The Vengeance of Shadows Read online

  CONTENTS

  Title page

  Copyright

  Disclaimer

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter Fifteen

  Chapter Sixteen

  Chapter Seventeen

  Chapter Eighteen

  Chapter Nineteen

  Chapter Twenty

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  Chapter Twenty-Six

  Thank you

  THE VENGEANCE OF

  SHADOWS

  The Scourge Book 2

  by

  Phil Maxey

  Copyright © 2018 by Philip Maxey

  All rights reserved. This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the publisher except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

  First Printing, 2018.

  http://philmaxeyauthor.com/

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or locales, is purely coincidental.

  CHAPTER ONE

  The engine of the light plane spluttered. The hearts of those inside that were awake skipped a few beats, but the noise was not enough to wake the others.

  Bill tapped the fuel gauge which was lit by the dull glow of a few LEDs. It was showing half tank.

  “Are we running out of fuel?” said Marina to his right, trying to hide the concern in her voice.

  The engine repeated its attempt to keep running.

  “We should have more than enough fuel left, maybe there was something wrong with the engine… the fuel line or something.”

  “So, what do we do?”

  Joel, Evan, and the others started to stir from their slumber.

  Bill looked out into the dark sky and the even darker land below them. “We’re going to have to land.”

  “What?” Marina looked at the intense darkness. “Where? I can’t see anything!”

  “I’ve been following the highway, if it’s clear, we should be okay… I’m taking us down.”

  As if in agreement the hum of the engine paused, then continued. The nose of the high winged plane dipped.

  A sleepy looking Joel leaned forward between the seats. “What’s happening?”

  “You might want to hold on to something, we’re landing,” said Bill.

  Unlike most of the others, Joel could see the light streak across the black landscape that was the highway. He could also see the trucks and cars which were crowded across it.

  “There’s a fair number of vehicles down there, Bill.”

  Bill realized the man next to him could see far better than he could. “I’m going to need your eyes, tell me what I’m heading towards.”

  They were heading towards a group of five small vehicles and a semi.

  “Pull up slightly.”

  Bill lightly brought the yoke back and the nose began to level out.

  “Are we in Salt Lake already?” said Hardin, with his eyes still closed.

  The engine staggered more violently, and the plane jolted.

  The former mayor’s eyes flicked open. “Shit, are we going to crash!”

  “No one’s going to crash! Just hang on tight,” said Bill. He briefly glanced at Marina, before concentrating back on the almost invisible sliver of concrete below them.

  “Okay, there’s a clear stretch coming up, bring us lower…” said Joel.

  Bill pushed the yoke forward and the front of the plane dipped.

  “We’re about fifty feet from the ground,” said Joel.

  Bill leveled them out once more. “How much runway do we have?”

  “Err… about a mile, then there’s more vehicles. I’ll keep telling you the distance to the ground…”

  “Hang on everyone, this is it!” Bill gradually pushed the yoke forward.

  “Forty feet… thirty-five… twenty-five…”

  The engine chugged, and the propeller slowed then accelerated, then slowed again.

  “No, no, come on…” said Bill to the dials in front of him.

  “Fifteen… Ten…”

  Flint gave out a bark, making them all jump.

  “Five…”

  Bill picked the nose up.

  “Almost…”

  They all gripped the seats and the sides of the plane best they could as the wheels bumped along the highway, then settled.

  The small navigation lights on the wings and tail gave just enough illumination to the road around them for Bill to keep the plane heading straight. He went to rev the engine, but it gave out completely along with the propellers that began to freewheel.

  Everyone inside sighed in relief, including Joel and Anna.

  Joel put his hand on Bill’s shoulder. “Not bad for a former crop-duster.”

  Bill smiled. “I guess some things you never forget.”

  Marina looked out to the flat landscape around them as Bill applied the brakes and the plane came to a stop. She looked behind her to Jess who was sleeping on Mary’s lap. She laughed quietly.

  Joel saw what she was looking at and smiled. “Kids will sleep through anything.” As soon as the words left his mouth he realized he had said something that a parent would say, and he looked away from Marina, not wanting to meet her gaze.

  “Where are we?” said Anna.

  Bill turned the cockpit light on, and pulled open a map that was already in the plane. “I would say we’re about a hundred miles from Salt Lake City. There’s a small town up ahead, about ten miles.”

  Joel looked at the watch on his wrist. “Still got another hour to sun up…” He peered into the blanket of nothingness which the small plane was wrapped in, searching for a sign of anything that shouldn’t be there.

  “Anything?” said Marina.

  Joel shook his head. “No vamps around us.”

  *****

  Joel looked at the orange and pinks on the eastern horizon. The landscape around them had been lunar flat since they left the plane.

