I scanned the horizon, trying to ignore the fact that we were standing right next to a couple of dead men. My vision was still cloudy. Everything took a few seconds to come into focus.
Maria was leaning against the wall for support. The climb up the stairs had exhausted her. I must admit, I was breathing hard too. Whatever they had used to drug us with wasn’t completely out of our system yet. I was staring, gazing, transfixed at this one little house on the edge of town.
I was just thinking about how useless I was at that point in time. If something attacked us, or if we had to run away, I’d be done for.
Suddenly, a dark blur, a shadow, flew across my line of sight. I raised my arm, surprised at how heavy it was and pointed towards the small house on the far edge of town. "There."
"What is it?" Ben asked.
"I… I don’t know."
"Is it the big one?"
"I can’t tell. It keeps hiding, moving in and out of the buildings. A shadow."
I was staring off into the distance. My eyes were glazed over. Trying to focus.
It was a shadow, I thought.
But that can’t be right.
"A shadow?" Ben asked. "Where?"
"Right there. Near that small house."
And then I saw it again. The shadow. It seemed to be moving in and around the buildings. Moving like a snake. It was making its way slowly towards the center of town. It was similar to what I the other day at the mine pit, I thought. The black, horizontal tornado. Maria had thought it was heat mirage. But there’s no way it was a heat mirage.
"What the hell is that?" I asked.
Before Ben could answer me, a walkie-talkie that was strapped to the belt of one of the dead men crackled to life. "Hurry up!" the voice said. "It’s coming."
"We’re going as fast as we can!"
Ben picked up the radio and cleared up the reception.
"Stevens! It’s coming!" the voice repeated.
We then heard gunfire, coming from the edge of town. I guess it was the other men, the ones who had gotten away and saved themselves from the violent hands of Ben. They hadn’t made it very far, though.
The men were shooting in all directions, seemingly at nothing. Suddenly a dark cloud, a shadow, the black smoke, came out of nowhere. It slithered in and around their feet, pulling the men to the ground, engulfing them completely.
The gunfire ceased. And for a few seconds the only noise that filled the town was the screams of dying men.
"We better get inside," Ben whispered. "Hide in the bank vault. Now. Let’s go."
I put my arm around Maria to help her down the stairs. This was going to be tricky. My legs were still made of jelly. And Maria was still slumped against me. But before we even attempted one step, Ben grabbed us both and pulled us to the ground.
He had his index finger up to his lips. "It’s here," he whispered.
He moved to the corner of the bell tower and slowly peered over the wall down into the street below. "Look."
I followed his gaze. He was looking at a small alley between the hardware store and the pharmacy across the street. The alley was filled with a dense, black smoke. At first I thought maybe the building was on fire. But then the smoke continued to seep out into the street. It was moving. It was almost as if it was alive. It began seeping out between the buildings, into the main road. Up close it looked like black smoke. Every now and then the sunlight would catch what looked like a flash of silver.
Ed was lying in the middle of the road. He was crying to himself. The smoke began to circle him. Moving in closer, tightening like a noose. It then completely engulfed him. Ed let out a scream. It only lasted a second. He seemed to choke up. He began coughing. He then made this weird gargling noise as the smoke dragged him back into the small alleyway between the hardware store and the pharmacy.
Yes. The smoke dragged him. Physically.
And just like that the smoke was gone. Ed was Gone.
"What the hell was that?" I whispered.
"Black smoke," Ben answered. "Rouge nano-swarm."
"What?"
"Trust me. It’s bad news. We need to get inside right now. Our only option is to hide. We can’t fight it. Standard weapons are no good."
CHAPTER 25
We made our way down into the bank vault as quickly and as quietly as possible. Ben said the black smoke was bad news and that our only option was to hide. He also said that standard weapons we’re no good. I don’t know if he had intended to or not, but Ben had scared the hell out of me. And even as we huddled together down in the bank vault, I had no idea if we were safe or not.
Maria was fully awake now. She was able to stand and walk on her own. Awake and terrified. Just like I was.
"What was that thing?" Maria asked. "What are we going to do?"
"We wait." Ben answered.
"Wait for what?"
"For the all clear. These people have obviously hidden down here for the past few weeks. So as long as we stay put, keep quiet we should be safe."
"Wait,’ I said as I remembered his conversation with the priest, right before they tied us up, right before I lost consciousness. "I thought you said that we couldn’t hide from it. I thought you said the only thing to do was run, get out of here?"
"Hopefully the nano-swarm will be satisfied with Ed."
"And what if it’s not?"
Ben didn’t answer.
Maria suddenly looked worried. "Where are the guys?"
"I don’t know, but I’m going to find out," Ben said as he headed for the door.
"What? You can’t leave us!" I said.
"Keep your voice down. I won’t be gone long. Your friends have got to be locked up around here somewhere."
"You’re going to look for them?" Maria asked "With that thing out there? How are you going to find them?"
"The priest and his bald bodyguard," he answered. "I’ve got them tied up in the church. I’m going to ask them where they locked up your friends. And where they’re keeping my things."
