Soulless Wanderers: Soulless Wanderers Book 1 Read online

  “Let’s go,” Daniel said, taking his gun back. He grabbed the man’s pistol and checked it. It was empty.

  “You just- He was just- How could you do that and not—” Cole stuttered and couldn’t finish his sentence. Daniel turned and looked at him. He had the look on his face that he knew very well. Cole was scared. He had never seen someone kill another person, or even watched anyone die.

  He stood in front of Cole and talked to him slowly. “Cole. We need to go. There isn’t much time left, and we need weapons.” He looked to the man on the ground and back at Cole. “This is the way the world is now. It is different. But it’s something I’m prepared for, and you can be, too.”

  Cole snapped out of it a little and looked at Daniel. “You knew all along. About Alan. We tied you up and turned our backs on you.”

  Daniel clasped his hand on Cole’s shoulder. “Because you are good people. I’m not. You were wrong about Alan, but you weren’t wrong about me.” It was the most genuine Daniel had ever been with someone. “Now, let’s go.” Cole didn’t hesitate and took stride just as soon as Daniel did.

  The bunker came into view after a little time, and Daniel went to the keypad, entering his code. The door opened, and the men walked in. “What is this place?” Cole asked.

  “It’s my place in the woods. My bunker, I guess.” Daniel wasn’t about to tell him it was where he wanted to make his last stand or where he took people in his past life. That’s when it dawned on him. Cole was the first person he had brought here without the intention of killing. At least, not in a long time. Daniel grimaced at the thought of the past and swallowed it down. No time for that now, and hopefully no time for it ever. Bad memories had a habit of creeping up at the wrong time.

  Daniel and Cole loaded up on weapons. They each carried as many guns on their person as possible. They each had a knife or two strapped to their belts. They looked like they were ready for war. And as far as Daniel was concerned, it was war. “You ready?” he asked Cole.

  Cole nodded and swallowed hard. “I just, I don’t know—”

  Daniel stopped him. Neither of them had bothered to wash the blood off themselves. Daniel was sure it wouldn’t matter. They would be wearing blood at the end of this, one way or another. “It’s alright, Cole. I know, you’ve never killed anyone. You think you’re not gonna be good at this, or even make it that far.”

  Cole nodded. “How am I, a schmuck who has never even been in a fist fight, going to do this?”

  Daniel smiled. “Killing isn’t a matter of strength or skill. Sure, that can help, but what it’s really about is wanting it. Being able to do it and knowing you’re going to go all the way with it, that’s what matters. If you can know that you want to kill that man, more than he wants to kill you, you’re ninety five percent of the way there. Then you just do it.”

  Cole nodded. He looked ready.

  “And, you’re not just a schmuck. You’re a father.” Daniel led Cole out of the bunker as the sun set, knowing this may be the last time he ever saw this place.

  34

  Paxton stepped over the two bodies he left on the front porch earlier. The blood pooled on the cement porch, still wet and sticky. It made a sloppy smacking sound when he stepped in it. His footprints led out into the street. The sun was out and beaming down on him. It wasn’t too hot but definitely wasn’t comfortable. He didn’t care at all.

  He was waiting. Waiting for something to come along and end it all. Nothing else was going through his head. He put up the walls to block out everything else. He sat, and as images of his wife tried creeping in, he immediately thought about his own death again. Anything was better than the image of her bleeding out. And he wasn’t going to spend any more of his life thinking about it, for as short as it would be now.

  “Where the hell are you?!” he screamed out after waiting for what seemed like an eternity. Nothing had come. Not a single soulless wanderer through the neighborhood. He knew the horde was just a couple blocks over, but he didn’t have it in him to get up. The thought of leaving this spot seemed like too much effort, and anything more would make him break down in tears. “I just can’t—”

  The sound of an engine came roaring from around the corner. Paxton turned his attention to it and saw two large vehicles. He had seen Hummers before, at least the ones all decked out for soccer moms to drive around. The ones that made absolutely no sense to drive in the streets. But these weren’t those. These were huge and definitely not the soccer mom variety. They looked like military vehicles. The doors opened, and a couple of guys stepped out. They did not look military.

