break the news that we are not your servants. We all carry our own share of the supplies. What you cannot carry we will if it is an important item. Hair Dryers and curlers come after food and water. Now I suggest you get two sets of clothing out, a good pair of running shoes, and get into the dining room when you’re ready. I’ll give you a half hour.”

  *** 9 ***

  Starke made it to the end of the underground tunnel and turned the cart off. Stepping out, he looked at the door that hopefully led out of the mansion. He was hoping to get out of Dodge before Roland and team knew that he was still around. He looked down the long hall and listened for a moment, thinking that he had heard them open the door on the other end. Hearing nothing and seeing nothing, Starke looked at the door and pulled out a Sharpie he always kept on him for some occasions. He laughed as he wrote his message on the door. When he finished he gathered his bag from the golf cart and opened the door.

  *** 10 ***

  Roland and Ashley were in the dining room exactly thirty-four minutes when Jessica came in carrying a lone suitcase, overstuffed, clearly in a bad mood. “I just don't know about traveling without my hair dryer or my curler, so I had to bring them both. I made sure to have my running shoes with me. They will certainly match the blood on the ground. They are red if you couldn't surmise that for yourself.”

  She sat down looking at the amused face on Roland to the scowl Ashley wore. Roland had time to make some frozen pizza and offered her remainders of it to Jessica. She looked at it for a moment before grabbing the cardboard out of his hands.

  In between bites she exclaimed, “This is better than I ever made. Mine always came out burnt to a crisp. Reminds me of this one time my BFF Marge went to Jamaica on her sweet sixteen and came back burnt as all get out.”

  Roland laughed and looked at the two girls at the table. “It's the first lesson any respectable bachelor learns, ‘Frozen Pizza 101’. Usually, I would have a nice cold beer, but it seems like your father never cared much for alcohol.” Jessica said something incoherent, to which Ashley said, “Speak when your mouth is empty princess.” Roland nudged her with his foot under the table making Ashley laugh. Jessica swallowed the last of the pizza in her mouth.

  “What I meant to say was that daddy loved his alcohol way too much I'm afraid. He drank it all during the first days of the outbreak. It got worse when he got bit by that deer.”

  Roland leaned forward on an elbow and looked at Jessica, “What do you mean? He got bit by a deer?” Jessica nodded, “Daddy went out through the underground tunnel and was doing some scouting around the outside when he got bit by a deer. He came back and this morning he turned into one of those vile creatures.”

  Ashley looked at Jessica suspiciously. “How do you get bit by a deer?” Jessica drank some water that was on the table and responded.

  “He said he was trying to pet a baby deer,” Roland corrected her, “a fawn.” Jessica said, “Yep, one of those. He was trying to pet it when the momma came and took a chunk right out of his arm. He was in quite the mess when he came back into the house.” Jessica ate another slice of pizza. Roland looked at Ashley’s puzzled expression. Ashley returned the look with equal puzzlement.

  After they had finished eating and packing the group made its way down to the entrance of the underground tunnel, Jessica acting as their guide to the door. When they reached the door Jessica stepped beside Roland explaining, “It's your lead, I have never been down there before, so your guess is as good as mine.” Nodding, Roland walked past her and walked down the stairs that preceded the hallway. Roland counted thirty steps when they reached the bottom. Roland looked around the small corridor for a means of travel, but finding nothing he motioned for the girls to follow him down. Jessica looked around with utter disbelief.

  “But daddy had told me there used to be a golf cart he drove to and from the hallway. It was in the tunnel before th
ey built the mansion. Where could it have gone?” Roland squinted, pointed down to the opposite end of the tunnel.

  “Looks like our buddy Starke has been here. Seems like he used the cart to delay us. Well, let’s go, seems like we have a long walk in front of us. Literally.” He pulled the straps on his backpack higher on his shoulder and started walking. Ashley moved past Jessica, bumping her shoulder as she went. Jessica scowled at the girl and started walking fast to keep up with the pair.

  They stopped halfway down the tunnel and made camp. Roland had noticed that they all were starting to show signs of fatigue, making them stop halfway down the tunnel. Jessica sat down with her back against the wall and closed her eyes. Roland was glad to see her getting some sleep. He was worried about her the most. He knew Ashley could take care of herself, but for the new girl this was her first time out of the mansion. Roland sat down and leaned his head against the cold cement wall. It felt good to Roland and he let out a relaxing sigh. He blindly grabbed a granola bar from his pack and ate it silently. After eating only half of the bar, he placed the remaining back into his pack and drifted off to sleep.

  Ashley didn't sleep until later, instead, she brought out here journal and wrote for a while until she could hardly keep her eyes open.

  Chapter Eleven

  *** 1 ***

  The next morning they set out to the end of the hallway, Roland in the lead again with Ashley in the rear leaving Jessica with the middle. Ashley was unwilling to let the princess get close to Roland, but he plainly told her that it was what he wanted. She obeyed him as always. Jessica was flirting with Roland, but to Ashley's glee, he wasn't taking the bait by flirting back. Ashley didn't know what was worse: Jessica flirting with Roland or the fact that she wasn't the one doing it. It wasn’t jealousy she was feeling, but the lack of attention she received from Roland made her growing hatred for Jessica swell to epic proportions. She wondered as she walked behind the flirting bitch if it would be too obvious if she accidently “tripped” in front of a bunch of slathering zombies.