The Ancient Storm (The Scourge Book 3) 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

  Chapter Twenty-Seven

  Chapter Twenty-Eight

  Thank you

  THE ANCIENT STORM

  The Scourge Book 3

  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

  Tears rolled down Marina’s face. “Get Jess and Jasper out of here!” she screamed at Mary without taking her eyes off Joel.

  Mary did as asked while Evan and Bill arrived in their place.

  “What’s happening!” said Bill.

  Joel could sense Evan was about to surge forward, and raised the fingers on his right hand a few inches. Evan stepped back.

  “You… you mentioned his name in your sleep, and the name of the street we lived in, I’ve never mentioned that! Ever!” she shouted.

  While Joel was watching the barrel of the gun wave left, right, up, and down as her words shook her arm, he ran the options through his mind of how he could come out of this without a hole in his head. He was pretty sure that was a wound he couldn’t come back from.

  Do I lie? No, she knows I knew Russell.

  You killed him.

  I know I killed him!

  You killed him.

  But if I tell her, then what? She’s going to pull that trigger!

  He wondered if he could move his hand up quickly enough to push the gun away from his face. If she was still human that might have worked, but now…

  Eventually he decided the weight of carrying around what he did was not worth it anymore. Maybe he deserved her firing that gun. Maybe that would set things straight again.

  He looked up at her, looking her directly in the eyes. “I met Russell somewhere outside of LA…” He smiled, remembering. “Almost ran him over. Instead, I weaved and crashed into an electricity pylon.”

  Marina’s face contorted as she tried to grasp the story she was being told.

  “I was going to leave him, but he told me he couldn’t find any cars that ran, and that he was trying to get back to his wife and child. I… err… my plan was to take him some miles, find him a car, then send him on his way. But that didn’t happen…”

  She poked the gun forward again. “What fucking happened? Is he dead? Did you leave him?”

  Anna and Hickman appeared behind Bill and Evan. The doctor noticed the sergeant had his M4 with him and it was still pointed at the floor.

  “Point the gun at her, she might kill him!”

  Hickman frowned. “What do I care if your kind kill each other?” He went to move off when she grabbed it from him and pushed him to the floor in the same move. “Hey!” he shouted from the wooden surface.

  “Stay down!” she said through gritted teeth. She then swung the gun around to Marina. “Marina, put the gun down!”

  Jess’s mother started to cry again. “He knows what happened to Russell! Don’t you understand!”

  “Whatever he knows, or whatever he did, is not going to bring Russell back to you now. Right now, we need the man you want to shoot.”

  “What happened!?” she shouted at Joel.

  Joel could have backed out of his story at that point, told her that he dropped him off somewhere and that was the last he saw of her husband, but he wanted to be free of the burden of his actions, regardless of the cost.

  “We became friends. We had to walk on foot for some miles before we found another vehicle. We stayed in homes, motels, whatever we could.”

  “Did he know you were a vamp?”

  Joel didn’t bother correcting her, to tell her he was a hybrid.

  “No, he never knew…”

  She detected a sadness in his voice which sent a chill through her.

  Joel sighed.

  Going to be soon now…

  “I tried to find sources of blood. But I couldn’t. And I didn’t want him to know what I was. I thought if he knew then he would run, and… I didn’t figure his chances of survival… out there. I wanted to help him find you…” A tear ran down Joel’s face. “His family was still alive. Mine was gone…”

  Confusion washed over her face.

  “One night at a gas station. I couldn’t hold the hunger back anymore. I thought I could, but I was wrong. And I killed him…”

  Joel closed his eyes.

  The explosion of gunfire filled the air.

  Joel was sure he was dead, but then realized if he were he couldn’t be thinking he was. His eyes flicked open. Marina was bleeding from her arm and the gun was lying on the floor.

  He detected heat coming from the barrel of the M4 that Anna was holding.

  In a blur, Evan moved from the doorway and grabbed the handgun off the rug, but Marina was not moving for it anyway. Instead, she slowly collapsed to the floor sobbing.

  “Get her out of here!” said Bill to Evan.

  Joel quickly got to his feet and moved to the doorway. “No, I’ll go.” As he stood in the corridor, he looked down the hallway to Jess looking at him from another room.

  She knows what I did to her father.

  Before another thought could splinter his mind even further, he was down the stairs, moving the large furniture from the kitchen door, and then was gone into the night.

  Anna flew after him, but by the time she arrived at the back door, his scent had mixed with the other odors drifting on the night breeze.

