The Rotting Souls Series (Book 3): Charon's Debt

by Ray, Timothy A.

  He began by telling them what happened the night before, and though most already knew part of the story, Sabrina had been left out of things so far and her eyes were growing large when he began talking about Sean’s part in the outbreak.

  “Wait a minute, you mean you know the fucker that started this? That’s fucked up, tell me you’re kidding,” she pleaded with him, but he could only shrug his shoulders; unable to put voice to any sort of denial. “Then what are we doing here? Let’s find him and smoke his ass,” she responded to his silence, unaware that the others were no longer able to look up and meet her gaze. “What?”

  Monica took over talking for the moment, giving the grisly details of what happened the night before. Though Sabrina had been given an abridged version of what happened, he saw the horror on her face when it was fully explained and understanding at last dawned in her eyes. “Are you telling me that a maniac is watching me shower?”

  “As far as we know there are no cameras in the bathroom,” he muttered softly.

  “As far as you know?” she asked. He watched as understanding dawned on her about why he had drug them this far away from the compound. “Is there a way to check?”

  “Of course,” Ben stepped in. “The problem is, I found a keylogger on the system last night and any attempts I make at circumventing things will just be noticed by Sean. He’ll just undo any changes I make.”

  “Is that why you were up so late?” he asked, suddenly worried. “Because you were warned not to do anything provocative.”

  Ben shook his head. “He would expect me to look, so I didn’t bother hiding what I was doing. Whoever set it up did a thorough job. I haven’t been able to come up with a way around it just yet.”

  They stood there in silence for a moment and the sounds of the forest comforted him. One of the early signs of approaching danger would be silence and as long as the birds were making their racket, they were safe. There was something tickling the back of his mind, but he couldn’t put a finger on whatever it was. For some reason, he kept picturing Samuel L. Jackson.

  “My purpose in bringing you all out here is so we can strategize without worrying about who’s listening to us. If there is a bug nearby, then so be it, but if he has gone to those kind of lengths; then we are doomed anyways. And the reason it matters if anyone sees us or notices our absence is that they’ll talk about it, Sean will pick up on that, and he’ll know that we came out here. I thought I knew the man, but after last night, there’s no telling what he’ll do if he thinks we’re gunning for him,” he explained.

  “Are we gunning for him?” Rosilynn asked, cutting straight to it.

  He sighed and looked at the others. “I can’t live in constant fear, watching every word I say, thinking that one misstep could lead that mad man to killing us all. Hell, it may not even take that, he might just wake up and decide fuck it and start hitting buttons. Do you want to live like that? I don’t. So yes, I think we’re going to have to find a way to take him out.”

  “Not to point out the obvious, but he’s in Washington. You are talking about a road trip to Tucson and I keep thinking, that’s too fucking dangerous, but now you’re discussing crossing half the damn country?” Ben asked, an eyebrow raised. “Let’s not talk about the fact that the moment you’re gone, he’ll notice something’s up and will probably kill us all, but by now I’m pretty sure he has that other compound locked down. How the hell would you get to him? We designed the place to keep people out you know.”

  “That’s right!” he told the young man, clapping him on the shoulder. “We designed it. That means we know the best ways of circumventing the defenses that an outsider wouldn’t. If the compounds are truly identical, then we might have a fighting chance at getting in there and taking him out. We owe it to all those people he killed last night. We owe it to Arkansas. But more than that, we owe it to the entire world to exact some measure of vengeance on the man that has killed it.”

  “It can’t be done,” Ben returned. “I designed the security systems, I’m telling you, and I don’t see how we can get through them.”

  He was suddenly reminded of Dennis Nedry, someone from a book he used to love to read. “What happens if you reboot the system? I’m sure you have everything backed up on disc. So tell me, what happens if you delete the partitions and reformat the hard drives?”

  “Are you nuts?” the young man blurted, eyes wide.

  “Is it possible?” Rosilynn asked him, suddenly interested. “If you reformat the drives, wouldn’t that erase whatever changes Sean made to the systems?”

  Ben was shaking his head. “I would lose everything. I would have to start over. You have no idea how long it took me to get our systems to the place they are now.”

  “Surely you backed it up, or you can back it up before doing it,” Monica chimed in.

  “I’m telling you that I don’t think it can be done,” Ben said, taking a step back so he could see all the people suddenly turning on him.

  “I think it can,” he replied firmly. “I just don’t think you want to do it. Let me ask you something, do you have any other ideas on how to fix things? If you do, then I’m all ears. But if you don’t, then I want you to tell me how wiping the servers, starting over from scratch, will not be beneficial? That it won’t keep Sean from killing us all on a whim?”

  “I don’t—,” Ben began.

  “Tell me it won’t work,” he cut him off.

  “Maybe,” the younger man admitted at last, shoulders slumped. “But you know that the moment he catches on to what I’m doing, he’ll probably activate the system rather than lose the ability to do it.”

  “Okay, so we have everyone outside, training exercises or chores when you do it,” Monica responded, nodding her head with enthusiasm.

