Soulless Wanderers: Soulless Wanderers Book 1

by Drew Strickland

  Daniel drove down the road, trying to keep his mind from what had happened earlier but failing to do so at times. The image of the little girl, Eden, in his head. The man at his feet, ready to be killed. Why didn’t he? It had nothing to do with the man, so then was it the girl? Something about her seemed different but familiar at the same time.

  His concentration broke when he heard the ding come from the dashboard. He looked down and saw that the fuel gage was nearly empty and had the little “low fuel” symbol next to it. Fantastic.

  The road had been pretty empty when he drove, just a few empty cars and the random soulless wandering around here or there. He hadn’t run into a single living person, and he couldn’t have been happier. Now, he had to look for a gas station and look for some fuel. He hoped his alone streak wasn’t going to be broken, but he figured he always knew how to fix that.

  Up ahead was a gas station. It seemed that there were more gas stations as he approached the center of the city. The more population, the more gas they needed. He pulled in to the station, noticing two cars in the parking lot. He parked next to the pump and got out.

  The silence around him was nothing to be worried about. He enjoyed it. He hated being in the city most of the time. People everywhere, littering up his space with noise and inconsideration. This was a pleasant change, but he knew he still needed to be on alert. Anyone, or anything, could be watching him. He went up to the pump and quickly discovered that the power was out. There was no way to pump the gas. It was amazing how quickly the power went out after the event. But if nobody was there to help generate it or control it, then why would there be any expectation of it to still be there?

  He shut the door to the truck and stepped toward the convenience store. One car sat directly in front of the store, while the other was at the far end of the building. He figured that one must belong to the employee working here when it all went down. The other car could be anything.

  Daniel peered in to the car, noticing the piles of fast food wrappers and empty soda cups on the floor of the passenger’s side. The back didn’t seem much better. The driver’s side was fairly empty, and a tassel hung from the rearview mirror. There was no year, but it looked new.

  He continued up on the curb and approached the building. The glass doors had handprints on them, but no signs of damage other than that. He figured it could have been left over from before the fall had happened. People were always inconsiderate and pushing in on the glass instead of using the designated handle on the door. It was one of the many reasons he hated other people. He knew he was better than them and could see how inconsiderate everyone else was. He put his face against the window and peered inside.

  He couldn’t make out much since it was fairly dark inside. The only windows were the front glass doors, and the sun was getting low as it was. He thought he saw movement but couldn’t be sure. He pulled his knife up, ready for anything. He grabbed the metal handle and swung the door open toward him and stepped inside.

  He was expecting the signature ding-dong noise from the door opening, but it never came, reminding him of the lack of electricity in the world now. The door closed behind him, and he listened to the room. It was pretty silent, except for a shuffle noise. It sounded like someone sliding a heavy box across the floor. He looked around but still saw nobody inside.

  Daniel set his eyes on the fridge section in the back. It wasn’t until he saw the water bottles that he realized how thirsty he was. The dryness in his throat caught up to him, and he let out a small cough. He opened the door to the fridge section, blasting himself with a gust of cold air. The seal kept the cold in, although he figured it wouldn’t last long. He grabbed the first water bottle he could and opened it. Just as he was putting it up to his lips, he heard that scooting noise across the floor. He turned around and was met with the empty, dead eyes of a soulless.

  The water bottle fell to the floor as he grabbed the shoulders of the monster. It was a man in his late forties. His beard was starting to grey in areas and the saliva clung to it as he let out a growl. Daniel pushed back against his body, but the man’s heft was bigger than Daniel. Daniel was fit, but when a forceful load of fat was pushing against him, he didn’t think he was going to win the wrestling match.

  He wanted to let go of the hefty thing to use his knife, but he was afraid if he did, he wouldn’t be fast enough. He had to hold him off for long enough to get the blade free. His right hand still clung to the knife and the man’s shoulder at the same time. The guttural growl of the thing in front of him rumbled low, and the hot breath hit Daniel directly on the face. He stepped backward, trying to lead the thing with him.

  Daniel knocked over a rack of chips as he walked backward toward the counter in the middle of the room. He quickly stepped to the side, moving into the slot enabling employees to work behind the counter. It was the right amount of space he needed. He let go with his hand, and the fat man lurched forward. Daniel’s plan worked and the counter got in the way. The bearded, chomping face was close enough to Daniel, but barely out of reach to be bitten. Daniel took his knife and plowed it directly into the top of the fat worker’s head, not wanting to go through the throat. He was afraid of battling with the fat and not getting the blade far enough up to the brain. He used force and the knife stuck in its head. The body dropped to the ground.

  Daniel leaned back and took a few deep breaths. He hopped over the body and grabbed the water bottle from the floor. Half of it had emptied out, but he guzzled the other half quickly, tossing the bottle to the ground when it was empty. Stepping back to the body, Daniel could see the logo for the gas station on the polo shirt the dead man wore. He put his foot on the thing’s head and pulled the knife out, shooting a small stream of blood from the slit in its head. He wiped the blood on the employee’s shirt and put it back into his belt.

