Soulless Wanderers: Soulless Wanderers Book 1

by Drew Strickland

  A vehicle outside the window revved to life. Car doors opened and closed. The engine noise sounded farther and farther away before he couldn’t hear it at all. With it, his consciousness went as well.

  13

  “Okay, so you ladies drive the car slowly away. They will hear all the noise and start coming out,” Daniel said, instructing the two women.

  “I’d appreciate not being called ladies,” the taller woman said in a condescending tone.

  Daniel looked at her, his stare unwavering. He really didn’t have time for any complaining. He wanted to get the guns and get out of here. Still, he had to make nice with these meat bags so he could be on his way.

  “Alright, then. What should I call you?”

  “My name will do fine. Jennifer.”

  A loud laughter came from behind him. Henry stepped up from behind, allowing his low baritone voice to boom out. “Don’t mind Jennifer. She’s a bit of a feminist and probably doesn’t like a man telling her what to do.”

  “Bit of a feminist?” she said crossing her arms.

  “Aw come on, Jennifer. We’re all equals here. It’s us versus the, well, the—”

  “Soulless,” Daniel blurted, not meaning to add anything more to the conversation.

  “That’s good, man. It’s us versus the soulless.”

  “So, can we just go back to the plan?” Daniel asked. He turned his attention back to Jennifer. “I meant no disrespect, Jennifer.”

  She nodded and threw her hands up in the air. She turned around and got into Daniel’s car.

  “And you?” he asked the other woman, not wanting another confrontation about calling someone a lady.

  “Courtney. But I don’t mind being called a lady. I’ve been called a lot worse,” she said, no humor in her voice.

  Daniel watched as she went into the car with Jennifer. She was shorter, but nothing abnormal. Her low jeans and short shirt showed her waist when she walked. He imagined there were some words that were thrown her way from how she dressed, and possibly how she seemed straight up honest. If Daniel liked people, he’d like her.

  “Let’s go over the rest of what we’re to do just one more time,” Henry said.

  “The soulless will follow the car, and it will give us a moment to run inside.”

  “Through the front?” Alan said, putting his hand against the shaking front door.

  “Yes, the front.”

  “Why not the back?”

  Daniel let his head slink down a little. He hated working with people, and he was really beginning to wonder if all the guns were worth it.

  “I’m sure that would be a good idea, but then, I don’t know if the soulless are courteous enough to hold the front doors open so they can all go out. If the door closes, we’re shut inside with them,” Henry said, a little sarcasm coming out in his words.

  Daniel lifted part of his lip in an almost smile. Finally, someone who could understand and be useful, at least for now.

  “We should be able to get through the majority of them and get inside. If there’s any left, the four of us should be able to take them out.”

  “What is Cole doing during this whole thing?” Alan asked.

  “Not a damn thing other than looking out for my daughter,” Cole said. Eden stood behind him. “How do you know Jennifer and Courtney will be safe?”

  “They’re in a car and can step on the gas,” Daniel said, not turning to look at Cole.

  “It all seems straight forward to me,” Henry said. “So, me and Alan. You and Miles.”

  Daniel looked to Miles. He was a lanky fellow and hoped he wasn’t an idiot. He was beginning to think that being paired with Henry would be better but decided to not make any more waves than he had to. He was already stepping outside of his comfort zone by crafting the plan to begin with. Miles seemed capable enough.

  “Fuck it, man, let’s go,” Alan said, opening the doors before anyone could protest.

  “Goddammit!” Henry said.

  Everyone shuffled to their positions. The women were in the car and began to honk the horn, making sure any of the soulless’s attention was drawn to them. Cole and Eden quickly got into the car they arrived in and locked the doors. Alan, Henry, Miles, and Daniel all hid around the corner of the building, hoping to not be noticed by the soulless. The horn blaring was a good attention grabber and didn’t leave Daniel worrying about it.

