Soulless Wanderers: Soulless Wanderers Book 1 Read online

  It was the perfect world for him. It was the perfect world for Daniel.

  “Danny, are you okay? You had Jeff, why’d you let him go?”

  Daniel looked at Manny, straight in the eye. His stare penetrated right through Manny, whose face dropped from questioning to fright. “My name isn’t Danny,” Daniel said, a smile spreading across his face. “I’m Daniel.”

  Manny’s eyes opened wide. If any of the three men that Daniel had met tonight made him frightened, it was Manny. Jeff was young and scared, and now dead, Paxton was green and hopeful, but Manny, he had seen things. Daniel could tell, not only in the tattoos or speech, but in the way that Manny carried himself, and in the way he assessed situations. This situation was no different. While, yes, Daniel did surprise him with it, Manny acted fast.

  Manny turned around and grabbed behind him inside the closet. Daniel took the man’s shoulder in his hand, trying to spin him around. Manny was strong and pulled back hard. Daniel grabbed one more time, this time making Manny spin. When he did, Manny had a box in his hands, labelled “for crafts” in delicate, bubbly handwriting. Manny threw it in Daniel’s face. Glitter flew everywhere, getting in Daniel’s eyes.

  Daniel grabbed at his face as the little bits of sparkle settled on his eyes. He yelled as he shook his head. It stung, but it wasn’t enough to stop him. He grabbed forward, getting some of Manny’s shirt. “Stop it. You can’t get away.”

  “You’re messed in the head, boss,” Manny said, swinging a fist at Daniel.

  Daniel easily dodged it. Manny was capable, but swiftness was not his strong suit. Daniel punched Manny in the face, making blood spray from his nose. He was going to enjoy this.

  Manny kicked Daniel in the leg, causing him to lose his grip on him for a second. Manny grabbed the two-door barrier they had set up. He jumped, grabbing the latch from the ceiling and pulled it down. When he landed, he did so on his bad ankle and buckled to the floor. “Fuck!” he screamed.

  Daniel smiled as he watched the man roll in agony on the floor. The banging and pushing against the door came harder. Now that the latch was down, the door slid slightly. The only thing stopping it was the kickstand at the floor. Daniel got down next to Manny, who held his ankle.

  Manny swung a fist, which was weak and slow from his angle. Daniel caught the fist, surprising himself and Manny. It was something seen in the movies, but he never thought he would do it. Manny spit in his face. “Fuck you, man.”

  Daniel smiled, letting the saliva drip off his face. He was in the zone and a little spit wouldn’t pull him out now. He grabbed Manny’s bad ankle and dug his thumb into the tendons. Manny screamed and writhed in pain. Daniel grabbed around the man’s throat, applying pressure. He watched Manny fight it as his face turned blue. Manny’s eyes began to close and turn red as the pressure pushed toward them.

  With one last gasp of air, Manny reached next to him. He pulled the kickstand out from the door and smiled. “Go fuck yourself, boss.”

  The door swung open fast and hard, the soulless crowd filtering into the room. Daniel jumped back as half of them got down to Manny. Manny’s screams shot through the hallway and filled Daniel’s ears. He watched as the man was devoured by the group of soulless in front of him. His skin being pulled off with each bite. Once they bit into his throat, the gurgle of drowning in his own blood filled the room. Blood shot up as he coughed, gasping for air. The tattoo’d man met his death in a grisly way, but at the same time, to Daniel it looked like he was smiling. It was his way of giving Daniel a big “fuck off.” Well played, Daniel thought.

  Half of the group of soulless lost interest in Manny. They began to walk toward Daniel, chomping and salivating. Daniel turned and pushed out the doors. There would be no way of holding them off, so he just had to go. He stepped outside and was immediately met with two snarling faces. Before he could react, a truck drove in front of him, flinging the two bodies across the sidewalk. Paxton had made it just in time.

  The truck came to a stop, headlights pointing the way out in front of it. Paxton stepped up from the truck, looking over it as the engine still ran. “Danny, where are the others?”

