Losing interest in the affairs of people that they did not know, the survivors moved on, hoping to take advantage of the relatively quiet, zombie-free area.
Chapter 29
"Here."
Billy was pulling on a service door that was in the side of the hill below at the bottom of the side yard of a large beautiful house. Next to it was a plaque indicating that this door had once been hidden and had been part of the Underground Railroad. As Billy pulled on it the door came forward just a little like it was loose. Billy produced a key and inserted it in a keyhole in the edge of the door that wasn't visible until he had pulled the door open the little bit it would give. Gabe and Brad looked around nervously for other Zombies. They had managed to drive pretty close to downtown before they had been forced to abandon the Humvee. It hadn’t been the zombies that had made them abandon it either, but a pile-up of cars that they couldn’t get around. It had taken them a little over an hour and a half to walk to the riverfront road where they were at now. They had kept to the back yards and they had killed several more zombies, and Gabe had even called on the name of God once.
"We're in." Billy whispered harshly and disappeared into the darkness beyond the door.
Gabe nodded to Brad to go on in, then giving one last look he quickly followed. The other two waited a few feet down a dark hallway with their flashlights in one hand and their weapons in the other while Gabe closed the door and then, pulling his flashlight out he joined the others.
The walls of the hallway were made from raw hand-fitted stones but had modern lights strung along the ceiling. Gabe almost told the others to look for a light switch before he caught himself. Weeks without electricity and still a lifetime habit dies hard.
The three of them were standing at a T intersection. Billy pointed his light down the hallway to their left. The hallway stretched down almost 20 feet before coming to a set of wooden step that went up out of sight. Satisfied there was nothing to see in that direction he turned his light to the right revealing a door just a few feet away. Billy put his hand on the door and turned back towards the others. Gabe and Brad both nodded.
Billy yanked the door open and the other two surged forward. The room was empty of anything living or dead. As they entered they saw that four stairs going down, but the ceiling stayed the same height. Still on guard against any zombies, all three men continually swept the room with their lights, looking for any sign of movement. It was obvious that the room they were in had been a root cellar originally, but now there were just several tall wooden wine racks against a wall and some crates scattered around the room. The room was the same stone as the hallway, but the steps leading down on the other side were dirt, and the far wall consisted of heavy planks that went right up to the stonework.
Billy looked down the stairs and spoke in a whisper. “This was hidden in the old days, it is where they would hide the escaping slaves. It’s where we met.”
Billy again took the lead as they walked down the steps. At the bottom of the steps was a long narrow room, almost just a large hallway. There were several alcoves off of the room and towards the end Gabe could see an arched entrance going into another room. They peered into the first alcove they came to and there was a display case full of shrunken heads, feathers, leather-clad books and other mysterious items. Gabe shook his head, only imagining what sort of evil those things represented. They walked down the hall further and as they peered into the second alcove they could see a pedestal with a crystal skull sitting on it.
Just as Gabe was noticing that this Alcove was significantly bigger than the last one, several zombies came out from just inside the alcove where they had been standing motionless. The first one had been a bodybuilder in life and was huge. Just by the very act of coming around the corner quickly, he slammed into Gabe, knocking him to the ground gasping for air.
As Gabe lay on the ground he saw his to friends struggle to get their rifles up in such cramped quarters. Brad managed to get a shot off, knocking the second, normal-sized zombie, back a few steps, but he had missed its head. From the alcove across the hall Gabe watched in horror as two more zombies attracted by the commotion came out of their hiding spots. Brad got off another shot and hit the same one again but this time in the head. As he did, the big one crashed past it and slammed into Brad, driving him into a corner. Gabe was now up on his hands and knees trying to get the air back in his lungs. To his horror and confusion he saw Billy throw his rifle down and start digging around in his pockets.
"Do I look at least a little familiar?" The voice coming from behind him surprised Gabe. Looking in that direction Gabe saw Dean Boyard Geal, or as he preferred to think of him, ‘The Talking Zombie.’ It had incorporated Chris’ jaw into his face so he could talk again, and Gabe would recognize those eyes anywhere.
Gabe glared at him, the zombie's words and obvious reference to when he had attacked him and Chris.
Gabe finally managed to suck in a breath. Getting to his feet he replied to the zombie. “Oh, I recognize you.”
“Good!” The Talking Zombie replies. “And it is so nice of you to come all the way here to my home to die.”
"Did you expect there to be some epic battle between us? Between Good and Evil?" Gabe asked.
The Talking Zombie laughed. "No, there won’t be any battle, I’m going to kill you little preacher man. I know Jesus and I remember Paul, but who do you think you are?" He said with a mocking laugh.
"I'm just a humble servant of the first name you mentioned."
Still laughing, the zombie advances towards Gabe. "We rule this world now, we are all-powerful and you can't stop us."
"He who is in me, is greater than he who is in the world." Confusion is clear on the zombie's face despite its rotting state. "Now, in Jesus' name, be still and be quiet." Gabe said softly.
"Wha..." but the zombie couldn't get the words out before his body locked up on him and he found himself standing there motionless.