  The plan was working. A huge horde of bodies came stepping outside. A large number of them wore camouflage and looked to be hunters. Many of them were average looking people just looking for supplies, Daniel assumed. He watched as the car began to back up from the store, still honking the horn. The horde followed them. The headlights were mostly blocked by the bodies, but still lit up parts of the store. Daniel didn’t imagine they’d be able to keep much of the light but wanted to use it as much as he could.

  Once the bulk of the bodies came out, and it started down to a trickle wandering out of the building, Henry signaled it was time. Daniel and Miles were going to raid the right side of the building and Henry and Alan were going to hit the left side of the building. It was a huge store with so many different nooks and crannies that they didn’t expect to get everything. The important things were guns and gear. Whichever they found first, they would take.

  Alan and Henry ran in. Daniel followed them with Miles taking up the back. Daniel watched as Alan took out two of the soulless still trying to make their way out of the building. His smile stretched across his face even though the stress of the situation should have put him in a serious mood. Daniel watched Henry and Alan disappear to the left, behind aisles and different outdoor gear.

  Daniel led Miles to the right. It was dark in the building, but he could still see in front of him. The two passed by the many fishing poles. He hoped he was going to land on the guns soon but had no idea how far away they actually were. Miles stopped and grabbed a fishing pole.

  “Do we need any of these?” Miles asked.

  “No, that’s not what we’re here for.”

  “It’s gear, though.”

  Of course, Daniel would get paired with this idiot. He had no idea what gear they were looking for. Sure, a fishing pole could be considered useful, if they were near a body of water that had any fish in it, but he figured it would be a long trek before they’d run into any of those considering they were still in a largely desert area.

  “We need camping gear, food, and anything to cook with,” Daniel said, waiting for the idiot in front of him to drop the fishing pole.

  “All I’m saying is that—”

  “Whatever, just bring it,” Daniel said, wanting to get to the guns.

  Miles smiled as he carried the fishing pole along with him.

  Daniel looked up and saw the camping and cooking section nearing. Damn. They were on the wrong side of the store. Still, it was the plan to gather it and he hoped the other two would find the guns.

  Daniel grabbed the biggest backpack he could find. He tossed it to Miles and grabbed an identical one for himself.

  “Fill this up. Throw all the supplies you can into the bag from that shelf,” Daniel said pointing to the shelf full of freeze dried food.

  He grabbed his own pack and stepped over a few aisles to the camping gear. He grabbed a few sleeping bags and tossed them into his bag, grateful they were already packed tightly into their stuff-sacks.

  Miles screamed out, catching Daniel’s attention. He went over to the aisle he left the idiot in and saw two soulless before him. Miles was on the floor, wrestling with the third.

  Daniel had no weapon. He looked to the right and saw the cookware, but the focus for those products were to be lightweight and portable. It wouldn’t be heavy enough to fight with. He stepped forward, expecting to be wrestling with the soulless any moment, and stepped on something. He looked down and saw the fishing rod Miles had brought with him. Daniel quickly grabbed it and bent it over his knee.

  The damn thing wouldn’t break. It bent and bent,
with a huge arc in the rod, but the thing was too flexible. He put it on the ground and stepped on it while pulling the handle upward, toward his face. That did the trick. The rod snapped in half, sending a jolt through Daniel from the force of it. He lifted the handle, now only a half-rod sticking out from it, but in a nice sharp break. He lunged forward with it, he imagined he looked like a makeshift fencer. The broken rod stabbed through the right eye of the first body coming his way. He pushed hard, shoving it through the backside of its head and into the right eye of the soulless behind it. Both of them dropped to the floor, taking the fishing rod out of Daniel’s hand.

  There was one left. Miles was still on the ground struggling with it. The man, or what used to be a man, was on top of Miles, chomping and dripping saliva all over him. Daniel grabbed the thing by the shoulders and lifted it off Miles. He watched Miles scoot away and get up. Now was the perfect opportunity for him to kill the thing while Daniel kept a hold of it. Instead, Daniel watched Miles run toward the entrance, leaving Daniel holding the squirming body.

  “You have got to be kidding me,” Daniel said to the soulless man he was holding.

