The Rotting Souls Series (Book 4): Charon's Coffers

by Ray, Timothy A.

  His aunt and uncle stood on the left, Gene’s face passive and looking resolved to doing whatever the women wanted. He wasn’t sure what Donna wanted to do. She might prefer to stay back instead of leaving her home of fifty years. Michelle was worn out, her eyes on her husband as he hovered nearby. Their three children of drastically different ages sat in the waiting room chairs, the oldest looking eager to get on the road and out of there.

  Aunt Cathy had walked into the room during the conversation, her eyes focused on him over her horn-rimmed glasses. “Your uncle wants to wait to hear from his sons. We haven’t heard from them since it all began, but they were supposed to be heading this way. Besides, I don’t think he can be moved yet.”

  Michelle shook her head, “he really shouldn’t. It might make things worse. And I doubt we can fix anything in that compound of yours if he takes a bad turn.”

  Cathy nodded, her face grim. “I can’t leave him.”

  “I know,” he answered. “I don’t want him getting hurt any more than you do. It’s just—hospitals are not very safe to be around right now, no offense,” he added in with a glance at his cousin. “That’s where most of this shit started.”

  “It did. But that was before we grasped the nature of what we were dealing with,” Michelle responded. “We are taking precautions now, and with less patients to monitor, it’s not an overwhelming task.”

  His shoulders lowered as he felt some of the hope he’d been nurturing start to pass. His new home might come under attack at any second and he had been counting on some of the townsfolk helping them in exchange for a safer place to live. But they seemed so relieved that their freedom had been given back, that they forgot there were worse things going on in the world around them. “Either way, I need to get on the road,” he told them, looking at Ros. “We might have company over for dinner and I need to try and be there when that happens.”

  “Uninvited guests?” she asked with concern.

  Well, what did she expect? She was the one that called them. Nodding, he looked at those gathered and forced a smile. “If you change your mind, call me. If you can’t call, try to get to us. I’ll leave you a detailed map. It’s back where we used to go hunting for Christmas trees every Thanksgiving. Not hard to miss if you know where to look.”

  “I’m going!” Mykala announced, getting to her feet. She had the Hispanic heritage of her parents, her long black hair loose upon her shoulders, brown eyes fixed on her mother. “I’m not waiting for those monsters to come back, or for any more to show up. Fuck that shit! He says it’s safe, I believe him.”

  “Mykala!” Robert chastised, stunned. “You’re not going anywhere unless your mother and I say you are.”

  Michelle’s hand went to her husband’s arm, “she’s eighteen now, she can do what she wants.”

  Robert glared at her furiously, “you can’t be serious. We are not letting her run off in the direction of those—freaks! You didn’t see what they were doing to the children, what she almost had to go through. I’m not handing her over to them, not on his word!”

  He wanted to get involved, but a cautionary glance from his uncle stayed his response. It was not his place to interfere. So, he just hovered there, impatient to get on the road, and waited for it to play out.

  “What are you going to do to stop her? Lock her up?” Michelle asked in resignation.

  “Thanks Mom,” Mykala chimed in with a smile.

  Robert looked like he was going to snap at her, but Michelle cut in before he could. “That doesn’t mean I’m happy about it. Splitting up like this, you going off on your own, whether with Todd or not—you don’t know if you’ll ever see any of us again. This isn’t a trip to the zoo.”

  Mykala’s smile dropped. “I know that, but I’m not a child anymore. I know what’s going on out there. We may be safe for now, but that doesn’t mean we will stay that way. What if more like them come to town? People are taking off every minute, going who knows where. We won’t be able to defend ourselves. And what’s left to defend anyways? At least there, we get a shot at something. Plus, maybe we were saved so that we could be there to help them out? Have you thought about that? His people need our help, and if I can, I’m going to.”

  The other members of her family stirred and he could see the indecision in their eyes. “I’ll take care of her,” he promised. “It’s not like we are very far away. Two hours? Tops? We have weapons, we have people that know how to use them, and we stand a far better chance at fending off Renny’s people than you will if they decide to turn back. I want you all to come, but if you are insistent about staying, then I’ll accept that. When you change your mind, we will be there.”

  Gene stepped forward and held out his hand, “we appreciate that. Take care of my granddaughter. I know better than to try and stop her. She’ll run after you the instant our backs are turned. I’ll call a meeting, try to talk to some of the other folks. Who knows? Some might take you up on your offer.”

  He accepted the outstretched hand and smiled, “thank you. And I know that for some reason you trust Robert, but do me a favor and watch your back. He might be hurt, but he’s not down. You knew James and his son Jason. He shot them like it was nothing. Not the kind of man you want around.”

  Gene’s hand broke away and his face turned to stone. “We’ll handle it. Don’t worry about that. You just focus on getting home safe and making sure nothing happens to her.”

  “I’m still not convinced she should go anywhere!” Robert thundered, glaring at his wife.

  “Dad, I’m going,” Mykala stated firmly as she stepped forward to give her mother a hug.