  One of the men took a few steps toward Paxton. He was tall, and not quite scrawny, but looked like his metabolism was getting the best of him no matter how much he tried to put on muscle weight. Most people would have been jealous before the whole apocalypse thing. Paxton watched him, still sitting on the pavement as the man spit a huge wad of tobacco slurry at him. “Holy shit, looks like we got a live one here!” Paxton took a deep breath and let it out with a grunt. “I’m gonna gut him!”

  Paxton watched the man pull a knife out of his belt. He supposed it would be too much for him to use one of the guns he carried, but it didn’t matter much to him. It would be over one way or another. As long as it was soon, he would embrace it.

  “Hold up,” the voice came from behind the knife carrying scrawny one. This man was a larger, muscular type. He didn’t seem to have a problem with his metabolism at all. If Paxton had seen him alone, he would have thought he was military with how he dressed. He still may have been, but with the others around, it seemed less likely. “Let’s let the jailbird do it.”

  The scrawny guy started laughing. “Yeah, that’d be fun to watch. Somebody get him out here.”

  The fattest of the men went to the backdoor of a vehicle and pulled out a man. He looked just as bad as Paxton, except for the amount of blood covering him. Paxton was sure he had him beat on that race. The man, wearing a tattered shirt and jeans stumbled out of the Hummer. He looked scared and definitely not a part of the group. His hands being bound with rope sealed that assumption. The fat man cut the rope and pushed him in front of the group, close to Paxton. “Kill this bitch.”

  “You want me to kill him?” the man asked his captors, unsure of what to do.

  “You fucking heard what I said. Do it.”

  “Yeah, kill this guy, and we will let you go,” the muscular man said. “One less mouth to feed, and we get some entertainment.” He threw a knife in front of the jailbird.

  “Look, man, I don’t know who you are, but I can’t be here with them anymore. The shit they are doing to me and making me do.” The jailbird was almost in tears. He picked up the knife, and his face changed from stressed to determined. “Can you stand up? It would be easier if you could do that for me.”

  Paxton almost had to laugh inside. This man was in an obviously tight situation. He climbed to his feet and gave a nod, clearing his throat. He was ready to die, so why not make it easier on someone who had seen some rough times. “Alright.”

  The man gripped the knife and took a few steps toward him. “You wanna say anything first?”

  “Get on with it! He can say a quick prayer to God and make his peace while he is bleeding out.”

  Paxton’s eyes narrowed. It all hit home. “Fuck you!” he shouted out. “God doesn’t deserve shit from me.”

  The man stepped in with the knife, but it was already too late. Paxton was triggered and grabbed the man’s wrist. He twisted his arm and plunged the knife into the man’s chest. The man cried out as the blade went inside him. Paxton let him drop to the street and pulled the knife from him. “I’m sorry. I’m sorry. I’m sorry,” the man kept repeating.

  “You have nothing to be sorry about. Tell whoever is on the other side to fuck off.” He stabbed the knife into the man’s temple, putting him out of his misery.

  The men just watched, shocked at the nobody in front of them killing so quickly. “Man, fuck this gu
y!” The scrawny guy grabbed his knife from his belt, much bigger than the one Paxton held. He walked to him.

  “Take him down, Billy!” the men shouted from behind him.

  The scrawny Billy turned around and gave them a smile. Before he could turn around, Paxton was on top of him. He grabbed the man’s throat and held the knife up, ready to plunge it into him. Billy quickly punched Paxton in the chest, sending him stumbling back. “I ain’t so easy to kill, asshole.”

  Billy grabbed Paxton and delivered a punch to his jaw. His face was still slick with blood, so the fist rolled off a lot smoother than expected. Paxton grabbed Billy’s empty hand and pulled him in close. Billy freed his hand and grabbed Paxton’s wrist as he raised the knife again. Paxton couldn’t push it any further. Billy was a lot stronger than he looked, given his thin frame.