  “How much longer?” said Mary to Bill who was still holding the same map from the plane.

  His pace was now lagging behind the others. “Not far,” he said breathlessly.

  “You said that thirty minutes ago!” said Hardin, looking equally tired.

  Joel’s muscles weren’t aching like most around him, but each time he looked at the glow from the rising sun he felt fatigued, as if the particles of light themselves were a weight on his shoulders.

  “Look! Up ahead!” said Anna.

  Everyone but Joel squinted into the morning haze.

  “I don’t see anything?” said Hardin.

  “Roofs and electricity poles. We must be near the edge of the town,” said Joel.

  Marina put a sleepy Jess back on the ground. Flint was off his leash, but had remained by their side anyway.

  Jess rubbed her eye. “Are we there?”

  “Almost,” said her mother.

  Anna briefly looked at Evan as she walked past him and caught up to Joel who was at the front of the group. She leaned into Joel. “When we find a place to hole up, I need to get your blood into Evan
. The longer we leave it the greater the chance he will turn before I can inject him.”

  Joel nodded. “We’ll find a safe place in the town up ahead. How you feeling?”

  She forced a quick smile. “Physically pretty good. Emotionally… I haven’t fully processed losing Claire and Kelly… I should have—”

  “There was nothing you could have done. Some people will never accept us now we’re… different.”

  Anna took in a big breath and nodded.

  It wasn’t long before large single-story homes appeared on the side of the road. Some set far back and all with a good amount of land around them.

  Hardin broke from the pack and started walking across a drive towards the nearest.

  “Where you going?” shouted Marina while being aware of how quiet it was around them.

  Hardin briefly turned around angrily. “I’m hungry!”

  Anna looked at Joel. “I’ll go with him.” She took a few steps then looked back. “You’re not sensing anything are you?”

  “No.”

  She quickly caught up with the denim-jacketed man, who was making hard work of covering the sandy dirt which led to the front door.

  He looked at her and frowned.

  “Don’t worry, I’ve already eaten,” she said. His eyes grew briefly wide and she couldn’t help but laugh which she quickly stifled.

  The home in front of them looked similar to countless others to the left and right of it. Light covering of paint, plain drapes, and a pickup sitting someway behind the main building in front of a garage.

  Hardin knocked on the front door.

  Anna was looking around at the messy looking front yard when something itched in the distant corner of her mind.

  Hardin knocked again.

  “You get away!” Came a youthful voice on the other side of the door. “There’s nothing here for you!”

  Hardin went to reply, but Anna quickly covered the ten or so yards to his side and spoke before the words left his mouth. “We’re not here to hurt you. Our plane landed on the highway some miles back, we just wondered if you had any water, or food to spare?”

  “I got nothing to spare and I got a shotgun pointed at the door!”

  “What’s your name? I’m Anna.”

  “It don’t matter what… my—”

  An explosion of noise filled the early morning air, together with the sound of scuffling and then something falling to the ground.

  The sound of latches being pulled back was followed by the door opening. Joel stood looking back at them with a shotgun in his hand and a young girl sitting on her rear on the floor. She was sneering at them through dark brown straggly hair.

  Anna looked at him and frowned. “I was talking to her, she would have let us in.”

  “Like hell I would!” the girl said, rubbing her arm. Her red shirt was pulled up to her elbows and her gray pants were torn in a number of places. She looked down at the tiled floor. “I guess you gonna kill me now.”

  Joel crouched in front of her. “No one’s killing anyone. We’re the good guys.”

  Hardin pushed past both of them, walked along the hallway, then disappeared into the room at the end.

  The girl followed him with her eyes. “I don’t have much! Just a few bottles of water.” She looked up at Joel and Anna. “I was planning on going into town and finding more in an hour or so, once the sun had fully come up.”

  “Where’re your parents?” said Anna.

  “Gone.”

  Joel offered the shotgun back to the girl. She looked up surprised, but took it. “What’s your name?” he said.

  She stood. “Shannon.”

  “Well if you don’t mind the company, we’re going into the town as well. Maybe you know some good places to check out?”

  Hardin appeared back in the hallway, with an open small bottle of water in his hand, heartily drinking from it. “You got any food, girl?”

  A stern look washed over the young girl’s face. She turned away from Hardin, ignoring his request, and looked out into the road. Some of those outside were looking back at her. “Any of you infected? I ain’t spending any time around those with the scourge.”

  Anna glanced at Joel, then looked back at Shannon. “No… we’re all fine… I’m a doctor.” She looked at the tears in Shannon’s clothing. “Are you okay? Any run-in with vamps?”

  She looked away. “I’m fine.”

  Hardin walked back into the kitchen area.

  “What about the other homes around here? Any more alive?” said Joel.

