Still, I had hopes on an eventual evacuation. Not by a caravan, that was simply too dangerous, but if air transportation was made available I would have jumped at the chance to see my people to safety.
“What about yourself?”
I wasn’t about to leave. My place was here inside the city. Until the last person was evacuated, I planned on staying and rendering what aid I could render. I also had twenty soldiers that felt the same way.
“Soldiers?”
Well, that’s sort of a private joke. Twenty of the able bodied men and women that found their ways to the church began to help me. We scoured the neighborhoods in small bands. We gathered supplies. We found survivors. We also destroyed zombies when it was possible. We were very busy during those times. Our numbers rose as well. I believe that the final estimate was well over five hundred, but we really never made a true effort to count everyone up.
“When did you actually meet the General?”
I met the General and the rest of the Regulators right before the Battle of the Sun Bowl. Are you aware of that particular battle?
The Sun Bowl is the outdoor football stadium of UTEP. It has a seating capacity of over 50,000. It was also used for concerts and different types of venues.
“I know what most everyone knows.”
Yes, well, what everyone knows isn’t quite accurate. They know that there was a zombie battle right before a mass extraction inside the Sun Bowl. What they never heard about were the vampires.
Earlier, you asked my opinion of the General. I can tell you without any hesitation whatsoever that my first impression was entirely unfavorable. He was extremely rude and entirely dismissive. I also felt that he was somewhat dangerous.
“I take it that the two of you didn’t get along very well?”
No, we did not. The Regulators were brought to the church by two of my soldiers. Claudia and Joe were a married couple that went out gathering supplies the day before. They were scheduled to return by sunset, but they never made it back. I was extremely worried to say the least.
When they finally turned up the next day, they had the Regulators with them. The General was a beast of a man. I think that you could have fit two of me inside his shirt. That’s how large his shoulders were. The rest of him seemed of average size, but his shoulders were immense. He also hadn’t seen a razor in quite a few weeks and his clothes were marked with gore that someone had apparently attempted to wash off but had been relatively unsuccessful at removing the red and black stains.
I didn’t like the way his eyes darted around the room as if expecting an attack at any moment. It made me uncomfortable the way his hand always rested near the tomahawk on the back of his belt. Most of all, I didn’t like his dog. From all that I’d heard, pit bulls were an extremely dangerous breed. The dog looked menacing. Appearances are often deceiving however, and I have since changed my opinions about pit bulls. In fact, I even own two of them now.
Of course, I was in the vast minority with my immediate opinions of the General. The survivors all gathered around to greet the famous man. Each and every one of them wanted to say something to him. Many of them even tried to salute him in that strange fist over the chest salute that became popular over the internet.
He ignored them all.
He was a symbol of hope. He was a hero in the eyes of all of them and he ignored all those that paid him homage. It was frightfully rude. Instead of a single kind word, instead of a return salute, he simply walked by them and started barking orders.
I was angry to say the least. Who was this man that would come into my home and begin to make demands?
“Excuse me,” I said angrily. “Do you know how much these people look up to you?”
He ignored me as well.
He actually ignored me.
Well, I simply would not be ignored. I was much too angry. I was way too offended. I grabbed one of his massive shoulders, and I spun him around to face me. His dog gave a low warning growl at my actions.
“You have insulted the people living in this church, and you are now offending me!” I shouted. “Give me one good reason why I shouldn’t throw you out!”
He simply shook my hand from his shoulder and continued giving orders.
“What were his orders?”
Well, he had questions as well. He wanted to know what types of building supplies we had. He wanted to know how many windows were in the sanctuary, things of that nature. His orders concerned the creation of a barricade as if he expected an attack.
It was his nephew Dudley that apologized for his behavior. It was Joe and Claudia that explained what might happen. They told me about the vampires. I doubted the story, to tell you the truth. For a brief moment, I just couldn’t believe them.
“What changed your mind?”
Zombies. The zombies changed my mind. I was living in a city full of zombies, and I battled with them nearly every day. If I’m living in a world filled with the living dead, it’s not hard to make the leap from zombie to vampire.
I decided to take charge.
After all, I had been the one leading these people since the very beginning. Who was the General? I didn’t even know the man. I understand that he had a small measure of success, but from what I understood at the time, nearly half his party died when they tried to escape from the city. I wasn’t about to hand over the reins to someone with that sort of track record.
Father Monarez was referring to the caravan that was led by Tito. Most of them were killed on the way to the border when Tito disregarded Jaxon’s orders and tried to fight. Father Monarez didn’t know the full story at the time.
At the time I interrupted him, he was demanding to know what skill sets were of the people under my protection. I simply would have none of that. Many of those people were old or infirm. I wouldn’t have them endangering themselves by following his orders.