  Abandoned homes merged with a landscape of trees and shadows as he ran. Daniel, Tarin, Russell came and went through his consciousness, each one a vision that hit harder than any claw or fang. He had no idea where he was going, he just had to move forward. Escape the past. He pushed his legs and arms waiting to be swallowed by the darkness.

  Eventually, he stopped and bent over, out of breath.

  He slowly rose and looked around.

  “Where the fuck am I?” he whispered into the night.

  He was in a field of flat stones half his height. He staggered forward, and knelt next to the closest, straining his improved vision to see the grooves in the slab.

  ‘Mavis Halcyon 1890-1906. May her heavenly voice sing for the angels till the end of time.’

  More grave stones sat nearby, each one a member of the ‘Halcyon’ family. He fell to his knees, crying for a child that died over a hundred
years ago, and his own.

  He turned over on the dirt, sitting up against the slab. As exhaustion gave way to sleep, he allowed the void to take him.

  *****

  Anna opened the hotel bedroom door ajar and pushed her senses into the space beyond.

  Three steady heartbeats.

  She needed confirmation though and took a few steps forward. Marina, Jess, and Jasper were all asleep.

  There was a small patch of red on the bandage on Marina’s arm, but that was to be expected. She made sure just to clip her, but the velocity of the bullet still tore a half-inch groove across the top of Marina’s forearm. Luckily, within an hour, her hybrid healing abilities were already growing new muscle and skin.

  Anna retraced her steps and closed the door quietly, then made her way downstairs to the small eating area at the back of the house. Mary had made breakfast and everyone was eating and washing it down with coffee.

  “She asleep still?” said Bill.

  “Yeah.”

  “So, what we going to do?” said Lee.

  “We head north. There’s a large community just over the border in Canada. They seem to be managing to keep the vamps at bay,” said Hickman.

  “Sounds good to me,” said Hardin, sipping his beverage.

  Bill, Evan, and Anna exchanged silent glances which Hickman saw. “You’re still thinking about Joel? He’s gone. And from what I heard, that’s a good thing. He can’t be trusted.”

  “He’s the only person we know that can operate the tablet. Without Joel, it really is just a slab of stone,” said Bill.

  Rachel looked at him. “We managed to get the tablet operational with the use of his DNA, and—”

  “And we are going to be able to do that again in a refugee camp? We need him.”

  Anna went to reply, but then turned to face the doorway. Marina appeared, dark rings sat beneath her eyes which were lifeless. She walked silently across the hardwood floor and poured herself some coffee from the machine.

  “How’s your arm?” said Anna.

  “Fine.”

  “Good…” Anna had already apologized without reply, and still felt bad for shooting her friend despite feeling she had no choice.

  “I heard you talking about Joel…”

  “Forget about him,” said Hickman.

  “If you can find him, bring him back…”

  A number of stifled gasps rippled around the room.

  “Why would you want him back?” said Hardin.

  “It’s not about him, it’s about the tablet, and what it can tell us. It’s been the only thing throughout all of this nightmare that has shed any light on things, given us any clues to a way out.” She turned around with the coffee in her hand. “Nothing’s bringing Russell back. Or the millions that have died. The only thing I’m concerned with now, is a future for Jess. If we need Joel to make that happen then that’s what we have to do.”

  Hickman shook his head. “A man that killed your husband? No wait. He’s not a man, is he? He’s—” Hickman quickly realized the mistaken path he was on with his thoughts. “What I’m saying is, how can any of us trust him?” He looked around the others. “He’s been with you all of this time, and he lied about killing someone close to you.”

  Marina looked into her mug. “It’s not about trust. It’s about survival.”

  “Do we even know where he is? He could be fifty miles from here by now, and that’s just on foot,” said Evan.

  “Maybe we—”

  Anna stopped, noticing most in the small dining room looking past her to the doorway.

  Jasper was standing, rubbing his eye. He pointed over their heads. “He’s with the dead people.”

  CHAPTER TWO

  Drowning in a sea of red, Joel kicked and flailed his arms around, trying to get purchase on the liquid he was submerged within.

  Can I drown?

  In the gloom, faces he knew came and went, mixed with those he didn’t. A wall of despair watching him with judging eyes.

  He fought to swim upwards, but there was no light for him to move to, only more darkness.

  “Joel?”

  “What… what?”

  He looked around at the pouring rain that was hitting everything and turning the light sandy ground into a quagmire of gray-brown muck.

  “Joel? I’m taking you back,” said Anna.

  He looked up at the doctor. Evan was standing behind her, holding a backpack over his head.

  Sheepishly Joel rose, skidding somewhat on the mud, and held onto the gravestone behind him. “What are you doing here?” He looked around, trying to make out any more human shapes among the torrents beating down.

