Orpheus (20 page)

Ethan didn't even think. He jumped out of the armored car and ran to help the guy. Rachel jumped out right after him. She didn't do it to save the limping guy; she did it to save Ethan.

One of the guys in the back yelled, "Come back you dumb fucks! Fuck, Jimmy, stop the car! Fuck!"

To the driver's credit, he slowed down to a crawl to give them a chance to return.

The zombies were facing away from Ethan and Rachel, so they had an easy time taking the first few down. Limping Guy did his part, too. Between the three of them, they thinned out the herd enough that Rachel put her shoulder under Limping Guy's arm and helped him to the truck as Ethan guarded their backs. The two of them made it to the armored car. The men in the back helped the two of them up and yelled for Ethan.

He had no desire to be a superhero, so he hightailed it for the armored car, which had started pulling away again. It wasn't moving fast enough to be a problem for Ethan. He caught up and reached for Rachel's outstretched arm.

As his hand touched hers, a zombie appeared from behind a cargo van and sunk its teeth into his forearm. It knocked him off of his stride, and the armored car started pulling away. Several more zombies joined in and converged on Ethan. He was simultaneously trying to shake free of the first zombie's jaws and deal damage with his Fubar.

Rachel jumped out again and attacked the zombies in a rage. She screamed "Leave him alone!" and tore into them. More zombies, attracted by the sounds of screams and gunshots, poured out of the alleys while the armored car left them behind.

Ethan had fought to his feet. He still had a zombie gnawing on his forearm, but he'd been overtaken by a burst of adrenaline to help him compensate for being one arm down. Rachel wasn't handicapped at all, and she was mowing down zombies almost as fast as they showed up.

Almost.

They'd killed over a dozen, but more were coming. They battled their way to the cargo van and kept it at their backs, cutting the area they had to defend in half. They were fighting a losing battle. It was only a matter of time before they were completely overwhelmed, and Ethan couldn't believe it was going to end like this. He'd been a foot from safety. He'd be more okay with it if he was by himself, but Rachel had, yet again, thrown herself into the mix for him.

And now she was going to die.

Twin bright lights flared into life in front of them, the beams cutting through the spaces between the zombies and throwing chaotic shadows against the side of the van. A screeching of tires followed, then the lights grew larger as whatever it was came at them. The zombies reacted to the new stimuli and turned to face the oncoming vehicle. Ethan grabbed Rachel and they dove to the side, just as the sedan plowed into the zombies. The impact tossed the undead aside like tenpins; the car slammed on its brakes and stopped just short of the side of the van. A few unlucky zombies suffered crushed lower bodies as they were pinned between the sedan and the van. The driver yelled, "Get in!" through the open passenger window.

They didn't have to be told twice, and they hurried into the car as it reversed course. The zombies that had been pinned crumpled to the ground, and the three of them drove off.

Ethan made sure that Rachel was okay, then panicked as he remembered he'd had a zombie clamped onto his arm for about ten seconds. He pulled up the sleeve of the jacket and saw fading teeth impressions, and he peered as closely as he could without alerting either Rachel or the driver. He breathed a sigh of relief when he was certain that his skin hadn't been broken.
Leather jacket was a nice call.
It was only after his heart rate had returned to normal that he took a good look at the driver. If someone had told him to sit down and make a list of all the types of people in the world he expected to see behind the wheel during a daring rescue from zombies, a nun would have been near the bottom.

* * *

Ethan felt a small pang of guilt when they arrived at their destination. He hadn't been in the First Methodist Church since he was a little kid.

He gave the nun a look. "Wait. You're..."

"Catholic? Yes. My parishioners tried to eat me. Plus, it turns out that the Methodists have better parking."

"Ummm...okay."

"No, I'm serious. They have a carport. We can pull right up to the door. It's much better than the 50-yard dash I had to do."

"Oh." He heard Rachel chuckling in the backseat.

"What? It was a fair question."

"Shh, the two of you. Get down," the nun said as she turned off her headlights and crouched down behind the wheel. They pulled up the driveway and around back. The parking lot, like all of the others, had zombies wandering around, looking for something to go after. The nun let her foot off of the gas entirely and just let the car move at a snail's pace, trying to look not delicious. Most of the zombies noticed them at some point, but quickly lost interest.

She stopped next to a sturdy-looking pair of double wooden doors. She inched forward, checking her position multiple times before stopping completely. "Are you two ready?" Her passengers nodded. "Okay, this gets a little scary." She started to turn away from them, but her eyes didn't move. She gazed back and forth between them, seeing them for the first time in the same way that Ethan had seen her a few minutes before. "Then again, maybe this will be as shocking for you two as getting the mail."

She unlocked the doors and said, "You get out with me, little lady, and open that door."

"What do I do?"

"You follow me out and get the right door. Don't worry about the paint job."

"Got it."

"Now!"

The two women climbed out and were spotted immediately by a handful of zombies, but one would have been enough to bring them all. Ethan scrambled out after them.

Rachel did as she was told and opened the left door. She slammed it into the rear passenger door, and wedged it in as best she could. Ethan did the same, not a moment too soon. Yet again, they found themselves besieged by zombies. At least this time they had a little protection provided by the heavy doors. Zombies began to pound against the makeshift barricade and the far side of the car, as well. While they still had the physical ability to get over the roof, they didn't realize they had it, so they just piled up several deep and posed no threat at the moment. Ethan dug in and was sure he could hold the ones on his side off for a short time, but he worried about Rachel. She was tough, no doubt, but this was a raw power thing. Proving one more time that she was not to be underestimated, she got low, braced her shoulder, dug her feet in, and held just as well as he did.

