Now, the car was quite the collective. A serial killer in the driver’s seat, a psychopath in the passenger seat, and a grieving wife laying in the back seat. There must be a joke in here somewhere, he thought. He made sure to keep his eyes split between the road and Alan. Every so often, Daniel also made sure to check the rearview to look at Jennifer. At least he just had to follow Cole, Courtney, and Eden as they led the way.
Watching Jennifer in the back, completely in silence, gave Daniel a different perspective on things. He was used to seeing the kill, the hot, sticky, and thick blood. The look on the person’s face as the life left them. The fear beforehand, and the anger sometimes. But he never really saw the after effects. Sure, he normally hunted people who had nobody to mourn them, out of survival mostly, but every now and then there was someone who could be out there looking for their long, lost, and dead relative or friend.
Jennifer was a mess back at the laundromat. Courtney had gotten her to calm down, but mostly, it was just exhaustion that did the real work. After the tears dried up, she sort of shut down. Now, here she was, lying down in the backseat, quiet. She wasn’t sleeping, although it looked to him as if she was trying, but her eyes would flutter. She would open them and glance out of the window. He thought she was going to say something once but, instead, just inhaled deeply and let it out in a long sigh.
The human emotions are a strange thing, and he wondered what it was like to care so much for one person. He was probably better off not knowing, especially in this world they were in now.
Alan’s eyes never left the car in front of them. Daniel was glad for that. He didn’t want to have a confrontation as he was driving the highway. The landscape began to change from desert to forest, but never truly leaving the desert. It was sandy, with cactuses every so often, then among them the pine trees came. He likened it to playing a game where the developers had created new landscapes but had to blend them together. There was no hard and fast line where desert ended and forest began.
The blinker is what caught his attention, breaking him out of his observations. Cole was signaling they were getting off the highway on the right side. Daniel had seen an exit sign a few miles back, exclaiming there was a restaurant and gas fill up station coming up. He supposed it would be a good idea to look for some more gas, possibly even get some food that wasn’t so high in sodium like the backpacking food they had gathered. Even though the world had changed and the dead may walk, past life rules still applied, and high blood pressure was still a thing. At least, he thought so. There probably wouldn’t be a doctor nearby to confirm this, but he was confident in his assessment.
The road turned to gravel in strips but was still easily drivable. Cole parked the car in front of the large rest stop. Daniel pulled up next to him, but backed up instead, just in case they had to make a speedy exit. Outside was windy and the air was cooler. He was glad for the change in weather. Since the electricity was off, mostly everywhere, being around the summer in Arizona was the last place he needed to be. Not only the heat and possibly dying, but Daniel could only imagine the smell of the soulless after being out in the sun all day, every day. He could picture their leathery skin and cracked lips. He shuddered and capped off his thoughts knowing that nobody else was thinking the same thing. Maybe he was the same make as the rest, but he was definitely not the same model.
“What do you think?” Cole asked, looking to Daniel.
He surveyed the area, noting the 18-wheel trucks parked out front. Not a single soulless was in sight. “Where are they?”
“Who?”
“The soulless.”
Cole finally was hit with the same thought. Courtney put her hand up as a visor, as if it would help her see them. Nobody had any answers.
“I have to go bad.” Eden jumped out, grabbing at her crotch. She bolted toward the restaurant, without any question.
“Eden!” Cole and Daniel shouted simultaneously.
The girl was faster than she should be. Daniel was still able to catch up just as she grabbed the door. He was panting, not used to putting that much energy to anything. Eden was fine. Other than her pee pee dance, she showed no signs of fatigue. “It’s not safe to just run in,” he found himself telling the girl.
“I’m gonna pee my pants if I don’t go in now.”
Daniel scoped the area around the building and saw nothing of concern outside. “Why don’t you go outside by a bush or something?”
She stared at him, deadpan. “I’m not a boy. I don’t go in bushes.”
He grimaced. Girls were a pain in the ass. He hadn’t gotten the princess vibe from Eden before. Cole met up with them, probably slowed down when he saw Daniel had stopped her. He was panting harder than Daniel was. “What’s the deal?”
