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

by James Master

  *** 6 ***

  They had been traveling south on State Road 31 for about an hour since getting back onto the road. Having traveled twenty miles out of their way to make sure that they were clear of the undead horde, Roland began yawning and weaved into the oncoming traffic lane. Ashley was asleep, but Jessica noticed the weave, she had woken up thirty minutes ago. She tapped on Roland's shoulder and spoke in his ear without waking Ashley up.

  “Roland, pull over and I will drive for a while. You look like you could use the rest.” Roland rubbed his eyes and weaved back to the appropriate side of the road. He yawned again and looked back at Jessica who was looking at him with severity. “Have you ever driven a car before?”

  Jessica arched an eyebrow as if to say “Puhleeze.” So Roland shrugged and pulled over to the side of the road. He put the car into park and opened the door, not looking for any zombies. Jessica pushed the seat up and got out, standing close to Roland as she stood. Roland could smell the perfume she was wearing and was instantly attracted to it. Jessica seemed to notice because she purposely brushed her breast against his arm as she turned to move so he could slip into the backseat. Roland felt the warmth of her breast and felt a longing that he hadn't felt in quite some time. He ignored it and literally fell into the back seat.

  Jessica sighed and pushed the seat back and slid into the front seat. It took her a minute to adjust the seat to her height and familiarize herself with the car. She pulled the car out of the side of the road and onto the state road. She was driving about a half mile when she noticed Roland fast asleep in the back seat.

  “Good night, sweet prince,” she whispered as she drove.

  *** 7 ***

  Ashley dreamt while Jessica drove towards the capitol. Knowing that this place was part of her dream comforted her, but it still caused her to become suspicious because she woke up in an unfamiliar place. Whenever Ashley dreamt, she was always in a familiar location. Dreams were part of one’s subconscious, if you hadn’t seen it in real life then your brain couldn’t recreate the place in her dream. At least that’s how she always thought about dream locations. Standing up, she looked around frantically attempting to get a hold of her surroundings. Finally, after a minute she realized that the place was a construction yard. It took her so long because she was up three stories of the ground, balanced on a thin temporary floor. She walked over to the edge of the structure she was in and saw the ground. It was cemented all the way to the tall fence that surrounded the complex. Looking over the edge of the floor she understood why Roland picked out this spot to rest. There was a chain linked fence that ran around the perimeter of the construction yard. She saw the car they’d driven while she’d slept. It was paradoxically confusing to Ashley as she knew that she was still asleep in that very same car. The name of the city they had settled in for the night had escaped her. Hearing a noise from the floor above she decided to investigate. She found a ladder that led to the next floor. When her eyes peeked over the edge that led to the floor, Ashley knew that she was in a nightmare due to what she was witnessing. Knowing it wasn’t real she still felt a pang of immense sorrow and jealousy.

  Roland was on the floor naked save his shirt and his gun belt. Straddling him was Jessica, who was also naked. Her back arched at such an acute angle it almost looked as if it might split. Jessica’s head was leaning so far back Ashley could see her eyes closed her face twisted with passionate ecstasy, hair wildly flailing everywhere. Ashley was horrified when she realized that Roland was not only a willing participate, he was enjoying it as much as Jessica. Yelling at Roland, Ashley knew that it wouldn’t make much of a difference dream or no dream. The couple was occupied to the point they probably wouldn’t even notice zombies shambling towards them. Ashley later would guess that this was similar to her previous dream including the ability to watch and not participate. Tears started to run down her face as she watched the two make love. Closing her eyes was little comfort as she could hear still hear their cries of passion. She wanted to climb down the ladder but was unable to move as she was captivated by her own dream.

  As Roland came his head flew back in suddenly joyous release causing him to hit his head on the concrete. Ashley tried to see whether Roland was unconscious or if he was just pleased with himself. She watched as Jessica remained on top of Roland. She turned towards Ashley and winked at her. The horror that Ashley felt when Jessica winked overcame the feelings of betrayal she felt towards Roland and the feelings of hatred towards Jessica. The fact that Jessica was able to see Ashley in the dream when she herself couldn’t interact with anything from the dream world surprised her with a dreaded grimacing after effect.