  Ben gave them an angry look. “Oh, so leave me down there to die by myself, is that it? Just sacrifice the hacker, right?”

  He shook his head. “I wouldn’t do that to you. Back up what you can on disc, but make sure they’re programs that aren’t tainted; if there’s doubt throw it out. When you’re ready to go, just tell me and you can go upstairs with everybody else. I know enough about computers to handle the reformatting part of it.”

  “No fucking way,” Sabrina shook her head and his wife was quickly on her heels.

  “She’s right, no fucking way,” his wife agreed.

  “I won’t ask him to do anything that I’m not willing to do as well,” he told the girls, trying to avoid the glares he was getting.

  Ben took a deep sigh. “No offense, but no one touches my system but me.”

  “Except Sean,” Joseph said, deciding to get involved rather than just scanning the forest for signs of danger.

  “Oh snap,” Sabrina snickered, then covered her mouth. It was easy to fall back into the light-hearted days of their recent past and the gravity of the situation shut humor down pretty fast at the moment.

  “I know, all right? You don’t need to rub my nose in it,” Ben snapped back.

  “No one holds you responsible for what happened last night Ben,” Rosilynn said in a soothing voice. “We just need to find ways to make sure the same thing doesn’t happen to us. Even if it means abandoning this place and taking our chances out in the world.”

  “You’d give it all up?” Ben asked.

  “It’s better than living in constant fear. I can’t do that,” Rosilynn told him.

  “Neither can I. Shit, I’m ready to take my chances and stay in one of those houses instead,” Sabrina agreed.

  “Don’t think that hasn’t crossed my mind. But there’s just too much we’d lose by abandoning the main building. I’d only consider it as a last resort,” he told them all and they again got quiet, each pondering their options.

  “You know that the moment I do it, he’ll probably shut down the other compounds, they’ll probably die because of us,” Ben said, no longer questioning whether it could be done, but what the consequences would be instead.

  It was a
start.

  “Then have them do the same thing,” Monica offered.

  Ben smirked, shaking his head, “and how do you suppose I do that? You don’t think Sean will catch something so obvious?”

  “Oh come on Ben, don’t tell me you don’t have a way. Hackers have a language, one that is hard for others to understand. Surely you can come up with some way of alerting them, to pass a message along,” Joseph challenged.

  “Maybe,” the boy replied softly, finally giving in. He was at least considering it and that was good enough for now.

  “It’s still too dangerous to let the man live. Who knows what else he has up his sleeves. We won’t truly be safe until he’s in the dirt,” he told them all, measuring their responses.

  “I’m down,” Sabrina said with a smile.

  “Again, you’re talking about crossing the country, something I don’t think we can do. Not to mention getting through the compound defenses once you get there,” Ben said, eyeing him.

  “It comes back round to Monica’s family,” he said, already working things through.

  “Excuse me?” his wife asked, surprised that he had gone there.

  Joseph however was smiling. “Nice.”

  The two men stared at each other for a few moments, communicating with nods and shifts of their mouths. The girls were getting annoyed and his wife hit him in the shoulder. “Care to share with the rest of the class?”

  “Joseph?” he asked the other man, wanting to see what he had come up with; see if it jived with what he was thinking about.

  The man was still watching their surroundings, not for one second lowering his guard. “Obviously, we are going to have to go after her mother and sister. I know her well enough to realize that she’ll go on her own if it comes down to it.”

  “Got that right,” his wife remarked and he reached out, pulling her towards him.

  “I wouldn’t let you do that,” he told her. “Even Sam thinks I should go. She’s not happy about it, but she agrees there’s no other way.”

  Joseph continued as if they hadn’t interrupted him. “It’s not just getting down there that’s a challenge, it’s the getting back. I very much doubt that her family is capable of defending themselves and the route may be too dangerous to take untrained civilians through.”

  He was nodding, he had thought of the same thing while in the shower that morning. “We have an empty hangar,” he said with a smile and the others were starting to recognize where they were heading with the conversation.

  “Right. We liberate a small plane, fly them back here. Then once the compounds are safe from Sean’s interference, we take that plane, fly up there to Washington and kill his ass,” Joseph finished with a grin.

  “I’m going,” his wife told them, but he was already shaking his head. “Oh yes I am, no fucking way you’re stopping me.”

  “If something goes wrong, the kids can’t lose both of us. There’s no way I’m letting us both leave them like that,” he told her, the others quiet, letting them have it out.

  “Then you can stay,” she told him defiantly.

  He had both hands on her shoulders and she was angrily trying to shake him off. “I’m going and I need you to stay here. You are way too emotionally involved to be cautious. I won’t take the chance.”

  She shrugged out of his hands and moved away from him, steaming. It was going to be awhile before she cooled off and he just stood there helplessly, not sure of how to fix it. “Ros, I know you don’t want to be away from Matt, but—.”

  “You don’t have to ask, I’ll go. I think your wife would be happier if you had a woman looking out for you,” she said with a smile, trying to snap Monica out of her sulking.

