Thirteen Roses Book Three: Beyond: A Paranormal Zombie Saga (11 page)

David emerged from the hospital room, face red and eyes puffy. He glared at Luke but followed as they slipped from the room. They sneaked away from the footsteps, tip toeing all the way. Luke held his breath, expecting one of them to fall over or make some horrendous noise at any moment. He waited for the soldiers to find their empty room and come running.
 

Sweat pooled beneath his armpits and he snarled at yet another facet of his maddening new existence. He didn’t want to have to deal with this. He didn’t want to have to put up with it. He glanced at the people following him and realised that he did want to save them. Mostly because they were his route home, but also because, with the exception of Jackson, they were good people. He wanted to be sick.
 

He looked around and laughed inwardly. They were at the top of the staircase that led down to the garage. They were here again. Luke exchanged looks with Alex and Bayleigh, eyebrows raised, but got nothing back.
 

They had no way of knowing whether the plague had worn off yet. They wouldn’t know until they went back in there. And they couldn’t charge their device, or steal more, until they went back in there. So what was the point of waiting? There was a chance the soldiers wouldn’t expect it and that might give them a head start. Or they might be walking into a trap.

He jogged down the stairs, focusing only on what lay before him. What else was he supposed to do? He spared another moment to hate the Father before he reached the garage and waved them all through. He paused by the door, listening again. The footsteps were further away now and still quiet. They hadn’t heard them leave. His stomach unclenched and he let out a breath as he closed the door to the garage.

As he waved them into the tunnel, Bayleigh and Alex flicked on the torches on their phones. Luke had plundered a few bodies and got himself one as well. They were all set up on
whatsapp
, so assuming the internet didn’t die any time soon, they could communicate should they get split up.
 

The cavern soon lay before them and the phone lights were switched off. The torches that lit the place had been replaced and the flames danced off the walls. He paused in the entrance, entranced by the shapes made by the fire. They were beautiful, ever-shifting and changing. He let out a breath and felt something swell in his chest until he struggled to breathe.
 

Bayleigh touched his arm and he jumped. ‘You coming?’

He nodded and they sneaked around the corner of the cavern, drawing closer and closer to the miniature St Paul’s. Bayleigh had met Seph here, but from the way she described his arrival, he wasn’t here all the time. He had found a way to travel to Earth from the Flights. The thought was ludicrous, unbelievable, but he could find no other explanation.
 

Though he didn’t want to admit it, he was beginning to think there were a lot of things his old friends hadn’t told him. It galled him almost as much as Az’s betrayal, but he wondered whether that had been part of a far larger plan. Finding out what the plan entailed was why he was really here. Except he couldn’t shake the niggling feeling that the women upstairs were becoming more important than that. All the politicking and lying became irrelevant when placed against a human life.
 

He sneered and hoped none of the others saw it. Why did he hope, why did he care? He groaned and rubbed his face with the palm of his hand. Jackson strode out in front, making little effort to be secretive, and Luke chased after him, grabbing his arm.
 

‘Take it easy. Go slow and quietly. If Seph is still here, he can kill all of us, just like that.’ He didn’t mention that the laws of existence forbade Seph taking human life. He just wanted to Jackson to cool it a little. It didn’t work.
 

‘I’m chosen. He can try.’

There were a hundred ways to respond to that but none would have the desired effect. Then he thought of a different way. A human way. ‘Think about the others, then. Think about Ed. It was Seph that did this, without even trying. If you put them in danger it doesn’t matter how chosen you are, they’ll still die.’

It was blackmail, pure and simple, but it sounded right. Jackson’s brow furrowed and he glared at him. Then he grunted his assent and crouched down, keeping his footsteps impressively quiet for a huge guy.
 

They reached the church, crept up one side of it, and sneaked in through the huge front door. Their footsteps echoed as they walked down the centre of the church and he noticed Bayleigh taking regular, twitchy glances between her feet at the black grates over which they walked.
 