  “Roland’s seed was what I needed most, but the fact that I was able to corrupt his once pious soul is an exquisite byproduct.” She watched as Jessica pulled out Roland's gun from his holster, still around his naked waist. Ashley watched in horror as Jessica placed the muzzle of the gun next to Roland's upturned chin and pulled the trigger. Ashley screamed as Roland's head splattered against the floor of the building. She felt something warm splatter on her face.

  “Now his tainted soul waits my pleasuring when I return upon my seat of power. I promise you, it will be even more thrilling then it was just now. Your soul, however, I have more interesting plans. I’ll see you soon Ashley of Walkerton.” For a moment, Ashley saw Jessica’s face transform into something even more hideous than the rotting decaying beauty of the undead.

  Waking up hysterical and screaming caused Jessica, who was still driving, to jerk the wheel in reaction. The car now was heading straight into an abandoned car when Jessica swerved again to nearly avoid the collision, but the narrowly missed impact caused the car to spin uncontrollably. Jessica lets go of the wheel and covered her eyes. Ashley continued to scream even though she knew she wasn't still in the dream. Roland woke up from the screaming and screeching of the tires and reached over Jessica to take the wheel. He turned into the spin, and with more reaching, he put the car into neutral, which caused the car to eventually stop in the middle of the road. Ashley stopped screaming and Jessica uncovered her eyes. Roland's were wide open in angry fright.

  “Where in the blue fuck did you fucking learn to drive?!”

  Instead of responding to his swear-laced question, she turned to the back seat and yelled, “What the heck were you yelling about? You scared the shit out of me. What is your problem?” Roland realized what had actually caused the spin. He turned towards her and saw the fright in the young girl’s eyes. His voice grew softer the next time he spoke.

  “Are you alright Ashley?”

  Breathing deliberately slower for a full minute she nodded. She looked at Roland and said, “Just a bad dream, I'm sorry.”

  “Do you want to talk about it? He observed a rosy color returning to her once pale cheeks.

  “No.” Roland could tell a hint when it was given so he turned back to Jessica.

  “Where are we?”

  “Well, before we almost died in that freak accident, we had just past the town of Peru which is about fifty miles to Indy. Car’s almost empty, we’ll need gas soon.” Roland nodded and spotted a gas station on the left. He pointed towards it and Jessica nodded. They pulled into the station and stopped at pump number six. Ashley got out and hurried into the gas station. Roland had to wait till Jessica got out before chasing after her. Jessica watched the two for a moment before filling the car with gas.

  Ashley pushed the doors open and hurried to the liquor section. She grabbed a bottle of Budweiser and was about to drink it when Roland knocked it out of her hand sending the bottle crashing to the ground shattering into amber colored pieces. The only noise in the store was the fizzling sound that the beer made. She looked from the fizzling alcohol on the ground then looked up towards Roland. Her eyes suddenly grew fierce with anger.

  “You fucking piece of shit, why’d you do it?” Roland looked like a truck had hit him instead of the words Ashley spoke. It shocked him so much because she never uttered a
single swear since they met.

  “You didn’t need a beer and you’re underage. I think. You never really told me your age, although I think it's in the eighteen or nineteen range. Based on the other students I’ve taught anyway.” Ashley walked away from Roland with the intent of finding a bottle of a diet coke.

  “I didn't mean the beer.” She said as she walked down the beverage aisle. Roland's confusion grew. He took a beer from the cooler and twisted the cap off. He drained the bottle in one draught. He wiped off his mouth with the back of his hand and look at Ashley again.

  “Then why are you mad at me?” Twisting the cap off the bottle of diet coke, Ashley sipped from the bottle, taking a moment to relish the caffeine. She glanced back at Roland who could see the nervousness in her eyes.

  “It going to sound crazy.”

