Exodus: Soulless Wanderers Book 3 (A Post-Apocalyptic Zombie Thriller)

by Drew Strickland

She shook her head and continued on the road. It was a quiet drive by herself. No one but her and her own thoughts. The ride went a lot quicker than she expected. She could see the restaurant sign lit up in the night. She wondered why Howard never took the lights off the sign, but she was pretty sure she knew the answer. It would be something rooted in his past at that building, and then something about how he could take care of himself. He was a stubborn man, but he was also sentimental.

  Courtney pulled off the highway and got right up to the front gate with her car. Normally, she would park a little off to the side, but it was night, and she wanted to keep the distance between her car and the fence to a minimum. She stepped out of the car and was immediately greeted by a gun pointed at her from above.

  "What do you want?" the man said from behind his rifle.

  "I'm here to talk to Howard. It's Courtney." The man dropped the rifle, and she could see it was Nathan.

  "It's late. What are you doing out here?" he asked.

  It's funny what late was these days. It used to be that she would be out until all hours of the night and into the morning, but now, once the sun was down, it was considered late. It was probably no later than eight pm. The sun was getting lower now that winter was pretty much here. "Just let me in. Howard is here, right?"

  The gate opened, and Howard stepped out. He wore flannel pants and a velvet robe. "I am always here," he said.

  "Howard, how are you?" she asked with a smile. She wrapped her arms around the man, like he was a big teddy bear, and he hugged her back.

  "I'm good, come on in."

  The two of them stepped inside the walls, and the gate closed behind them. Nathan stepped around, and Courtney gave him a hug as well. "I see everything is running smooth," she commented.

  "Hell yeah, nothing gets in or out without me knowing," Nathan said.

  "And, Howard, you got all dressed up for me? How did you know I'd be coming?"

  Howard chuckled. "Alright, so what's so important that you needed to come at night?"

  "Sounds like you want some information from me," Courtney said. She knew exactly how Howard worked. You want or need something, you trade for it. He was a generous man, but these days, it wasn't a charity. "How about a milkshake for the conversation."

  Howard shook his head, grinning. "I definitely see you've been taking some pages out of my book. Come on, I'll blend `em up." Nathan went back to his place at the top of the gate as Courtney and Howard retreated into the diner.

  "Everything is going alright for you here?" Courtney asked, now alone with the man. The diner was the same as it always was. Kept up.

  "It is. Got a few new faces here but all trustworthy." Howard grabbed the large cylinder tub from the freezer behind the counter. He scooped out some and put it in a blender.

  "Good, I'm glad to hear it."

  "You know, I really wished you and your friends would have been some of those faces."

  "I know it, and honestly, sometimes I wish we had, as well. But now, we're both where we are. You're too stubborn to let anyone help you lead, anyway."

  Howard chuckled, firing up the blender. Once it was done, he poured them out in glasses. He finished them off with whipped cream and cherries. "How's Dan?"

  She took a huge swig from her glass. The cold, sugary flavor filled her mouth, and she closed her eyes, savoring it. "He's the same."

  "I know the kind of man Dan is. Sometimes things are easy to you and me, well, they can be difficult for a man like that. But he's still trying, he's still protecting. That's a good thing, right?"

  She shrugged. "Sometimes."

  Howard nodded, obviously sensing Courtney's lack of interest in talking about Dan. "So, really. Why are you here? Couldn't whatever this is have waited?"

  She laughed inside. "Honestly, it probably could have. But I guess I am being stubborn. Between you and Dan, I think I'm picking up a little bit of the paranoia. We ran into some people today."

  "Oh yeah?" He lifted an eyebrow. "Everything go okay?"

  "Actually, yeah. Everything was great, at first. They were friendly, they helped us, we got along great. But then, everything changed. They left in a rush."

  Howard shrugged. "Maybe something spooked them. Did you really come out here for advice and conversation?"

  "I was hoping you'd know something about them."

