The Rotting Souls Series (Book 1): Charon's Blight [Day One]

by Ray, Timothy A.

  “He was there,” Randall replied, interjecting himself into the conversation. “He looked flustered, said he had a family emergency,” the big man finished, as if he was finally putting two and two together. “That motherfucker.”

  “This morning? He knew this morning that this shit was going to happen?” Robert screamed. Those that had been heading to the fire station had stopped and were starting to turn back. “And he didn’t warn anybody? People he worked with? His coworkers, his friends, only you? Why were you the chosen one? Are you fucking him?” Now the bat was rising and he was beginning to close the distance between them.

  She fought the urge to flee. She knew that when facing rage like this; running would only make things worse. He’d catch her and beat her to death with that fucking bat.

  “I’m not fucking him,” she snapped, noticing a stunned look cross Jeff’s face. Great, now he thought their problems stemmed from cheating. What a fucking moron. “I told you everything that I know. The phones are out; he hasn’t texted me since this morning. I don’t know anything more than you do,” she tried again, but the chances of things cooling off was rapidly disappearing.

  “I don’t believe you,” Robert roared. “Do you know that my daughter died today, that our neighbor broke into our house and attacked her? That she was already long gone by the time I got out of my bedroom and got that fucking thing off her? If Todd knew about this shit, if he could’ve stopped my little girl from dying, I will fucking kill him and his whole fucking family. Every—single—person—that bastard saw fit to save, while my daughter turned and attacked her crying father—will die,” he was coming closer now. She knew the moment was approaching where she would have to choose to either run or die. “I had to kill that thing that used to be my daughter!” he raged.

  The blocks were starting to fall into place. The rage, the need for power, everything that had changed him from who he had been, into the man that was now making his way towards her, became painfully clear. “I’m sorry,” she said softly, feeling the anguish that the man must have been feeling; trying to sympathize with the loss he had suffered.

  The apology stopped him, his eyes penetrating her soul.

  “Let’s take a moment, man. Calm down a bit,” Andy spoke up, hands raised; taking advantage of the momentary lag in conversation.

  “Fuck—you,” Robert responded, biting off every word. “This is what we’re going to do. We are going to go in there and check for weapons. Then we’re going to see if there’s any trucks left that still run,” he said, speaking angrily to the group around him, wanting them all to understand who was in charge; including her. “Then we’re going to get on the road and you,” he paused to point the bat at her, “are going to take us to that fucking compound that Todd’s hiding in. Whether you cooperate or not, you are going to take us there,” he assured her. The look he gave shocked her to the core. She saw in those eyes how far he’d go to make her tell him anything he wanted.

  He had become a monster.

  Andy was looking behind Robert now, leaning over to glance behind the angry man with a bat. No one paid him any attention.

  “We are seriously outnumbered here and we need weapons if we are going to make it out of the city alive. If we stick together, work together, we will survive. Apparently, there is a secret compound out there where we could be safe. We are going to find it and take it from the people hiding inside. Why shouldn’t they suffer as we have suffered? Why should they get to survive while the rest of us are left out here to die?” He continued on, the others nodding as he spoke.

  The fear that had started to grow now blossomed. The first chance she had to break away, she was taking it; regardless of anything or anyone she’d leave behind. What she had seen in those eyes was pure unadulterated rage with no inhibitions, and no one would stop him from killing her when the time came.

  Andy was leaning sideways again and Robert finally paused in his speech and raised his bat at him. “What the fuck is your problem?”

  “This is the part of the movie where something pops out and eats the guy making the long-winded speech, just want to make sure I get to see it happen,” Andy replied with a laugh.

  Everyone paused, eyes on the guitarist, so caught up in what Robert was saying that the sudden laughter was leaving them too shocked to respond.

  “What the fuck are you talking about?” Robert asked, obviously confused. He was trying to rally his troops and the sudden outburst was destroying his momentum.

  The young man at her side coughed. “You’re having your Samuel L. Jackson moment and this is the part where he gets eaten by the shark.” His laughter rang out again, but as Robert began to move his way, it petered off. “Hey man, my point is, you need to chill out,” Andy told imposing figure, hands up, making sure that everyone knew that he was defenseless. “I’m sorry about your daughter and shit, but that doesn’t justify murder in cold blood.”

  “What the fuck do you know about it?” Robert asked.

  There was movement in the distance and at first she dismissed it. Then the shifting shadows began to near the overhead streetlights and her brain instantly told her limbs to run. She was in motion long before her brain caught up to what she was doing. She brushed past Robert, who had responded by raising his bat, probably thinking she was attacking him.

  When she swept past him and kept going, he turned and saw what had created her sudden urge to run. He was instantly on the move as well. “Get inside now!” he yelled at his people. Most were already near the building, only hovering outside to watch the argument taking place, and quickly disappeared from sight.

  She was outdistancing those behind her and for a brief moment she thought about Erik. It was fleeting, her survival instincts overtook her need to protect anyone else. As she dove inside, she turned and watched as the others dodged her way.