  Daniel opened the truck passenger door, soulless on his heels. He sat in the truck and slammed the door behind him just as the soulless caught up. Their hands clawed at the window as Daniel looked at them. Their faces empty, no disappointment or hate, just there, but still seeming to want to get to him. Daniel quickly turned and pulled Paxton down into the truck. He had no love for the man, but he was in the driver’s seat and needed him to drive. “Get in the truck!”

  Paxton got in the seat and slammed the door before the soulless caught up to him. “Where are they?” Paxton asked again.

  “They didn’t make it,” Daniel said, shaking his head. He tried his best to sound sympathetic but was afraid it came off as wooden.

  “What do you mean?”

  “We need to get out of here,” Daniel said, pointing to the soulless surrounding the truck.

  “We’re fine right now. How did they not make it? Jeff was just a kid, and Manny was—” Paxton didn’t finish. He began to get choked up.

  “Just drive,” Daniel commanded.

  6

  Something wasn’t right. Paxton could sense it, but he couldn’t exactly place it. Rolling up on Danny alone, no Manny, no Jeff, it just didn’t seem like it should have been. He didn’t think he had taken that long. Why couldn’t the other two have made it? He felt bad questioning Danny. After all, the man had saved the three of them, and he owed his life to him. Still, he was responsible for Jeff. And losing Manny just felt wrong, too. Manny had taken charge when it all went down, and besides his bad ankle, he seemed ready for anything. He put the truck in drive and crept forward. This seemed to make Danny happy.

  Paxton decided to try again. “Jeff was my responsibility. How did it happen?”

  Daniel let out a long sigh. “They came through the doors, so we had to make a barrier in the hallway. The soulless caught up before we finished and Jeff didn’t make it.”

  Paxton nodded. “But Manny did?”

  Daniel rolled his eyes. “Yeah, but then the barricade didn’t hold. He just didn’t make it.”

  Paxton nodded again. It seemed to be all the explanation he was going to get right now. He didn’t like it, but he couldn’t keep pushing. Maybe Danny was dealing with the loss on his own terms. After all, he was the one with them when they died. Maybe he felt bad he was the only one who lived. Maybe he felt guilty or ashamed. Paxton felt bad for judging Danny. He was wasting his time with it and decided he needed to get out of there instead.

  “I’m sorry, Danny.”

  Daniel twisted his neck, as if a nervous tic. “It’s fine.”

  “I mean it. You saved me, and I’m sorry. I shouldn’t question you, and you just went through a lot.”

  Daniel pointed in front of the truck. “You will have to drive by the front of the building. That’s the only way I saw to get in, where I came through.”

  Paxton decided to go that way. “Think it’ll be clear enough?”

  Daniel nodded in silence. Paxton decided to go with it. With his truck, it should be alright if they ran into any of the soulless. Danny’s car had been smaller, and he ran into a handful of them. One or two bodies wouldn’t stop the beast Paxton was driving.

  Paxton put his hand on Danny’s shoulder. He didn’t want to let his companion to suffer alone. He needed to reach out. “If you want to talk about it, you can talk to me, Danny.”

  Daniel put his hand on his head, almost as if a migraine was coming. “Don’t,” Daniel said.

  “What’s wrong, Danny. You can let it out, it’s OK,” Paxton said, squeezing his shoulder a little. Paxton switched his view to in front of him again, maneuvering around some of the soulless. Their groans were muffled under the sound of the engine, making Paxton feel more at ease. “It’s alright, Danny.”

  A white-hot pain shot through Paxton’s hand. “Fuck!” He pulled his hand back
and saw his middle finger bent sideways. It was broken at the knuckle, crossing over his ring finger. He quickly looked up at Daniel, who stared back at him.

  “What did you do, Danny?”

  Daniel winced.

  “Danny, what happened?” It was all Paxton could ask. Something was different about Danny. Paxton looked into his eyes for an answer, for anything. Instead, he felt cold. When he stared in Danny’s eyes, it was familiar to something else. It reminded him of Bobby. It was as if nothing was behind the eyes. They were empty. There was no compassion or humanity to them. Sure, someone was there, but that someone was soulless.

  “That’s enough,” Daniel finally spoke. He wasn’t smiling. He wasn’t nervous. He wasn’t anything other than calm and calculated.

  “What is?”

