Even though the priest was on his knees in front of him, Gabe knew it wasn't from him he was asking forgiveness.
Chapter 13
After everything had finally settled down the two groups began to mingle. The group with the priest had family and friends waiting for them at the local catholic church and had come to the store to check for supplies as well. They all agreed to split up the food, medical supplies, and whatever else was useful in the store, with the bigger group taking an equally bigger part of the loot.
Everyone looked to Gabe as they got started, and having led a church with a food pantry ministry for the poor, he found it pretty comforting to be once again directing people how to pack up different kinds of food. As he Picked up a box of those miniature fish crackers and began eating them he reflected that he wasn't sure about how long it had been since the night at the hospital, he didn't think it had been than a couple of weeks, but he was glad to find the crackers weren't stale. As he watched the group work, he noticed that Kelly had struck up a conversation with Kevin and was laughing. He found it surprising to hear laughter after this day but somehow found it comforting.
A little of the comforting feeling went away when he saw John watching Kevin and Kelly. It was evident to Gabe that John was jealous of Kelly even just talking to Kevin. Running a youth group with high school kids, Gabe and his wife ran into a lot of boy/girl issues. He had been naïve as a new youth pastor and had thought there wouldn’t be as much of the teenage relationship baggage with Christian kids, but he had quickly learned that he was wrong. From his experience he recognized the look of deep jealousy on John’s face and shook his head. John was out of his league but completely oblivious to it and Gabe knew that it ended in heartache 99% of the time.
Gabe finished off the crackers and started on a candy bar while all the while giving direction and advice to the others as the packed-up boxes ad chose what to put where. Some boxes were going with the priest and his people, some were going back with Gabe and his people and some would be traded to the guys at the gun store.
Gabe was finishing up his candy bar when he saw the zombie coming towards the door. The zombie saw the movement inside the store and began to groan what seemed almost angrily as it came in the door. Gabe noticed several of the other zombies that had initially been turned away by his prayers had been wondering around outside completely ignoring them in the store, but as this new one groaned and growled it attracted several of them to follow him into the store again.
Gabe wadded up the candy bar wrapper and put it on one of the now-empty shelves before moving forward to confront the zombies.
"In the name of Jesus, BEGONE!" Gabe commanded forcefully. The zombies didn't slow down and now were coming straight at Gabe. Gabe immediately tried again. "In the name of Jesus Christ, BEGONE!" But again the zombies just came on.
Gabe was surprised and began to backpedal as the three zombies were right on top of him. As he stumbled and began to fall Kevin and Bryan appeared on either side of him, both swung steel tire irons, knocking down two of the zombies immediately. Kevin let out a scream of anger as he kicked the third zombie hard, knocking it down as well, he jumped on top of it before it had even hit the ground and began to beat it's head In with the tire iron. The one Kevin had initially hit, moaned and began to rise, Bryan lifted his iron but Kevin spun and hit it with a two-handed strike that caved in the side of the head. And even though it was clearly dead, he continued to hit it over and over. No one stepped in to stop him and after a minute he finally quit, looking up at everyone standing around him.
"Thank you." Gabe said, clearly shaken by the experience. "I... I don't know what happen."
"Yeah," Kelly interrupted, "They listened to you before."
"Were you fasting yesterday?" O'Donnell asked seemingly randomly.
"No." O'Donnell seemed let down by this answer. "Well, not on purpose."
"What do you mean not on purpose?" Chris asked.
"Well, I wasn't trying to fast, but with the supplies at the camp so low, I figured I could afford to miss a couple meals yesterday."
Everyone from Gabe's group started talking at once, expressing their dismay that he would do that to himself.
Finally O'Donnel broke in, "You're missing the point." Everyone quit talking and turned towards the Priest. "Mark 9:29, "And He told them, "This kind can come out by nothing but prayer and fasting."
"OH!" Gabe blurted out, "Of course. I hadn't eaten and then I called out to God when we were surrounded by Zombies."
"Okay, so why didn't it keep working?" Kelly asked.
"I've been snacking since we started boxing everything up." Gabe said, pulling a candy bar wrapper out of his pocket and holding it up for all to see.
“So we know that these are not only possessed corpses, but that they are possessed by tough demons." O'Donnell said in amazement.
“Well I’m just glad you’re okay,” offered the girl from Father O’Donnell’s group.
Smiling at the young lady, Gabe suddenly had a realization. “You know, in all the commotion and then getting down to the business of gathering the food, I didn’t formally meet the rest of your group Father. “
“Oh!” The Father laughed at himself a little. “I guess just because it’s the end of the world is no excuse to forget my manners. This is Jeannie, she lived near our Church and has been with us since this craziness started. And this is Jorge, his family has been long time and faithful members.” Gabe shook hands with both of them and then introduced his group and there were handshakes and greetings all around.
“You and your group should come back to the Church with us.” offered Jeannie. Gabe was a little surprised when she put her hand on his arm as she said that and he felt his face getting read.
“Oh,” he offered, “We actually have people waiting for us back…” He ended his comment by just motioning North. He didn’t have any reason not to trust this group but just felt like it wasn’t a good idea to say where they were camping or that they were trading with the guys at the army surplus store.
