The Scourge Box Set [Books 1-6]

by Maxey, Phil

  He leaned down and picked up the tablet.

  Nothing changed on the cool smooth surface.

  Joel turned slightly to Bill. “See, it wasn’t—” Before he could finish, some of the symbols which were arranged in a twelve by eighteen grid, slowly morphed into others. “Err… you recognize any of these new symbols…” he said, tilting it in their direction.

  There was no response.

  “Bill?”

  “No…” The older man looked across to Evan. “You’re recording, correct?”

  “Sure am.”

  Joel watched as more symbols changed, each one glowing slightly. “So, now what?”

  “Now, for the experiment. Touch one of the symbols.”

  “Which one?”

  “Umm, start with the top left one. The first…”

  Joel blew out his cheeks. “Okay…” He lightly touched the first golden symbol.

  The scene in front of him blew outwards. Walls, bookshelves, ceiling, everything stretched as if it was made of rubber, extending into infinity, then snapped back, except where he was now, wasn’t the living room.

  “What the hell?” He instantly recognized the sand-colored stone pillars covered in etchings, but this time he could also feel the heat from the burning torches and smell the dry air.

  He coughed. The noise reverberated as if he was under water.

  Even though all his senses were telling him he wasn’t in Haven anymore, his mind flat-out refused to believe it. As he walked forward, he thrust out his hand, hitting the solid pillar. A small amount of dust fell to the flat floor. He held his fingers close to his face examining the grains of sand which stuck to them.

  This can’t be real. I’m hallucinating. The damn tablet did something to my brain.

  He walked forward again, looking up at the ceiling which was equally as smooth, flat, and covered in carved figures as the walls were. As he moved past another pillar, the center of the room he was in came into view. The five sarcophagi from his visions sat in front of him, but now he was able to see their true size. He approached the one in the center, which the others were laid around. The lid which sat on top of the intricately carved walls was at the same level as his head, and it was at least eight feet long.

  Pulses of light raced along metallic channels which were inlaid into the stonelike material the sarcophagi were made from, and, between them, scenes seemingly etched into the sides changed design and form. Joel stepped back when he realized he was watching some kind of depiction of a battle playing out. A sea of creatures which looked like vamps charged at each other. Some took to the air, while others fought with weapons. Then suddenly the scene changed to bodies, thousands, laying on a desertlike surface, while two remained fighting. Covered in an ornate armor they fought, exchanging parries and blows until one fell to the ground dead, and the other stood triumphant. The figure that was left looked human, and as they looked up at the sky, an angular shape appeared and descended. The stone-carving movie then reset.

  Joel stepped further back and looked at the scale of the mausoleum-sized block in front of him.

  A hand rested on his shoulder.

  As he whirled around, the walls and pillars extended into the distance once more, this time when the world collapsed back on itself, he was looking at Bill in the living room.

  Joel’s eyes were wide.

  “Did anything happen?” said Bill.

  *****

  Marina looked at the homemade jars of orange peel jam and wondered what they used for currency in Haven.

  Around her, the shelves which lined the walls of the small mom-and-pop store, were well-stocked but most of the branded items were already gone. What was left was homemade food items, grown and baked by the residents.

  Towards the front of the store, Jess and Jasper laughed as they pretended to be heroes with magical powers, each one armed with a wooden shield and stick.

  Marina looked at the counter and the elderly woman beyond.

  Glasses perched on the end of the woman’s nose. “Is there anything you want, dear?”

  Marina briefly sucked in her bottom lip as she awkwardly walked towards the counter. “I don’t have any money…”

  The old woman smiled. “Oh, we don’t use money here anymore. Now the stores in Haven operate on a barter system. What do you have that you would like to offer?”

  Marina checked her pockets, already knowing they were empty, but hoping the gesture might create some sympathy in the store owner. It didn’t. The woman’s smile remained fixed.

  There were only two other items she could exchange. One was on her wrist, and the other was on her finger. They were both given to her by Russell, except one had a practical use, and the other, her wedding band, did not.

  On leaving Russell months earlier and making her way to Denver with Jess, she had removed the plain-looking white gold ring for the first time since they married. It felt wrong and exhilarating at the same time to feel the breeze on the indented spot on her finger, and for most of her time with her sister it remained in her pants’ pocket. But the moment it was obvious the scourge was something more than just a bad case of influenza, she retrieved it and slid it back on her finger. The country was descending into chaos, there was no time for silly games.

  She held up her left hand and looked closely at it.

  The woman pretended not to notice, and looked back down at the worn paperback she had been reading.

  Marina looked along the aisle to make sure Jess wasn’t watching, and slid the ring off. A part of her wanted to take one final look at the inscription on the inside, but she chose not to, and instead placed it on the counter. “How much can I get for this?”

  “Oh, let’s see.” The woman carefully picked it up and immediately weighed it in her hand. “Hmm, your husband must have done quite well for himself.”

  “He did.”