  Billy pushed his large knife toward Paxton’s chest, but Paxton swatted it to the side. Part of the knife went into his shoulder. The cold metal cut into him, and the pain seared through his shoulder. Paxton gritted his teeth, not giving a damn about it. He looked Billy right in the eyes as they stood in a grapple. Hands clasped together in one grip, while Billy’s other hand held the knife stabbing into Paxton. Paxton saw his opportunity, if he could get closer.

  Paxton grabbed Billy’s throat and pulled himself in. The blade of the knife going deeper and deeper into his own shoulder. “Jesus Christ!” Billy said, realizing the fight wasn’t going the way he had planned.

  “He won’t save you. Not now, not in this world.” Paxton was frothing at the mouth. His spittle landing on his opponent’s face. He closed the grip on Billy and delivered a headbutt straight down on the man’s nose. Blood sprayed everywhere as Billy took a faltered step backward. Paxton kicked him in the gut and put him on his ass.

  “Help me!” Billy screamed, but Paxton was already pulling the knife from his shoulder. He got behind him before any of the men reacted. The blade was pressed against Billy’s throat, and Paxton was ready to pull it across, wanting the blood to spill out.

  The gunshot shook him out of his mad rage. The bullet landed next to his foot. Paxton quickly turned his gaze to the Hummer. The driver’s door was open and a bearded man, probably two decades older than he was, stood, holding a gun. “Either one of you makes another move, I’ll shoot you both.”

  “Kill this motherfucker!” Billy screamed to his leader.

  “Shut your fucking mouth, Billy. I should let him kill you where you sit, you sack of shit!” Billy was scared, with tears running down his face. Paxton still held the knife against his throat. “Now, why don’t you slowly take the knife off his throat, friend.”

  “Now I’m a friend? Just a few seconds ago, your men were trying to kill me.”

  “I get that. But see, now you’ve proved yourself very capable. And we definitely need men like you.”

  “Capable men like me? What if I said, fuck it? Then just slit your man’s throat right here.”

  “That’s definitely an option, but then we’d light you up and not give another thought about it.”

  “Who cares? I certainly don’t.” Paxton could feel his shoulder starting to soak with blood. His head was getting a little light, and he knew if he stood here all day, he would pass out.

  The man stepped down from the car and put his gun away. “Look at me, I’m unarmed.” Paxton stared at him, still holding Billy tight, the knife against his throat. “Son, what happened to you?”

  Paxton cleared his throat and thought about it all. Everything flooded his head again. He was a youth pastor. And now here he stood. A knife against another man’s throat, covered in the blood of many other men. He opened his mouth, ready to spill it all out, but swallowed it all down and squinted the tears from his eyes. “None of it matters.”

  “I’d beg to differ. Did someone close to you die?”

  That one hit hard.

  “Maybe someone hurt you?”

  Wow.

  “Someone abandoned you?”

  Paxton could feel the tears again.

  “Hell, God abandoned you, hasn’t he?”

  Fuck.

  “God abandoned us all!” He spun around and pointed to all his men, guns still trained on Paxton. “Now, I get it. We’ve all been there, and it looks like you are in the thick of it. But I’m telling you, there’s a better way.”

  “And what is this way?” Paxton spit the words from his mouth, wanting, no, needing an answer. This was his moment, and if the answer didn’t come, he would slit this man’s throat and die in the street right then and there.

  The man smiled. “People are pieces of shit. But sometimes you can count on them, like us. I wouldn’t be here talking you down if I didn’t have a little love for Billy there.”

  “What about me? You said—”

  “I know. You’re an added bonus. The point is, there are a lot of people out there. They tell you they’re good people, they seem like they’re good people. But when it counts, they leave you. They betray you.”

  The tears were finally falling on his face. Paxton was ready to give it all up, one way or another. “And what happens if I join you? Then what?”

  “Then we find those people out there and make them pay.”

  Paxton dropped the knife and let go of Billy. If they were going to shoot him, he would be fine with it. But if what this man was telling him was true, he would be fine with that, too. “Okay.”