“We need to clear the place so she can use the restroom,” Daniel replied.
“I can’t wait that long!” she yelled. Suddenly, she ducked under Daniel’s arm and pulled the door open, running inside.
Cole and Daniel followed behind her. Daniel looked at the place. Not a single soulless in sight. He didn’t know if he had expected any, though. When it all happened, it was late at night, and while the place maybe was open twenty-four hours, he imagined it would be pretty dead at the time. Although, there were the trucks outside, so where were the drivers? It was possible they were in the trucks, having been sleeping, but he thought he would have heard them banging around inside them.
They ran past the long diner counter setup. Each stool that sat at the counter looked well worn, but equally loved and taken care of. The place was spotless. No food or spills, no bodies or blood. Almost as if it was untouched just after being cleaned. Daniel felt something was off. With the door being unlocked, no bodies or soulless in sight, and being as clean as it was, there was one thing it led to.
“I’ll be okay, there’s nothing in here,” Eden said, shutting the bathroom door behind her. “It’s dark though, no windows,” she said through the door. “Never mind, I found a light switch.”
The light went on, Daniel could see it from underneath the door, where it left space at the floor. “The lights work. That means—”
“You’re in my restaurant,” the man’s voice said, cutting off Daniel. The two men turned around slowly, being met with a pump shotgun pointed directly at them. Daniel darted his eyes off to the side, looking for anything. “You two so much as move, I’ll cut you in half with this.”
Daniel knew he was telling the truth. Not just because he knew the scatter would actually do the job, but because the man looked so calm holding the thing. He said it like he was making an order at the drive thru window. Just another casual day in soulless land.
“We just needed a place to stop,” Cole said, his voice shaking a little. “We’ll leave right away.”
The man looked them up and down. “There’s more of you out there? Where are you headed?”
Cole opened his mouth, but Daniel shook his head. He quickly shut it. “Why don’t you lower the gun and we can talk,” Daniel said.
“Nice try, but I don’t trust strangers that come in to my place scurrying about.”
The door to the bathroom opened and Eden stepped out. “The toilet didn’t fill with water when I flushed it.” She stopped talking when she saw the hefty man standing in front of her, shotgun pointed in her direction.
“Well, hello there, little lady,” the gruff voice of the man turned to a friendly, upbeat noise, almost void of gruff. He considered them for a moment, then put the shotgun over his arm, pointing at the ceiling. “Sorry about the gun. I just can’t trust too many people these days and have to run them through the ringer until I do.”
Eden stood still, looking up at her dad, then to Daniel, then back to her dad. Daniel glanced down, then back to the man. He watched as he held his hand out to shake. Cole took his hand in what looked like a firm, but friendly grip, and shook it. “Cole,” he said as if the man hadn’t just stuck a gun in his face.
“The name’s Howard. Again, so
rry about the gun, I just can’t be too careful.” He held Cole’s hand for a moment, then angled his hand to Daniel. His grin stretched wide and seemed genuine, but Daniel knew how easy it was to come off as honest and friendly when it was far from the truth. He stared at Howard’s hand and looked up at the man.
“So that’s it? A girl walks out of the bathroom and all of a sudden we’re friends?” Daniel delivered the question as dry and straight forward as possible. He had no intentions of anyone mistaking him for joking. Not many people were going to stick a gun in his face and live yet, ironically, here he was being friends with another man who had done just that very thing.
Howard took his hand back for a moment and stroked his face. The mustache on it had been well-kept, even in this new apocalypse they were living. “I see your point, uh?” He held his hand out, waiting for Daniel to respond with a name.
“Danny,” Daniel said as plain as possible. He had no intention of taking the man’s hand. As much as he hated putting a face on to people he planned on feigning friendship with, he had no intention of faking it for someone who didn’t benefit him. He stood his ground, staring at him.