  The undead horde had realized their food was escaping and sounds of their approach grew louder by the second. One leapt into view and Robert’s bat finally finished its swing, connecting with the head of the zombie. The crumpled body fell behind him as he leapt forward and kept going. She was surprised as Erik reached the door first and pushed past her. Holding it open for the others, she watched in horror as the horde came into view. Realization struck her in the gut; they wouldn’t make it in time.

  She saw it dawn on Robert’s face that he had come to the same conclusion.

  She knew what he was going to do before he turned, grabbed Jeff by the shoulders, and flung him at the approaching horde. Jeff tried to fight back, but his momentum worked against him as his direction shifted and ran face first into the awaiting teeth and claws. Screams penetrated the air as the undead tore him apart, the snarling monsters congregating in a large pile of flesh; each trying to get a piece of him.

  Only a few remained fixed on their course and they were closing the distance swiftly. If Andy hadn’t been close on Robert’s heels, she would’ve slammed the door and left the son of a bitch out there to die. Unable to watch the horror of what was happening, she backed away and began to look around for a weapon. She saw a fireman’s axe lying forgotten on the floor just waiting to be picked up. As her hands closed around the axe handle, the door opened and the other three men pushed their way in. They slammed the door and turned the deadbolt as bodies pounded against it from the other side.

  “You son of a bitch,” she cursed at Robert.

  He had his back against the door, his chest heaving. The small window broke as the creatures outside tried to break through, but the wire mesh kept them from reaching in. It would not last long and she knew that she couldn’t stay here; not in the same place with him. If she did, she’d kill him.

  “It was him or all of us,” Robert responded, his hand gripping his bat.

  “Bullshit! He was your friend you fucking asshole!” she felt the tears welling up inside. They might have begun to fall apart as a couple, but that didn’t mean that she didn’t still care for the man. The fat ass remark she had made earlier
was coming back to haunt her and she was horrified at what it might represent.

  Was she capable of the same evil as Robert?

  “So are they!” Robert said, waving his arms at the people around him. “He gave his life so the rest of us could live. His sacrifice has meaning!”

  “There had to be another way,” she spat, the rage boiling over. Robert’s eyes finally caught sight of the axe she was holding and how tightly she was gripping it.

  “You hate me, that’s good. It might just save your life. You want to kill me? Do it, I’m right here,” he challenged her, arms spread wide.

  “You don’t think I will?” she returned angrily. There was no one else in the world right now but her and Robert; no one dared to interfere. “I’ve had enough of your fucking bullshit. How many lives will I save by putting you down?” She had her axe raised and was battling against the urge to swing it.

  He set the bat down, leaning it against the wall. “I’m not armed. You want to kill me, kill me. Show us all how much of a hypocrite you really are. My daughter’s dead. What do I have left to live for?”

  Her inner turmoil increased and a flurry of images raced through her mind. Tyler, Victoria, Charlie, David, Jeff, so many deaths today; could she bear to add one more? “We do not kill each other you fucking dumbass! There are enough of them out there willing to do that! Are you so fucking power hungry that you can’t see that working together rather than against one another might have changed how all of this went down? You ain’t right in the head. Maybe you never were,” she said, dismissing him. “All of you had better ask yourself, will you be his next sacrifice for the greater good?”

  None of them were responsive, only Erik and Andy would even look her in the eye. Jesus was non-committal; choosing to stand to the right of the door with his head down.

  “I’m done with this shit,” she spat, turning from Robert and letting him get a good look at her back. He could take a swing at her; she was daring him to do it. It would give her a reason to end his sorry life once and for all. She knew that he wouldn’t. The moment he swung that bat he’d lose whatever trust he had earned with them.

  That would be worse than letting her walk away.

  “We’re not done here Sabrina!” he yelled, as she walked down the hallway to the rooms beyond.

  “And we never will be,” she whispered in response, her voice finally cracked and the tears began to flow.

  Chapter 33

  EAS

  Todd

  Compound 2

  The EAS had come on again to announce that the President would address the nation shortly and he had gone to the med lab to tell the others the news.

  Ben was too exhausted to get out of bed, Sean was nowhere to be found, and his two younger kids were passed out in their beds; he let them sleep. There was a television set up in the room. He turned it on, and waited with the others for their President to appear.

  Rodger had finally woken up and was propped up in his hospital bed. Casey was still flying on his pain meds and he seriously doubted his friend would remember anything the next morning. Nick and Michelle sat by their mother, and he made no move to remind them that it was past their bed time; such things didn’t seem to matter anymore. Samantha came to sit by his side, her children were down for the night.

  The static fluttered and the seal of the President appeared on the television screen. All of them quieted at once; each with their own expectations of what she was about to say. When the Seal faded to the familiar scene of the President’s desk, the exhausted face of their country’s leader was there to greet them.

  “Michelle looks like shit,” Casey said, smiling. He must have had another dose because he seemed to be blissfully unaware of the gravity of their situation. His daughter shushed him as the President began to speak.

