Where the Dead Men Lie (12 page)

It started moving faster.

I couldn’t believe what I was seeing.

The monster.

A demon from hell, according to the priest.

It was stalking its way towards the town square, towards a free goddamn meal.

I was in disbelief. I didn’t want to watch, but I couldn’t look away.

It was at that moment Ben whispered something under his breath. It sounded like he said a woman’s name.

Laura. Maybe.

But I couldn’t be sure.

The priests eyes widened in horror as he realized that big Ben was about to take matters into his own hands. "Please," he said. "This has to be done. You don’t understand!"

Ben ignored the priest. He grabbed the leg of the closest guard and pulled him to the ground and stood on his face. He then punched out the next guard, causing his whole head to snap back and forth violently, knocking him unconscious.

Ben moved with amazing speed for someone of his size. And there was nothing the priest or the guards could do to stop him.

He then grabbed one of the rifles that had been dropped as Ed stepped forward with his shotgun. Before he could use it, Ben cracked him on the bridge of the nose with the butt of the rifle, knocking the shotgun to the ground. He grabbed Ed in a headlock and started choking him.

Just as Ed was about to pass out, the bald guy stepped forward and pressed the barrel of his gun against Ben’s temple.

"No!" the priest said. "Do not fire your weapons. You will kill us all!"

"He’s out of control," the bald guy said. "He’s dangerous."

"Lower your gun," the priest said.

The bald guy reluctantly followed orders.

Ben pushed Ed to the ground. Ed took huge, deep breaths as he slowly regained consciousness.

"Sorry," Ben said as he checked the rifle he’d picked up and made sure it was armed and loaded. "But I gotta do this."

Ben turned. Aimed the rifle out one of the arched windows. Aimed it directly at the woman in the town square.

"Wait!" one of the guards said. "Use this."

The guard produced a rifle with a silencer and handed it to Ben. "It’s not much, but it will muffle the sound, make it harder for it to track us."

Ben took the rifle and threw the other one on the ground as the monster continued to stalk and make its way closer to the town square, to the hanging bodies. Ben rested the rifle on the ledge of the arched window and prepared himself to take the shot.

Kenji stepped forward. "Let me. I’m a trained sniper. I can do it."

"No. She’s my responsibility. Her blood is on my head."

The woman continued struggling. Every now and then she would give up and just hang there, upside down. A few seconds would pass and she’d try again, grunting and shouting.

But she was getting nowhere. She had no hope of getting free. None.

The dreadlocked woman hung limp, devoid of all life.

Ben took the shot. The noise was muffled, definitely reduced but it was still pretty loud.

And unfortunately he missed.

Twice.

Kenji offered again. "Please, let me do it."

"Sit down, kid. I told ya, this is my responsibility."

Ben took aim again, fired again. And finally, he put the woman out of her misery.

He dismantled the rifle and threw it on the ground. "May she rest in peace. Right, Father?"

A few seconds later the monster entered the town square. It then stood from its crouching position. It was indeed taller than a person. It stood taller than a house. It was taller than most of the buildings in the town.

It circled the bodies, sizing them up. Sniffing the air some more. A split second later it made its move. The monster grabbed both bodies by their legs, its claws wrapping around each lifeless corpse easily. It gave them a yank, snapping the rope like it was nothing more than a loose bit of thread.

The monster dragged the bodies along the ground as it slowly walked back the way it came from, back out into the desert.

CHAPTER 18

No one said a word. Not until the monster had left the town and disappeared out of sight.

Once it was gone, I couldn’t help myself. I needed answers. "What the hell is going on here?"

"Stay down," the priest said. "Keep quiet. There could be more."

The guards continued to look out over the town, scanning slowly back and forth. Guns at the ready.

"They sometimes hunt in packs," the bald man said.

A good twenty minutes later they seemed to relax. Ed gave the all clear to the priest. The town was empty.

"What was that thing?" Kenji asked.

"Mutations," Daniel whispered to no one.

"The first ones showed up about a month ago," the priest explained. "After the dust storm had died down. Most of the time they come out at night."

"They?" Maria asked. "So you mean like, there’s more of them?"

"When the storm cleared my men started seeing things," the priest continued. "Strange things. Demons. Monsters. Call them what you will. The smaller ones hunt in packs. The bigger one hunts alone."

"How many are there?" Kenji asked.

"We don’t know. It’s impossible to tell. All we know is they come back every few days to feed. And on the hot days, the days where the wind dies down to a whisper; a black cloud of death appears. The devil takes many forms."

"Why did you hang those women up?" Maria asked. "Why did you feed them to that thing!?"

"They were already dead," the priest answered. "Both women had been bitten multiple times. They were infected. You needed to see this. You needed to see what we are up against. We hide underground not because we want to but because we have to. My men blindfolded you, tied you up out of necessity."

"You fed an innocent woman to a monster because you had to?" Maria asked in disbelief.

"It was for the protection of the group. It is the only way."

"You’re insane!"

"There was an incident a few weeks ago," the priest said. "One of our people wandered off. Her house is just over there." He pointed to a small row of houses near the edge of the township "She wanted to get a photo album," he continued. "She claimed she could not live without it. She brought a whole pack of them into the town. They hunted her, tracked her. Chased her down like a pride of lions, a pack of wolves. You must understand that they are constantly watching us. If we stray too far from the group, if we leave the safety of our shelters for too long, they will come for us. They are ferocious hunters. There is no stopping them. We choose to sacrifice our dead to the monsters because it is the only way we can survive. They come back every few days. Sometimes a week or more passes. Sometimes longer. But they always come back. Always. We’ve trained them to feed on scraps. As a result they leave us alone. If we have nothing to offer, they become more aggressive. Are they demons? Is it Lucifer himself? I don't know. I just don't know anymore. But I do know this. If we feed them; we live."

