Empty Bodies (Book 5): Damnation (24 page)

Gabriel and Jessica went to the other end of the room and hugged again.

“Do you know what that was all about down at the football field?” Jessica asked. She kept her voice low, so as to not upset Claire even further.

Taking Jessica’s hand, Gabriel led her into the corner of the room, away from earshot of Claire. “Was that the only time you two have been outside?”

Jessica nodded.

Gabriel massaged his forehead. “Shit.”

“What?”

Whispering, Gabriel explained to Jessica what he’d seen when they’d first taken him to the football field. How there was a crowd, and how people had gambled on the hopeless human prisoners and the Empties. He tried to give her every detail, even though most of what he’d seen had been so inhumane and explicit that he found it hard to believe any of it had been real as he recalled the events out loud.

Jessica covered her mouth, and Gabriel allowed her to process everything she’d just heard.

After a brief moment, she asked, “Why are they keeping us separate from everyone else?”

“Because Ambrose, the guy who’s in charge, he has your journal. Apparently, he’s read it and thinks that we’re special because of all the stuff we’ve been through. In particular, he has this obsession with me.”

Jessica’s eyes remained wide in surprise. Gabriel felt the temptation to ask her just what the hell she’d written in that book, but he shrugged it off. At this point, did it really matter? Because of that journal, they seemed to have a slight advantage over the others.

Jessica sat down against the wall and Gabriel joined her. It felt so good to be around a familiar face again, especially after having seen what had happened to Thomas.

Her head against the wall, Jessica looked over to Gabriel. “What are we gonna do?”

Gabriel stared at her. He grabbed her by the hand.

“We’re going to fight.”

CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

Exit 143 was just on the outskirts of Roanoke. Another sign for Ministry of Life Church confirmed that this was the right exit. While this sign didn’t feature Philip Bartman’s picture, it did display the same apocalyptic verse from the Book of John. It also told Will he needed to take a right at the end of the exit ramp.

There were several more Empties around than they’d been used to seeing. Gas stations and strip malls stood on either side of the four-lane road. Creatures moved around in the various parking lots. Many Empties loitered in the road, as well, but Will had plenty of space to maneuver around them.

“I haven’t seen this many in a while,” Holly said.

“This is why we’ve got to stay away from cities,” Charlie said.

That statement made Will think about Gabriel. If the outskirts of Roanoke were this bad, how crowded with creatures would Washington D.C. be? He pushed aside the thought.

Just over a mile down the road, they came to the church.

Ministry of Life Church wouldn’t be considered a mega-church by Will’s standards, but it wasn’t your back-roads, single-room sanctuary, either. A construction site was on one side of the church while trees were on the other. Will stopped the SUV when the church came into view.

While there were no creatures in the immediate vicinity, a large group crowded around the front door of the church. There was somewhere in the range of twenty to thirty of them. From where they sat in the street, Will could hear the creatures snarling and howling as they beat on the front door.

“How are we supposed to get in there?” Charlie asked.

“I don’t want to go anywhere near that place,” Mary Beth said from the back seat, a tremble in her voice.

Holly pulled Mary Beth in tight and ran her hands through the girl’s hair. “You’re not, sweetie. Don’t worry.”

Will knew they hadn’t come this far to just turn around without checking the church to see if Bartman was there. They had to come up with a plan to get inside. He scanned the area, noticing something behind a nearby fast food restaurant. He turned into the parking lot and drove behind the building.

The construction site acted as a deep valley between the restaurant and the church. A guard rail lined the rear of the property, safeguarding it from the steep hill on the other side. An exposed drain pipe stretched from behind the restaurant, across the construction, and to the back of the church. An Empty was on its knees near the guard rail, digging into the remains of a small animal. It looked up at Will when he parked the SUV.

“Hand me the machete,” Will told Holly. Within a moment, the weapon was in his hands. “Stay here, and cover the kids’ eyes.”

The Empty had stood by the time Will approached it. He wasted no time, taking only a single swing to decapitate it.

Will peeked over the guard rail and eyed the opening of the drainage pipe at the bottom of the slope. He turned and got back into the driver’s seat.

“That drainage pipe opens up just on the other side of this hill,” Will said. “It’s big enough to crouch down and walk through. That’s our ticket over to the church. It’ll lead us to the rear of the parking lot and we can find a back door to enter through.”

“So, what’s your plan?” Charlie asked.

“You and I will go. Holly can stay here with the kids and keep this thing running until we get back.”

“No,” Holly said.

Will looked back to her, and saw determination in her face.

“I want to go with you.”

Will shook his head. “You need to stay here and be with the children. If something happens, I want you to be here.”

“If something happens, I want Charlie to be here. Let me go with you.”

Will considered this for a moment. He and Holly had been through many situations together, and he could trust having her at his side. Also, she was right. If something happened near the SUV, Charlie had proven himself to be calmer than her in situations that required it. He would be able to handle it and keep the children safe.

Will nodded. “All right. You come, and Charlie will stay.”

“I don’t want either of you to go,” Mary Beth said.

“Sweetie, this is something we have to do,” Holly said. “There might be a man inside there that has some very important answers for us.”

“But what if you get hurt?”

“They won’t,” Dylan said. “Don’t worry, they’ll come back.”

