Patriarch: Soulless Wanderers Book 2 (A Post-Apocalyptic Zombie Thriller)

by Drew Strickland

  Patriarch

  Soulless Wanderers Book 2

  DREW STRICKLAND

  www.drewstricklandbooks.com

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  For my two boys,

  Thanks for showing me more than I ever wanted to know about hospitals.

  Contents

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

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  Afterword

  About the Author

  1

  Blood splattered across Pax's face as he watched the man's chest explode in front of him from the gunshot just dealt him. Pax stood in the middle of the large room, more shots ringing out all around him. He could turn around and see carnage in any direction. Traveling with Guthrie and the others, they had all learned how to operate well together. They had become a well-oiled killing machine. This was one of Pax's favorite things in this world.

  How he had gotten to this very spot was easy. Earlier, he spotted a man leaving their warehouse. It was where they stocked all of their supplies. It was where they slept and ate. It was the safest place for them. It was the closest place any of them had to call home. Instead of killing the intruder on the spot, Pax decided to follow him. The price for stealing from them in this world was a lot deadlier than it was before. Pax continued to watch as the entire group who stole from them was slaughtered. A smile crept over his face when the thought passed through his mind. He was going to sleep well tonight.

  He watched a man drop to his knees, holding his chest. Guthrie stood, his grey beard twisting into a smile as he held the literal smoking gun that delivered the bullet to the man. He fell over, taking his last breaths as Guthrie pulled a cigarette from his pocket and lit it. Puffs of smoke hovered over the room like a cloud of misery. Out of the corner of Pax's eye, he saw Walt, Sean, and Mark gunning down another man, who’d been trying to get away. Blood speckled all three of their shirts. To his right, Billy and Reggie were beating someone. The guy’s face was so bloody and bruised that Pax couldn't tell what he’d looked like before. The group was a sight to behold when they worked together to punish others. It was funny to think they had only been together for a month.

  A loud screech came from behind Pax. He quickly turned, his gun in his hand. Before he could raise it, the woman running at him had pushed his hand to the side, causing him to miss his opportunity at a shot. She held a knife, rage in her eyes. Pax laughed a little. It was cute that she thought she could fight back against them. The rest of her people were dead or dying.

  "This is the punishment. You think you can take what's not yours? All of this is your fault." Pax grunted as he struggled with the woman.

  "We did nothing to deserve this!" she screamed and tried to force the knife down on him. He easily grabbed her wrist and spun her around. He pulled the knife out of her fist and put it to her neck. In one steady swipe, he slit her throat and let her go. She stumbled forward, blood spilling from her wound. She gurgled and choked until she no longer breathed.

  "No!" a man screamed out. He ran forward but stopped at the woman. "Hillary, Hillary. No, please, no." The man cried and buried his face in her hair.

  Pax stepped back and let his gun dangle next to his side. He looked at Hillary's dead body. She looked up at him with her dead eyes, and it happened. Stacey took her place, her throat slit. "This is who you've become, Paxton? This is who you are?" She looked at him, her throat slit and a single tear rolling down her cheek. Pax shook his head and saw it was Hillary again. Pax dropped his gun next to his side. It was almost as if he was paralyzed.

  He watched the man crawl to the gun he had dropped and picked it up. He pointed it at Pax, tears flowing down his face and his cheeks red with anger. Pax waited for the bullet to hit him, helpless to do anything to stop it. "You son of a bitch!" the man screamed, quickly turning the gun around and sticking it in his own mouth. He pulled the trigger and his head exploded out the back. His body fell over, lying next to Hillary's. Their hands touched slightly at the fingers as both of their dead eyes stared at each other.

  What had he become?

  "Holy shit!" Guthrie said, his voice booming over the last of the echo from the gunshots. "That was some crazy fucked up shit, Pax. You okay?"

  Pax finally snapped out of it. He turned around, leaving Guthrie staring at the bodies on the floor. "I'm good. Let's get our shit and get out of here. We've got a long day tomorrow and I'd like to get some sleep."

  Guthrie laughed. "You guys heard him. Let's get our shit and celebrate back home! We'll let Pax get some much-needed beauty rest, too. Without him, this wouldn't have been possible."

  Pax kept walking out the door, not wanting to look at any of the carnage he had left behind. He was shaken and needed to climb into bed and put all of this behind him. Except that wasn't going to happen, and he knew it. When he closed his eyes, he knew he would only see her face staring back at him, and he couldn't bear to face it. He knew tonight would be lost to the nightmares, but what worried him most now was if he was becoming the nightmare.

  2

  "What do you think, Pax?" Guthrie asked after taking a long inhale from his cigarette. The smoke puffed with each word he spoke.

  "I-"

  "Who gives a fuck what Pax thinks. He don't know shit anyway," Billy said, arching his back against the jeep.