  “Ashley, we live in a world that is teeming with people who have died and not only came back to life but are feasting on the living. Nothing could possibly be any crazier than what I just said.” Ashley laughed and Roland arrogantly thought that it came from what he just said.

  “It's not something you've done. It's something you’re going to do.” Roland leaned on the counter of the register. He had opened a bag of Skittles on his way over to the counter and popped a couple into his mouth. The fruity flavor was what attracted Roland. M&M's were never all that good in his opinion. The chocolate never tasted like real chocolate. At least Skittles tasted decently fruity.

  “So let me get this straight. You dreamed something that I did, and now you’re mad at me? That does seem a tad crazy.” He patted the counter top next to him and waited for Ashley to hop onto the counter. She did still sipping her drink. Roland looked at the girl and saw her anger and frustration.

  “Is this like the dream you had about my brother dying?” When Roland saw the girl nod her head he immediately began to wonder at her precognitive ability. Precognition is rare, but she was seeing not only the future in her dreams, she is seeing the past as well. He was almost afraid by the next question he was going to ask her, but he did it anyway.

  “What exactly did I do?” Ashley shook her head. Roland jumped up onto the counter top next to Ashley and sat there for a second. He watched Jessica through the windows of the station and saw her getting into the car and starting it up. The car moved up to the next set of pumps. Roland had a bad feeling that the pumps were out of gas. Most gas stations had a tank underneath the building where all the pumps drew their gas from. If that occurred, they would have to siphon the gas from the remaining cars around them. Ashley followed the line of sight and decided to leave. Roland put a firm grip on her shoulder and kept the girl where she sat.

  “It's alright. She is only moving to another pump. The one she was at was empty most likely. I just hope there is some gasoline left in the pumps if not then I will have to get creative. So would you please tell me what I did in the dream so I can apologize ahead of time?”

  Ashley thought about telling him it was nothing but thought that Roland didn't have to save her life back at her old job. She sighed and sipped more diet soda. She looked at Roland and saw that he was eager to hear her dream. More like nightmare she thought.

  “In the dream, you were having sex. It was very uncomfortable to watch which is putting it mildly. I couldn’t turn away. I was forced to watch. At the end, she killed you with your own gun. I woke up screaming, which caused her to spin out of control. I'm sorry Roland.” She started to tear up again.

  “I'm so sorry.” She leaned over to Roland and started to cry on his shoulder. In response, Roland pulled his arm out from under her and wrapped it around her instead. She cried into his chest, her sobs muted by his shirt. Roland thought about her dream and thought to himself, “What could be the harm of having sex?”

  After she was done sobbing, she pulled herself away from Roland. Her eyes were red from crying and she looked away from Roland, ashamed at showing weakness in front of him. He nudged her and handed her some napkins he nabbed from the napkin dispenser on the counter. She meekly accepted the napkins and dried her eyes, followed by blowing her nose. She threw the napkins over the counter and drank the last of the diet soda. She tossed the empty bottle behind the counter. She then looked at Roland while sniffling.

  “Sorry about that, it's just that the dream was so real, like the last one. It was like it was really happening.” Roland also knew that the girl had a serious crush on him. He hadn't really done anything to encourage it, but he couldn’t have pursued it anyway with all of his pursuing time focused on Starke.

  Roland nodded at the girl and placed his hand on her shoulder. “It's alright Ashley. Everything is going to be alright. I am not dying by some floozy. I am sure as hell not going to die by my own gun. That would be almost as bad as committing suicide.” He noticed that Jessica had moved onto the next set of pumps outside and realized that the pumps were completely empty.

  “Looks like I'm going to have to get creative after all. Let's go help the poor girl out.” He hopped down and took three steps before looking back at Ashley.

  “C'mon, I know you don't like the girl, but she is trying to help.” She hopped down and started walking towards the exit when Roland stopped them.

  “By the way, who was I doing it with? Not a zombie I hope, that would be terrible. Although, that would be why you were screaming.”

  Ashley stared at Roland, remaining silent. Roland knew that his comments that were meant to be funny were not. He apologized and Ashley accepted it. He tried again to find the identity of the mysterious woman he would eventually bed.