I wanted to gather everyone and hide in the basement. It would be horrendously cramped, but if what I heard about the vampires was true, hiding would be our only chance for survival. The people were terrified. They weren’t warriors. They thought that the arrival of the Regulators meant an end to the nightmare they had been living through. Instead, they were quickly learning that the General had brought with him something much worse to our door.
“STOP!” I shouted at the General. “This will not happen. You are not in charge here. I lead these people, and I will not have them endangered by you or anyone else. We cannot possibly make a fight out of this. I’m taking all of them into the basement. If the beasts actually come for us, we will be safely hidden from danger. I, for one, am not even convinced that they will come for us. After all, their fight is with you, not us. Maybe you should leave. Yes, leave and take your vampires with you.”
Everyone became instantly quiet. All eyes were upon us as the General and I faced each other in the middle of the sanctuary. I saw his eyes narrow as he sized me up.
“The vampires will come,” he growled. “That’s going to happen whether you like it or not. If you aren’t ready for them, they will break down your doors, find you in the basement and tear you apart. They will do this whether I’m here or not. They will kill all of you because they are evil and evil does nothing but destroy.”
The tone that he used absolutely terrified me. In that brief moment I saw the man as nothing more than rage and fury. He spent most of his days holding it all back of course, but it was always there, hiding underneath the surface just waiting to come forth and destroy.
“These people are not warriors.”
“Come tonight,” he answered, “they will be.”
I wanted to say something back. I wanted to defend everyone. I wanted to keep them from danger. I was at a loss for words. With the zombies, we always had the church to keep us safe. The stone walls were impenetrable.
My world was turned upside down. I could no longer rely on our home to keep us safe. No longer were we bringing the fight to the monsters; the monsters were now bringing the fig
ht to us.
I didn’t know how to help.
I didn’t know how to protect everyone when our fortress could be breached. I had no choice but to let the man take charge. I had no alternative but to rely on a man that I considered dangerous. Worst of all, I thought he was actually the type of man that we needed to make it through the night.
It was Claudia that led me away from the room. I was noticeably shaken. I was worried. I felt that I had failed. A threat was coming and I was powerless to stop it.
“You shouldn’t be so hard on yourself. It’s not as if prestigious schools and seminary ever trained you for battle, and think about how many lives you still managed to save. I don’t know that many people could have handled what was coming your way.”
In truth, you are certainly correct. I had at that point achieved far more than should have been possible, but at the time I was a broken man. I was devastated by my inabilities. I had no idea what the General was doing. I merely sat in my office and cursed myself.
In case you haven’t by now noticed, failure does not sit very well with me. I’m just not used to it. I am also keenly aware that if it wasn’t for the General and his team, I would not be sitting here today speaking with you. He was right about that basement. I would have led everyone to their deaths. Vampires are evil. I truly believe that they would have attacked us regardless of whether or not the General was inside the church. They would have killed us all, just to upset him.
Of course, I knew none of this at that time. At that moment, I merely felt like a failure. It wasn’t until the large one by the name of Nick came to visit me that I began to see things a bit differently.
“Can I have a moment Father?” Nick asked after politely knocking on the door.
I didn’t answer him, but he didn’t let that slow him down any. He walked right in and leaned a large axe on the wall next to the chair he dropped down on.
“Don’t think too badly on him Father,” Nick said. “He has the weight of the world on his shoulders.”
“He’s a very unpleasant man,” I replied softly.
“That he is Father,” Nick said. “Always has been, but he grows on you once you get to know him. Besides, I don’t think I would want to follow a pleasant man into a fight like this. Jax knows what he’s doing. I don’t know how he knows, but for some weird reason everything seems to work out for him in the end.”
“I hope you’re right young man,” I replied, “because I certainly don’t feel comfortable entrusting anyone’s safety to him at the moment.”
“Of course not,” Nick said. “You’re a leader. You’ve led all these people to safety. But tell me, what does a priest truly know about killing vampires?”
I had no answer for him, of course, and he didn’t seem to actually need one. Instead, he nodded respectfully in my direction and left me to ponder what he had said. His words had affected me. What did I know about killing vampires? The zombies were easy enough, but from what I heard, vampires were a different matter altogether. I was in over my head, or was I?
The moment things were about to turn bad, the Regulators appeared at our doorstep. Could it be? I had prayed for God’s help in defending the people under my protection every single night and just when things became dire, the General appeared.
Well, God does work in mysterious ways.
I had been horrible with the man. In fact, it was me that started the rudeness. Sure, he was rude to all the survivors that came forward to meet him, but Nick was correct. The man had the weight of the world on his shoulders. He was trying to find a way to save everyone.
At that moment, I realized that I was acting rather immaturely. I had it in my mind that I would leave my office, walk over to the General, offer my hand in friendship and apologize for my behavior. I could either sit there and nurse my wounded pride, or I could walk out there and do something beneficial.