  “My name. I hate Danny.”

  Paxton nodded. This man was going to kill him, and he knew it. Something had happened to Manny, and he had a feeling it was about to happen to him. “That’s fine. I can call you whatever you’d like.” The pain from his finger pulsated through his hand, but Paxton did his best to stay calm.

  Paxton turned the truck a corner and spotted Danny’s car. The soulless were still gathering around, but it was much sparser. Most of them had probably made it through the other side of the building during the chase. It may be the best chance he was going to get, before anything worse happened.

  “So, what should I call you?” Paxton asked. He didn’t take his eyes off Danny. With his right hand, he grabbed the wheel, gritting his teeth through the pain from the broken finger. He took his left hand and fished for the door handle. He hadn’t buckled his seat belt, so an escape would be easy.

  “My name is Daniel,” Daniel spoke, deadpan. Paxton could see Daniel studying him.

  “Great. Daniel, then,” Paxton said, hiding his excitement. He found the handle. He was so grateful he hadn’t taken his truck into the shop. The automatic locks used to lock once he made it over fifteen miles per hour, but the driver’s side door started acting up, not locking. He kept putting it off for when something worse happened to the truck and figured he could just manually lock it himself. He thanked himself for being lazy.

  Daniel eyed Paxton one last time, up and down. Finally, the man lunged forward, grabbing for Paxton’s throat. His left hand gripped around his throat. It was now or never. Paxton pulled the door handle, letting the door fly open. He pushed back, the weight of his body pulling from Daniel’s grip. He felt his body leave the safety of the truck. Suddenly, he was rolling on the cement. He could feel the burn of his skin from being shredded against the warm concrete. As much as it hurt, it was better than the alternative.

  He stopped rolling, getting up slowly as the soulless took notice. He managed to land far enough away from any of them to catch his breath for a moment. He watched as his truck drove into Daniel’s car. It wasn’t going that fast, but fast enough to throw Daniel up on the dashboard and against the windshield. He didn’t move.

  Paxton hobbled toward the truck, his leg leaving a trail of blood from the gash he took from the glass earlier. He knew that crash couldn’t have killed Daniel. Still, he either needed to get Daniel out of the truck, or he was going to have to make his way back to the parking lot to get Jerry’s car. With the way his leg was now, he knew the soulless would be on him before he could make it. If Daniel was out cold, it would be easiest on him to get the man out of the truck.

  He got to the driver’s door and put his hands up on the door frame. Daniel was still lying there, breathing, but not stirring. Paxton had to move quick before the soulless caught up. He could see them moving toward him and could hear the smacking, chomping, and groaning. He reached up and grabbed Daniel’s arms. With all his might, he pulled him. The man was heavier than Manny, and he didn’t have Jeff to help him. However, once he started sliding off the dashboard, gravity did most of the work. He was able to slide Daniel out of the truck and onto the concrete underneath fairly easily.

  Paxton hopped up in the truck, putting his head against the steering wheel for a quick moment. He was starting to feel a little woozy from all the running, combined with the gash in his leg. The blood was leaving a trail everywhere he was going and was already soaked through his pants. This was getting serious. He picked his head up from the steering wheel and shifted the truck into reverse before any of the soulless could get to him. He reached to close the door. He didn’t even want to look down at Daniel, reminding himself of the horror he had just gone through and was still going through. But he did anyway.

  Daniel was gone. His eyes shot open. He hadn’t put his head down that long. Where could he have gone? He didn’t want to find out and stepped on the gas pedal. The truck flew backward, crushing two soulless wanderers behind him. He shifted into drive just when the door was pulled open.

  Daniel stood, holding the door, stepping into the cab of the truck. He held his focus, intense and unwavering, on Paxton while holding a knife. Paxton lunged over to the passenger’s seat. Daniel scooted in, minding his head from hitting the top of the truck, and reached for Paxton’s leg. He got a hold of it, but Paxton kicked out of his grip.

  Paxton reached for the door handle, just as Daniel grabbed a hold of his leg again. A sharp pain shot into Paxton’s leg, once again. He screamed in pain and looked behind him. The handle of the knife was sticking up from his thigh. He could imagine the cold metal slicing through the meat in his leg. He kicked his right foot up and nailed Daniel in the face. The man stumbled backward, almost out of the cab, but grabbed at the door to keep him from falling out.