"And what if they don’t cooperate?"
"I’ll ask them the hard way."
Ben turned his enormous back on us and left, closing the vault door behind him but not locking it properly.
Maria sat down against one of the pallets of cash. "Can we trust him?" Maria asked about Ben.
"I don’t think we have a choice."
"What if he’s just left us here to die? What if he comes back and then decides to kill us?"
"He wouldn’t do that."
"Why not? Seems like something he’d be perfectly capable of."
"He was the one who saved us."
"He what?"
"Don’t you remember?"
Maria stared blankly into space. She shook her head. "I can’t. It’s all just a hazy blur. I remember a pulsing light. Throbbing pain. I remember screaming. I could hear the howling moan of the infected. A lion’s roar. But that’s all I remember. Just the sounds. I thought I was dead."
"The priest, when he took us down into the basement of the church, he drugged us. His plan was to sacrifice us. Feed us to that monster thing. He took us out into the town square, strung us up by our feet."
"Like those other two women?" Maria asked.
"Yes."
"I… I can’t believe it. We nearly died?"
I nodded. "I was able to cut myself free. And then I cut you down. But I took too long. The monsters…"
"Wait, monsters? As in plural. Meaning there was more than one?"
"Yeah. There were three of them. And they had us practically surrounded. Ben saved us from a certain death. When the monsters showed up, he took them on. He didn’t back down. He was possessed. Out for blood. A gladiator or something. He killed them with an axe and a crowbar for crying out loud. No guns. No grenades. Just a freakin axe and a crowbar and his brute strength."
Maria was shaking her head in disbelief. She was struggling to come to terms with that fact that we almost died, that we were almost eaten alive. "I shoul
d be thankful right? I mean, he saved our lives, right?"
"Yeah. We owe him big time."
She shook her head. "But I think more than anything, I’m just scared of him. He looks insane. He’s covered in blood. He looks like a maniac."
"I know. He’s been through hell. I’m pretty sure he killed those other men with his bare hands. But he has to be one of the good guys. He just has to be. Why else would he save us?"
Just as Maria was about to agree with me we heard screams coming from somewhere upstairs.
"You were saying?"
I moved over to the vault door and opened it a little bit more. The damn thing weighed a ton.
More screams.
Whatever happened to being quiet, I thought.
"Who is screaming?" Maria asked.
"I don’t know. But I’m gonna check it out."
"I’m coming with you."
"No. You have to stay here. It’s too dangerous."
"There is no way you’re leaving me behind all by myself. Are you crazy?"
"This is the safest place to be. Nothing can get you in here."
"You are not leaving me alone!"
And then I did something that I don’t think Maria will ever forgive me for.
I shut the vault door and locked her inside.
"I’m sorry," I whispered to myself because there’s no way she’d be able to hear me through the thick steel door.
I was already practicing my apology speech to her as I ran up the stairs.
CHAPTER 26
I made it to the lobby of the bank and peered outside into the street to make sure it was safe. I could see a trail of blood leading into the small alleyway between the hardware store and the pharmacy. But that was it.
The road was empty.
I scuttled from the bank to the church like a mouse. I was so concerned with being quick and quiet and getting to cover, I was not prepared for what I saw inside.
Hanging above the altar with his arms outstretched was the priest.
He had been mutilated.
Butchered.
Crucified.
A few seconds later, I had to look away.
"Beautiful, ain't it?" Ben said.
He was sitting up the back of the church, in the very back row. Like someone who had been running late for the Sunday morning service. He was admiring his own handy work. I opened my mouth. But nothing came out. I couldn't speak. Not while the image of that unholy mess was being seared into my mind.
"You're right," Ben continued. "Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. But you must admit; it most definitely is appropriate."
Ben stood up and walked down the aisle, towards the altar. I followed blindly and numb. I was distancing myself from the situation. I had to.
Two of priest’s men were kneeling down in front of the altar. One of them was the bald guy.
"I made them watch," Ben said.
"What are you doing?" I asked.
"I’m just asking my two new friends here some questions. Ain’t that right fellas?"
The bald man answered with a whimper. The other man was silent. It took me a few seconds to realize he was dead.
"You can’t do this," I said.
"Old testament sweetie, remember? Eye for an eye."
"But it’s not right."
Ben ignored me. And as I’m telling him that he can’t do this, that he can’t torture and kill people no matter what the circumstance, he pulled out a gun and shot the bald man in the stomach. I felt all the blood drain from my face. I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. I couldn’t believe what this man was capable of. I mean, he had just saved Maria and me from a certain death. But now, here he was doing things that no normal man should be capable of doing.
"Society has crumbled, remember? This is the only way to deal with these people."
"They… they were just doing what they had to do." I said, even though I knew they were messed up and evil. "They don’t deserve this."
And as I said the words I couldn’t figure out why I was defending them. But that kind of punishment, that kind of torture and pain? No one deserved that.