  Billy scrambled out from under Paxton. “Kill him, already!”

  The man that talked Paxton down put his hand up to everyone, and another to Billy. “I know you’re scared, Billy. But we’ve got a new member standing here.”

  “No, fuck that. This guy was going to kill me—”

  “But he didn’t.”

  Paxton thought for sure Billy was going to draw on him, but he didn’t. The leader was someone they all listened to. There was respect there, and Billy backed down once he stepped in.

  “The names Guthrie,” the leader said, tossing Paxton a roll of bandages from the car. “Looks like you’ll need to wrap that shoulder for a while. Damn, that knife thing was crazy.” He shot a large grin at Paxton. “Hop on in, we’re heading out.”

  Paxton held the bandages and looked at the vehicle. The men all piled in, and Paxton decided. He got in the vehicle next to Guthrie and watched his house disappear from view as they drove off. He would never come back here.

  35

  Daniel looked over at Cole as they both sat outside the wall of Alan’s compound. Cole was taking deep, slow breaths. Daniel assumed he was trying to stay calm, but his shaking hands were giving away his nervousness. Daniel was sure he was going to have to do this alone. He didn’t blame Cole. Cole wasn’t like him.

  Daniel had been this way for longer than he could remember. Cole, however, was a typical person. He had a big house, a nice family. Plenty of things someone would think they would fight for, but when it came down to it, he was used to being nice. To having a code. The code that said people don’t hurt other people and everyone plays by the rules.

  The rules no longer existed in this world.

  Daniel put his hand on Cole’s shoulder, startling his partner. “You gonna be okay?”

  Cole nodded slightly, and his whole body shook. “I don’t know.”

  “You’re gonna be fine,” Daniel replied, knowing he wasn’t going to be fine. He was sure he would be on his own. If that was the case, then so be it.

  The sun had long since set. They sat in complete dark, surrounded by trees. Some activity could be seen through the windows in the house, although no detail to be made since it was so far away. Just bodies passing in front of the lighted window. The door opened, the light from inside pouring out onto the field in front of the house. Two men exited and closed the door. The lights from inside the house turned off.

  “Now’s our chance,” Daniel said to the still shaking Cole. “I’m gonna jump over and take out the two lookouts.” Cole nodded but didn’t move otherwise.

  Dani
el hopped over the stone wall and landed on his feet, crouched down. The two men walked separate ways and started to make it to the wall. It looked as if they were going to walk the perimeter to make sure no soulless, or other intruders, made it inside. The moonlight gave him enough aid to let him see they each carried a rifle in their arms. He quickly, but quietly, made his way along the wall and behind one of the men.

  Just before he got to the first man, he saw the flicker of a flame in front of him. The guard was lighting a cigarette. Daniel pulled his knife from his belt and jumped from his crouched position. He grabbed the guard from behind the shoulders and drew his blade clean across the man’s throat. Daniel could feel the warm blood pour out on his hands and let the body fall to the ground. The guard, with what little life was left in him, couldn’t speak or even figure out his weapon. His brain was confused as to what was happening, and Daniel watched as the man’s last moments were scrambling in the dirt, grabbing at his throat. When he no longer moved, Daniel bent over to grab his rifle.

  Before he could stand up, he felt the cold, heavy metal against his skull. He stopped moving, knowing the barrel of a gun was right on his head. He wasn’t confident he was going to come out of this thing alive but didn’t think it would end so soon. “Leave the rifle and slowly put your hands in the air.”

  Daniel let go of the rifle. There may have been moments to react, but Daniel surely didn’t see any of them. Especially with a gun so close to his head. He put his hands in the air. He figured he wouldn’t be killed right away, otherwise he would have been shot already. Maybe he could talk the guard down. “You don’t—”

  “Shut the fuck up and turn around,” the guard’s voice shouted at him. There was no mistaking his tone. He definitely wasn’t going to be talked down.

  “Alright, I’m turning slowly.” Daniel began his turn, making sure not to go too fast. He wasn’t looking to get shot in the head at the moment.