  Paxton opened the passenger door and slid out of the truck, onto the hard concrete. The groans and snarls were right above him. He looked up and saw Frank, now soulless and blank, except focused on Paxton. The monster lunged toward him in a stumble and fell, which would have looked comical if under different circumstances. Paxton rolled quickly, avoiding the monster. Frank hit his face hard against the bottom of the truck, blood spraying out from his nose. He squirmed, trying to get up and to Paxton.

  Paxton climbed to his feet, shaking his head, trying to keep himself in the moment. He was going to have to move fast and get somewhere safe. He didn’t think he could win this fight in his condition anymore. He looked down, seeing the knife sticking from his leg still. Shit, he forgot all about it. He really was losing a lot of blood, and he didn’t think that pulling the knife out would help him.

  He dragged his leg behind him, heading straight ahead. It was toward the gym, but he figured he would rather take his chances with the wandering monsters than the monster that had pure intent to kill him. He made it past some of the soulless, who took no notice of him. Some of the others reached out, trying to grab at him, but made no real attempt to chase. A few decided to follow. They didn’t seem as intimidating than when he originally had run in with them.

  Paxton took a quick look behind him. He hadn’t forgotten about Daniel, but he was focused on getting away more than where Daniel had ended up. Daniel was in pursuit. However, he couldn’t make a straight line toward Paxton. There were too many of the soulless to do that. Daniel looked as if he was in a maze, trying to make his way to the center, which is where Paxton was.

  Paxton turned back around and tried to pick up the pace as much as he could. He didn’t know how much blood he was losing, or what kind of damage had been done to his leg. The image of Manny running slowly, with a limp, entered his head. He wondered in that moment what had happened to him to make him walk like that. He could never know for sure, but he imagined he could be in a similar situation if he made it out alive.

  Paxton made it to the gym doors. Most of the soulless had left the building, but they began to be redirected toward it with Paxton heading that way. He looked back to see Daniel, only a few bodies behind him. Paxton began to think he wasn’t going to make it.

  “Why are you doing this?” Paxton shouted as he entered the gym.

  “Because I don’t have to fake it anymore,” Daniel said, darting thro
ugh the bodies as quickly as he could.

  Daniel was in the gym. Paxton felt it before he even had to look. Daniel was grabbing his shoulder from behind him. Paxton was ready to give up and collapse to the floor. He was ready to be taken from this world and onto the next. The only thing that pushed him on was the thought of his wife, and even that was beginning to wane with each drop of blood he lost.

  Paxton spun around, met Daniel’s fingers around his throat. He grabbed Daniel’s hands trying to fight. It seemed like what he should be doing, even if his body was starting to fail him. He began to slip away. His arms slowly fell down to his sides. Then he felt it. The slick metal sticking from his leg. It was part of the reason he was slipping away, but maybe it could be the reason he did so on his own terms and not looking into the eyes of the devil.

  Paxton wrapped his fingers around the handle of the knife. Daniel’s hands squeezed tighter around his throat. Paxton couldn’t breathe at all. He pulled the knife from his leg, screaming, not from the pain as most of that was fading in the background, but to amp up his adrenaline. His raised the knife high, his scream shrill. Daniel’s eyes widened in surprise, and his hands loosened from Paxton’s throat.

  Paxton brought the knife down hard. He didn’t know what he hit, but he made sure he hit it firm and with as much force as he had left in him. Daniel let go, backing up from the blow. Paxton stumbled backward, almost falling, but somehow stayed standing. He rocked unsteady on his feet, like a weed dancing in the wind. He watched Daniel look at the damage he had done.

  Daniel was hit in the upper left shoulder. The knife wasn’t buried deep. It stuck up, showing most of the blade, but it still seemed successful. Paxton smiled a little at the thought of what he had done. His smile faded when Daniel pulled the knife out, blood soaking down the front of his shirt. The injury didn’t seem to slow Daniel down much, but Paxton could see the smallest hints of anger in him. Reality hit Paxton, and he turned, trying to get away from him.