‘I had the dream again. I never believed I could foresee the future, but the dream is starting to feel like my destiny. I don’t know where I’m going or why, but I’m sure now that the dead are behind me, following my steps.’
‘It’s just a dream—a projection of your fear. Don’t give in to this. It’s the virus. It has nothing to do with fate.’
‘When I’m linked with them, it’s like riding a wave. No one else could possibly understand their insatiable hunger. It consumes everything, becomes all there is in the world. In all my time working as a psychic, the singularity of purpose, the purity of feeling, I’ve never experienced anything like it before.’
The tone in Ethan’s voice sounded almost joyous as he explained the cerebral link and insight he had for the dead.
Foster knew then that she was losing him. The Ethan from before was fading further into the shadows. As much as she didn’t want to entertain the thought, she realised the dreadful reality—she may be the only person left capable of stopping him in time.
Ethan’s legs started to give from under him, and Foster helped to steady him before laying him down on the sofa again.
‘You need to feed,’ she said. ‘It’s the only way to stay on top of this.’
‘Someone will have to die for that,’ Ethan said, his eyes half closed.
‘Haven’t you just been talking about killing for them? When they offer it again, you have to drink.’
Right at five minutes, Crane entered the vestry and approached them, yanking Foster up from her knees.
‘Time’s up. The Shepherd needs his rest. Big day tomorrow,’ he said.
Although the towering disciple tugged away at her, Foster still managed to get close enough to Ethan to plant a kiss on his forehead.
The contact roused Ethan, and he opened his eyes long enough to gaze upon her.
‘You’d be forgiven for thinking our story is about to be over,’ he said.
Crane had grown tired of her resistance and began to forcefully remove her from the vestry.
She looked back at Ethan smiling at her, pondering the meaning of his last words as she was dragged from the room.
5
The knock at the door of the town hall alerted Raine, but she was already awake, anticipating an arrival.
Salty and O.B. were up too, putting their clothes on.
Raine went to the door and greeted Timo and the moderate chill of early morning.
The bags under his eyes were swollen, and he looked less than pleased to be awake at this hour.
‘Morning,’ he said. ‘Hope you slept better than I did.’
‘Well enough,’ Raine said.
‘Gideon sent me to come get you. They’d normally hold council meetings in here, but seeing as it’s currently occupied, they’re waiting over at the sports centre for you.’
‘Good. I’ll get the others,’ Raine said.
When she re-entered the main hall. Kaos and Teddy had also woken and were getting ready to leave with them.
‘You two stay here for this one,’ she said.
‘Really? Won’t they want all of us to be there? Seeing as we’re outsiders, I mean,’ Teddy said.
‘Nah, she’s right,’ Salty said. ‘It ain’t like you’ll be able to tell them anything about the threat they’re facin’. Won’t take long. You two hang back here, get some more rest. We don’t know when we’ll be able to rest easy again.’
Teddy relaxed and sat down on his cot, still uneasy about being told not to attend the meeting.
Kaos didn’t really pay much heed to the request. He petted Anna and allowed her to lick his face. He’d rather hang back and look after a dog than stand in front of some crusty old council.
‘This shouldn’t take too long,’ Salty said.
‘I guess you don’t have a lot you can tell them either, right?’ Teddy asked.
‘Right,’ Salty agreed.
The insinuation in Teddy’s comment wasn’t lost on him, nor was it lost on Raine.
As they left the building, Teddy watched them until the main door closed.
‘What’s eating you, man?’ Kaos asked, massaging the loose skin around Anna’s neck.
‘Nothing,’ Teddy said. ‘It’s nothing.’
At the far end of the gymnasium, five people sat behind a long table awaiting the visitors.
Timo pointed Raine, Salty, and O.B. in the right direction and left them to it.
Gideon waved them over, and as they approached, they observed the sceptical faces of the council members.
These individuals were as diverse in appearance as they were in age.
From left to right, there was a woman, in her late seventies at least. Her greying black hair was pulled tight into a bun at the back, and the way she gazed over the rims of her thick-framed glasses attached to a chain around her neck gave her the airs of a supreme court judge.
Next to her sat the slim frame of a man of Indian origin. He seemed quite a lot younger, maybe early fifties. Although he was fairly well groomed, the knitted cardigan over his shirt suggested a more relaxed demeanour than the tight body language of his female counterpart.
Gideon sat between the Indian man and a second woman. She looked as different from the others as you could imagine, her candy-blonde hair unkempt, intricately drawn tattoos weaving their way across both arms, no older than forty.
The final person at the table was considerably older than the rest. Even the most conservative estimate would put him in the pushing-ninety bracket. His body and his skin had withered, and a wispy line of white hair skirted the edges of his bald scalp. His wizard-like beard masked the sunken pits of his mouth, brought about by receding gums. As he raised his hand, the tremors of infirmity made it harder for him to adjust his glasses.
‘Only three of you?’ Gideon asked, raising his eyebrows.
‘The others are not strictly part of our group. They have little to contribute to this discussion, so we left them back at the town hall,’ Raine said.