  “Well, the way it works is we give you what we call credits. And you can spend the credits how you like in any of the stores in Haven. For this, I would give you… three hundred.” The woman smiled. “Does that sound fair?”

  Marina had no idea, but nodded anyway.

  The elderly woman took a slip of paper, wrote ‘three hundred’ on to it, then wrote the name of the store and signed her name next to it. She then handed it to Marina. “Each time you spend credits, the store owner will write the new amount on the piece of paper and sign it.”

  The thought occurred to Marina that someone could just fake a store owner’s signature, but she guessed the whole system worked on trust anyway.

  Everything comes down to trust.

  She took the slip, looking down at the name on it. “Thank you, Daphne.”

  The old woman smiled. “So, what would you like from my store?”

  Marina went to answer when she heard the sound of light feet running towards her. She quickly turned.

  Jess ran up to her with a concerned expression. “It’s Jasper!”

  Marina moved swiftly along the aisle until she spotted the young boy sitting on the floor, his back against a small pyramid of paint cans, and his knees up against his chest. He was rocking back and forth.

  She knelt and tentatively put her hand on his shoulder. “What is it? What’s wrong?” she looked back and forth between the boy and her daughter.

  “He just started shaking and then fell to the floor, and—”

  A croaking noise came from the boy and he looked up at the woman next to him. His eyes, which were so pale as to look like they were covered in cataracts, were redder than usual.

  “What?” said Marina.

  “My father. He’s coming.”

  CHAPTER FIFTEEN

  “Who’s the boy’s father?” said Bill with a strained expression. “And how could he know that?”

  The sun was setting beyond the mountains to the west of Haven, and a number of candles were already lit in the living room of Joel’s and the others house.

  Joel was leaning against the wall. “Corvin said they
tracked me with the boy’s help. Maybe he can sense his father that way.”

  Marina appeared from the hallway.

  “How’s he doing?” said Joel.

  “He keeps shaking. Even Jess can’t make him smile.” She shook her head. “I tried giving him some candy, but he hasn’t eaten it… I don’t know if he eats anything…”

  “Has he said anything else?” said Bill.

  “Not since the store. Mary’s keeping an eye on him.”

  Bill shook his head. “Why would he be so scared of his own father?” He looked at Joel and Marina. “Whoever this man is, we will protect the boy from him if he shows up.”

  Marina nodded while playing with the finger that was missing the ring. It felt itchy. “So how did the experiment go?” She looked at Bill then Joel, the latter looked away from her gaze and the former wasn’t sure how to respond. “That bad eh?”

  “Joel had something of an experience on touching the tablet. Because of that, we felt it best he stayed away from it for the time being, until we can—”

  Marina looked at Joel more intently. “What ‘experience’? What happened?”

  “It felt as if I was somewhere else. Some kind of temple or tomb—” He sniggered to himself. “—It was like being in a b-movie about mummies.”

  “I’m glad you can find this all amusing,” said Bill.

  Joel’s outward expression of humor masked the fears which he was only just keeping a lid on, and any semblance of a smile left his face.

  “What did you see there?”

  “There were pillars, sand covered slabs, and five huge sarcophagi.”

  “Tell her what you saw on the side of one.”

  Joel quickly gave her a retelling of the story which he had witnessed come to life.

  A silence permeated the room while Marina absorbed what had been said. She knew everything she had been told was real, despite how insane it all sounded.

  “I know, it’s crazy…” said Joel.

  “What isn’t these days,” she replied, then looked at Bill. “You’re the professor, what does any of this mean?”

  “Actually, I was a high-school teacher. But whatever Joel is, maybe something in his mutated genes is detected by the tablet, and then it allows him to use it.”

  “So his genes act like a passcode on a cell phone?”

  “Exactly.”

  “Problem is, this ‘phone’ language setting is something far from English. I have no idea what any of the symbols are,” said Joel.

  “Yes, it was too much to hope that the lexicon for whatever ancient language the tablet uses was built into the scourge virus’s DNA.”

  “So… is the plan still to go to the Cheyenne Mountain Complex?”

  Joel and Bill looked at each other without replying.

  “I want to learn more about the tablet before we hand it over to anyone,” said Bill.

  “I agree,” said Joel.

  “And what about Copeland? You think he’s just going to stop? He now knows where we are. The people in this town are not soldiers. They saved us the other night, but only after we took out most of Copeland’s people. If a bigger force came at them… Will we be able to stop them taking the tablet and vials? We can’t afford Copeland getting it back.”

  “Only our group know about the tablet and vials. And maybe just—”

  A creaking floorboard made them all look towards the doorway.

  “I know you’re there, Shannon,” said Joel.

  The teen walked into the room. “I couldn’t help but overhear.”

  “Take a seat… From now on we narrow the circle even more. Myself, Bill, Evan, and Marina—”

  Shannon frowned.

  “It’s better for you if you don’t know.”

  She continued with her disapproval.

  “We will be the only ones that know of the location of the tablet and vials. It can’t be here. We need to find somewhere we can find out more from the tablet, and where Copeland’s people won’t find it, even if they want to.”