  Daniel decided it best to grab some food before trying the road again and went to the chip aisle. He was hoping to find something salty and meaty, maybe a spicy jerky. Just as he got to the end of the aisle, he heard a noise come from the corner on the other side of his aisle. He pulled his knife and went to investigate. He heard it come from the bathroom door as he got closer.

  He pushed the door in, ready for a fight. When he looked, there was a girl, probably eighteen or nineteen, sitting on the floor rocking back and forth with tears streaming down her face. He watched as her eyes met his, and she quickly scurried against the wall. She was alive. She looked at him one more time and saw that he was, too.

  “Help me, please,” she said between sobs.

  “You’re alone?” he asked, truly wondering if she was. He didn’t want to be ambushed by any of her friends.

  She nodded. “That man out there. I stopped to go to the bathroom, but when I went back out, he wasn’t acting normal. He tried to attack me.”

  Daniel nodded. He felt secure with her answer. She was no threat to him. He was losing daylight and didn’t need to be stuck here in this building when the sun finally set. He wanted to make up more ground before then, but he also needed gas.

  “You just graduated?” he asked.

  She looked confused. “Yeah, in May.”

  Daniel stepped up to her and held his hand out. She looked at it cautiously, but then decided to take it. He hoisted her to her feet and stood, still almost a foot taller than her. He held his hand out again.

  She looked confused, staring at his hand, then glancing to his eyes.

  “The keys,” Daniel said, his patience leaving him quickly.

  She shook her head, still not understanding. “I don’t—”

  He did not have time to mess around with this. Daniel quickly grabbed her and grabbed the bag off her shoulder. He dug through her purse quickly, grabbing her keys from the purse.

  “Hey, what are you doing?” she asked, still confused, but this time with a little attitude. She stepped up to him.

  Daniel quickly looked up, meeting her eyes. His hand went to his knife. Normally, he would love to kill
someone like this, but he really didn’t have time to fully enjoy it. Her eyes went to the knife on his belt, and she took a step back.

  “What am I supposed to do? You can’t just leave me here,” she said with one last grab at hope.

  “I don’t care.”

  Daniel turned around, leaving her in the bathroom alone. Her car had more gas than his truck did, and he was going to need it to make the trek. On his way out the door, he saw the red gas cans lined up and grabbed one. He didn’t know if he was going to be able to fill it, but it was better to have one and not fill it, than to be able to fill one without it.

  As the door closed behind him, he could hear the sobs continue.

  Daniel sat in the car. It wasn’t as roomy as the truck was, but it had done the job so far. He had waited outside the building in front of him for at least an hour now. He wanted to sleep, now that the sun was completely down, but he knew this opportunity wouldn’t last forever, and it was better to tackle it now than wait for the morning and possibly have someone else roll up on him.

  It had been a stroke of luck, he figured. He hadn’t kept tabs on what they were building on the way out of town but was glad he had taken the road he did, otherwise he would have missed it altogether. The headlights shown on the large building in front of him. It was a massive outdoor shop. It was full of camping gear, hiking and backpacking gear, and probably had plenty of freeze dried food he could load up on, and most important of all, it had a large hunting section. He needed to load up on as many guns as he could.

  Once he got to the bunker, he was sure he could fortify it and keep it safe, however, he did think having the extra ammo and guns would be a great addition. He had an ample supply in storage up north, but when there was a large inventory in front of him, all for free, he figured he couldn’t pass it up. Besides, he didn’t have any guns on him now. He always felt like his city living life was better to be gun free, lest he draw any sort of attention to him if he brought them out. Sure, it was legal and normal to have them, but he wanted to make sure he blended in as much as possible and any sort of attention was bad.

  He sat out front for so long because he could hear them inside. As soon as he rolled the window down, it was nothing but shuffling, groaning, and random crashes. He figured they were knocking over stands and displays as they wandered about inside. Wrapping his head around the sounds coming from inside was beginning to happen, and he knew he could do it. He opened the door to the car, leaving the headlights shining a way to the door for him.

  He didn’t know why it was so full, but when he looked at the large wooden doors made to look like they were carved from trees, he saw the hours. It made him think there was a bar inside with how late, or early, they were open until. Still, why so many people were here was a little odd. Perhaps they thought there would be good hunting after the event, but he had no idea. He could speculate all night but figured it was better to just get the guns and get out.

  He had to be as quick as possible and decided that any sort of observation would just make it harder to get it down. If he opened the doors and watched, they would easily see him and start heading for the door, clogging up his exit. He would have to open up a door to have them filter out, then go through the other side of the building. Daniel quickly ran around to the side. Luckily, this store was big enough it had two entrances.

  Daniel grabbed the door and swung it open. Immediately, all the shuffling turned to attention, and they started heading toward Daniel. He quickly ran to the front of the store as they started to filter out of the side. He waited a few moments, and then made his move. Daniel swung the double doors open and ran inside. It had thinned out slightly, but there were still a lot of them inside. He ran into bodies as they wandered around, but he pushed them aside. Once he got to what felt like an empty spot, he saw the side door. It was open, but instead of filtering them out, the soulless that had walked out, started to come back in. The door started to close slowly, until it was shut completely. His plan hadn’t worked out as he thought.

