Don't Dare Call Them Zombies : Books 1-4

by Zachary Stone

  I turned and looked at the pastor.

  “My prayer probably won't do any good at all,” I said. “God has chosen to let this outbreak take place. I'm not saying he caused it, because he does not make bad things happen. Bad stuff just happens all the time. Mostly, it is due to people's free will. But there was some reason this has all been allowed to happen, and one prayer isn’t going to reverse a disease like this. I’ll pray for your family, however.”

  Jennifer looked at me with an expression of shock.

  “You’re an idiot,” she said. “Why are you doing this? Don't go down there!”

  “I'm going. You can come with me or not,” I said.

  “I shouldn't, but I’ll go with you. You left me, but I won’t leave you,” she added.

  Her words were like a knife in my heart.

  “I'm sorry,” I told her.

  “It's okay,” she said.

  I realized that I would need to use every bit of religious knowledge I had to pray for these creatures below. Although I was a Christian and believed in God, I was not an expert in these matters. I would need to draw upon every Sunday School lesson, every religious scene I had seen in the movies, and try to draw up every bit of faith in God that remained in my heart.

  “I need a Bible,” I said.

  Chapter Eight

  The Reverends led Jennifer and me down into the cellar. A single electric light bulb illuminated the dim room. Against the wall, in makeshift shackles, was the pastor's family.

  “Thank you for being willing to do this,” he said.

  I held a Bible in my hand as I looked at his family members. His wife looked about the same age as himself, but she had clearly turned into a freak. Looking at his daughter and grandchildren, I couldn’t help but feel a sense of sadness. The two children were very young and didn’t deserve to die in such a tragic manner. I can only imagine the horror the poor children felt as they sat down here, burning with fever, while their mother and grandmother tried to help them. Probably, they were brought food and water, but to wait to die in a dungeon of a cellar like this must have been heartbreaking.

  Immediately, I realized another danger they must have faced. If one of them had turned before the others, that individual would have attacked the remaining family members. Hopefully, they all turned at the same time. Of course the one granddaughter died earlier. She was killed in the house. I noticed that she was especially well bound.

  I made sure I was a decent distance away from the freaks as I turned the pages of the Bible. I didn’t find any instant inspiration, so I decided to get on my knees and start to pray.

  I remembered hearing a preacher say a long time ago that praying was mostly about faith and sincerity, and not about fancy words. I made sure to keep that in mind as I began.

  “Dear God, I'm down here in this cellar today because I'm trying to pray for some poor people who were killed by a plague. You know this, I don't even have to tell you,” I prayed.

  “I know I'm a sinner in so many ways, and you may not respond to my prayer. I may not even deserve for you to answer my prayer. But I have to try God, because I feel for these people. I feel for all the people that have been killed in this outbreak. I have seen the horrors and I know that there is so much suffering taking place. My heart cannot hold it all. I don't know how to pray or what to pray, but I need your help. The pastor says that I have been given the gift of the Holy Ghost, but I don't feel it. If I really do have the Holy Ghost, then reveal it God. Let it guide me and direct me,” I continued.

  “Jennifer thinks I'm crazy for praying, but I don't care. She can think I'm a holy roller if she wants, but I have faith that you’re real. You may have let the world fall apart and the dead walk, but I believe you’re real. I sincerely believe it. There is hell on Earth now. If there is hell on Earth, there must be a heaven up there somewhere. The whole universe can't be this bad. When people die of this plague they must be going someplace better,” I said.

  Deep inside of myself I started to feel something. It was like a force or power that was unifying my thoughts. My mind started becoming more focused and more coherent.

  “I know, Father that I'm probably not going to continue living a Christian life like I should. I'm not going to lie to you and say that after today I'm devoting my life to you. That would be wrong of me. But for right now, I want you to be in control as I pray, and as I live my life I’ll promise to try and do better than I have in the past.”

  My attention was now on the poor infected individuals in front of me. I didn’t know if the other people in the room were watching me or not; I didn’t care. As I continued to pray I felt the spirit start to grow inside of me. As I continued to pray I felt the spirit start to grow inside of me.

  “God, I believe you’re real, all powerful, and if you wanted to do so you could heal each of these four infected people in front of me. There may be nothing to be healed, because you may have already taken their souls to be with you. But I know if you so desired, you could return their souls to their bodies and restore their health. I don't know what your will is on this matter, but I pray for you to bless these people. If you desire for them to be healed, please do so. I would like to see them healed, but I cannot command you to do so.”