Seph wasn’t here. He would be able to feel him, he was sure. It would take power to get here as well, so he’d know if he showed up. They surrounded the machine, Alex echoing Krystal’s words that it was cool and space age. Bayleigh leant in close and lifted a lead up. He handed her the device and she plugged it in. It vibrated and she rested it on top of the machine.
 

‘How long will it take?’

She shrugged. ‘Not a clue.’ A pinging sound came from the machine and she bent down to examine it. With a low whistle she unplugged the device. ‘About that long, apparently.’

 
She handed it back and they stood around the machine. Alex finally said what they were all thinking. ‘We could just trash it now. We’ve got a device, which is more than they’ll have.’

Luke shook his head. ‘Think about it. We could leave here with a hundred more people in tow. We need more devices and we need this machine to power them. Whoever has this is the centre of the new world. We can’t just destroy it.’

Jackson rumbled in agreement. ‘This shit’s worth more than any guns. The Lord wants us to have it.’

He seemed oblivious to the rolled eyes. But at least he agreed. It would make the next bit easier. ‘We aren’t destroying this. We’re taking it with us.’

He was met with a chorus of moans and denials, but no one argued for long. This machine gave more hope than anything else had so far. Whether the machine itself would keep the zombies at bay was a question they would only be able to answer once they got it outside, but even with one device, it was still priceless.
 

Jackson handed Ed to Bayleigh, who sat in a pew and cradled him in her lap. Then he, Alex, Jackson and David gathered around the machine and tried to lift it. It didn’t come easily, but they hefted it off the floor and a few feet down the church before they had to put it down.
 

‘That’s enough. Put it back for now.’

‘Put it back? What the hell’re you talking about?’ Jackson asked.

‘We can’t take it now. We need a truck, something we can put it on to get it out. And there’s no point moving it until we get the hostages out. The point is, we can move it.’

Jackson looked like he was going to argue, then gave in and stomped away towards the altar. Luke made eye contact with David and Alex and took a breath.
 

‘We need to find out whether the hostages have taken their masks off yet. Or if they’re even awake. Which means one of us needs to go up there and look around.’

Jackson

Why was he the boss? Who made him the boss? Jackson sneered and rested his hand on one of the pews, resisting the urge to shove it over. He could control himself, he could be the bigger man. He was the Chosen One. Luke might be some special being but God had chosen
him
to save the world.
 

He turned away from the pew, narrowing his eyes. ‘Why are you here?’

His voice was low but everyone in the church turned to look at him.
 

‘I’m sorry?’ Luke replied.

‘Why are you here? God chose me. So why are you here, taking charge?’

He saw the look that passed between Alex and Luke and filed it away. There were lies here. They hadn’t had a moment to rest, save the time in the hospital, and that had been spent discussing what to do next. Only it hadn’t been a discussion. It had been Luke telling them what to do then giving them the chance to argue about it. Why hadn’t he spotted it before?

Luke rubbed the side of his head. ‘You guys are all alive because of me. You were my last week’s subjects a—’

‘Subjects? Like you’re a king or something?’

‘No, of course not. In my old job, you were called subjects. It was my job to help you.’

Jackson’s mouth dropped open. What the hell did he say to that? ‘You were helping me? When you tortured me for days, that was helping me?’

‘I was never going to succeed with you. You were put on my list to make me fail.’

Jackson leapt across the space between them and slammed his fist into Luke’s jaw. The bastard staggered back and bounced off the machine. He stayed on his feet though. First thing he’d done well. Jackson breathed through his clenched teeth, standing above him. He’d beat him, he’d beat him into the floor.
 

Luke put a hand out to stave off the next blow. ‘I did succeed. You found God and renounced your vile life. How isn’t that succeeding?’

Jackson took a step back, pushing one fist into the other and squeezing it. He hadn’t found God, God had found him. But it was true. His time in the park with his children had brought him to God and that happened because of Luke. ‘But you didn’t mean for me to find God. That wasn’t your plan.’