Mary Beth wiped her and eyes and nodded, and Dylan wrapped his arm around her. Holly smiled, running her hand through Dylan’s hair.

Will pulled the SUV a few feet away from the restaurant’s drive-thru menu, hiding it from any Empties or people who might pass by on the main road. He stepped around to the back and opened the cargo door, grabbing a shotgun for Holly and a rifle for himself. He collected ammo for each, plus extra bullets for their handguns. He’d shut the door halfway before he opened it again and grabbed another handgun and two flashlights.

Holly stepped out of the back seat and Will poked his head in through the door to Dylan. He wrapped his hand around the barrel of the last pistol he’d grabbed and then offered it to the boy.

“You know what to do,” Will said. “Only fire this if you have to. Charlie will tell you if he needs your help, all right? Other than that, let him handle it. Hopefully, you won’t have to use it.”

Dylan accepted the weapon.

“Leave it beside you. You don’t have to cock it. All you’ve gotta do is click the safety off on the side there. See it?” Dylan signaled that he did. He then leaned toward Will and wrapped his arm around him.

“Please come back.”

Will ran his hand up and down the boy’s back. “We will. Don’t worry. Just take care of Mary Beth.”

Dylan pulled back and placed his hand over the weapon, leaving it sitting on the seat. Will got out of the SUV and met Holly and Charlie at the front of it.

“Be ready to start this thing and roll out when we get back.”

“Will do,” Charlie said. “I’ll be sure to take a look around each side of the building every now and then to make sure nothing, or no one, is coming.”

Will shook Charlie’s hand. “Keep them safe.”

“You guys just hurry up and get back here.”

Will turned and put his hand on Holly’s shoulder. “You ready?”

She took his hand and they started toward the guard rail. They were sure to look down the side of the building to make sure nothing was coming or saw them, and then they hopped over the rail.

When they reached the entrance to the tunnel, Will clicked on his flashlight first. Holly followed by turning on hers.

The drain pipe ran straight, and they could see the sun peeking out on the other side. Everything in between was dark, except for a short distance in front of them. Not surprisingly, the pipe’s concrete bottom was damp from the rain.

“It looks like the pipe comes out just on the other side of the church,” Will said.

“All right, lead the way.”

Will entered the pipe first, ducking down, his feet splashing the water underneath them. Will had never been inside of a drainage pipe, and it smelled just about as foul as he’d imagined. They hadn’t gone far when a squeal echoed through the concealed space. Holly startled, signaled by the water splashing under her feet and her yelp. Will pointed the flashlight down and watched as two rats passed by. He hated rats. Not quite as much as he despised snakes, but rats still disgusted him. But he kept his cool.

“It’s okay, just keep moving.”

They did, and the sulfuric smell seemed to worsen, the further along they moved into the tunnel. It became strong and foul enough to where he pulled his shirt collar up over his nose. Additionally, he heard more vermin ahead, squeaking like a dog’s play toy. Behind him, Holly coughed.

“What is that?” Holly asked, her voice muffled under her own shirt.

Will was about to respond when his light shined on two rats standing in the middle of their path. Will shifted the flashlight’s beam further up, and then turned, coughing.

“What is it?” Holly asked, the squealing rats now just feet in front of them.

“You don’t want to know,” Will said.

He stepped to the side so she could see, and Holly flashed her light onto the ground.

A body the width of the pipe lay in front of them, making the way impassable without stepping over it. Its flesh had been picked to the bone. The entrails spread out around the immediate area of the body, and a small pack of rats was chewing on them. The body was so far gone that it was impossible to tell if it had been a man or a woman. Or if it had died human, or ever turned Empty.

The corpse went dark again as Holly turned and vomited. The noise startled at least a couple of the rats, and Will jumped as they ran by his feet.

“We’ve gotta walk over it,” Will said.

“I’m not stepping over that,” Holly said. “Let’s turn around and find another way.”

“Holly, this tunnel is the safest way.”

“What if that thing was Empty before it died? Or even if one bit it? How do we know these rats can’t hurt us if they bite us?”

“It’s not a virus, Holly. I think if the rats had been affected, then they would’ve come after us by now. Just be careful stepping over them.”

Behind him, Holly breathed deeply. Will didn’t like the idea of passing over the body any more than she did, but he drew in a deep breath and shined the light down toward it.

 Five rats still remained, crowded around the body and chewing what was left of it. Will eased forward, keeping the light trained on the pack of vermin. As he approached the body, his boot stomped on something soft. It squished under his feet, amplified by the puddle of water. He coughed, bringing his arm over his mouth, but kept moving. He convinced himself that what he’d stepped on wasn’t remains of the dead.

It was inevitable they were going to have to step on at least part of the body to pass. Its remains had scattered enough to where it would be impossible to jump, and the low ceiling would have made that difficult anyway. When Will stepped forward, his boot buried into an unidentifiable part of the thing’s body, and it took everything for him not to puke. He skipped forward and moved past the corpse.

On the other side, he turned around and offered Holly light.

“You got this, it’s a piece of cake.”

He could barely see her face in the reflection of the light, but could see in her eyes that she was terrified. The rats continued to eat, and the sound of them chewing reverberated between their squeals. Will reached out his hand.