  Howard shook his head. "Oh, come on, Courtney, you too? You know I can't give out information. I'll help you however I can, but I don't give out locations."

  "Howard, you know me."

  "And you know me. I don't want to have to chase you out of here with a gun, either. You got me?" He eyed her closely.

  Howard was stubborn. But she also knew him to be a kind and gentle man. If he said he had to chase someone out with a gun, he probably did so because of something serious. "So, what am I supposed to do? I have people show up and then disappear. Do I try and figure out where they are, do I need to fortify what we have?"

  "What I think you need to do is get back home. In the morning, you can worry about everything. Honestly, there's a good chance that the soulless took out those people, which is what you should be worrying about for yourself at this hour."

  Soulless. She was so used to hearing the dead being called that, that it never occurred to her it wasn't such a common name. "Howard, what did you call them before you had met us?"

  "Call what?"

  "The soulless."

  Howard rubbed his chin and mustache. "I don't really know. I think I called them the dead or something like that. Didn't really have the same ring as the soulless, did it?"

  "Exactly, but you wouldn't have called them that would you?"

  "No, I don't suppose I would have. It wasn't until I met you."

  "And it wasn't until I met Danny, or Dan, I mean."

  Howard wrinkled his brow. "I'm not sure I get what you're saying."

  "Those people, when they came in to our camp, they called them soulless. And when they saw Dan, that's when it all went to shit." She thought about it some more, and it hit her hard. "He called him Daniel." She knew exactly why Pax had left. He had known Dan, or Daniel, before all of this. She wasn't sure exactly what happened, but whatever it was, it was bad enough to make Pax do a complete turnaround.

  "You said you know the kind of man Dan is," she said to Howard.

  Howard bit his bottom lip. "I did. I don't know how to explain it, but it's possible—"

  Courtney got up from the counter. "I have to leave."

  "Courtney, you need to be careful—"

  "Yeah, yeah, for sure. I just realized I need to get back to camp. I honestly don't know why I even came out in the first place, I guess I just got all in my head and needed to talk it out with an old friend, right?" She smiled.

  Howard nodded. "I think that's good. If you need to stay the night—"

  "Nope, I should get back home, but thanks, Howard." Courtney quickly turned and left Howard in the diner. She knew he probably didn't buy her act, but it was the best she could do to get out of there quickly. She had business to attend to and hoped she wasn't too late. If Pax had known Daniel before any of this, then it wasn't a good thing.

  She may have made peace with it and accepted it, but in the end, Courtney knew who Daniel was before all of this, too.

  29

  Vanessa

  Vanessa laid on the bed, looking up at the flaking popcorn ceiling. All her emotions were wild inside of her. She was angry at Pax for so many things. She was angry because he was ruining a good thing with Courtney and Dan. She was angry because he wouldn't tell her what was going on. She was angry because he brought them back to the house that reeked of death. But most of all, she was angry because he had frightened her so much.

  When they first met, Vanessa hated Pax. She blamed him for people dying at the hospital. She blamed him for taking Diego away from the hospital. She knew he shouldered some of the responsibility, but ultimately knew it wasn't all his fault. He had saved Hector. He had stopped Guthri
e in the end. But Diego had still died. She had forgiven him because it was the right thing to do. Then she discovered how much of a good man was inside of Pax.

  She knew he was good. He had told her about his days as a pastor and his wife. He never said what he had been through to lose her, but she assumed it was like everyone else. Either turned into one of the soulless on that night, or killed by them. Either way, it was something he didn't like speaking about. Now, she wondered what it really was. What really drove him to want to be with Guthrie? What made such a good man turn so hard?

  He had no faith in God, that was a given. Someone's wife, the love of their life dying, is a hard thing to deal with. She knew. Diego was dead, and she truly had loved him. But she didn't change who she was because of it.