‘I see. Well, thank you for being so prompt. I appreciate you have been through a great ordeal, but I’m sure you understand why we have to approach your claims with some degree of caution.’
‘We do. Believe me, I would like to take some time to recuperate as much as anyone else, but that’s not the reality of this situation,’ Raine replied.
‘Yes, quite,’ Gideon said. ‘I took the liberty of briefing the other council members on those particularly sketchy details you provided last night.’
‘Terrifying indeed, Ms. Miller,’ the older woman said. Her voice was course and raspy. The type of voice you could only replicate by knocking back several whiskies and chain-smoking cigarettes. ‘The kind of scenario that could scare people into extremely impulsive decisions if taken at face value.’
‘Your name is?’ Raine asked.
‘Elizabeth Bancroft,’ the woman said.
‘If you’d seen what they’re doing with your own eyes, Ms. Bancroft, you’d be more terrified than I could ever make you.’
‘And what is it exactly that you’ve seen?’
‘The Children have come into possession of a device,’ Raine said confidently.
The council members all looked at one another. It was fortunate that they did, as it caused them to miss the nervous glances Salty and O.B. were casting in Raine’s direction.
‘A device? What kind of device?’ the Indian man asked.
‘It’s something the military were using to try to redirect the herds. We became aware of these devices during the time we spent in a government facility last year. It delivers focussed sound waves. The dead react to them successfully enough that they can be manipulated, channelled into a rolling army. The Children must have come across one of these devices when scavenging for supplies. When we were being held captive, The Father gave us a demonstration of its power.’
The council remained silent for a moment while they digested what Raine had t
old them.
Gideon’s gaze shifted to Salty.
‘You saw this too?’ he asked.
‘As you know, I wasn’t held with them, and I didn’t see it when I broke them out,’ Salty said.
‘I saw it,’ O.B. said. ‘I was there with her. Trust us, it works, and it works en masse.’
The discomfort this information generated within the council manifested in their awkward body language as they squirmed in their chairs.
‘I can see you have some sustainable resources here, and you probably think you could wait this out, but let me be clear: if the herd they’re building surrounds this place, they could keep them here indefinitely. The dead don’t tire or get sick. They could pen you inside the city until they rot to dust,’ Raine said.
The second woman on the panel looked up from the table after jotting something down on the pad in front of her before she decided to speak.
‘And why should we trust you? How do we know this rescue wasn’t deliberate deception? How do we know you and your people weren’t already working with The Children in order to gain our trust and frighten us from our own city?’ She had an unusual British accent.
From Raine’s limited knowledge, she guessed she originated from a northern region of England.
‘Because one of the people who helped my friend break us out of that camp was already known to your community. You trusted him enough to come and go, so I’m told. But also because people died in that attack—at least one child I know of. I’m sure you’ll agree there are innocent people in that community, either too afraid or too indoctrinated to do anything about it.’
The female member sat back in her chair, still unconvinced by Raine’s plea.
The old man reached out with his trembling hand and tapped his index finger on the table.
‘Regardless of whether we believe this story, we must deliberate on the consequences if we either act or choose not to act on this information. This will be for the council and the council only to decide,’ he said.
‘I would like to say something else, if I may,’ Raine said.
‘Go ahead,’ Gideon replied.
‘If you do as I suggest and you evacuate, me and my friends have come up with a plan to lure The Children inside the walls of the city and eliminate them.’
‘Why would you put your lives in danger like that?’ Bancroft asked.
‘We believe it’s the best way to get the rest of our group back. If the plan is successful, we’ll try to use the device to lead the herd away so you can return your people to safety. You would be back in your home, and you’d no longer have to worry about the threat of the cult.’
The council all shared a look again, and Gideon let out a huge sigh.
‘If, and only if, we decide to evacuate, we will allow you to remain behind and give you access to our weapons under one condition. Some of our people will stay behind with you to assist. If there’s a chance to save this city, I want to ensure it’s taken,’ he said.
‘We could make that work,’ Raine said. ‘As long as the people you leave behind are under my command.’
‘We’ll discuss this in detail and reach our decision later today,’ Gideon said. ‘Thank you for your time. I’ll send for you when we have an answer.’
Raine nodded to the panel, and the three outsiders turned in unison and marched from the gymnasium, still under the scrutinous eyes of the city’s leaders.
6
With Samuel’s reanimated corpse still present in the vestry, it was impossible for Ethan to keep the unfocussed memories of the creature out of his head.
The more he remained around it, the more amplified and familiar it became. The thoughts of the dead boy had started to feel indistinguishable from his own. He lay on the couch with his eyes closed, trying to block out everything on the outside, just so he could get a moment’s rest.
Disturbed by someone at the door, he sat up and watched Edwards enter, now sporting a bandage around the cut on his head.
‘Thank you for letting me see her,’ Ethan said.
‘You will see her again if you continue to cooperate,’ Edwards said.
‘I intend to, but could you please take Samuel out of here? I need to sleep.’