CHAPTER 19

We were taken back down to the bank vault and told that we’d be locked up for at least another day. The men were going to do a sweep of the town. Make sure it was safe. Until then, we were to remain in the vault, locked up and out of harm’s way. It was for our protection. Or so they said.

We quickly put our shoes back on and once we were sure we were alone, Jack spoke up.

"Screw this. These guys are crazy. Feeding a monster? No way. No goddamn way. We need to get out of here."

"I agree," I said. "But How? We’re locked up. They have guns."

"We need to get the jump on them somehow."

"It’s too risky," Daniel pointed out.

"You all need to settle down," Ben said. "Maybe dying is the better option. You all know how hard it is out there. You all know how small your chances of survival are. Maybe living out our shortened lives here is the best thing we could hope for."

"What? You don’t mean that," I said.

"Maybe I do. Maybe I want to die. Maybe I don’t deserve to live. Hell, maybe being sacrificed to that thing and giving these people a chance to live a few more days is what God had planned for me all along."

No, I thought. He didn’t mean that. This guy was too strong to just give up. He had been through just as much bad stuff as we’d been through. He’d been in Melbourne when everything went down. Got out before they dropped nukes on it. Survived out in the desert for over two months. Hunting. Scavenging. It wasn’t in his blood to give up.

"You don’t mean that," I said. "You’re not gonna quit. Not you. No way."

"Begging my pardon little missy. But you don’t know a goddamn thing about me."

"What if I told you we need your help?"

"I’d say, so what?"

"What if I told you we could stop this? All of this. The plague. What if I told you we could create an anti-virus? A vaccine."

"I’d call you a liar."

Daniel stepped forward, put a hand on my shoulder. "Don’t. Not yet. I can reason with the priest. It’s going to be OK."

"Reason? He’s not going to listen to reason!"

I felt like pulling my hair out. I felt like everyone was going crazy. Is crazy contagious? Was everyone suddenly losing their minds? Didn’t they realize the severity of our situation? The way I saw it, we had been locked up by a madman. Jack was right. We needed to get the jump on them and we needed to get the hell out of here.

I mean, how was Daniel going to reason with someone who was completely insane?

I was about to ask Daniel that very question but I never got the chance.

The vault door clicked and unlocked and slowly swung open. It was the priest. He was only escorted by one other man this time. It was Ed. You could already see the bruise on his throat from where Ben had choked him.

He was carrying a shotgun.

And I guess the priest could’ve had anything underneath his black robe.

Two shotguns.

A rocket launcher.

"So," Kenji said. "Is it safe out there? Can you let us out?"

"I’m sorry. I’m afraid it’s still too early to tell. We must take every precaution. I hope you understand. What am I saying? You’re a soldier. Of course you understand. Reconnaissance is a very important exercise. You know, we could use a man like you. And you," he said, looking at Daniel. It was this weird look. A look of desire and hunger.

"We’d be glad to help for a few days," Daniel said. "We can help you guys set up a perimeter, organize contingency plans and exit strategies. We can help with weapons training. But we can’t stay for much longer. We have to keep moving."

"I recognized the moment I saw you, that you were soldiers," the priest said, ignoring Daniel. "Men of war. Trained killers. Hunters, survivors."

"What’s your point?"

"I am hopeful that I can convince you to stay. Protect my flock."

"Like, I said. We can’t stay for much longer. But we’d be glad to help you guys for a few days."

The priest lowered his head and was silent for a moment, like he was considering Daniel’s offer of help. "We can talk about that later," he said after awhile. "When it’s safer. But for now, we need to separate you."

"Whoa, hold up," Jack said. "Separate us? Why?"

"We need to make sure we can trust you."

"Trust? Of course you can trust us."

"We need to be sure."

"So why separate us?"

"We need to interview you individually. Make sure you’re stories add up. Make sure none of you are lying."

"We’re not lying," Maria said. "We’re not bad people."

"It is for the protection of the group. We must stay vigilant."

There was no arguing with him because at that point, the bald guy and another man entered the room with their guns aimed at us.

They motioned for Maria and I to step outside.

The guys were pleading with the priest to keep us all together. But there was no use. Jack continued to argue, he started shouting. He was fuming. He wanted to take action. He wanted to fight his way out. Daniel had to hold him back at one point just to make sure he didn’t do anything stupid.

"It’s going to be OK." Kenji said. "We’ll be back together in no time."

Maria and I were taken away. The vault door shut. The bald man pressed the barrel of his gun into my back, right between my shoulder blades and urged me forward.

"Listen to your friend," the bald man whispered. "Everything is going to be just fine."

CHAPTER 20

Ed, the priest and the bald man led us out of the bank and down into the sub-basement levels of the church next door. Apparently the basement had been set up to be used as an emergency shelter. Inside the basement there were military style cots lined up in rows. People’s possessions surrounded the cots. The possessions included things like books, magazines and a few newspapers from right before everything went to hell. There was even some jewelry lying around the place and family photographs.