  "If I wanted your opinion, you scrawny fuck, I'd have asked for it." Guthrie turned to Billy, his eyes red, mostly from the lack of sleep, Pax assumed. The other part could be stress, maybe anger. Either way, Guthrie definitely wasn't someone to be messed with right now. Even at his best, it was better to tread lightly around him. "Don't interrupt me again, got it?"

  Billy swallowed hard. "Sure thing, G-Guthrie." The stutter wasn't from fear, although it probably didn't help. Billy had been a stutterer since Pax had known him on the road.

  Pax looked at the scrawny, yet capable man. Sure, they were traveling companions, and part of the same group, but ever since Pax had nearly killed Billy, he had wanted to get the better of him. Pax was sure if Guthrie wasn't standing in the way, Billy would love to try and kill him. Luckily for Pax, Billy wasn't a threat as long as he was watched. He was an asshole Pax would kill if need be. There would be no love lost on that deed. Still, traveling for a month with someone, he had figured by now the man would have at least accepted him a little. No matter, the others in the group had seemed to take to him alright.

  "So, what's it gonna be?" Guthrie asked again, the smoke coming out in more puffs.

  Pax looked at the building before them, welcoming any topic that was far from what happened last night. It was a large building that had seen better days, however, it was still standing in good shape. There were no signs of damage from looters. It was right at the edge of downtown, so it
was larger than most grocery stores. The lights had obviously been shut off. Ever since the fall happened, places didn't stay lit up, unless there was solar or a generator, which meant people. With the lights being out, there was a high chance of no people, but with no signs of looting, there was an even higher chance of soulless. "Guth, I don't know, man. It could be anything in there. Maybe there were late night stockers, shoppers maybe. Fuck, we haven't even gone around back yet to see if there were any signs of damage."

  Guthrie thought about this for a moment as he stroked the beard on his chin. "Good point. One of the many reasons I'm glad we picked you up." Guthrie turned to the others. "Reggie, Mark, the two of you check around back. Make sure there's no surprises there. Billy, Pax, and I will check out inside." Guthrie turned to Pax, "Can't be too careful. Last thing we need is a horde coming up the way and we're stuck holdin' our dicks inside." Guthrie let out a chuckle.

  Pax could only think about when this all came down. He remembered Ryan being eaten by the soulless inside the home improvement store. The horde boxing them in when they ran outside. He remembered Shelly picking them up from the parking lot as Ryan's brothers cried in the back of the truck. The fire, then the death. His hands around Shelly's throat, her life snuffed out in a matter of seconds. It all started coming back to him. He snapped out of it as soon as Guthrie smacked his shoulder.

  "Let's do this." Guthrie adjusted his junk and stepped up to the doors. Pax wasn't crazy about going through here so unprepared, but whatever would get his mind from betraying him right now was better. He followed Guthrie. The doors were locked. Guthrie held out a hand, and Billy immediately put a tire iron in it. Billy was really good at sucking up.

  The glass shattered after the second swing from Guthrie. He cleared the glass around the edges, making sure there was nothing left to cut anyone. "I'll go first," Billy said just as Guthrie was putting his foot inside. Guthrie turned around and gave him a smile. He put his hand out, offering him the way in. Billy perked up and ran inside, gun in hand. He reminded Pax of a kid running to the ice cream truck as its song filled the neighborhood. Nothing but possibility. Pax followed behind Guthrie.

  The store wasn't so quiet. There was a lot of shuffling inside, which meant soulless. Pax saw a single dead man walking at the end of the store in front of them. It was stuck between the meat section and the freezer in front of it. It snarled when it noticed the three men. Pax had no desire to run to the meat section. He could only imagine what it smelled like up close. He was thankful the store was so large as the air already had a slight funk to it. Like a sour copper scent that stung inside his nose.

  "I'll get that one," Billy exclaimed and ran down the aisle. He really was like the kid always trying to impress his daddy.

  "Goddammit, Billy, you don't know what's down there," Pax said. Billy may be a pain in the ass, but he wasn't in a rush to see him get eaten alive anytime soon.

  "He'll be fine," Guthrie said, scanning the store.

  But he wasn't fine. Just as Billy reached the dead man, he pulled his pistol up. The gun went off, blowing a hole in the head of the soulless, putting him down for good. "Whee, yeah!" Billy shouted. Pax watched as he turned around, and his face dropped. Billy started to take off, back toward the two men, but his foot slipped on something, and he went down hard on the floor. He tried to get to his feet, but as Pax saw, he couldn't. His feet were slipping on something, possibly a spill, possibly blood. "Help! Guthrie!"

  Pax rolled his eyes and took off down the aisle toward his annoying companion. Pax glanced backward and saw Guthrie still standing where he was. "You coming?" Pax asked his friend.

  Guthrie shrugged, his leather jacket crinkling as he did so. "I guess so. This damn kid is gonna get us all killed one of these days."

  "Hey, I tried to end it, but you just had to step in."

  Guthrie smiled. "If I didn't, you'd be lucky to still be here."

