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

by Drew Strickland

  He looked across the room and saw a full-length mirror. His face was covered in blood and his hair stuck out in every direction. He looked like a madman overtaken by rage. It was probably the truest representation of how he felt inside. He turned and looked to Vanessa, still strapped to the office chair. She looked at him, fright in her eyes when he reached out to her. He calmly grabbed the tape and gently pulled it off her mouth.

  "Diego?" she asked, hesitantly.

  Pax shook his head, his eyes going to the floor. "I'm sorry." He untied her arms from the chair, and she stood. She put her pants back on and grabbed Pax's shoulder.

  "It's okay." She cried a little but still comforted Pax at the same time.

  Before he could say anything, voices came from down the hall. It sounded like Walt. "He said he was coming up here. Said he had a little gift for us. You never know with Sean."

  Pax ran to the door and shoved it closed. He turned the lock on the handle. "Hey!" That was definitely Mark. They started pounding against the door.

  "Open the door and let them in. We'll kill them," Vanessa said, ready to fight.

  Pax ran over to Sean's lifeless body and picked up his gun, checking the magazine. Pax shook his head. "Only two bullets." Pax teetered on his feet, grabbing the wall for stability. "I don't think it's the best plan."

  "Fuck. We have to get out of here," Vanessa said.

  "Yeah, good plan. But if you didn't notice, we're kind of locked in." The pounding continued.

  "Just open the door and we'll let you go. If you make us break down the door, we're gonna fuck you up, whoever is in there," Walt yelled.

  Pax pushed the table from the middle of the room against the door. The handle broke off from the door, and they pushed against it the door. He turned and saw Vanessa eyeing the corner of the room. Plastic covered the corner of the room and looked like a mess behind it. "What's going on?" he asked.

  She turned to him. "Do you trust me?" she asked.

  That is a loaded question, he thought. But what other choice did he have right now? If he hadn't gone so crazy on Sean, maybe they would have had a chance to fight, but here they were. At least it had felt satisfying to kill Sean like that. He turned to Vanessa, "Yes."

  "Good." She grabbed his hand from the table and led him to the corner of the room, pulling the plastic away. There was a hole in the floor and what looked like a plastic tube in the floor. "Gotta jump in."

  "What the fuck?"

  "The hospital was being expanded up here and-"

  "It's a construction chute?"

  She nodded. "It's the only way down." She jumped in without another word.

  Pax turned around and saw the door pushing the table across the carpet. They were going to get in any second. "Oh, fuck it!" Pax shouted and jumped.

  17

  Pax closed his eyes as he slid down the chute. He spread his arms out as much as he could so that he had resistance going down. The orange plastic around him felt hot, but it was better than the alternative. He fell for what seemed like forever, having no idea when his feet would hit bottom. Also, having no idea what was at the bottom for his feet to meet. He had flash visions of landing on a jagged metal pipe sticking out of some debris pile, goring him right through the gut, or landing on a large piece of brick, snapping his ankle, leaving him hobbling for the rest of his life, if he had more life in him to live. Before he could think of any bloodier visions, his feet hit the bottom of the chute, and he crumpled into a ball.

  He opened his eyes, seeing he was alive. He didn't have a jagged pipe anywhere in his body, and his ankles weren't snapped in half, although he definitely hadn't landed on a pile of pillows. Luckily, the chute was cleared of any large chunks, and he landed on mostly gravel and some smaller rocks. The larger pieces of debris had been hauled to the other side of the dumpster. He shook himself completely out of the plastic and saw that it wasn't all roses where they landed, either.

  Vanessa held a large pipe, much like the one Pax had envisioned sticking from his abdomen, an elbow on the end with a sharp piece broken off inside it. She was swinging it at a group of soulless that entered the dumpster. "Good of you to join me," she said, letting out grunts as she swung the pipe. "Now get the fuck over here and help me out."

  Pax jumped into action. He grabbed a piece of rebar from the rubble they stood in and speared the closest soulless in the head, putting it down for good. He stepped to the next and did the same to that one. Vanessa had taken a few out before he dropped, but they just kept coming. "I don't know if this is gonna work for long."