  “I’ve not seen anyone who wasn’t a vamp for a few weeks.”

  “What about vamps?” said Anna. “How many around here?”

  “Most are up in Collinsdale. It’s the next town along from Boothe, and where I was heading to. There’s maybe twenty to thirty that come out in the daylight. I dunno if there’s more at night. I don’t go there at night.”

  “There’s no places to find supplies in the town we’re in now? Maybe in the houses?”

  “I stay away from houses, and there’s only a few stores in Boothe. They were looted during the first days when folks saw what was happening in the cities.”

  “Right…” said Joel. “You got a vehicle?”

  She nodded.

  “How you feel about some of us staying here, while myself and a few others go with you to Collinsdale?”

  Shannon looked back to the kitchen and the noise of Hardin looking for food. “Sure.”

  CHAPTER TWO

  Joel rubbed his arm while looking at the empty parking lots and deserted roads of the small town that would have looked the same, even before the scourge hit.

  The sound of Shannon’s pickup was the only noise as they drove through Main street, and Joel and Hardin couldn’t help but feel they were being watched from the dark windows of long forgotten buildings. Flint sat next to Hardin, who kept frowning at the animal next to him.

  “Have you always been in Boothe?” said Joel.

  “Yeah. Ma and Pa moved here when I was a baby. They had jobs in the city, but wanted to live where there were less people.”

  “Well they certainly got that by moving here,” said Hardin. “I’m… well used to be the mayor of a former mining town in Arizona. Maybe you heard of it. Bellweather?”

  “Nope.”

  “Well it’s gone the same as this place. There’s no escaping the scourge.”

  Shannon glanced across at Joel. “Where you start out from? You got city in your eyes.”

  Joel smiled. “That obvious, eh? Yeah, I used to live and work in LA”

  Single- and double-story homes, surrounded by green and beige farmland slid by. Joel noticed a number of the residences had RVs sitting in their driveways. “You said you stayed away from these homes?”

  Shannon’s eyes flicked towards the houses passing by. “I weren’t going to take any chances coming across vamps.”

  “That was wise,” said Joel. “But I want to see if we can get any of the RVs running when we pass back this way.”

  Churches and gas stations went by, intermingled with trees and more single-story homes.

  The road then widened to four lanes and a rail track ran alongside it for a few miles.

  “How many times you done this trip?” said Joel.

  “Used to travel with Ma once a week before the scourge hit, since then a few times more.”

  “And you ain’t seen any people?” said Hardin.

  “I saw some vehicles drive through two weeks back. They didn’t stop. Don’t know where they are now. But apart from that, the towns are empty of… normal people.”

  “What happened to the local law enforcement?” said Joel.

  “Saw them once about a month back. They drove through telling everyone to stay in their homes and stay away from ‘strange looking folks.’ Of course, no one knew what they meant.”

  “How did, umm, your folks die?” It was a direct question, but one Joel felt comfortable enough to ask.

  �
��Pa went into Collinsdale about a month back to get supplies. He never came back. Ma took off after him after a few days. That was the last I saw of her.”

  “I’m sorry that happened.” Joel could feel the emotions rising in the young driver next to him, and then her anger beat them away.

  “Happened to everyone. Nothing special about me.”

  “How old are you girl?” said Hardin.

  “What’s that got to do with anything.”

  “Well whatever your age, your ma and pa would be proud. You are coping well.”

  It was the first kind thing Joel had heard Hardin say to anyone, and it took him by surprise.

  “I’m twenty.”

  Joel knew it was a lie, but didn’t see any point arguing with her.

  After thirty minutes of driving, which was broken up only by the occasional church, modern buildings started appearing on both sides of the wide road.

  “This is Collinsdale.”

  Shannon slowed the truck then weaved around a few abandoned cars.

  Multiple rows of modern trucks and cars passed by out front of a showroom, along with motels and restaurants, which advertised their business by loud and bright billboards that lined the road.

  Shannon took a right turn into a large and mostly empty parking lot and drove directly across it, ignoring the lines indicating where she should have driven. Ahead, was a large block-like building with ‘Collinsdale super center’ emblazoned across the side of it, in ten-foot-high lettering. “Been coming here for years. It’s still got a lot of good stuff.”

  “It wasn’t looted?” said Joel.

  “Had better security than most stores around here, so the looters kept away—” Joel heard her heart rate increase then settle before she continued. “—By the time the scourge had swept through, there were no more people to try to loot anyway.”

  She drove past the tall closed glass doors and kept on going around the side of the building, eventually stopping near a door which was the only opening in a large wall of red brick.

  “Ain’t that locked?”

  Shannon pushed her driver’s door open, slinging a backpack over her shoulder, and picked up her shotgun. “I got the key.”