I watched the rays of sunlight streaming through the trees and glinting off the heads of these amazing people and something in me shriveled and died. It was the last of my defense; the last brick in the wall I kept around my heart. They mattered to me. They mattered more to me than I did and I wasn’t sure how to feel about that. I was nervous and a little sick with worry that something would happen to them that I wouldn’t be able to stop and that idea made every molecule in my body twist and ache.
Reaching up, I pulled my hair up and secured it with the tie from around my wrist, took a deep breath and walked over to join them. It wasn’t what I wanted and I knew I would be destroyed by the end of the night one way or another, but that no longer mattered. What mattered most in the world was these 3 strangers who’d somehow managed to become more important to me than anyone had ever been and I had no choice but to stand with them.
Chapter 15:
Smoke wove through the stale night air from the fires that had gone out as we watched what was left of the cult members moving around the compound from the hole in the fence we’d been using to go in and out that they’d somehow still not found.
For hours we’d been camped out in this spot, taking turns running in and planting our homemade bombs around the buildings without notice. It was almost as if they weren’t expecting us to attack at all, and maybe they weren’t, but I couldn’t believe the Preacher would be that cocky and that left me uneasy. He had to be up to something but from all the activity, I couldn’t for the life of me figure out what it was.
My stomach was in knots as I waited for Austin to come back from his run to the barn when suddenly every spotlight on the damn grounds came to life, flooding us and our hideout with the fluorescent glow. I looked immediately to the barn to see the Preacher come sauntering out the door holding a megaphone in one hand and gesturing to Austin being held by two of his goons behind him.
“Have you found God yet, Angie?” The Preacher’s voice boomed loud and low through the night, disturbing the birds who immediately took flight from every surrounding tree.
It was then, with the compound fully lit I noticed the holes in the fence around on the other side of the house where the fire had been and the crowd of zombies trying to break through a makeshift barrier that had been obviously hastily erected that I knew we were in deep shit.
Looking over at Jack, our eyes met and he winked at me and cocked the shotgun in his hands before darting through the fence. I thought briefly about Johnny and Roscoe waiting in a tree several hundred yards away and prayed to a god I didn’t believe in that at least one of us would be left standing to take care of them.
One by one, we slid through the fence and started a slow walk towards the barn to meet the Preacher. Forming a V, we must’ve looked like Geese with weapons and I wanted to laugh out loud but kept that shit to myself; this was not the time for hysterics.
“Did you come to kill us all? We, the Lambs of God who only seek to save the souls we can in these, the end of days? Surely you can’t think you will be saved, Angie. Surely you must know the Devil waits for you and yours.” The Preacher was close enough to where I could see the smug look of victory on his face and I let my guard down. He was still a big bag of crazy but he obviously had no idea he’d already lost and his god was nowhere to be found.
I turned and gave Ty a small nod and pretended to think about what the Preacher had just said.
“Give us back Austin unharmed, let us leave this place and never try to find us. We mean you no harm; we just wish to be left in peace.” I tried to sound like I meant it, but it was so damn hard to not just shoot him where he stood.
He laughed a deep belly laugh and I caught a flash of Ty darting into the night out of the corner of my eye and waited for him to disappear before addressing the Preacher once more.
“Ok, you caught me; I mean you lots of harm and wanted to play the hero protagonist granting the antagonist a false opportunity to get out of harm, knowing full well you’d decline and I’d have to kill you anyway for not agreeing with me and accepting my terms and quite frankly, Hollywood has done that enough we should all just agree to a dance off to solve our differences since that would be much more interesting.”
Everyone froze and stared at me incredulously for a moment; apparently even my friends hadn’t quite gotten used to my random bouts of insanity, although I still thought a dance off would be a much better ending than blood and death.
With a sigh, I scratched the hives starting to break out on my neck and slumped my shoulders. “Is that a no?” I asked.
The Preacher pulled a gun from the holster of the man holding Austin and pushed the barrel into Austin’s temple. “Perhaps death is the only thing that will make you see the light, Angie.”
My heart stopped and my fingers froze before I could bring the gun up high enough to aim. The seconds dragged on for hours and just as I was almost able to snap out of my frozen state, the Preacher pulled the gun away from Austin, pointed it to Jack and fired before any of us could react.
I turned in horror to see the bullet graze Jack’s shoulder and didn’t blink when blood splattered in my eyes. His blood. My blood. I wasn’t sure if it was blood or anger, but my vision was suddenly red and I started screaming and firing at random.
This was the moment I’d been waiting for; the beginning of a battle that in all likelihood would have no survivors. Bullets started to fly everywhere as every human ran for cover and kept firing. The shots rang out like the grand finale at the County Fair fireworks show and it was beautiful.