  He turned around, and it all swept over him. Regret. He was amped up on adrenaline, and the idea of getting inside, that he didn’t realize how dark it was. Sure, there were windows, but all that filtered in was moonlight. He looked behind him, and the front door began to close, cutting off the light that came in from his headlights. He was so far in now, and the soulless were taking notice. He could hear them all. It was deafening. This was nothing like the church. They were everywhere. He had to go back or he would be dead.

  Chomping came from behind him, right in his ear. He spun around and pushed hard on the body in front of him. It was a man, but it was too dark to make out many details, and he didn’t have time to stand there and study what was attacking him. He figured there would be many more like it. He spun back to where the front door was and shot forward. He pushed hard into every single body he ran into.

  Daniel was so close. He was doing well, making it back to the door. All that ran in his head was how stupid he had been. Sure, it wasn’t the best plan, but he still thought it was a better plan than standing back and studying. He was alone and there was no way he could have done this himself. It finally settled in. He was feet away from the door when he was grabbed by the ankle. His face hit the cheap carpet on the floor.

  He turned around and saw the swarm of bodies coming at him. The one that grabbed his ankle was making its way up to his torso. He kicked at it and just as it was going to sink its teeth in, Daniel was able to jam his knife in its skull. He looked to his left as another one came at him. He grabbed it with both hands, leaving his knife in the skull of the previous body. He saw it all happening. This was going to be it.

  The swarm kept coming, and they started to fall on him. It was only a matter of time before the biting started. Then it would be bleeding, pain, and possibly being scared. The scared part hadn’t settled in yet, but he knew it was something that could happen. He was going to die, and it was going to be because of his own choices.

  Still, he fought and pushed, trying to keep them off him. It was just a human response to not wanting to die, but he knew there was no way he was getting out of this alive.

  10

  Paxton could hear screaming. It sounded far in the distance, but he was sure it was closer than it sounded. He tried to open his eyes but found it very difficult. He knew he needed to. He knew that it was what he was supposed to do, but it just felt too good to keep them closed. Still, he managed to force his eyes open.

  He was still in the car. Blood covered the seat he sat in, probably residual from his leg and whatever random cuts he had accumulated from the church. Kyle was running to the house, screaming for his mom and dad. Paxton opened the door and fell out of the car to the grass underneath.

  He managed to climb to his feet and held onto the car to stabilize himself. He looked at the house in front of him. The paint was fading slightly and the stucco was cracked in places. He looked around, seeing he was in a neighborhood where the street was empty except for cars lining the street. He turned his attention back to the house and tried walking. He made it to the front door before collapsing to the ground.

  When Paxton opened his eyes again, he was lying on a couch. He was inside and could hear Kyle’s voice. He quickly looked around and tried to sit up.

  “Whoa there. Take it easy,” a man spoke.

  Paxton looked at the man, who appeared directly above him. He carried a bowl of water and towels. Kyle was behind him.

  “This is my dad, Pastor Paxton,” Kyle said, a hint of worry in his voice.

  “I’m David,” Kyle’s dad said. “I would shake your hand right now, but we have some work to do on that leg.”

  Paxton looked down at his leg, seeing the blood soaked through his pants and Kyle’s belt still tightly bound around it.

  “What-what is going on?” Paxton finally managed to ask.

  “It looks like you took some serious damage to your leg. We need to stitch it up. If this belt stays on it, the rest of
your leg won’t get any blood and you’ll die. If we don’t stitch you up and take it off, you’ll lose a lot of blood and die. So, here we are.”

  “Are you a doctor?”

  David chuckled. “No, but I’ve stitched up a few wounds in my day. Army and working construction. Sometimes it’s easier than going to the hospital with no insurance.”

  Paxton was anything but put at ease. “Fantastic.”

  “Don’t worry, I’ll make it quick.”

  Paxton looked up as his pant leg was cut away. He didn’t want to look at it. He was sure he could take the pain, but if he saw the condition of his leg right now, he probably wouldn’t handle it well. He took three deep breaths before he could feel David’s hand on his bare leg.

  “Here we go,” David said, giving no preparation or pep talk.

  The pain shot through Paxton’s leg like a hot knife, which was funny since he knew what that felt like, too. He grimaced and held back a scream, clenching his teeth down.

  “That’s good. It hurts. If it was numb, we’d be a little worried right now.”

  Paxton nodded, shaking the tears loose from his eyes. He could feel each pull of the needle and thread sliding through his flesh, closing up the gap that Daniel and the glass had left.

  “Pastor, did you want any water or—”

  “No.” Paxton had no time to give any other answer. Kyle was lucky he wasn’t getting cursed at right now, but Paxton wanted to focus all his attention on not passing out.

  “Just hold the bowl for me, bud,” David said. “We’re getting close to being done.”

  Paxton could feel a heavy tug on the line in his leg. He took a deep breath and let it out with a loud exhale, almost a yell.