  "What's the plan, then?" she yelled over the sounds of groans and chomping.

  Pax grabbed Vanessa, pulling her away from the entrance of the dumpster. Together, they climbed on the edge of the metal side. The soulless filled in the dumpster before they had any time to speak. The dead men and women reached for them, but were just out of reach, their fingers only grazing at the bottom of their shoes. Pax pointed into the distance. "We need to get to the building."

  “Obviously,” Vanessa said. “But the doors are locked. Nobody uses the front entrance."

  "Then how the hell do you get in and out?"

  "The attached garage." Vanessa pointed at the structure adjoining to the hospital. "It joins at the third floor for doctors and visitors."

  "So that's how you guys do it."

  "Not the brightest bunch, Guthrie and the others, are they? Chose the hardest way to get in."

  Pax chuckled to himself. Even after everything she had been through, Vanessa had some serious moxie. "Okay then. Follow me," Pax said, walking the edge of the dumpster. "I hope your balance is good."

  "I'd be more worried about yourself if I were you. You don't look too good."

  There was no way Pax could forget about the two bullets that had torn into him earlier, but her bringing it up brought the pain to the front of his mind. "I'm fine," he said. The soulless were still reaching for them, some filtering into the dumpster, while others stood in the parking lot. Most of them had gathered so close to the construction dumpster that they had made a clear path to the large hole in the building from where Guthrie had blown it up. "I'm thinking that will do, don't you?"

  Vanessa looked at what Pax had created and smiled. "Maybe you're not so useless after all, culero."

  "I guess that's better than pendejo, right?" Pax had an idea of what they were calling him but wasn't very fluent in Spanish.

  Vanessa smiled bigger and nodded. "Oh yeah."

  Pax jumped off the side of the dumpster and landed hard on his feet. There wasn't much time before the gap closed again. Vanessa landed behind him and grabbed Pax by the arm. The two of them ran for the hole in the side of the building. The gap was closing in on them, but Vanessa swung the pipe across the first soulless that stepped in their way. Its head splattered in a spray of blood, and the body dropped. They stepped over it without stopping.

  They made it inside, soulless filtering in behind them. Pax turned around and fired the last two bullets from his gun into two of the heads he saw. Their bodies fell against the wall, plugging it enough that it was hard work for one soulless to fit in at a time. "Where's Hector?" Pax asked, finally realizing he hadn't seen many kids around.

  "He's fine. I told him to get as many people and hide."

  "Hide? They're going floor by floor." Pax worried about people he had never even met.

  "The walk-in downstairs in the kitchen. They're fine as long as we can get them out of this. Let's get to moving," she said, crouching down and taking two pistols out of the hands of a dead man on the floor. She tossed one to Pax, and he caught it. She rummaged through the dead man’s pockets, finding another magazine for her pistol, then ran across the lobby and started up the stairs.

  Pax watched her fight her way up the stairs among the soulless. He gripped his rebar firmly and followed behind her. He was glad she didn't hate him anymore. He was glad he wasn't on the opposite side of that pipe. The bodies piled on the stairs, but they made it to the seco
nd floor. They pushed open the door and closed it behind them. There were few soulless up here, having stayed mostly in the stairwell.

  "Let's take the opposite stairwell. It'll be less filled with the dead," Pax said to Vanessa. She nodded in agreement. They both ran down the hall by the nurses’ station and heard a loud moan come from the room across the hall. Pax stopped and turned around, looking into the room. Billy leaned across a hospital bed. The sheets were soaked in blood, and he didn’t look too good.

  "Come on, Pax," Vanessa said.

  "Hold up, he's still alive."

  “Doesn't look like he will be for long. That asshole deserves what he got."

  Pax shook his head. Vanessa wasn't there for what Billy had done. For anyone to stand up against Guthrie, Billy was the least likely. It took a lot of guts to do what he did, and Pax felt like he owed him for it. He stood next to Billy, still using the bed as support to stand.

  "Pax? Is that you? I thought you were dead, man." Billy coughed, blood coming out of his mouth.

  "Yeah, Billy. I thought you were dead, too."

  "Nah, man. It'll take more than a bullet to the gut to take me out. Although, it burns like a fucking bitch, man. My insides feel like they're on fire."