Ben looked at me. Right at me. He held my gaze. Made sure I was listening. "These men deserve this. Ed, the guy with the moustache, he killed his wife. This guy killed his kids," he said pointing the gun at the dead man, "He sacrificed them to those monsters. They are bad people. Messed up even worse than I am. Trust me, they deserve this. Hell, they deserve worse."
The bald man was doubled over, moaning in pain. "Oh God," he whispered "Please don’t kill me."
Ben laughed a crazy, hysterical kind of laugh that chilled me to the bone. "Are you stupid? I already killed you. I mean, sure I shot you in the stomach which means you’ll be a long time dying. But you’re still a dead man all the same."
"Please. I can help you people. I can keep you safe from the desert."
Ben shot him in the stomach again. The noise of the gunshot was deafening. It made me jump. I looked over my shoulder at the entrance of the church expecting monsters and a horde of infected and black smoke to come barging in through the large wooden door looking for us. I wondered if that thing outside could hear all the noise. Maybe that was Ben’s plan.
"Um, should you be making so much noise? Aren’t we supposed to be hiding?"
I asked these questions tentatively. I was scared of his answer. Scared of how he’d react.
"It’s OK," Ben said. "Because our bald friend here is back on the path to forgiveness and righteousness. Isn’t that right? You came here, to this church, to Father Damon for guidance, for protection. You lost your way but now you are going to make it all better. You are going to help me."
The bald man had his eyes closed, breathing hard. Sweating.
"Now, before you pass out from the pain and the blood loss," Ben continued. "I need you to tell me where your food supply is. And where you’re keeping my stuff. And where you locked up her friends. Don’t make me check every room. We’re running short on time here. And I don’t want to have to start torturing you for real. Nobody wants that."
Torturing for real? What the hell did he mean by that? What the hell did he think he’d been doing?
"The keys," the man whispered.
Ben cracked him in the mouth with the back of his hand. "Speak up."
Blood dripped down his chin as he spoke. "The food and water supply," he whispered. "They’re kept in the store room of the church. The keys are in the top drawer of the desk in there."
The stockman pointed to an adjacent room. "The desk in that room?"
"Yeah."
"And my bag?"
"What bag?"
Another back hand. "The gym bag with my goddamn weapons."
"They’re in the locker. In that office."
"And where are her friends?"
"The church basement. They’re out cold. They were drugged. It was for their own good. We weren’t going to hurt them. I swear. You have my word."
"You’re word ain’t worth much."
Ben moved over to the room and retrieved the keys and found his gym bag. He came back out and stood in front of the altar and looked up at the priest. "Goddamn, I wish I had a camera."
Yep. He was a madman.
"You’re going to kill me, aren’t you?" the bald man asked. "You’re going to leave me here. Dead. Rotting."
"Congratulations for catching up with the rest of the class, Einstein. Yes, you are going to die. You see, even before the world ended, being shot in the stomach multiple times at point blank range was still a tough ask for ER surgeons to deal with. And now? Well now that there are no ER surgeons."
And then bald man did something totally unexpected. He laughed. I guess, maybe the blood loss was making him delirious. "Einstein," he said. "Funny."
"Glad you can see the lighter side of your impending death."
"You can’t win," the bald man warned. "You can’t kill it. It knows you’re here. You’re deader than I am."
"Excuse me?"
/>
"Don’t you get it? That’s why we sacrificed those people. It was the only way."
"I think you’ve mistaken me for someone else. Shouldn’t you be saving your story for the big man upstairs? That’s what you believe right? There’s a big guy, with a big white beard and if you tell him all your secrets, confess all your sins, he’ll look after you. Maybe you should save your story for him."
"Look, I can help you. I can help you hide. I can help you get out of here. Please…"
Ben then pressed the barrel of his gun to the man’s forehead and pulled the trigger.
I tried to look away in disgust but I couldn’t. I was both terrified and fascinated at the same time. I was frozen with fear.
I eventually forced myself to turn away from the scene of torture, trying to erase the memory from my mind. But I knew I’d never be able to. This whole thing, this whole apocalypse, or outbreak, or extinction level event, whatever you want to call it, it’s something that I will never be able to erase from my mind. It was changing me. Irreversibly and absolutely.
CHAPTER 27
At that point all I wanted to do was run back down to the bank vault and lock myself in and stay there for the rest of time.
But I knew that wasn’t an option.
"Come here," Ben said from in the adjacent room. I guess it was like the church office or something.
"Why?"
"You’ll need one of these. Just in case."
He was digging around in his gym bag. He then held up a grenade.
"No. No way. I hate those things. They’re too dangerous."
"It’s not a frag grenade. It’s an EMP grenade."
"A what?"
"Electromagnetic pulse grenade," he said as he handed it to me. "If you see black smoke, pull the pin and throw it."
"Throw it where?"
"You gotta be kidding me? Throw it at the black smoke! The closer the better. The pulse will stun the nano-swarm temporarily."
"Wait, before we do any of that, we need to get the guys. Where did baldy say they were being kept?"
"They’re locked up in the basement."
"We should go and get them first. Kenji and Daniel, they’re trained for this kind of thing."
Where The Dead Men Lie (The Secret Apocalypse) Page 13