“Well, alright, Danny then.” Howard looked him up and down, as if studying him. “I’d say you’re more of a Daniel. Seems to suit you a bit better.”
The way he said it would have shocked Daniel, and it did a little. But he didn’t want to let on that he was surprised. Deep down, the reading this stranger put on him scared him a little. In front of Eden, Cole, and this Howard, he would seem as firm as stone, but later, when alone, he would be shaken a little. “Danny’s fine.”
“Alright then. As I was saying, Danny, I do see your point. Just because folks travel with a young girl like this one here—”
“Eden!” she piped up. Daniel thought it strange for her to offer up the information so willingly but did remember sometimes being young and being talked about was hard not to interject.
“Eden is it? That’s a beautiful name.” Howard smiled wide. “Just because Eden here is with y’all, doesn’t mean that you are all good people. But I get a good read on things. She isn’t scared. She seems safe and taken care of. While that could mean many things, sometimes I gotta take a slight risk and talk to people.”
Cole was nodding in appreciation. He was eating up everything Howard was saying. Daniel wasn’t buying. This Howard guy seemed too nice. He just stuck a gun in their face, then quickly saw Eden? There had to be something else. People weren’t just friendly and helpful like this guy was.
“You are all welcome to come inside, get some food if you need it,” Howard said, the gun still resting over his shoulder.
“I’ll let everyone know. That’s really generous of you,” Cole said, starting to look at Daniel with a grimace.
Howard nodded as the three of them walked down the length of the diner. As soon as the doors swung closed behind them, Daniel opened his mouth, but was quickly cut off by Cole.
“Don’t screw this one up, Danny.” Daniel’s eyes widened. He was a little caught off guard by Cole’s straight forwardness. So much so that he decided to let the man speak. “We’re traveling a long way, alright. I appreciate everything you’ve done for me and Eden, and the rest of the group. But let us have this one. This man is no threat, he was just protecting what was his. I believe he is who he says he is, and I think you should, too.”
Daniel nodded, Cole had said his piece. He was absolutely wrong, but at least he had made his opinion known, and Daniel could respect that. Still, he wasn’t going to let something like that get him killed. “I disagree. Why is he out here alone, protecting his things, and then invites us in? What’s his end game?”
“Maybe the guy is just fucking lonely!”
Daniel thought for a moment. Loneliness. He had thought of the word before and about what it was to be lonely. The truth is, he wasn’t sure he ever would know it. He had always been alone, distancing himself from others. Even as a kid, he didn’t have any friends. Still, he made nice with others when it mattered, but none of it really mattered to him. He didn’t care about them, and they probably didn’t care about him. The truth was, someone couldn’t know the difference between being lonely and not when loneliness was all they were used to.
“Look, we’ll make nice with the guy. We’ll see what his deal is, talk to him, have some food, and then we’ll be on our way. You can keep watch over us all and make sure nothing sinister is going on. Does that make you feel better?”
“Fine,” Daniel said, knowing he wasn’t going to convince the whole group to not go inside.
20
Luke paced around. Paxton watched his old friend decide how to deal with everything. Paxton agreed with him that the horde would be headed their way at some point, but what was not agreed on was how quickly it would actually happen.
“I just don’t think it’ll happen tonight, or hell, even tomorrow. I really believe we have a couple of days before they hit here,” Paxton pleaded.
“Paxton, look man, I feel for you. I really do. But we can’t just bail when this place needs us the most. You saw how quickly they came up on that hardware store. That would be us in just a few hours, I know it.”
Paxton shook his head. Sure, he understood where Luke was coming from, but he was also thinking about a person, not the soulless. The soulless were slow, meandering mindless monsters. They wander, they didn’t have a mission in mind. People would be headed straight for this place, but the soulless, they may never even come this way. The smallest thing could catch their attention and they’d all turn left and walk miles from here. Besides, this place was pretty locked down. Even if a few people weren’t here, Paxton was sure the place would hold up. Luke was wrong about this.