Screams erupted all around as people ran in a dizzying dance around me dodging bullets. Time slowed and I became fascinated with the smoke trails weaving through the air from the bullets making their way to their final destinations. The whole affair became one loud operatic production that I could only watch with fascination.
I was pulled from my stupor as a crowd of raging zombies started tearing through the place; apparently Ty had been successful in taking down the barrier so destruction could make its way across this place and leave nothing but death behind.
Earl and Bash had gone after the men holding Austin and I watched as the 3 of them returned fire with the guards who’d beaten us; it was a fitting way to die on both ends.
Turning, I started a slow saunter towards the zombies headed in my direction and stopped, waiting for them to reach me before I killed them. I knew I should leap into action and take the offense, but I just couldn’t muster the energy to care anymore. Somewhere behind me I could hear Jack grunting as he fought off the Ogre and I knew I should go help him, but the bullet lodged deep in his shoulder told me his time was almost at an end and I could hear his heartbeat slowing and knew it wouldn’t be long before he was gone for good.
Just as a particularly hillbilly looking zombie was almost in reach, I started to raise my machete when a stabbing pain erupted in my gut and I looked down to see a blade coated in blood appear just above my waistband. I froze and stared at it in shock and acceptance as I watched it be pulled back out and felt the exquisite pain of metal meeting flesh that accompanied it.
Somewhere in the distance a series of explosions rang out but the sound was muted against the backdrop of my heartbeat seeping out of my belly with the blood. My knees buckled and I slid to the ground, grip loosening on the machete. The zombies were closing in on people on both sides of the battle and it was all muted in the background. The only sound I could hear was the earth crunching under the Preacher’s feet as he knelt in front of me and met my eyes.
“This is the moment you will find God, Angie. As the life leaves your body, you will meet your maker and he will judge you for your sins. Do you believe now?” He asked me quietly, looking down as he cleaned his glasses with the handkerchief from his pocket.
I opened my mouth to make a sarcastic reply, but choked on the blood rising up my throat. Accepting this as the moment the train wreck that had been my life would end, I just smiled at him and lifted my hand, flipping
him the bird.
His eyes narrowed at my defiance as he picked up the knife to finish me off. I was okay with it; I really was. Now maybe I’d find the peace I’d hoped had been waiting for me on sandy beaches I’d never been able to find in life. My life tried flashing before my eyes but I pulled myself back and remained focused on his face. Now was not the time for that horror show to remind me why I was so grateful I didn’t have to fight anymore.
He held the blade to my chest and paused, meeting my gaze. I watched the conviction take hold and the muscles in his arm constrict to make the final plunge.
Light glinted off steel so quickly, it took me a moment to see Chloe standing behind him until it was too late. I was too late to stop her from slipping the blade across the Preacher’s neck, causing a magnificent spray of blood to splatter across my shocked face.
Looking up, I met her gaze. She was so young and beautiful with her alabaster skin and dark hair tangled around her tiny shoulders. Her sea green eyes stared into mine and I could pinpoint the very moment the anger and rage took her over completely. The sweet, sarcastic, carefree girl who’d seen so much devastation and yet remained optimistic died right in front of me; a creature of anger and vengeance taking her place.
We watched him fall to the ground, gurgling through his last attempts at breath and I leaned over, putting my mouth next to his ear and whispered, “Do you still believe?”
His wide eyes only gaped at me as his mouth tried to form words that would never come as we watched him suffocate on his own blood. When his eyes hazed over and his body stilled, I rolled over and lay on the ground, too tired to move. I was dying and just wanted to see the stars one last time.
I focused on the one bright star I could see through the smoky haze above me and let the sounds of the battle still raging around me fade out. I’d failed. Even if everyone lived, a little girl had died this night and it was my fault for not saving her. Maybe I’d seen the innocence I’d lost so long ago reflected back at me in Chloe and that was the reason driving my need to save her. I’d wanted to save her from the world so badly and I’d failed.
Nothing I’d done in my whole miserable existence up to this point mattered anymore because when it came down to it, I was not enough to save her. I couldn’t save myself and I couldn’t save one little girl and that told me more about who I really was than any obstacle I’d ever overcome. When it came down to it, when it really mattered, I would never be the hero I wanted so desperately to be and as I started to close my eyes against the stinging smoke, I knew that would be the haunting reality I took to my grave.
About the Author:
When Lisa isn’t figuring out the best way to survive the zombie apocalypse, she can be found at work or playing with her two cats in Aurora, Colorado. If you’d like to read some of her (probably terrible) other writing, you can find it at www.lisabiesiada.com. She would love to hear from you and can also be found on Facebook and Twitter. Don’t worry, you’ll find her; there are only 5 people in the country by that name and only she would be crazy enough to own up to anything she wrote.
This is the End (Book 2): Not Dead Yet Page 22