  She sat up in bed, knowing what she needed to do. She may be pissed at Pax, but she wasn't going to let him win this. She had glimpsed the danger inside of him, but she knew he was still a good man. Didn't she? She was going to speak to him. Hopefully, he had enough time to come to grips with whatever he was dealing with. He would have to sooner or later.

  Vanessa walked out of the room and down the hallway. Todd, Eduardo and Carlos were sitting on the couches in the living room. Her face twisted in disgust at the sight. Blood was all over the room, bullet holes in the walls and couches, but they still sat on them, eating from open cans of what possibly smelled like peaches. The sweet smell hit her nose, mixed with the rot and decay of the room. It may have been in her head, but she had a hard time holding back her gag reflex. "How are you able to sit around and eat in here?"

  Carlos dug out a peach from the can with his finger. He shrugged. "Gotta eat to survive, right?"

  "Where's Mark? I need to talk to Pax and want him to come with me."

  Eduardo had his mouth full but spoke, anyway. Bits of food and juices spilled from his mouth when he did. "Mark's outside. Already talking to Pax, I think."

  Vanessa wrapped her sweater tighter around her and turned around, leaving the men to be as disgusting as they wanted to. She had other things to worry about right now.

  Outside had gotten considerably colder. She was glad she had her heavy sweater on but knew it wouldn't be enough for long. She needed to convince Pax to get in the house so she could get warm. Nobody was out back, but she saw the gate was open and stepped through it.

  In the distance, she saw what looked like multiple lights flickering at the tree line. Were those torches? No, they weren't big enough. Candles maybe? She saw what looked like figures holding them. There were people out there. In front of them, she could make out two other figures. She knew it was Pax and Mark by the way they stood. Mark had his gun pointed at them.

  Vanessa pulled her pistol from the holster on her hip and picked up her pace. She knew they had it under control, whatever it was. The figures in front of them had no weapons pulled up. She could see their hands holding the candles. But Mark having his weapon raised was definitely a red flag. What could be going on?

  She watched Mark lower his weapon. That was good, but the voices started getting louder. Was Pax shouting? Yes, but—

  The gunshots cut off her thought. Pax had pulled his gun up and shot what looked like four women. She watched as they all fell to the ground, lights being snuffed out when they dropped. She had caught up to the men, but was too late. She saw Pax, his arm dropped to his side, his gun no longer pointing at the dark forest. Mark's mouth hung open, and he looked at Pax like she had never seen him look at him before.

  "What happened?" she finally said.

  There was no answer from Pax.

  "Pax? Man, what—"

  "It's over," was all Pax said.

  "What is over?" Vanessa asked.

  "They weren't good people. They were evil. I could tell."

  "Pax, you need to put your gun away," Vanessa said, keeping her eyes on his hand.

  He looked at his gun in his hand and slowly put it in the holster on his hip. "It's okay. There's no threat anymore."

  Vanessa looked at Mark. The moonlight was enough to light up his face to tell her everything. His eyes were wide, and he shook his head slightly. She looked back to Pax. "What threat?"

  "Them, the women—"

  "They weren't armed!" she screamed. "Where are their guns?"

  "Vanessa, I told you. There is evil in the world."

  "Yeah, I'm beginning to understand that," she said. She could feel the tears running down her face now. As much as she wanted to be strong, her emotions still got in the way. "But it's not what you think it is, Paxton."

  She turned around, but he quickly grabbed her arm. "Vanessa, wait—"

  She pulled her arm out of his grasp and pulled her gun up, placing it in front of his face. "Leave me alone, do you understand me?"

  Pax backed up a step. "Vanessa, I'm sorry, I just—"

  "No." She sniffled and let out a deep breath. "This is it, Pax. I'm leaving. We are all leaving."

  "But we still have to—"

  "No, Pax. We're leaving without you." She held the gun up with her right hand and wiped the tears from her face with her left.

  "What do you mean?"

  "I mean exactly what I said. You aren't coming with us. I don't want you anywhere near the hospital."

  "But what about the others? What about Hector?"