Paxton realized he was in his head, conversing with himself, making deals and pleading to nobody when Luke put a hand on his shoulder. He must have looked crazy, or at least the rags of a far beyond stressed man. Paxton could feel it in his face. He had probably aged a few years in just the past couple of days. He looked up at Luke and met his eyes, tears welling up in the corners.
“It’s alright, man. We’ll make it through tonight here, and first thing in the morning, when everything is cleared, we will head out. I’ll lead the charge myself with you.” Luke gave a warm smile to Paxton, the kind that someone gives when they genuinely care.
Paxton hated waiting, but Luke was his friend, and he knew he had his best interest in mind. The one thing in Luke’s favor was that it was dark out. Paxton would brave the night, but he did agree with Luke that, in the morning, it would be easier and safer to get to Stacey.
Paxton took a deep breath and looked around the room. Matt and Ben had been through a lot today, but they still showed compassion in their faces as they watched Paxton back down. “You’re right, Luke.” He grabbed his friend and gave him a hug, with a solid pat on the back. “You’re a good friend. Thank you.”
Paxton broke the embrace and wiped the tears from the corner of his eye. Luke nodded his head in appreciation. “You should get some sleep. The rest of us will be ready at first light.”
Paxton turned around and walked down the hall from the kitchen where they gathered. He was put a little at ease knowing there were others in his corner with him. He didn’t have to do this alone anymore. He pushed the door open to the spare room and dropped to the bed on his face. Exhaustion was setting in hard. Paxton closed his eyes and could feel himself drifting. Words spoken from down the hall floated into his ear, adding to the monotonous drone of a lullaby to his senses.
Suddenly, the tone of the words escalated quickly. They started making sense and were no longer a drone.
“We can’t fucking do that.” The voice wasn’t recognizable at first, but the next one was.
“I know, but do you think right now is the best time to get into it?” It was Luke. He must have been still in the kitchen talking to Ben and Matt.
“So, what? Just tell him what he wants to hear? You know it’s not going to be safe to
morrow. I’m not going on some wild goose chase to find some woman I don’t even know, just for some guy I just met. Besides, she’s dead anyway if she’s out there alone,” Ben’s voice carried well down the hallway. It was like a tunnel perfectly made for sound to travel down.
“Keep your goddam voice down,” Luke whispered.
Ben’s voice was still heard, but he took Luke’s direction, and Paxton could no longer hear what he was saying. Luke however was a bit different.
“I will tell him tomorrow. He will understand. I know we need him here, though, so it’ll be hard for him to accept at first, but I know him. He’ll understand.”
Paxton shot up, hearing this. What the hell was he listening to? His friend, possibly the longest known friend he had, knowingly lied to his face. And now? Now he was going to be kept as some sort of prisoner just to be another helper at their fort?
Paxton rubbed his face, wiping off whatever moment of sleep he thought he could have and stood up. Maybe he was going a little further with his assumptions about Luke, but he was sure about one thing. He wasn’t going to help him find Stacey.
Paxton went to the door and slowly opened it a crack, peering out. He could see the light from the kitchen illuminating down the hallway. The voices were mostly stopped, but he could still tell someone was in there. The footsteps started getting closer, and Paxton quickly closed the door to a sliver.
Luke walked by the room and paused, his back to the door. Paxton watched as his friend shook his head and kept walking to what Paxton could assume was his bedroom. He knew his friend meant well, or at least he hoped he did, but right now, he had to go. Luke didn’t need his help, it was the other way around. And if Luke wasn’t going to help, there was no reason to stay any longer.
As soon as Luke was out of sight, Paxton heard a door close. Good, he thought. With the door closed, it would be easier for him to sneak out. Maybe Luke was with Sherry, and good for him. He had pulled people together, and Paxton could appreciate that. He made his way to the kitchen and saw the beer cans on the counter. His lip curled a little to a smile. Luke was still a good guy, and part of Paxton wanted to stay, hating to leave. This wasn’t where he was needed. Paxton quickly made it out the front door and closed it behind him silently.
Soulless Wanderers: Soulless Wanderers Book 1 Page 15