For her part, the nun was in between the two of them, working a key into the lock of the internal set of doors. She unlocked it with no problem and threw them open. "Okay, when I say, just let go of the doors and hurry inside! The creatures will close them for us! Ready! Let go!"

The nun held the inner doors open as the other two sprinted through them. She was right; the weight and momentum of the zombies slammed the doors shut with a thunderous sound. The separate factions joined at the double doors and pounded to no avail. She locked the outer doors, then the inner ones. "Don't worry. They'll lose interest soon; those doors will hold until they do. Let me look at you."

She held Rachel by the shoulders and moved her long black hair out of her face. "How are you, young lady?"

"I'm okay. Really tired."

"Hungry?"

"God, yes." She seemed to be embarrassed by her apparent blasphemy. "I'm sorry."

"No reason to be. Head on up those stairs and talk to the minister. You'll be taken care of."

Rachel looked to Ethan. The nun smiled. "He'll be right behind you. I need a big, brawny lad like him to move a few heavy things before he gets a break."

"It's okay, babe. Please get some rest. Would you...?"

She read his mind. "I'll look for them." He kissed her and sent her on her way. He watched her struggle up the stairs. Now that they had reached sanctuary, the adrenaline had worn off, and the extent of her fatigue was manifesting itself. Ethan knew exactly how she felt, but he kept faking it as best he could.

"Now, young man..."

"Ethan Holt."

"Ethan, Nice to meet you, I'm Sister Ann McCourt. Do you have something you need to tell me?"

"Uh, peace be with you?"

"Very amusing, and also with you. Try again."

He held out his left arm and pulled the sleeve up again. The bite marks had begun to bruise. Sister Ann grabbed him by the forearm and pulled him under a light, where she peered at it for more than a minute. "You never bled? Not even a drop?"

"No."

"How sure are you?"

He grinned. “Swear to God.”

"Good. The minister and I think it's transmitted through bites."

Ethan nodded. "That's what we've seen, too."

"And how are you doing?"

"I'm fine."

"I mean it."

"I said I'm fine."

"Of course you are. Why don't you come upstairs and be fine while you eat and sleep?"

He nodded again. "I'll be right up." Sister Ann cast him a doubting look. He countered with a weak smile. "I will. I just need a few minutes."

"Okay. Don't be too long. I want to pick your brains. Pun intended." She stopped on the first stair. "And Ethan?"

"Yeah?"

"I don't need to know exactly what you've gone through, but I know that you've done well. You've earned some rest."

He nodded, and she disappeared.

He slumped back against the heavy inner door. Only a few inches separated him from the zombies pounding on the door, but he felt no threat that they could budge the outer door a millimeter, let alone break it down. He put his palms to his eyes in anticipation of crying, but no tears came. All he felt was that he could sleep for a week.

That was just the first day.
He took a few deep breaths and pulled his cell phone out of his pocket, hoping against hope that there would be another message waiting for him, but the most recent was still the last. His eyes wandered to the clock.

That can't be right.

He confirmed the time with his wristwatch.

Just under three hours. That's how fast things went to complete shit.

He sighed and headed upstairs. The main part of the church was a hive of activity. Some people were dozing in the pews, whereas others were snacking on the food that Ethan presumed had been left in the kitchen. Ethan was pleased to see that there were at least 15 survivors; whether or not they had already been in the church when the madness started, or had fought through it to get here like he and Rachel had, he didn't know. All that mattered is that they weren't alone anymore.

A woman walked up to him and offered him a bottled water and a bag of chips. His hands didn't have to be told to accept them, and he had a mouthful of salt and vinegar chips five seconds later. The woman had a slightly amused look on her face.

After Ethan swallowed, he said, "That was rude. Sorry. I'm just, you know."

"No apologies necessary. It's my pleasure to help out those who find themselves in my church."

My church.
"You're the minister?"

"Denise Lunn. You were expecting a man?"

"Not really. Maybe a little. It just took a second to register."

"Happens all the time. Look, I want you to get some rest. That's not a request. When you're ready, I want you to come find me, because we're doing some intelligence gathering on these things, and the good Sister said you've got some firsthand experience."

"You could say that."

"Excellent. Your girlfriend is," she pointed over his shoulder, "there. I'm sorry, but I haven't seen your parents yet."

"Thanks. I just need an hour or so to get my legs back under me."

"An hour. Will do."

Ethan trudged over to where Rachel was nodding off. He sat down and put his arms around her. She didn't entirely wake up as she nestled into his chest. He dropped his brave face without knowing it. For a moment, he was just a scared little boy who missed his Mommy and Daddy.

* * *

Ethan and Rachel sat side-by-side at long serving table in the kitchen. Denise and Sister Ann sat at the heads on either end, and two men whom Ethan hadn't yet met sat across from them. Ethan had woken up only a few minutes ago; his planned one-hour nap had turned into just over nine. Denise made no apologies. "You needed your rest. Now freshen up and meet me in the kitchen."

Sister Ann made the introductions. The other two men were Harold and Jason. Ethan found their story kind of funny. Harold was Catholic, Jason was Methodist. They had just left Jason's services to go to Harold's when the zombies happened, so they hightailed it back to the First Methodist. They were the only reason why this church hadn't been taken, as well. They'd barricaded the doors immediately in front of the remaining confused congregation, and had recognized a zombie as it had turned and managed to lock it in the women's room before it spread its infection.