  He turned to Ros, “we should get on the road. You guys work it out. If she’s coming, we’ll be outside waiting. Five minutes, then we’ve got to jet.”

  “You guys take care,” Donna said in her loving tone, walking forward and embracing him. “Tell my sister I’ll try to see her soon.”

  “I will,” he promised. He hadn’t talked to his mother since she had yelled at him for asking his Dad to come to Tucson, but at least she will know that her sister’s family was safe; that had to count for something. “Come on,” he told Ros, as he broke away and began heading for the door.

  She was quickly at his side, not sparing a single glance to their rear as they pushed through the waiting room doors and into the hallway beyond. Heading towards the main entrance to the hospital, he felt on edge. Every door could be hiding a freshly turned zombie just waiting to tear into them. He never liked hospitals and now he hated them even more.

  “You going to tell me what’s going on?” Ros asked after a glance to ensure that they were alone. “Why the sudden hurry to get home? I thought we were going to try and get some help. That’s why you wanted to stay last night and not push onward.”

  “Monica got a call from the President,” he returned, and when she came to an abrupt stop, he forced a smile. “I know. I didn’t want to believe that either. But apparently your call earlier this morning didn’t reach deaf ears. She says that a group of attack helicopters have been dispatched to the compounds. We can’t wait, we need to get back there, now.”

  She took a hesitant step forward, “are we in danger? What did I do?”

  “She says that they just want the evidence we have on Sean. They must think we have something that Joseph hasn’t already sent off. I don’t know anything else. That’s why we need to get there,” he answered, as he pushed through the front doors and towards the Humvee parked nearby.

  “Todd, I’m sorry,” Ros pleaded, as she walked towards the passenger door. “How was I supposed to know? I just couldn’t—,” she trailed off.

  “I know. I know why you did it. Doesn’t change what’s going on. We just have to hope we can get there. I have no idea where this Renny guy is. We may have a pitched battle on our hands. Maybe it was a bad idea to let Mykala come along. Maybe we should take off before she gets here,” he mused, hopping into the driver seat.

  Ros nodded back the way they
came, “too late.” Mykala had exited the hospital and was running their way.

  “I hope I didn’t just sign her death warrant,” he remarked as the younger woman threw open the cargo door and hopped inside. He turned the key, gunned the engine, then shifted gears. It was time to get home.

  Chapter 8

  Incoming

  Joseph

  Compound 2

  “How’s the shoulder?” he asked Matt, who had spent most of the morning training with the new members of their group.

  His friend didn’t break from his plate of food, his attitude sourer than it had been earlier that morning. The training must not have been going well. “I got shot. How do you think it’s doing? That’s a fucking dumbass question.”

  Taking a seat at the table across from him, he folded his hands and slowed his breathing. It would not do to give into anger, it would only make things worse. “I think that I don’t have time to baby your ass,” he said with a smile.

  Matt’s eyes finally met his and he held his smile firm, not allowing the other to unnerve him. “What do you want?”

  Quick and to the point, maybe Matt was doing better after all. “Monica called—,” he began.

  Matt rolled his eyes. “I really don’t want to hear it. She lied to me, straight to my face. I called her on it and even though she knew I was aware that something was up, she still wouldn’t tell me the truth. Then she goes and flies off on a suicide mission without even telling her husband.”

  “It might not be after all,” Joseph corrected with a grin. “She got a phone call. The military is on their way to the Washington Compound. They’ll probably get there long before Monica’s group even gets close. So their trip up there may end up being a waste of time.”

  “Okay? And? Doesn’t change anything. You know, ever since this thing began, there’s been a lot of shit I thought I knew—get blown up right in my face. We thought this was all just an exercise. A way to feel safer about things, to say hey, at least we planned for it. But what exactly did we think we were doing? We played right into that asshole’s hands and none of us saw it coming,” Matt stormed, slamming down his fork and shaking the table.

  He tried to say something, but Matt was apparently not done.

  “Our group is splintered, in pieces; if it ever was solid to begin with. My wife? She’s out there with her boyfriend behind enemy lines. My girlfriend? Lied to me and ran off to get herself killed. I got shot by a punk kid that thought we were military! There are zombies out there ripping people apart, and still our species can’t come together to fight them off. We’re fighting against each other like nothing has changed! You’d think it’d be simple, living versus dead, but apparently not even that is enough. We are busting our asses preparing for an attack, not by a zombie horde, but by a bunch of gangbangers. Maybe our species deserves what it gets!” Matt ended in a rush.

  He had to be silent for a few minutes, let the other man fume. Twisting the cap off his bottled water, he took a long gulp, not breaking eye contact as he did so. “You done?” he asked, watching his friend’s fingers contract and release repeatedly.

  Matt’s eyes broke away, “fine. Say what you need to. Not like anyone listens to me anyways.”

  “From what I hear, that’s a good thing, otherwise your ass would be dead back in Vegas,” he grinned, then leaned back and set his water down. “The military is on their way here as well. I had the kids send what we had, but they don’t trust it’s everything. I don’t know how they’ll react to what we’ve built here, whether they will treat us like enemy combatants. I need everyone that knows what they’re doing topside in case shit hits the fan.”