  Suddenly, the pastor's daughter began to shake violently.

  “Dear God, please....” I heard Reverend Sikes utter. He then walked up to the shaking freak and took the gag out of his daughter’s mouth. Upon removing the gag, the freak lunged at him. Luckily, he was not bitten.

  I then felt an urge to pray more strongly and vigorously. The Bible verse that said there was a time for everything under sun came to mind, and I felt as if it was my time to pray with boldness. I had already humbled myself, and now it was time to let the spirit fully direct me.

  “Father please fill these four people with your spirit and especially this woman. Fill her with your spirit and let your will be done. If you wish to heal her, please heal her. If you wish to make her corpse drop dead, please do so. If you wish to remove any demon from her body please do so.”

  Suddenly, the woman started to talk in a terrifying language. However, I couldn’t understand what she was saying. It sounded like the tongues that had been spoken in the church office, just before Ms. Teresa prayed over me.

  A wave of fear filled me as I heard Jennifer gasp.

  “What had I done? What had God done?” I thought.

  Freaks were not supposed to talk!

  Then in an instant, I felt the spirit giving me strength once again. I stood up and stepped closer to the freak.

  “Dear God, if you want me to understand what this creature is saying please give me the gift of interpretation. If I am not, please eradicate the demon from this woman,” I prayed.

  For some reason, I started to understand the meaning of certain words the creature was saying. However, most of the words were still gibberish.

  “Who are you?” I asked the voice that was speaking through the creature.

  More gibberish started to come out of the freak's mouth, but I tried hard to understand.

  In an instant, I suddenly knew what every word meant. It was like learning a foreign language on the fly.

  “Can you understand me, human?” the female voice said.

  “I can understand you,” I responded.

  The creature seemed to calm and stopped flailing about in the restraints.

  “Good,” the creature said. “You can call me five million and four.”

  “Who are you five million and four?” I asked. “What are you?”

  “I'm what you call a demon. During our rebellion against God, I was the five million and fourth angel to side with the being who you call Satan,” the creature said in a sinister voice.

  Part of me couldn’t believe I was talking to a demon through a zombie host, but I wanted answers. But I had to be careful; demons are known to be liars.

  “Are you behind this apocalypse? Did you make the dead rise?” I asked.

>   “Of course not. These events do us no good. If billions of humans die, it denies us the opportunity of doing the harm ourselves,” the demon stated.

  “Why do you want to harm us?” I asked.

  “Because God loves you, and no longer loves us. He cut off his love when we rebelled. By hurting you, we hurt God,” the demon stated. “Do you realize that in the entire universe, there are only a few planets in which God took the form of his creation and died for them?”

  “No, I didn’t,” I said.

  “God loves you despite your sin, despite your violence, and despite of how you kill each other. All you have to do is ask for his grace, accept his sacrifice, and your faith grants you paradise. Unlike you, my species is damned. We cannot gain forgiveness, although we do not seek it,” the demon said.

  “Do you know what caused the outbreak?” I asked.

  The demon laughed through the corpse of the freak. It was a sickening laugh that echoed in the room. Apparently, the corpse was not faring well, and it was beginning to spit up blood.

  Taking a look beside me, I saw everyone else in the room were terrified. They were clinging to the wall with their eyes wide open.

  “What do you think are the mysterious objects that people have seen flying in the skies around your planet for thousands of years?” the demon asked.

  “Some people think they’re extraterrestrials,” I said.

  “That is right, but the truth is beyond what you can imagine. This galaxy alone is teeming with life in all forms. Many of the species in this area of the universe are biological, but many other species are technological. Some are even purely spiritual,” the demon said.

  “One of the biological species created the agent that was dropped on your world,” he said.

  “Why did they do it?” I asked.

  “I don't know. I don't know everything. I'm not God. But I do know they’re watching the events on your planet,” he said. “Many species are watching the events on your planet.”

  “Can any of them help us?” I asked.

  “Are you aware that humanity exists on more than one planet?” he responded.

  “No,” I said.

  “Well, this area of the galaxy is filled with you wretched beings. Many of the civilizations are far more advanced than your own. They might decide to help you,” the demon stated.

  “How can we get into contact with them?” I asked.

  “I've already said too much,” the demon said.

  “Do you know how we could contact them?” I asked.

  “Your government is already in contact with them,” he said.

  I decided to change the subject, because I didn’t know how long the conversation would last.