  “I know a place…” said Shannon.

  “We’re trying to keep you out of this for your own safety,” said Marina.

  Shannon whipped around to face her. “Show me a place that’s safe!? We ain’t safe in here, or out there. At least in here, we can… I dunno, maybe stay alive longer.”

  Joel gave her a knowing nod and sighed. “Okay. Where’s this place?”

  *****

  The former mayor of Bellweather sat on a bar stool and looked into his empty glass. He pulled out a small slip of paper which had ‘Eighty’ written at the top together with John Sloan’s signature, the owner of the Haven saloon. Unfortunately, below that was written a further eight entries, each one detailing a reduction in Hardin’s credits.

  Hardin slid the piece of paper across the bar towards the balding man who was cleaning a glass on the other side. “A..gaaain.” The word barely made it past his lips.

  John frowned, although the expression was almost completely lost beneath a large moustache and beard. “Even if you did have any credits left, I wouldn’t serve you, Brother.”

  “You…” Hardin caught his breath, waiting for his mouth to catch up with his brain. “You… don’t understand… I know things—” He hiccupped. “—Important things…”

  “Yeah, well, now you’re just an overweight guy who can’t pay.” John moved along the bar to someone who could.

  Hardin went to grab his glass, but his fingers refused to fully close and he ended up shunting it forward until if fell off the back. The sound of it shattering quickly followed.

  John whipped around. “Ah hell. Get out!”

  Hardin grumbled under his breath and slipped off the stool, his legs crumpling as he hit the ground.

  A large man moved quickly forward, grabbing Hardin’s hand and placing it over his shoulder. “I got you, buddy.”

  Vince shuffled forward, taking most of Hardin’s weight until they were outside. He looked at the man next to him, hoping the night air would sober him up, but he just stood, swaying slightly. “What did you mean?”

  Hardin’s eyelids drooped then widened as if he was seeing his surroundings for the first time, and then drooped again. Vince looked back over his shoulder at John watching from behind the bar.

  “Come on, I’ll get you home. On the way, we can talk.”

  CHAPTER SIXTEEN

  Lucian looked out from the third-floor window of his late Victorian home. It was the oldest building in Haven and was the home of the former principal of Haven High School and his wife.

  In his hand, he swished some blood around a whiskey glass. He looked out over the town, his town. The sun had crawled above the horizon blending with an overcast sky.

  Fall’s on its way.

  A year before, a sky like that would have meant it was time for him to move from the underpass and find somewhere inside. Abandoned buildings were usually the best options, but he found less and less of them in Salt Lake City during the past few years as they all had become apartments. More than a few days he had to sleep in a sewer during the winter.

  When he, Vince, and the others stumbled across Haven, the walls were already erected, and all it took was for him to announce his belief in a higher power and they were all let inside.

  Within a few weeks, people, including the former principal had mysteriously gone missing, but it was okay, because himself and the others were ready to step in to maintain order.

  The whole cult thing was something he thought up off the top of his head, and it worked perfectly. He even used his improved sight and hearing to convince his flock that he had been ‘touched’ by God, and that he had been sent to look after them. Mostly they believed him, and those that didn’t, well they were useful in other ways.

  Still, he only killed if he had to. He had a good thing going in Haven, and he wanted it to be a real town where people could get on with their lives despite the scourge. Killing everyone kind of defeated that plan.

  He looke
d down at his newest possession. A Humvee. The other six were parked up on the Reynolds farm, along with all the weapons and supplies they salvaged.

  To the victor go the spoils.

  He wasn’t sure where he had heard that, but he liked the phrase regardless.

  Someone knocked on his bedroom door.

  “Yeah?”

  “It’s Vince, boss. You awake?”

  “Yeah. Come in.”

  The door creaked as Vince opened it. The big man looked particularly disheveled Lucian thought.

  “You look like shit. Make sure you clean yourself up before you go around the town.”

  “Will do, boss. Umm… I found out some things you’re going to want to know.”

  *****

  Joel sat inside the Humvee some ten yards from the wooden exterior gate to the town. He had grabbed the vehicle for himself when he discovered where most of them had been taken.

  A guard walked up to him, trying to see the eyes of the man who was wearing sunglasses.

  “Open the gate, we’re going to find supplies for the town,” said Joel, leaning out of the side window.

  The guard, a young man wearing a hunter’s hat, looked unsure how to react. “Brother Lucian say you could leave?”

  “Sure.”

  “I don’t know, sir… usually we are told if someone wants to leave.”

  “Well, you can wake Brother Lucian if you want…”

  The young man looked at the radio hooked onto his pants, then to the other guard who was walking towards them.

  “Look, we’ll be back within a few hours, and, who knows, maybe we can find some good stuff out there.”

  The young man looked inside the vehicle. Marina was in the passenger seat, with Bill, Evan, and Shannon in the back seat. The young girl smiled at him. He smiled back.