  "I know, Billy."

  "That son of a bitch, motherfucker. All those kids, man. All those families." Billy started to choke up, tears welling in his eyes. He turned to face Pax for the first time. ”What did we do?"

  "Doesn't matter now. What matters is what are you gonna do about it?"

  Billy let out a laugh, and blood speckled the floor. "Look at us, man. We were about to kill each other, and now you're the closest person I have to a family."

  Pax smiled and put his hand on Billy's face. "I knew one way or another you and I would get along. Hell, now you're talking that we're practically brothers." Both men laughed. "We're gonna go stop him. What do you say?"

  Billy looked at Vanessa, who looked at him with disgust. "I don't know if she'll like my company."

  "Since when did you care about shit like that?" Pax asked. "Besides, I'm sure she'll be fine." He turned to Vanessa. "Right?"

  Vanessa stepped into the room. ”Anyone who wants to help kill the puto who killed Diego is more than welcome," she said. She grabbed at the pillow case on the bed and tore it into a long strip. It was about the only thing not wet with blood. She wrapped it around Billy’s stomach and tightened it. Billy gritted his teeth when she did.

  Pax turned and looked at Billy. "So?"

  "Then I'd say you're not doing shit without me."

  Pax smiled. "Can you stand up and hold a gun?"

  Billy stood tall on both feet with the help of Pax. He grabbed his gun from the bed and looked at Pax. He wasn’t steady at all, and Pax was worried he wasn’t going to make it far. Pax had to trust that at the very least, what Billy lacked in physical ability, he would make up for in attitude. It was confirmed when Billy spit blood on the floor and said, ”Fuck yeah I can.”

  18

  The three of them were quite the sad looking bunch. Pax was completely shot up. The blood was trailing down the side of his leg and leaving more than just a few drops of blood in a trail now. The makeshift bandages he made earlier were doing alright, but sooner than later, he would need to be stitched up. His shoulder ached from the second bullet hole. The good thing about being shot twice in the last hour was that it made him forget all about the pain from the previous gunshot he had taken. He eyed the wrapping under his shirt, seeing the blood soaking into the bandages. It was hard to tell between the two gunshots in his shoulder, but he knew his first wound had reopened. Even so, it was the least of his worries. He put a hand on his side, knowing his stomach was the worst of it.

  Billy was keeping up alright. He didn't have the luxury of the bullet passing through and through. Pax looked at the man's face as he winced, making his way up the stairs with the rest of them. Pax knew the bullet in his gut was ripping him up inside, sending wave after wave of pain as he moved. Billy was tougher than Pax had thought. He seemed to be focusing more on the task at hand than on any pain he may be feeling. Pax had a newfound respect for him.

  The best in the group was Vanessa. She was more than just a nurse with attitude. She was strong and had no fear. Pax and Billy followed behind her. She marched forward, up the stairs, leading the charge. If anyone made it out of this, it was going to be Vanessa. Pax was going to make sure of that. Not only did she have Hector and the other people left in the hospital to take care of, but she had something special inside her. Pax stopped for a moment, the fatigue hitting him on their way up to the next floor.

  "You okay?" Vanessa asked.

  Pax nodded, swallowing hard. He was starting to not be able to feel the pain in his side, which was a blessing, but he knew it wasn't a good sign. "Just need a second."

  Vanessa shook her head. "If you're okay, there's no time to rest. C'mon, let's go." She grabbed his arm and pulled him off the wall, then continued to march on.

  Pax smiled. He had a memory flash in his mind of Stacey. Whenever Pax was down about something, she would kick his ass into gear. There's no time to wallow, she would say. You can either feel sorry for yourself, or you can do something about it. It's your choice, but I've told you what to do, so I don't want to hear any more complaining. Got it? It wasn't that she didn't care about his feelings, which Pax would sometimes whine about in jest. She cared more than anything, and she wanted the best for Pax. A tear built up in the side of Pax's eye. It was the first time he had thought about Stacey in a good way.

  There was no death, there was no letting anyone down. It was just a memory of a better time in his life. He looked at Vanessa in front of him and climbed the stairs. There was no time to waste, and he definitely wasn't going to slow anyone else down. He knew what he had to do, and he was going to do it.