  The monster responded with a snarl and spun out of Daniel’s grasp. He kicked the body backward, sending it tumbling to the floor. He grabbed the smaller half of the fishing rod and started jabbing it down into the thing’s face. He saw the red blossoms of blood start to appear all over its face. Finally, he nailed it in the soft pocket of its eye and put it down for good. He took a deep breath and let it out, trying to cool himself down after the struggle.

  Daniel grabbed the bag and started to load up some of the items that had fallen when he heard a loud gunshot, followed by three more. It came from the other side of the store where Henry and Alan were raiding. He began heading that way when a crowd of soulless came out of what seemed like nowhere. A loud scream came from the direction, followed by another gunshot. Daniel wanted to investigate but couldn’t make his way through what remained of the soulless. At least not in these cramped quarters. Daniel turned to the door and made his way to the entrance.

  “Go, go, go!” Alan screamed from behind him.

  Daniel spun around and saw Alan running. He carried a large bag full of what Daniel assumed were guns. Henry was nowhere to be seen. Alan ran into Daniel, knocking the both of them down to the floor among the bodies of the soulless that had been killed earlier. Both of them scrambled to their feet.

  Daniel bent down to grab his bag and caught sight of something familiar. His old friend. He pushed a body to the side and saw his knife sticking up from the skull of a body. He smiled and pulled it out with a loud smack. He stuck the knife in his belt and ran outside. Alan followed quickly behind him.

  The two men grabbed the doors and closed them just before watching the crowd of soulless join up with another group of them, creating another large horde. It was too close of an encounter to warrant going back in for another raid. Whatever they made it out with had to be enough. But looking around, it left the question. Where was Henry?

  Daniel watched Alan. He was still catching his breath, but Daniel felt something wasn’t right. He already knew he didn’t like Alan, but this was different. Alan wasn’t normal. Daniel stepped up to him.

  “Where’s Henry?” he asked.

  Alan shook his head. “He didn’t make it.”

  “How?”

  Alan stood straight and looked Daniel in the eye. “We got overrun. He got caught. There was nothing I could do.”

  “What about the gunshots?”

  “We got the guns, and I started shooting the fuckers,” Alan said.

  It was believable, but Daniel didn’t like it. He stared down at Alan, only an inch taller than him, but still gave him the edge in the moment. Alan looked back at him, his eyes not shifting around. Alan wasn’t telling the truth.

  Miles stepped up to the group. “I’m glad you got out. Henry was a good guy, but—”

  Daniel grabbed Miles by the throat and pushed him against the wall. “You ever do something like that again, and I’ll leave you to die, do you hear me?”

  Miles’s eyes darted left and right, almost as if asking for help. Nobody stepped up, yet. He opened his mouth and started to talk, but his words were muddled from Daniel’s grasp tightening. His face went red as the oxygen began to cut off. Daniel could see out of the corner of his eye. Alan watched with a smirk.

  Finally, Cole stepped out of the car and ran up, grabbing Daniel from behind. He pulled him off Miles, who dropped to his knees, gasping for breath. Daniel pushed away from Cole, who grabbed at him again. Daniel quickly put a fist up toward Cole. Both men stood looking at each other. Finally, Daniel lightened up and opened his palm in a surrender gesture.

  “I’m not gonna do anything,” Daniel said.

  Cole didn’t seem to want to fight and didn’t push the issue. Miles climbed to his feet and tackled Daniel. They fell to the ground, kicking up a cloud of dust in the air.

  “You son of a bitch!” Miles screamed at him.

  Daniel grabbed at Miles’s head and pushed him away. He swung hard and punched him across the cheek. Blood flung from Miles’s mouth and landed in the dirt. Daniel sat up, trying to get to his feet, but Miles kept coming. He climbed onto Daniel, trying to do who knows what. Daniel had never seen someone fail so hard at fighting. He obviously had no idea what he was doing, and Daniel punched him again, sending his face into the dirt. It wasn’t the easiest angle to punch someone from, being on the ground and all, but that’s how open Miles left himself. If Daniel felt anything for anyone, he would have almost felt bad for the man.