‘Not everything happens like you plan it.’

Jackson lowered his fists and took another step back. He could live with that. For now. ‘So we were your subjects. You were helping us. Why did that mean we survived? Still doesn’t answer why you’re here.’

‘The Father sent me to Earth to help. He gave me you to help me.’

Alex’s eyes flickered just enough for Jackson to know it wasn’t the whole truth. Why would the Father send him here when Jackson was already in place? Luke could do things Jackson couldn’t, so maybe that was it. Or maybe Luke was sent to test him, to help him push himself and become worthy of his position. That was more likely. And Luke was plenty testing.
 

‘Fine. I’ll go with that for now. Any time you want to tell us the whole truth, I’ll listen.’

He locked eyes with Luke, challenging him to deny it. The bastard didn’t, though. Which was just right. Jackson stalked out of the cathedral into the cavern. Why did they all follow him? Why did they take his word on everything and smile and agree all the damn time? He was a liar and didn’t bother to deny it. There were secrets hidden beneath secrets and they’d come out soon enough.
 

They’d stay in there talking for hours, trying to decide who should go above and check things out. He could wait or he could do it himself. He headed for the stairs. It smelled in here, of rot and zombies. He spotted the tiny body of the creature Bayleigh had described. Krystal killed it.
 

Maybe he should speak to her. She didn’t like him, not yet, but he could work his magic. He could bring her into the love of the Lord and she could help him. He would need the kids, going forward into the new world. God would need believers.
 

He nodded as he reached the stairs. She would listen to him. She’d respect the authority and she’d respect the word of God. Particularly if he returned now with the hostages. He began to climb.
 

It was further than it looked and he was huffing when he reached the top. He paused on the shelf for a moment, staring down on the cavern. They were still in the church, still bickering about who was going to do what Jackson was already halfway through getting done. Probably scared of climbing the steps. He sneered, turned away, and set off into the tunnel.
 

He flicked his phone torch on and lit up the tunnel. A little way along he saw the carvings Bayleigh mentioned. They were incredible, so detailed and yet so simple, and he stopped, running his fingers over the lines. The figures moved and writhed. Someone screamed as spears were driven into his body again and again.
 

Whoever made these was a genius. How did they do it? He knew that, though. They were commissioned by God. These carvings were a warning to all those who didn’t believe. The punishments were just and right, no more than non-believers deserved. He smiled, not seeing himself in the darkness, not seeing the smile he’d worn so many times while driving to the port with children in the back of the van.

He crept along the tunnel, examining every carving, running his fingers lovingly over the shapes. And watching. It was like TV, one long snuff movie of deserved punishment. He shivered and rubbed himself. His hands were opening his trousers when he caught himself. There wasn’t time for that, not now. God had given him a mission. And the ladies were above. They were better than any carvings.
 

He blinked and rubbed his eyes, then ran his palm over his head and grunted. He needed to shave. There was never an excuse for not grooming properly. He reached the point in the tunnel where the dust thickened and put his hand through the wall. He was in the right place. He looked further down the tunnel, his torch light illuminating the dust that lay inches thick. No one went in that direction. Why not?

Something was down there. Something he needed to see. But not now. He pushed his face through the wall and into the cathedral. It was quiet, the tent darkened and only faintly visible. He waited, listening and watching. Satisfied, he crept out into the huge space.
 

Andre’s body had been taken away. What had they done with it? Was he being given a proper burial or had they dumped his body outside for the zombies? He didn’t know why, but he had a suspicion it was the latter. These bastards followed God no more than Luke did. He sneaked across the church until he stood beside the tent.
 

So far, so good. Why were the others so worried? He dropped to his knees and clambered beneath the tent awning, grunting as he lowered himself to the stone. The tent was quiet, the sheets like ghosts in the gloom. He chuckled. They were sheets, nothing more. But the quiet was making him edgy. It was too quiet.