  "Don't. Just don't. I thought you were different, and maybe you were. But you're not stable. Guthrie was a bad guy, but at least he didn't pretend not to be one." She looked to Mark.

  Mark shook his head. "Go ahead. I've got him."

  Vanessa nodded her head. She was glad Mark was still in his corner. As much as she hated Pax then, she still cared about him. She couldn't see him again, it wouldn't be safe for her or Hector. But she also wanted to know Pax was still out in the world, at least trying to be good. Or bad. She wasn't sure. Right now, she just knew that this whole venture was a mistake, and she needed to leave. Carlos would be easy to convince. They all would. She turned around and ran to the house, hoping she was making the right decision.

  30

  Courtney

  Courtney drove back to the camp. She didn't even know where to begin looking for Pax and the others. They couldn't be far, unless they decided to drive all night. But if they did, would that mean there was no threat? Would that mean that Pax was gone and Dan would be safe? Was Dan even at risk? Maybe it was more that Pax was at risk, but either way, she knew how much Dan had come along and didn't want him throwing it all away because of someone from his past. If she could try and fix it before it was a problem, then maybe everything would be fine.

  Could she fix the problem?

  If Pax really felt that strongly about Dan, to get sick, then what could she do? She could tell Pax about what all he had done. About saving them, about keeping them safe. That's what she could do.

  She passed the road that gave her chills every time she did. It was the road back to Alan's farm house. She didn't know what he intended to do with all of the people, but she had a feeling what was going to be in store for her and Jennifer. She never wanted to see it again, and part of her wished it wasn't so close to their own camp. But their camp was safe, and it wasn't worth moving just because of a bad memory.

  She smiled as she put the road in her rearview mirror, but her smile faded fast. She saw headlights coming from the road, beaming out across the main highway.

  "What the fuck?" she whispered.

  Courtney quickly pulled over to the side of the road and shut her car off. She watched as the headlights turned away from her car. A second car followed the first, and the brake lights shrunk farther and farther from view until they were gone. Whoever was there, they were headed south.

  A loud bang hit the side of her window and startled her. She turned to face the mouth of a soulless. The jogging shirt it wore was torn across the shoulders. Its mouth left wet smears all over the window as it chomped against the glass, trying to get inside to tear Courtney's flesh apart. The window was too strong for it to break through
and Courtney fired up the engine. She flipped around, leaving the soulless to try and keep up with her car.

  She wanted to know what was happening, but also knew it wouldn't be safe to follow the two vehicles. At the very least, there were two people driving the two vehicles, and she didn't want to be outnumbered. Maybe if she investigated where they had just been, she could understand who they were and what they were doing. Why had they left in the middle of the night? She held her breath as she turned down the road that she had promised to herself she'd never have to go down again.

  31

  Dan

  Dan's mind raced. Of course, it was her. That's why he felt so familiar with her when he first saw her. He saw parts of himself when he looked at her. How had he not known it earlier? He knew the answer to that. He was too focused on dealing with his own problems, his own inner demons, his own lust for blood, that he didn't pay attention to the real issues around him. He thought he was doing everyone good by killing the threats to the camp that came from the outside. It had never occurred to him that a major threat would come from inside, and this close to him.

  Eden wasn’t been a real threat, not yet at least. There was still time. She was still young. She could be taught, she could be reined in. She could be like him. But being like him was a curse as much as it was a blessing. He knew how to deal with problems, and he knew how to keep himself detached. But it was more than detaching, sometimes it was never being connected. Ever. But it was all he knew.

  He stepped out into the small clearing of the forest. It was nearly pitch black out now, except for the moonlight. Eden shot her gaze to him and quickly stood up. "What are you doing here?" she asked quickly, holding her hand behind her back.

  "It's okay, Eden. You don't have to be ashamed." He wasn't sure exactly how she felt about being caught but thought that was the best reply to the situation.

  "About what?"

  "I know what you are. I know who you are," he slowly walked to her.