"This is it, no dramatic fight to the death, I am going to cast you out of that corpse and back to where you came from." Panic rushed across the zombies face. Suddenly he began to motion towards the corner of the room. Gabe looked over and saw several rats scurrying around. Getting his meaning, Gabe continued.
"No, I won't allow you to go into those rats."
Gabe stood their silently for a moment, locked eye to eye with the zombie.
"In the name of Jesus Christ, I cast you ughh!."
Pain. White-hot searing pain. All encompassing pain seized Gabe’s mind for a moment, but his arm reacted reflexively. Reaching around behind himself Gabe’s hand found a knife sticking out of his back, and his mind was able to come back into focus. Spinning around Gabe saw Billy standing behind him, arm still outstretched from stabbing him. For a moment everything was still and he saw Brad either dead or unconscious on the ground, surrounded by two dead zombies lying next to him. But what didn’t make sense was that the other two zombies were just standing there swaying.
“What… why?”
“I’m sorry Gabe. But I did tell you mostly the truth.” Billy put his hand back in his pocket and took a relaxed stance.
“I really was recruited into this cult and I really didn’t show up on the last night. But that was because I had broken away from them. Because I felt Mr. Geal was getting too old and I should be the one to take over.
Gabe fell to his knees, a combination of fasting for several days, having been shot and now getting stabbed. As he fell he saw his hold over The Talking Zombie let go. The zombie walked right up to Gabe now and stood over him.
“And now, I see that I was wrong.” Billy said.
The Talking Zombie looked over at Billy and smiled.
“I mean look… “ Billy continued, “He has risen from the dead. Now that’s power!”
“Thank you Billy, I’m so glad you have come around. And while we shall always honor the rest of our friends who made the ultimate sacrifice to bring me back, I am glad it shall be you by my side as
we build this brave new world.”
Gabe fell over on his side. “I can’t believe we felled.” He murmured quietly. His eyes focused on his rifle laying nearby.
“And,” Billy continued as he reached down and picked up Gabe’s rifle. “I’ve found a way to make Mr. Geal whole again.” He removed the magazine from the AR15 and then racked it once to empty the chamber of any ammo. “He will maintain his immortality but be human again. And together their won’t be anything we won’t be able to do.”
Walking through the arched passageway Billy threw the ammo ahead against the far wall. “Come Mr. Geal, let us make history!”
The Talking Zombie laughed, “But I’m hungry for a snack.” He leaned over Gabe and licked his lips.
“No, let him witness the end of his Christian world and the rise of ours!”
The Talking Zombie grinned a huge grin at Gabe. “Oh, that is a delightful idea Billy, you do continue to impress.”
Gabe laid there on the ground barely holding on to consciousness as they went about setting up the room, lighting candles, redrawing symbols with chalk. From where he laid he could see most of the room. He saw the ammo so far out of reach. He looked over in the hallway with him and saw the two zombies still just standing there swaying. He tried to convince himself that he saw Brad’s chest rising with breath, but he couldn't be sure. And then he wondered if it would matter in a moment. Reaching around to feel the knife in his back again and see if he could stop the bleeding, his hand touched something else that he had forgotten he had.
“Please, just stand in the middle of the pentagram Mr. Geal.” Billy said with authority.
“Why did you even bring this preacher here.” Asked the Talking Zombie.
“He can turn the zombies away or even destroy them with just his words and faith.”
“How did you convince him to join you?” The talking Zombie was now carefully making his way into the pentagram, being careful not to step on any of the chalk symbols they had drawn or the lines of the pentagram itself.
“I told him I could end the zombie apocalypse.”
The Talking Zombie let out a huge laugh. “And he believed you!” He laughed again only harder. “I guess if he destroyed me, the source, he could stop the curse, but even then you will still have the millions of zombies already made walking around.”
The Talking Zombie turned and made eye contact with Gabe, who was now back up on all fours in the hallway. “But you won’t even be able to do that as I’m about to become immortal and you are about to be dead.” The Talking Zombie just stared at him with a serious look for several more seconds before breaking into more laughter.
As The Talking Zombie got into position Billy pulled out a small note pad from his back pocket and laid it on the podium in front of him. As he started to read the words, power from another world started to flow in the room. Mr. Geal stood there, his arms raised, a huge smile on his pieced together face, soaking in every word, every iota of power.
“Wait, why are you saying that?” Mr. Geal put his hands down and tilted his head to listen more intently to what Billy was saying.
“No, that can’t be right.” Mr. Geal started to walk towards the podium when Billy reached into his pocket, pulled out his hand out and threw something at Mr. Geal’s face, all the while still reciting from his book.”
Gabe had pulled himself up on the archway entrance to an almost standing position. From his perspective he recognized what hit The Talking Zombie.
“Salt and Spices.” Gabe said to himself. “You knew how to make something to stun the zombies…”
Billy’s eyes moved to Gabe and he smiled and nodded knowingly while continuing to read and chant. The Talking Zombie now just stood there and swayed like the two zombies standing over Brad.
“Well Talking Zombie, I don’t know a word of what he is saying, but I know a double-cross when I see one.”