  “Does the spirit of the woman you inhabit still reside in her body?” I asked.

  “No, it does not,” the demon said.

  “The moment the body dies the spirit leaves,” he said. “However, the body becomes a suitable host for my species to possess.”

  “So are you causing the undead to attack the living?” I asked.

  “No. Whatever biological agent has mutated their nervous centers has also hindered our ability to influence their actions or movements. For this reason, very few of us have chosen to inhabit these corpses,” the demon said.

  “Then how are you talking to me?” I asked. “If you cannot control their movements, how are you talking?”

  “God has commanded me to do so,” the demon said. “He wanted you to know these things.”

  “How do I know you’re not lying and making all of this up,” I asked.

  “God still works miracles,” the demon said.

  Suddenly, all of the corpses, except the one possessed by the demon, fell limp.

  “They’re dead, but God has eliminated their infection,” the demon said. “I also want to say that although your species are nothing more than roaches to me, I wish this apocalypse had never happened.”

  “One of my sisters is in the room,” he added.

  I turned to the left and saw a brilliant glowing light.

  It was an angel.

  Apparently, from the voice, a female angel.

  “Leave the corpse, my brother,” the angel said to the demon.

  Instantly, the woman's body collapsed.

  “Now, finish your business here, and find your mother,” the angel told me.

  I then collapsed to the ground.

  I tried to keep my eyes open, but I went unconscious.

  Chapter Nine

  When I woke up, Jennifer had her hand on my forehead as I lay on the floor. I was still in the cellar of the room, but the bodies of the freaks had been removed. Thinking about the events that had just transpired, it all seemed like a bizarre dream. However, something inside of me realized it had been real.

  “Did you see all of that?” I asked Jennifer.

  “I saw the freak talk gibberish, then you were talking with freak, it started to laugh, and then it collapsed. The other freaks collapsed too,” she said. “Then I saw a bright light and we were all knocked out.”

  “Where are the freaks?” I asked.

  “They’re getting proper burials outside,” she answered. “Somehow the freaks were cured of the infection. They’re dead, but they’re no longer moving.”

  “Did you understand what the demon was saying?” I asked.

  “No, I didn’t. It scared me though,” she said.

  “Did you understand it?” she asked.

  “Yes,” I said.

  “What did it say?” she asked.

  “You wouldn’t believe me,” I said.

  “I might not want to know,” she responded.

  I sat up and then stood to my feet. Jennifer and I started to climb out of the cellar.

  “We need to leave the church,” I said. “I need to find my mom.”

  “I've had enough church for a year,” Jennifer said. “I'll be glad to go with you to find your mom.”

  “I think I've had enough for five years,” I said.

  “The angel said that I needed to finish my business here,” I added.

  “Yes,” I said. “I just don't know business I have here.”

  By the time we exited the cellar, a crowd of people had surrounded the door to the supply room.

  “It's a miracle!” I heard someone shout.

  We exited the room and walked down the hallway to the social hall. The entire time there were people asking us about what happened; I tried to ignore them

  Lunch was being served, and I was hungry. Jennifer and I sat down at a table. A few older ladies were passing out plates of sandwiches and chips. I took a plate, and began to eat eagerly. My strength started to return, but more people started asking questions. Roy and Kay joined our table, and started to inquire as to what occurred. Before long Meredith, Sam, Robert, Deacon Cooper, and Linwood were all gathered around the table.

  “So how did you cure those zombies?” Meredith asked.

  “I didn't cure them,” I said. “God did.”

  “I hear you talked to a demon,” Kay asked.

  “That’s true,” I said.

  Before long, I had shared the entire story with everyone at my table. I recounted every question I had asked the demon and every answer he’d given. A few people were skeptical, but they couldn’t account for how the infected freaks had been healed.

  “It has to be a miracle,” Kay stated.

  “I don't know exactly what it was,” I said. “But I need to get my van on the road and get out of here.”

  “It's already done,” Robert stated. “While you were in the cellar we changed the tire.”

  “Then we need to be on our way,” I said.

  “Why are you in such a hurry?” Ms. Teresa asked, standing behind me.

  “I don't want to be some kind of freaking celebrity,” I said. “Something happened down there, but I'm just an ordinary person. I wish all of you would leave me alone.”

  “Would you please at least write down your expe
rience,” she begged. “That way we will have a record of what was said.”

  “Alright, but no more questions,” I said. “And for goodness sakes, will someone find my dog!”