“I thought you said that they got into your Church father?” Gabe said, remembering their earlier conversation.
“They did.” He said solemnly. “But we regrouped and prevailed.” Jorge and Jeannie nodded in confirmation.
“Well, as I said, we appreciate the offer, but our people are waiting for us as well.”
“Perfectly understandable” Father O’Donnell said with a sincere smile. “Jorge’s family and several others from my congregation are waiting for us back at the Church.”
“Well, maybe you could come by and visit. It’s nice to have some more abled bodied men along when we go look for food.” While Gabe didn’t find anything inappropriate about what she said, this time Jeannie rubbed her hand gently up and down his forearm and he found himself blushing again.”
“Actually that isn’t a bad idea, safety in numbers for sure.” Gabe said. He took a step towards Kelly and John which allowed him to politely get out of Jeannie’s grasp.
“Speaking of which, you two are welcome to join us. I would love a chance to tell you more about Jesus and the Bible and I feel a little responsible for you now that I saved your life and all.” Gabe directed the last part right at Kelly.
“Yeah,” She smiled at Gabe’s comment, “The sounds great.”
“I don’t know…” John suddenly cut into the conversation. It seems like a big ol’ catholic church building would be pretty safe.”
“Well I do owe this man my life and I want to hear more about the Bible, I haven’t been to church since I was a little kid.” Kelly hesitated for a second. “Come on, you should come with us.”
John did his best to put on an agreeable face as the two groups said their farewells and he followed along after Kelly.
Chapter 14
As the sun set Chris had everyone going through and checking the supplies they had traded Bobby Ray for, while Brad, Shirley and Jill set up a campfire. The trade and the trip back had gone much smoother th
an the rest of the day and Bobby Ray and his heavily armed friend had actually been fairly pleasant once they saw all the food they brought them. They had gotten the much-needed food as well as ammo, including the hard to find 50 AE for Gabe’s Desert Eagle, as well as some good all-weather boots and winter jackets.
Gabe noticed the only hiccup on the ride home as he saw Kelly squeeze in next to Kevin in the back of the truck, forcing John to sit across from them. They were both so caught up in their blossoming puppy love that they missed the seething look that John gave them most of the ride. Gabe noted it and realized he was going to have to deal with this situation eventually.
"There." Brad leaned back from the fire pit where he had been adding bricks to the existing pit, "That should give us a hot fire that won't be visible past the edge of our little area here."
"Good job Chris." Gabe said.
Just then Eric came into the fire pit clearing, "I've got the perimeter lined with fishing line and noisemakers, a rabbit won't be able to get in here without us knowing about it." he said with a smile.
"Awesome!" Gabe said clapping Eric on the back.
"Listen," Gabe said, getting everyone’s attention. "We've had a long tragic day, let's just grab an MRE for tonight, sit down and enjoy the fire and tomorrow we'll work on using up the food that doesn't travel well."
"You going somewhere?" Eric asked as he and Mercedes grabbed some of the nearby lawn furniture and set by the campfire.
"Well," Gabe motioned to his initial little group, "We are planning to head down to the Florida Keys... They are islands and the houses are already set up with metal shutters that can withstand a hurricane..." He let that last part hang out there like no more explanation was needed.
"Everyone is welcome to join us of course.”
“Florida?” Questioned Kelly. “That sounds good but isn’t it awful far?”
“It is, but I don’t relish the idea of being in Kentucky during the winter with no power and zombies everywhere.”
“I still say we’re jumping the gun.” Interjected Brad. “I think the military is getting this under control as we speak.”
“Yeah, I think we should stick around here. People will be looking for us.” John added with a very serious tone.
“People?” Chris asked.
“Yeah, people. I’m sure my grandparents or uncle will be looking for me. And Kelly I know your grandparents will be looking for you.” as he added, “But if you’re who knows where,” He swung his arm out in a sweeping gesture for emphasis, “they’ll never find you.”
“Well,” Gabe softly interjected. “If the government is getting things under control to the point that elderly grandparents are able to come looking for us, then I think at that time, you’ll be able to pick up a phone and call them.”
Kelly gave John a bit of a smug look as if she had made the point instead of Gabe.
“But listen,” we don’t have to decide this tonight. I want to finish organizing this stuff and I think it would be a good idea if we walked the perimeter on a regular basis. Even with the tripwire, we don’t want any surprises and we don’t want any human intruders either.”
“I’ll take first watch!” Kevin said, jumping to his feet. “Want to come with me?” Kevin extended his hand down to Kelly.
Sure!” Kelly said as she got up from her seat with a smile spreading from ear to ear.
John looked at Kelly intently trying desperately to make eye contact, but Kelly’s eyes were only on Kevin.
“I’ll start walking in the other direction” Offered Chase, we should pass each other twice every lap around the campsite, that’ll let me keep an eye on you guys.” He said with a wink to his frat brother. “And,” He added a little more somberly. “If we don’t see each other we’ll know something is wrong and can alert everyone.”
“Great Idea Chase!” Chris said complementing him.
“I’ll go with you Chase!” John suddenly offered.