  “I’m not firing on our service men and women,” Matt threw back without hesitation. “You can count me out on that. They are soldiers, following orders, and I will not lift a single finger against them.”

  “I hope it doesn’t come to that,” Joseph returned sadly. “I really do. But what choice do we have? We may have played an unwitting part it what happened, but what of the rest of the people here? The innocents who didn’t know what they were getting into when we brought them here? What about the children we’re trying to protect? Do we just give up on them? I don’t like it any more than you do, but I will not let them kill anyone that doesn’t deserve it.”

  Sabrina ran into the common room, glanced about furiously, then her eyes landed on the two men. He thought for a second that he might have to deal with another attempt to woo him, but the look in her eyes gave him pause.

  Standing, he beckoned her forward needlessly as she had already begun jogging their way. “What’s wrong?”

  “Caleb called me, says that one of the cameras have gone down on the road leading in. We are about to have company,” she told him, gasping for breath.

  Matt glanced up at her, “that wouldn’t be the military’s doing. They’d just fly in and secure by force. There would be no need for subterfuge; not against ordinary civilians.”

  “Not that either of us are quite ordinary, but I agree. It’s probably that group we’ve been waiting for. Alert the others. Tell them to get to the armory and prepare for an attack,” Joseph commanded Sabrina. She held his gaze, then nodded and turned to sprint back the way she’d came. “I need you,” he told his friend, seeing the indecision the other man was dealing with.

  Matt’s hand went to his shoulder, thumb rubbing it absent-mindedly as he made a decision, greeted his gaze and got to his feet. He was a bit unsteady at first, having been medicated and on his ass for a few days, but after a brief pause, he steadied and some of the fire returned to his eyes. “Let’s go.”

  He smiled, and this time it wasn’t forced. “Right, but go where? Compound 1? Here? If they are disabling cameras, then we are flying blind. We don’t exactly have an army to defend our walls, and pardon the expression, but there are a hell of a lot of walls.”

  “Isn’t that why we gave up the other compound? To have reinforcements when we need them?” Matt returned, as they walked out of the common room and towards the armory. “Call them up.”

  “Okay, say we do that and they end up getting hit. I saw most of the people they brought in. Yes, there are a lot of trained men, but there were also a lot of women and children. If they come to help us, they leave their own position undermanned. There’s just not enough here to defend it all. We need intelligence,” he commented, not sure of what to do; where to focus.

  Matt opened the door to the armory and saw several other people already suiting up and getting weapons. “Not to state the obvious, but—can’t we tell by what cameras they are disabling? I mean, come on. Turning them off doesn’t hide much other than how many they have with them. It still tells us where they are.”

  His hand had been reaching for his sniper rifle and he paused. He should have thought of that. He had been trained to think around impossible situations, to spy flaws in the enemy’s plans and act accordingly. That something so obvious had— “You’re right. I’ll check in with the kids and see what sections have been turned off,” he conceded, grabbing his suit. “You should see to it that everyone’s ready. Get Casey up in a tower with that sniper rifle of his. I doubt he’ll do much, but not like we have a lot of options.”

  “Great, a stoner with a sniper rifle, just what we need,” Matt growled at him.

  There was a cough nearby and Casey stood there, geared up, rifle in hand. “I heard that, asshole. Which tower you want me in?”

  He chuckled, unable to resist. “The south tower. If they are coming this way, I very much doubt they’ll take the scenic route.”

  “Is it true? The military is coming?” Roxanne asked flustered as she burst through the door and rushed towards them.

  Word appeared to be spreading fast. “Yeah, but I don’t know if that’s a blessing or curse. Is everybody gearing up?” he asked, zipping his suit and grabbing his pads as Casey walked out the door at a brisk pace.

  She nodded, reaching for her gear. “They’re scared, but they are getting rea
dy.”

  “They’re not alone,” Matt observed, wincing as he slid the suit over his injured shoulder. “But like Joseph has said, what choice do they have?”

  Chapter 9

  Roadblock

  Monica

  Route 4833, WA

  “Dude, that’s what they call a murder of crows,” Vitarius said, glaring out the side of the cab from the backseat. He had been silent since leaving the airport and he startled her with his sudden outburst.

  John was driving, Jenn and Vitarius were in the seat behind her, and the other two had decided to hop into the bed of the truck. She could see Naima pointing at the same thing, her words lost through the closed window between.

  “Why do you think there are so many? There must be hundreds,” Jenn asked, leaning to look over the man’s shoulder.

  Monica only briefly glanced that way; she was on a mission and didn’t want to get distracted. “I think we can probably guess, can’t we? They found a food source.”

  Jenn paused, then blurted, “oh, ew!”

  John chuckled from the driver seat. His eyes rarely left the road the entire trip and she knew he was busy focusing on the task ahead. The road they were on may be listed as a route, but it was a bumpy dirt road through farmland and they had to keep their eyes peeled for the turn off, or else they might end up driving to who knows where. “Rather the birds eat them, then them eat us.”