I chose to do something beneficial and just as I rose from my chair, the General himself strode into my office and slammed my chainsaw down on the desk before me.
“If you’re through with your stomp and pout,” he said. “We’re going to need every able bodied person tonight.”
Before I could reply, he stomped back out the door.
I grumbled to myself. I may have even cursed, but in the end I followed him. The sanctuary was a mess. There were odd contraptions being built above all the windows. There was a heavy looking and rudely constructed spiked platform at a ninety degree angle above the front door. The pews had all been moved and stacked together in two large groups. It looked as if they had become some sort of protective wall, but I wasn’t sure.
The noise level was something else. I was terrified at how much noise the people were making. The electric saws, the drills and the sounds of hammering would attract every single zombie in a ten mile radius.
I immediately looked out the window.
“Be careful, Father,” the General said as he walked past me carrying one side of a pew with one hand and while pointing to the contraption above the window with the other. “Don’t want to lose a hand, do you?”
“There are zombies out there,” I stuttered while backing away from the window. “I’m going out there to take care of them before their numbers swell up any higher.”
“Let them be,” the General said before walking away to continue whatever it was that he was doing.
“Jax isn’t always good at explaining himself,” Dudley said. “Makes him seem like an asshole sometimes, but he doesn’t mean anything by it.”
“I’ll take your word for it,” I replied.
“Look,” Dudley said. “The zombies outside can’t break the walls. We’re hoping that they’ll slow down the vampires a bit. At the very least they’ll be a bit of an early warning system. If they stop trying to get in, we’ll know that the vampires are on the property.”
“Why is that?”
“Vampires don’t seem to like zombies,” Dudley answered with a shrug.
The work went on and on throughout the day. Finally, an hour before the sun set, the General was finally satisfied. The defenses were finished. The sanctuary became very quiet. Outside, we could hear the moans of the dead. We could hear the dry slaps of their hands as they pounded against the stone walls.
The General sat quietly upon the steps of the altar. He had taken out his tomahawk and was slowly running a sharpening stone against the blade. The sound of metal scraping against stone as he made slow passes over the blade echoed throughout the church. Everyone was watching him. He didn’t seem to notice.
A half an hour before sunset, the very youngest and the sick were led into the basement. I was glad to see that at least a few of them were being placed far from danger, but I was terrified that those of us remaining in the sanctuary were their only line of defense.
It was a ragtag band to say the least. Our numbers ranged from twelve-year-olds all the way up to seventy-year olds. They all carried makeshift weapons or knives. They all looked terrified. I watched as the Regulators moved among them and chatted easily. They showed them the best ways in which to use the weapons. They calmed their fears. They told them to stick together.
The General still sat upon the steps of the altar while his team moved among the people. The scraps of the sharpening stone against his tomahawk the only noise coming from his area. Even his scary black dog was quietly sleeping next to him with her head upon his lap.
There was a little girl under my protection. Her name was Mona. Her family used to attend services. She was a lovely, shy little girl and she possessed the most beautiful voice I’ve ever heard. She used to sing for the congregation. When the dead began to walk, her father had been lost, but the mother and daughter were able to escape and make their way to the church. They had been with me almost from the beginning.
I became rather uneasy when I saw Mona slowly make her way towards the General. I had noticed the girl watching him throughout the day and I warned her to stay away from him. If I had been any closer, I migh
t have stopped her from approaching him. Yet, I was near the front door and would have had to have shouted to halt her progress.
When she approached close enough, the General looked up at her and finally stopped sharpening his weapon. Mona came even closer. She was completely undaunted by the dog which lifted its head from the Generals lap and sniffed in her direction. She handed the General a picture that I had seen her drawing earlier in the day as she watched him.
I watched the man politely take the picture from her little hands and whisper something to her that I was unable to hear from across the room. I don’t know what he said, but it was undoubtedly sweet, because Mona giggled and ran happily back to her spot behind the barricaded pews.
“Why is this story important to you?”
I honestly wish I knew. It was just odd to see the man do something nice. I had judged him on how abrasive he was. I found him to be a tad despicable and I thought that I had his measure. I even wondered why his team often rushed to his defense. Then, just when I thought I understood him, I saw a completely different side of him.
He has the weight of the world upon his shoulders. That is what Nick had told me. I began to wonder if that might not make a man forget to act politely around others and focus on saving them instead.
Aside from that, Mona has an important part to play later on, but I’d rather not rush ahead. Instead, allow me to take you all the way to the setting sun.
“Were you afraid, Father?”
I was terrified. I don’t mind admitting that at all. There is something very frightening about creatures that come for you in the darkness. It’s a primal sort of fear. The sanctuary was thick with its presence.
Everyone became quiet again. Even the whispers had hushed. Outside, we could still hear the moans and screams of the dead. There must have been hundreds of them out there.
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