Chase was already up and just shrugged his shoulders as he started to walk, “Suit yourself.”
Chapter 15
Gabe felt content that the camp had fallen into a nice routine. Eric and Mercedes had taken over the bulk of the cooking duties for the whole group, which were done mostly outside, but they deferred to Shirley whenever she made suggestions and especially when they used the inside gas stove.
Chris had naturally fallen into being in charge of camp security, and had developed a rotating schedule so that there were always at least two people walking the perimeter at night. Of course Kelly and Kevin walked together even if they weren’t both on the schedule to do so.
Gabe himself had started having Bible Studies every night and they were regularly attended by most of the camp with the exception of Chase and Billy. Chris would come sometimes but would usually sit outside the circle and never participate. But this night Gabe had made a point of asking everyone to come to the small campfire.
“We’ve been having Bible study all week at night but I realized some of us are still practically strangers. So I thought we might want to talk about how we all got here, kind of get to know each other. I was with a lot of you guys, when this started, but I barely know some of you. And as a pastor, I think sharing and talking about… it… will help. I think it is safe to say we have all lost loved ones since this started."
Gabe looked around the group expectantly, he didn't want to push those who had lost loved ones in the past couple days and was opening his mouth to be the first one to speak when suddenly Kelly spoke up.
"This couldn't have happened at a worse time for us. I mean things were going alright for my family in general, I was going to college nearby so I was living at home, mom and dad were great… Dad was an active outdoorsy kind of guy." Tears welled up in her eye, but Kelly kept talking. "Just the week before he had been on the roof of a shed he was building. He fell off and landed on his shoulder. He tore his rotator cuff and broke his arm. He was in a cast waiting for surgery when all this started.
"John", she motioned across the fire to John, who gave a proud little smile, "had come buy a couple times to check on us in the first couple days. But then there started to be more and more of those things on the street and in the neighborhood all the time. We lived in the suburbs, but the city wasn't that far away. After about a week we were starting to run out of food. At first dad had planned to go on a food run but me and mom finally convinced him that I should do it. I had run track and cross country since middle school…" She paused and just stared at the fire for a few moments before continuing. "I mean it would be too hard for him to gather food, carry it, open doors, possibly have to fight those things… he had been so strong… if he hadn't broken his arm…" Everyone understood, and waited patiently for her to start again.
"So I went to the neighbor's house, just right next door, there were a couple of those things on the street so I had to time it just right. I ran over there, let myself in with the key they kept over the porch light and got inside without them seeing. That was the scary part, not knowing if anyone else was in the house. But I grabbed some cans of food, found some bottled water and soda's, put everything in one of those environmentally friendly grocery sacks that you're supposed to bring to the store yourself, and I slipped out the back door and back into our house through our back door."
"Soon as I got inside I knew something was wrong. I don't know what happened, or even how I knew, but I put the food down and called out for my parents. They both came in the kitchen and they were…" She put her head down and the tears came but she kept talking, "They were both dead, I don't know what happened, but they were both covered in blood, it looked like dad had some weird wound in his neck and mom had been… Been partially eaten.”
"I screamed but all I seemed to be able to do was back up… my mind and body weren't talking, I wanted to run and get out. Finally I hit my dad with a gallon of water and knocked him back but my mom tackled me. Both of them were on top of me when suddenly John burst in the back door and…. w
ell he didn't have a choice… they were already dead." She looked at John again and gave him a sad smile. John lit up with pleasure at the sight of her smile.
"John saved me. I got up and just ran out of the house. I wasn't thinking, I just ran. John eventually caught up with me and guided me to safety, I had gathered a following of those dead things at that point, none of them could catch me, but you know how they are, they will just keep following you until they can't see you anymore and then they still keep going in whatever direction they were heading. I didn't want to go back to our neighborhood and so we just started heading South, away from the city… away from my house. I was pretty useless the first couple days, and John kept me safe." She once again smiled at John who by this point looked like he couldn't contain his joy of being noticed by her.
And that's when we met up with you guys, and that's when I met Kevin." She said with some amount of noticeable joy as she took Kevin's arm and snuggled against him. Kevin smiled while he looked down at her head leaning against his shoulder. With a gentle smile he leaned over and gave her a gentle peck on the head.
"Cha" John grunted clearly out of disgust.
Everyone at the fire turned and to look at John. Many were shocked at the look of anger on his face. He was shocked for a moment, not realizing he had made a noise, but then his anger overwhelmed him.
"This is crap!" he finally said, almost shouting. With an accusatory finger-pointing across the flames, he rose to his feet and continued. “I save your life, not just from your own parents, but numerous times after that! Do you say thanks? NO! You just go on about yourself and your loss." John finished with an emphasis on ‘your'.
"John! My parents died, they tried to kill me, how could you say"
John cut her off, "My parents died too!"
Kelly retorted in a hurt tone, "I know, and I told you how sad I was for you, that I was sorry…"
John was too angry to listen now and continued his rant despite the clear discomfort of everyone else sitting around the campfire. "Whatever! You told me you liked me…
Dead Faith (Book 1): Dead Faith Page 10