‘That can be arranged.’ Edwards moved past Ethan and approached the creature.
Unaffected by the priest’s presence, it allowed him to place his hand on its cheek.
‘I’ll have Crane move the boy, and he can join the throng you’ll be leading in the morning. Then you’ll take them to the gates of those who have chosen to forsake our Lord.’
‘Must it be death? Can’t you just scare them away?’ Ethan asked.
Edwards turned his head, his hand still on the creature’s face.
‘If I could instil the fear of God into their hearts, maybe that would be a cause worth leading, but they’re lost forever. They have abandoned God to worship false idols, nothing more than a portent for others who still live and breathe. This is my charge, as he commands.’
‘Did he come to you when you were alone in the facility?’ Ethan asked.
‘You mean after your group left me to die? Yes, he came to me then. I’ve heard his call for a long time, but back then, surrounded by fire and the dead, he told me I would be saved for a specific purpose—this purpose.’
‘May I see?’
‘What?’ Edwards shuffled away from the creature and back to the sofa.
‘May I see when he came to you?’ Ethan opened his hands, presenting his palms.
‘For what purpose?’ Edwards asked.
‘Because I’ve never heard the word of God, and I desperately need validation to do what’s asked of me. It’ll give me some comfort.’
‘Whom do you think blessed you with your gift of second sight? Is that not proof enough?’
‘Please. I need to know.’
Edwards thought carefully on Ethan’s request, not entirely comfortable. Eventually he moved towards him.
‘Very well,’ he said, leaning in and presenting his head for Ethan to touch.
Ethan placed both hands on the priest’s crown, easing his fingers beneath the older man’s hairline in order to make contact with the scalp.
As soon as he closed his eyes, Ethan’s head snapped back violently, his mind flooded with images too nightmarish to retain. He was so disturbed by what he experienced, he immediately began to weep, releasing Edwards from his grasp and falling back onto the sofa.
‘What is it? What did you see?’ Edwards asked with an urgency that suggested he was worried the young man had witnessed the priest’s imminent demise.
Ethan found it hard to even speak through his distress.
‘Tell me. Tell me now, boy!’ Edwards said. He raised his voice, loud enough for the disciple outside the door to come in to check on them.
Teary-eyed, Ethan gazed up at him with a sincerity that scared Edwards.
‘I’m so sorry,’ he said. ‘What happened to you at that farmhouse, no child should have to…’
Ethan’s words would have been cryptic to anyone else, but Edwards knew exactly what he was referring to, and the mere mention of those events sent him into a wild rage.
‘Snake,’ he screamed, holding his hand up to cover his eyes from the sight of Ethan. ‘My Lord warned me. Oh yes, he gave me reason for caution.’ The veins in his neck strained and bulged beneath his skin. ‘He told me you would use your talents to deceive and manipulate, to tempt me to stray from the path. I see you, demon.’
The disciple ventured farther inside the vestry and immediately incurred the brunt of Edwards’s anger.
‘Get out!’ he screamed in the disciple’s face.
Startled, the young convert left as quickly as he’d entered.
‘For once, you’re going to use your powers for something righteous, and through you, I’m going to bring this godless world to its knees.’
The priest fell silent, breathing heavily and allow
ing his rage to subside. Ethan’s insight had wounded him severely, and his anger soon turned to a suppressed sense of pain and vulnerability.
‘You profess to know me and my life?’ Edwards said, his voice soft, breaking with emotion. ‘Clean yourself up and prepare for tomorrow. You will need every ounce of strength you have left. I’ll send for Crane so he can take the boy away.’
Edwards drew his fist over his nostrils to wipe away the fluid that was about to run onto his lip and then left the vestry.
Ethan remained on the sofa, still crying and doing his best to expel the awful memories he’d pulled from the sick mind of his captor.
7
Foster sat in the darkness of the mobile home she’d been confined to, situated a fair distance from the rest of the camp’s congregation.
Her hands were bound tightly behind her back, and the leather of the couch felt cold on her buttocks. She’d tried to keep track of the time that had passed since they locked her inside the vehicle and she estimated it to be around 11:00 p.m.
Other than the disciple skulking around outside to guard her, she’d heard no one else for hours.
One thing she did see before she was confined again was that the disciples were preparing to leave. They stood out on the porch surrounding the church, cataloguing supplies and cleaning firearms they were planning to take into battle with them.
She knew there was little chance of seeing Ethan before he was forced to gather the dead and launch an assault on the rival community. Innocent people were going to die, and she feared there would be no coming back for him. Once he tasted blood through the minds of those creatures, he would be completely consumed by it.
Her anxiety gave her an extra burst of strength to try and pull her wrists apart, but the bindings were too firm for her to have any chance of breaking them.
As she struggled, she was startled by a thud just beyond the flimsy door of the motorhome. A second heavy thud followed the first.
The door rattled open, and a man she didn’t recognise entered, sweaty and out of breath. He stayed low as to not be seen by anyone on the outside.
Everything Dies | Season 3 Page 24