  “Hey, you aren’t going without me,” Sabrina told him, setting her arms on her hips and daring him to refuse her.

  “You need more training and a haircut,” he responded.

  “What the fuck is wrong with my hair?” she asked him with wide eyes.

  “The easier to grab you with my dear,” Ben said in his best wolf voice; he failed, but it was enough to stagger Sabrina. His words appeared to trigger something in her because her face grew pale; as if some horrible memory was trying to break free.

  “So I cut the shit off, but I’m still going,” she replied. He could tell that this was one argument best left for later, he was getting tired and wanted to start getting back.

  “I’ll be going as well,” Joseph responded. “I realize now that’s why you came to get me this morning.” He nodded, it had been on his mind. “Only one problem, who’s going to fly the plane?”

  “I’ve got that covered,” he said with a hint of sorrow and his wife looked up to meet his eyes. He didn’t know how to approach it yet, but he was sure the ride back would give him enough time to figure it out. “Honey,” he said as he reached for her, but she turned away and stormed off to her horse; letting him see her back instead.

  “Give her time man,” Joseph told him, eyes on their flanks as they moved to their tethered horses.

  “What if there’s no more time to give?” he returned, feeling an ache in his heart beginning to stir.

  He would have to find some way to repair the breach before leaving. He was confident they could pull it off, but if things went wrong—he shook his head to clear it, trying his best not to think about it. He attempted to turn his mind to other things.

  Like, how he was ever going to convince his father to go with them, much less his mother to let him go? That was enough to occupy the rest of his time back to the compound and then some.

  Chapter 14

  Ambush

  Todd

  Compound 2

  Exiting his father’s room, he felt like he had just come out of a pitched battle instead of a discussion with his parents. His father would be going with them, but if anything did go wrong out there, it’d probably be safer to stay amongst the zombies then face his mother. The old man wasn’t overly excited about their trip, but he was a pragmatic man and knew that there was more to it then they discussed.

  His mother-in-law’s phone call had been a stroke of luck; giving them the perfect cover for what they were actually up too.

  He wanted to check on his wife, but after the cold shoulder she had given him upon their return, he figured it’d probably be better to wait until they were about to leave.

  His father stepped out of the room, his gruff and serious face glared at him. “Your mother is not happy with either of us right now.”

  “I know,” he returned and started walking; better to put some distance between them or she’d come back out and start all over. “But you’re the only pilot we have.”

  “I’m not a pilot,” his father returned.

  He knew better, but he had just had an hour-long argument and was not really in the mood to begin another. “You have been working on aircraft since you were twenty years old, let’s drop the bullshit,” he uttered, then regretted it. He never talked like that to his father, what the hell was wrong with him? His mother had just stirred him up so bad that he no longer felt like himself.

  They walked in silence for a bit and he knew that he might have stepped over the line. “Fine,” his father finally said. “I’ve taken planes on test flights, but never on a short runway like the one you’ve set up here. I can’t guarantee we’ll make it back safely.”

  “I have trust in you,” he replied.

  They were going up the stairs now and he slowed his pace. His father had a heart attack years before and he wasn’t going to rush him. That was his biggest worry about their trip, his father’s health, but without him, there was no point in going. They had trained on helicopters and even if they had one, it wouldn’t reach Tucson without running out of gas. Sean had made it so he was the only one that could pilot his plane, made him indispensable, and since no one could think of a reason to fly that far; none had argued at the time.

  Now he cursed his reluctance and the man himself.

  “Ever think about put
ting elevators in this place?” his father asked between breaths. “You’ve made sure you’ve got everything else.”

  “And how would you get out of one if the power went out? Much less the danger in coming through an open elevator exposed to the unknown behind those sliding doors,” he commented as he waited for his father to catch his breath.

  They had discussed putting elevators in at one time, but most agreed it was an unneeded necessity. By the time any of them were too old to make it up the stairs they’d probably be using the houses above ground rather than the subbasement of the complex.

  As they exited the stairwell, he was suddenly ambushed by his oldest son. “If you’re going somewhere, I’m going too,” Nick told him in the toughest voice he could manage.

  He looked to his father but he only shrugged and smiled. “Don’t look at me, he’s your son,” Henry snickered, walking ahead of them as they headed to the armory.

  “Not a chance, Nick,” he told the eager boy.

  “I’m old enough and better trained then some of these other people around here,” his son offered.

  He paused outside the armory doors and took his son by an arm, dragging him aside as his father continued on. “I know you are and that’s why I need you here. I need you to take care of the girls while I’m gone and help to train the new people Joseph brought in. I haven’t had a chance to meet any of them yet, but I get the impression they are green and in need of serious work. You can understand that, can’t you? You’d help me out more by staying here.”

  His son simply glared at him. “You have plenty of other people here to help out, you are just giving me that bullshit speech every father gives their son before they run off and do something stupid and dangerous.”

  He sighed, he didn’t need this right now. There was too much to do and like always, time was slipping away. Every moment they tarried, his in-laws were in danger; then his wife’s wrath would be complete and unending.