  Pax nodded in appreciation. He was right. The other men, and possibly Guthrie, couldn't just let one of their own die and turn around and welcome the person who killed him. That was one thing Pax was happy to have here. A place. Even if that place was among annoying little fucks like Billy.

  They reached Billy before anything could harm him. Pax held out his hand to help Billy up. He looked at it, then looked around. It was obvious there was no other option, so he took his hand. Billy was lifted up, his pants covered in blood from the ground he slipped on. It was everywhere. Bodies lay around, half-eaten and dead. Completely dead, unlike the other kind that still walked. Pax turned around and saw Guthrie already holding up his gun. It looked as if the night crew was stocking shelves when it all happened, and now they were gathered in a group headed their way.

  Guthrie fired the first shot. The sound rang in Pax's ears. He hated being so close to the gunshots, but sometimes, there was nothing else someone could do. Pax raised his pistol once Billy was firm on his feet. He pointed the end of the barrel at the first soulless he saw coming at him. It was a girl, probably no older than eighteen years old. She wore makeup, and even after the month or so of rotting away, he could tell she had been pretty in another life. She was someone who cared about how she was presented if she was going to do her makeup for her job that was overnight. Most people would be glad to show up in pajamas and not worry about doing anything with their hair.

  She opened her mouth before Pax could continue to think about who she was before. The snarl that came from her mouth was deep and almost angry. He pulled the trigger, putting a hole in her forehead and dropping her to the ground, not to make another sound. He quickly turned his gun to the next body that walked behind the one he put down. He pulled the trigger again, already forgetting about the eighteen year-old girl that led the pack. In this world, there was no time to feel sorrow for the dead. There was already enough of that for himself. Guthrie and Pax put down ten before Billy had a chance to even pull out his pistol.

  There were only two left, and Billy quickly stepped in front of Pax, nearly getting shot in the process. "You stupid shithead, Billy."

  Billy pulled the trigger, putting the last two down. He turned to Pax with a smile. "What? You guys can't get all the fun."

  "Next time, Billy, don't run straight ahead when you haven't looked around first," Guthrie said, tucking his gun in his holster.

  "Hey, we at least took `em all out, right?"

  Guthrie smiled and winced at the same time. "That's right Billy, and as much as I love you, I'm gonna make this clear, one last time, alright?" Billy just nodded, oblivious to what Pax knew was coming. "Don't waste the fucking ammo! What the hell is wrong with you?"

  "What? We got lots of bullets." Billy stood bewildered at the fact he was being torn a new one.

  "Sure, today we do. But what about tomorrow? Or the next day? Or maybe five years from now? Do you have a bullet making machine in your ass that you forgot to mention to us, cause it sure as shit would come in handy one of these days!"

  Billy's eyes shot to Pax, who offered no answers. "No, Boss, I-"

  "That wasn't a real question, asshole! I love you, Billy, I truly do, but damn if you aren't one of the stupidest sons of a bitches I've ever met."

  "Sorry, Guthrie. I just thought I could help out."

  Guthrie took a deep breath and let it out slowly. Pax could see he was changing gears as the red in his face was fading away. "Look, Billy, today we have bullets. But if we don't have to use them, then that's best. One of these days we won't have as many as we do now, and I'd like to push that day off as far as we can. If we could have quietly come around the aisles, we could have knifed most of the wanderers. But coming at a group head on, we had no other choice. You forced us to that choice."

  Billy nodded, understanding. "Sorry, Guth."

  "It's okay, Billy. Why don't we take a look around and see what we can find?"

  Pax watched as Billy shrugged off the conversation and went right back to his usual attitude. He was like the scrawny, dumb dog that got hit by a car early in life
and was left dumb and happy. He would get scolded for eating the master’s steak and take it hard, but two seconds later, if the master was smiling, he had forgotten all about it.

  Billy shot Pax a dirty glance, his eye brows raised and lip snarled, reaffirming Pax's previous thought. He shook his head and turned around. The last thing Pax needed was to get into it with Billy now. They needed to stock up on as much of this stuff as they could and get back to headquarters. Even though it wasn't much, it was just about all Pax ever looked forward to.

  He walked down the aisle alone, away from the direction Guthrie and Billy had gone. It looked like Guthrie was trying to find something in the pharmacy, Billy was probably trying to stick around his master. Guthrie probably had the right idea, but Pax wanted to be alone. Besides, he preferred his escape in the form of a liquid. He wandered toward the glass bottles, filled with their brown and clear alcohols.

  He past the cold section where the beers and chilled wines were. In the past, he would have loved a good beer. However, these days, it wasn't enough. He wasn't much of a drinker in the past, at least, not the kind that most people thought of. One or two beers with friends was it. If anyone brought out the strong stuff, he would politely pass, maybe take the smallest pour to be polite but risk being passed out in a couple hours. It really drained him of energy back then. Now, it was all he could do to keep the nightmares away.