  “My fellow Americans, today I address you not only as the President of the United States, but as a citizen of the world. An unknown terrorist organization has launched a series of deliberate and deadly attacks that can only be intended for one purpose; the total annihilation of the world as we know it. Every nation across the globe is currently working on their own way to fight back, to survive. None have been spared this evil loosed upon the world. Tonight, I ask that you pray with me; pray for us all.”

  “Here is what we know. Yesterday morning at 10:00 a.m. Pacific Standard Time, a biological attack was launched upon the United States in an airport in St. Louis, Missouri. By the time the response teams arrived and the airport was quarantined, it was too late. It was already flying across the nation in planes, driving along interstates in cars, and spread by people on foot. With the information they had, all proper procedures were followed and I cannot in good conscience blame any of those first responders for what is now happening.”

  “This was an airborne contagion of unnatural origin that exhibited no classic symptom of infection. Immediate quarantine procedures were initiated and a sample was flown to the CDC for analysis. The potential threat was not immediately apparent as the biological agent lies dormant in a live human host. It does not interfere with normal bodily functions, does not attack living tissue. It acts like an additive to the bloodstream with no apparent behavior other than replication and attachment to the blood cells of its host. Our doctors worked through the night trying to uncover the threat it posed to those infected and found nothing of relevance. It wasn’t until a person who contracted the virus had died did we discover the horror that had been unleashed upon the world.”

  “Now, let me stress this point. There was no sign of infection until someone died. From what the doctors at the CDC in Atlanta are telling me, the virus is not spread through bodily fluids; it is an airborne virus. By the time an infected person comes in close contact with an uninfected host, it’s already spread. Estimates show that the majority of the nation has already contracted this virus and that any thoughts of quarantine would be a useless exercise. I have ordered the grounding of all civil air traffic and the Department of Transportation has been instructed to shut down interstate travel. However, it has already been flown beyond our borders and is even now spreading across the globe with no signs that containment is possible or would be effective.”

  “That does not mean that there is no hope of survival. Your government is throwing all its resources into developing a vaccine to fight this virus and it’s important that you know that you will be perfectly fine as long as you are alive. Simply getting bitten is not enough to kill you unless left untreated. I cannot stress this enough. Stop killing people just because they have come into contact with the infected. The virus reanimates dead tissue; it does not convert living tissue. The top minds in the field assure me that as long as a person stays healthy and alive, they are not in danger of becoming one of these monsters the virus creates.”

  “I have raised our threat level to red. Our military forces are on the highest alert and have been working throughout the day to fight outbreaks occurring in the largest population centers of our country. I have declared martial law to help differentiate the living from the undead and ask that all of you listening to this broadcast cooperate completely with this order. By nightfall, all citizens are to remain off the streets so that the military can easily tell friend from foe. This is for your safety as the threat against our way of life is so severe that only drastic measures can be used to assure our survival. I have ordered all forces abroad to return home and the National Guard to be integrated with our other armed forces as we move to end this attack without further loss of life.”

  “I will not lie to you. Our nation is going through the darkest moment in our history and I need each of you to help me if we are going to see this through together. Stay within your homes, keep your televisions on, but keep them at a low volume to avoid drawing attention. Listen to the radio for updates. And most importantly, regardless of who it is, regardless of what they mean to you, you have to drive a sharp implement into the brain of anyone that dies. If you don’t, you put yourself and every
one else around you at risk. I know that what I ask is a terrible thing, but I assure you that this is necessary. I promise you that your government is working hard at ending this threat. We will not spare any resource and we will take every measure possible to end this swiftly and return to our way of life.”

  “Keep those that are dying tonight in your thoughts and prayers. Preserve the lives of your family by fortifying your homes and staying indoors. Ration supplies and please use common sense when dealing with people trying to get in your home. One saved life is one less infected person trying to kill you. Let’s help each other get through this and in the end, I promise you, we will prevail. Life will go on.”

  “May God be with us, goodnight,” she finished and the seal flashed on the screen for a moment, before returning to its static state.

  “She didn’t say anything about the bomb,” he muttered, still unable to believe it. There had been a lot of things unaddressed by her speech, like the communications black out. He had expected there to be some mention of the explosion, some warning for those downwind to get out of the path of radiation coming their way. But there had been nothing. Was it possible they didn’t know about it? How could that be?

  “Wait, what bomb?” Samantha asked with shock, and he realized that he had spoken out loud. They were all staring at him now; waiting for him to continue.

  Well, there was no going back now.

  “A bomb was set off at the Hoover Dam about an hour ago,” he told them quietly, watching the horror spread across their faces. Monica stood up, came over to him and knelt down, taking ahold of his hand.

  “I’m sorry honey, Ros and Matt were there when it went off,” he told her, loud enough for the others to hear. Michelle was standing there shaking her head and he put an arm out. She rushed forward into an embrace with her parents. Nick refused to move, his eyes dazed, stunned by what he was hearing. Lucy was crying in Rodger’s arms, and Casey was looking at him with confusion.