  “At least tell me if she is a she and not some dude. If it is some guy, I'm likely to blow my own head off before he could do it.” Ashley giggled a little which made Roland smile. He stared at her and she gave up a sigh. She tried to push the door open but failed when Roland locked the door at the top.

  “I think I have a right to know,” he was starting to get tired of this dramatic buildup, “and I think you should start telling me.” She raised her voice getting angry with every word.

  “You really want to know? Fine, you fucked that princess bitch, happy now? Does that make you happy?” She used Roland's stunned silence to unlock the lock and leave the gas station with Roland still in it. Roland heard the door of the car slam and came out of his stunned self.

  “Well, I’d kinda like that dream, except for my head getting blown off.” With that, Roland followed Ashley to see what little gas they might gather.

  ** 8 ***

  Roland noticed that Ashley acted frosty to Jessica which if you considered her dream, wasn’t anything new. It was parked at one of the pumps, and Roland could hear Jessica swearing. She probably thought they were still inside. Jessica stopped swearing as soon as she saw Ashley skulking towards the car. Jessica was clearly offended by the continued silent treatment Ashley was giving her, but she didn't say or do anything to make the treatment worse. She saw Roland and asked what the problem she had was all about. Roland waved it off and asked her about the gas situation.

  “Well, no gas at all, in any of these pumps. You would think that some of these pumps would hold some gasoline.” Roland took the gas nozzle out of her hands. When his hand touched hers, he noticed how smooth her hands were, so unlike his own. She seemed to notice and blushed. Roland shook his head as if to try and shake the visions of them together out of his head. He replaced the nozzle at the pump and looked at her waiting for a response to his question.

  Jessica felt Roland's rough hands touch hers and uncontrollably blushed. She felt absurd and embarrassed just then. She is usually in control of her emotions when it came to men. She waited for the warmth in her cheeks to die down before she dared to look in Roland's eyes again. When she felt that the redness in her cheeks was subsiding, she looked him in his blue eyes. They held each other’s gaze for a moment before she looked away again. Roland, after waiting an absurd amount of time, asked her about the gas station.

  “We are out of gasoline here then,
eh?” She nodded, not looking at him. He sighed, leaving her and moving to the trunk of the car.

  “Ashley, would you be a dear and pop the trunk of the car for me?” Giving a contemptuous stare, she didn't say a word but went to do what was asked of her. The trunk popped open and Roland grabbed his backpack out of it and left it open as he sat on the ground to rifle through it. Ashley got out of the car, bringing the M1 along with her. She didn't like the fact that they were out in the open in broad daylight. She commented this to Roland causing him to stop his rifling and take stock of their whereabouts. It was the middle of the day yet he neither saw nor heard any undead in the area. He thought how strange that none of the undead had appeared to try and eat them. He also noted that it was even hotter than what it was yesterday.

  Wiping his forehead with a handkerchief, Roland went back to rummaging through his pack. Ashley climbed up on top of the car and sat down Indian style, the empty road in front of her. Jessica went over to the ice box that held all of the ice outside the gas station and tried the handle. Ashley turned her head to watch the princess. She called out to her asking where she was going.

  “It's too hot for October and I see an ice box ahead.”

  Jessica was initially worried that the icebox would be locked but was happy to find out that the lock had been smashed. She threw open the door expecting a cooling sensation to hit her, but all that she was hit by was a wave of nausea. Ashley struggled to hold in laughter when Jessica vomited her guts out next to the ice box. Jessica slammed the door quickly. She turned around and walked about two steps before throwing up again. Waiting a couple of moments before moving, she ended up vomiting once more. She weakly hobbled back to the car and sat down in the passenger seat with the door left open. Ashley leaned over the hood and smirked at Jessica.

  “So the icebox wasn't so 'cool' was it?”

  Jessica wiped her mouth with a napkin from the glove box and spit on the cement, ignoring Ashley's comment. Ashley laughed.