Unable to even turn his head, The Talking Zombie looked at Gabe out of the corner of his eye and panic could be seen across his face.
As Gabe continued to try and pull himself up on the wall Billy worked himself into a frenzy. He was now shouting the strange words and Gabe still didn’t know what they meant but he could feel the hairs on the back of his neck standing up. Billy came around from the podium now chanting a strange phrase over and over. He entered the pentagram and stood right in front of The Talking Zombie. He let out one last shout and then put his face inches from his, grasped The Talking Zombie’s head with both hands and opened his own mouth.
The Talking Zombie opened its mouth and Gabe had to hold onto the wall for support as a noise that sounded like 100 people yelling came out of his mouth. The noise continued and as Gabe stabilized himself on the wall he could see what looked like a dark fog flowing like water from The Talking Zombie’s mouth into Billy’s.
After several moments had gone by the flow abruptly ended and The Talking Zombie dropped to the floor. He was now a husk of dried up skin that looked like it had been left in the sun.
“Ah! That feels nice.” Billy was looking at his hands like he had never seen them before.
“Is there anyone you won’t double-cross?” Gabe asked as he pushed himself off the arched wall and began a slow walk towards Billy.
Billy laughed. “Look at you Mr. stubborn. Up on your feet again.” He paused and then began to walk towards Gabe.
“I didn’t plan to double-cross him… originally. I thought if I could fix what went wrong in the ritual, then I could become like him, only you know, whole and not a rotting corpse. The fool was already immortal.”
“So it was just us and the rest of the human race you were going to betray.”
“Well when you say it like that.” Billy laughed. “But I couldn’t figure out how to undo it, but I did figure out how to take it. So I thought, ‘Hey, why share.’” The whole time he was talking Billy was walking towards Gabe, being very careful not to mess up any of the symbols they had drawn.
“So now it is time to end you and get on with ruling the world.”
Gabe pulled out a large pistol. “Really?” Billy said with some amusement.
“I thought you gave your pistol to your girlfriend… Pastor?”
“I did. I traded her back for one of the pistols from the soldiers at the roadblock.” A look of surprise crossed Billy’s face. “Missed that, didn’t ya.” Do you know who gave me this gun?” Gabe waved it around for emphasis.
“That old man from the campground?”
“Correct, somehow that feels appropriate right now.”
“Well look,” Billy waved his hands in the air and went on in a bored voice. “You can put a hole in this body, but it won’t kill me, but it will annoy me while I fix it. So how about you just put that down, let me kill you, and save me the hassle?”
Gabe smiled. Tilted his head as if to consider the offer, and then shot Billy right in the center of the chest.
“Great. See what you did! That is not going to be easy to fix! Look at the size that made coming out the back” Billy said looking down at the hole in his chest and then trying to look over his shoulder at the back. “And you know what. It didn’t even hurt. Are you happy?”
Gabe stared blankly at Billy’s chest and then tossed the gun aside.
“Finally, some common sense from you.” Billy said taking a few more delicate steps and closing the gap between them. “Any last words?” Billy smiled leeringly at Gabe.
“Yes actually. In the name of Jesus Christ I cast you out!”
Billy looked confused for just a second and then his mouth opened and the same scream that sounded like a hundred people came out of his mouth. It ended in just a second.
“Ha. I’m still here.” Billy said with a smile as the scream stopped.
Gabe just nodded towards Billy’s chest.
As Billy looked down he saw blood start to flow and then pump out of his chest. He just stared at the front of his shirt became drenched in blood in a couple of seconds. With a look of surpri
se he dropped to his knees.
“It’s not too late. Confess Jesus has risen and accept him as your Lord and Savior.” Gabe implored.
Billy just looked at him in disbelief and fell over dead.
“Lord, give me strength. Just a couple more minutes… please.” Gabe finished his prayer and began to use his feet to drag clear spots through the chalk designs on the floor. He didn’t think it was necessary at this point but he didn’t want to take a chance. As he was scuffing out one last line, the pain from the stab wound came back even stronger and everything went black.
Epilogue:
Even with his eyes closed the sunlight was too much to stay asleep. Peeping through his eyelids Gabe could see a big window next to him. He saw luxurious draperies on his side of the window and treetops on the outside. He guessed he was on at least the second floor but realized he didn’t know the second floor of what. Looking around the room for more hints he realized he was in a very large and soft bed with nice quilts. The furniture was old fashioned but rich in tones and textures.
“Ah! You’re awake at last!” Brad said walking through the door.
“Wha… where are we?”
“Oh yeah, we’re in the mansion above the tunnels we were in.” Brad disappeared into what Gabe assumed was a closet and came back out carrying a tray with a picture of water and two glasses. As he poured the drinks he kept talking.
“When I woke up I was surrounded by four dead zombies and found you collapsed on the floor in the next room.”
“Is this ice!” Gabe asked in amazement as he took a sip of water.
Brad smiled. “Big generator set up here. And it is underground so it isn’t attracting the Zombies.”
Dead Faith (Book 1): Dead Faith Page 17