  “Can we have this conversation inside somewhere?” shouted Evan.

  Joel frowned but nodded.

  He pointed to a sharp rectangular structure just visible through the sheets of rain, and they all ran to its entrance. He broke the chain that held the gate closed with a swipe, and pushed the large wooden door back.

  They all moved quickly inside.

  “It sure does rain out here,” said Ethan, shaking his pack.

  Anna looked at the marble walls with black and gold etched names that surrounded her then laughed.

  “What’s funny,” said Joel, his voice gravely.

  “I guess it was inevitable that as vampires we would end up in a mausoleum.”

  Joel’s stony expression broke into a smile, and then a laugh. As the humor dissolved his old expression returned. “How is she? How’s her arm.”

  “Almost completely healed.”

  Anna nodded towards Evan. “We brought you some blood.”

  He started to unzip the bag, but Joel briefly held up his hand. “Not right now… but how is she with what I said?”

  “Honestly, I don’t know. She did say that we need you to get through all this…”

  Joel’s eyes widened then narrowed. “I… don’t know.”

  “No one says it’s going to be easy. I don’t know why you killed her husband, but I do understand the hunger, and I know if it weren’t for you I might have taken a life as well.”

  “Hickman said there’s a large camp just across the Canadian border,” said Evan.

  The old daydream of Jess and Jasper running through a large field of fresh crops and Marina looking on smiling from a farmhouse came and quickly evaporated. “Sure, that sounds like a good plan.”

  They waited for the storm to pass then made their way the five or so miles back to the hotel.

  Marina was waiting at the bottom of the stairs when Joel came through the front door.

  Before he could speak, she approached him.

  “The scourge killed Russell. That wasn’t you. I get that. But not telling me? Allowing me to keep thinking that maybe one day, that Jess—” She trembled with anger. Anna and Ethan watched closely. “—If you truly cared for me, for Jess. You would have told me.”

  The weight of her conviction was too much for Joel, and his eyes fell to the floor. “I know. You’re right.”

  “Stay away from Jess, and stay away from me!”

  Joel nodded, but she didn’t see. She had already walked away.

  *****

  Amos Reed looked at the laser imprinted letter and number on the inside of his arm. ‘A-42-54’. It still itched.

  He rubbed it while looking at the two others that sat next to him. The girl was kind of hot, but from her thoughts? Nuts. The big guy? He was a man with a troubled past. Primarily though, they were thinking what he was thinking, how the hell do they escape?

  A release of pressure heralded the secure door opening to the small room with the plain metallic walls.

  In walked Adrian, looking his usual anxious self, and behind him, a creature Amos had come to despise. Copeland bent down to move through the doorway then stood again. He was partially clothed in a kind of armor.

  Behind Copeland were three humans, each one in tactical body armor. These three sat around the large circular table.

  The gi
rl burst out laughing, looking at Copeland. “So now you’re a super hero?”

  Super villain, thought Amos.

  Copeland’s expression remained the same which was he had none. The tall beast looked at Adrian.

  “Yes, we should get started. I want to welcome you all here today—”

  “They’re letting us go…” said Amos, grabbing Adrian’s thoughts before they had a chance to form into words from his mouth.

  The girl looked shocked, but then quickly hid it. “Well, great. Let’s do this.” She pulled at the shackles that held his wrists to the table. Amos noticed she had a thin band on her left wrist, partially obscuring her own tattoo.

  The big guy with the beard and short cropped hair of jet-black curls, sneered at Adrian and then Copeland.

  “Err… yes, correct Mr. Reed we are letting you all go, but—”

  “But you now work for me,” said Copeland, interrupting.

  Amos knew what the plan was as soon as Adrian and Copeland entered.

  The girl tutted. “Work for you, how? I ain’t nobody’s bitch.” Copeland slowly turned his head to look at her. She did her best to act tough under the gaze of his catlike eyes.

  Adrian took advantage of the pause to continue. “Umm… As well as your freedom, as employees of the Copeland Corporation, you will receive remuneration… umm, you will get paid for your services.”

  “Money don’t mean shit out there anymore,” said the big guy.

  “Quite, well you will—”

  “He means blood,” said Amos.

  “Yes, you will receive daily blood or supplies when you travel, and you will be given your own room on our complex if you wish to live within the walls.”

  The girls expression had softened. “And what do we have to do?”

  Amos went to reply, but Adrian beat him to it, raising his hand. “If I may, Amos.”

  The girl looked at Amos, confused. “You a mind reader or something?”

  “Yup.”

  The girl raised her eyebrows, the big guy remained passive.