  They reached the next floor up. They had been climbing and checking floors at each stop, but they had yet to find Guthrie, Mark, or Walt anywhere. Vanessa pushed the door open, gun ready. The three of them were fatigued and probably weren't much of a threat to anyone on the other side, but what else could they do? It was time for the last stand. Nobody was on the floor.

  They all turned back to the stairs, but before they could get far, footsteps came running down the hall. The three of them spun around, ready for an attack. It was a nurse, or at least someone dressed like a nurse, running toward them. Vanessa put her gun down and opened her arms up, accepting the woman in a caring hug. "Janet, what are you doing up here?" Vanessa asked her.

  Janet was dirty, but she didn't seem hurt. Her brown hair was tucked into a messy bun, some of the hairs pointing in random directions. "I took some of the kids and we've been hiding in room five-oh-seven. Most of the kids are too scared to move. They keep thinking the bad men are going to get them. We barely just missed getting caught." She started to cry. "I don't know what to do."

  "Janet, you're fine. It's going to be okay. You need to get the kids and make them go downstairs with you. There's nobody but the dead down there."

  "I can't fight them off with the kids." Her face was worried and looked at Vanessa like she was speaking a foreign language.

  "You won't have to. Most of them are outside now and can't get in. Here." Vanessa shoved her gun into Janet's hand. "Just hold this, point it at whatever you want to kill, and pull the trigger. Got it?"

  Janet nodded her head. "I think so. B-but what are you gonna do?" She finally looked at Pax and Billy. "They're the ones doing this!"

  "Janet, get your shit together. These men are going to help me. We're going to stop them upstairs. You just need to focus and get those kids downstairs. The walk-in in the kitchen is where everyone else is. Okay? Hector is there, and I need you to check on him."

  Janet wiped her eyes. "Okay, I will do that. But be careful. They're up on the next floor. If they come back-"

  Vanessa grabbed Janet's arm. "They won't. Now get going." Janet turned around and ran down the hall, not needing any mo
re pressure to do as she was told. Pax was impressed. Vanessa was strong and was handling this whole situation a lot better than most people would. She walked passed both men to the stairs and turned around. "You guys coming?"

  Pax smiled. "I guess so."

  Billy looked at Pax with a huge grin on his face. "Dude."

  "What?"

  He pushed Pax a little. "I think you could get laid after this."

  Pax shook his head and followed behind Vanessa. "I'm proud of you, Billy, and glad you're making your stand. But you're still a dumbass." The three of them continued up the stairs, Billy with a grin plastered to his face.

  Vanessa put her hand up when they got to the next floor, bringing them to a halt. They could hear the chatter on the other side, along with clangs from what sounded like doors opening and closing. She pushed the door open slightly and peeked out the slit. "Let's go," she said, motioning with her hand and slipping into the hallway.

  Pax and Billy followed. They crept down the hallway, toward the sound of all the clanging. It was echoing down the hall, but it no longer sounded like doors opening and closing, more like cabinets and drawers. Pax figured they were either looking for people hiding or for supplies, most likely drugs. Guthrie loved his pills.

  "This floor is cleared, Guth. Let's keep going down until we get them all." It was Walt who spoke up.

  "Is that necessary? I think it's pretty clear that we've won," Mark said, his voice heavily winded.

  "I think it's very necessary," Guthrie responded.

  The three of them got to the outside of the door from where the voices were coming from. Pax stepped in the lead now that Vanessa didn't have a gun. She still gripped her pipe firmly, ready to swing it at anything that looked at her wrong. Billy nodded to Pax, holding his gun up. The color was almost completely drained from his face, making Pax worry about how long his backup would be able to keep standing.

  Pax kicked the door open wider than it was, stepping through the doorway. He pointed his gun right at Guthrie and fired. Guthrie dove to the corner of the room, behind a small rolling food cart, the bullet missing him. Pax felt the blow to his gut, sending pain shooting throughout him, reminding him once again of his wounds. Walt had lunged at Pax's waist, and the two of them crashed into the wall. Pax’s gun skidded across the floor in the scuffle.