  Before Miles could attempt anything else, Cole was on top of him, holding him back. He pulled Miles up and started dusting him off. Daniel climbed to his feet and did the same to himself.

  “You motherfucker—” Miles began but was quickly cut off.

  “You say another word and it’ll be your last,” Daniel said, calmly. He wanted to end this here and now and get the hell out of there. He didn’t intend on being anyone’s friend, but he also didn’t want to let too much of himself show. This was going the exact opposite way he wanted.

  “What the hell is going on?” Cole finally asked.

  “Why don’t you ask him,” Daniel said, pointing to Miles.

  “Miles?” Cole asked.

  Miles shrugged and walked away. There was no lying about what had happened, so Daniel figured Miles decided to be silent instead. That was fine with him. He didn’t need to tell the story to anyone else, either. It was for him to decide how he wanted to proceed, and he could always kill Miles another time when he felt it necessary.

  “Great, just a fight in the middle of nowhere while we have fucking dead people coming after us,” Cole let out.

  The car door opened with a creak, and Eden stepped out of the backseat. Her eyes were red, and she had black bags underneath them. “What’s going on?”

  “Nothing honey, go back to sleep,” Cole said.

  Daniel watched her as she stood by the car and turned around. She stopped moving and stared into the darkness behind the car. There was never a scream. Daniel was surprised he couldn’t hear a scuffle in the dirt or even the snarling and chomping he was used to hearing when the soulless were around. Instead, out of the shadows, three soulless appeared from behind the car. Eden kept staring. They were too close for her to get into the car.

  Cole cried out, rushing toward her. Daniel joined him. Eden kept staring at the three drooling monsters before her, not moving. Cole reached the first one and grabbed it. Its attention went from Eden to Cole quickly, and Daniel watched Cole drop to the ground with the monster. The other two were on top of Eden, fast.

  Daniel grabbed his knife from his belt and shoved it in the top of the first one’s skull. The long hair from who she used to be was tangled in a mess of dirt and branches. It dropped to the ground, and Daniel focused on the next one. It was what looked to be a teenager in his human days. His shirt was ripped across the front, and blood dripped d
own his pajama pants. Daniel stabbed at its head, but it quickly stepped aside, not trying to dodge the attack, but because it had stepped on the dropped body of the woman. Daniel’s knife plunged into where its neck met its shoulders. Blood shot straight into the air, splattering the top of the car.

  It snarled at Daniel and grabbed his arm. Daniel pulled hard but couldn’t break free from its grasp. Instead, he pulled again, taking the soulless and slamming it into the car. He grabbed its head and shoved it down into the open door. Daniel slammed the car door on its head, over and over until there was no movement coming from the body. He left the door open and let the lifeless body slide to the dirt. He grabbed his knife from the body and went to help Cole, who still struggled with his one soulless. Daniel easily drove the knife into its head, dropping the heavy body on top of Cole.

  More snarls came from the dark, and Daniel could see a swarm of soulless stepping into the light. He quickly grabbed Cole and freed him from underneath the body.

  “We need to get out of here,” Daniel said. Cole nodded in agreement. Daniel grabbed Eden and put her in the backseat, sliding in with her. Cole waived to the other men before getting in the driver’s seat. The other men got in the car.

  “We’ll meet the girls down the road. They wouldn’t have gone far, and if they have already started coming back, we’ll signal them with our lights,” Cole said.

  Cole drove out of the parking area and onto the road, leaving the swarm of soulless to wander the building.

  14

  Pock. Pock.

  Paxton opened his eyes at the sound. He looked around, realizing he was still lying on the mattress. He thought it had all been a dream, but the pain in his leg and back were real. He looked around and saw the room. It was covered in posters of things he had seen on kids channels as he had flipped through trying to find something good to watch on TV. He had no idea what the names of the characters were, but looking at the cartoon figures, he made the assumption he was in Liam’s room. He tried to sit up, which was not easily doable.