“No!” Henry shrieks as the brute brings the Pulaski down on Henry’s body. I feel myself scream at the brutality of the sudden violence as the head of the axe sinks into Henry’s neck, sinking deep into his chest, shattering his ribs as it cleaves him all the way to his heart, killing him. His fingers and shoulders quiver, twitching as his mouth opens and shuts, trying to make sense of the sudden destruction of his body. The hulking brute twists the axe and I realize that Lexi is the one screaming now and I’m just standing with my mouth agape in horror. The brute rips the axe free and immediately drops to his knees, his eyes squeezed shut as his lips are moving, muttering a prayer for the dead while Henry’s body still twitches at his knees, blood pooling out from the enormous wound in his neck and chest.
“Confession comes with its consequences,” the Leader announces to us callously. “We shall pray many nights for the soul of our brother here. He has embraced the mercy and forgiveness of the Lord and his soul shall know eternity.” The Leader turns his head, his dark eyes looking at us with harsh cruelty. “What sins have you four committed?”
Chapter Eighteen
“You just fucking murdered him,” Noah says without catching his breath. Even in the darkness of the night and the pale moonlight, I can tell that all the color has drained from his face. He stares at Henry with wide eyes, horrified by what he’s just witnessed. I don’t blame him. I’m having a hard time wrapping my mind around it. “I can’t believe you bastards fucking killed him.”
“Your language is appalling,” the Leader says while the brute stands up, finishing with his last rites to the deceased. I look at Henry, rather the ruin of flesh and bones that used to be Henry. It’s hard to explain the emotions running through me right now. I want to scream, laugh, and cry all at the same time. I think it’s all just mixing together into a desire to vomit right where I’m standing. “Was it not your intentions to bring justice to this man before we arrived? Were you not in the process of beating him to death? His facial wounds alone would have left him marred and hideous forever. There is no way of healing a man of such wounds.”
“So what, that was a mercy kill?” Lexi snarls at the Leader.
“I do not speak to feral women,” the Leader snaps at her. “This man was guilty of a sin against you and we have administered fair and lawful justice to him and ensured that his soul is with the Almighty even now as we speak. His earthly vessel is destroyed, yet his soul is reformed in Paradise. Had the four of you done it your way, his soul would be in perdition, burning until the end of time. It is a mercy to love a man such as we have done.”
“Call it what you want,” I spit at him, “but you just murdered a man. Isn’t that a sin?”
“Death surrounds us these days,” the Leader replies. “Brothers turn on brothers, sons on fathers, and soon, there will be no one left but the Righteous. Sometimes life is not worth living and those who have endured this catastrophe squander their precious gift. While those who deserved life have died, those who deserve death continue on. God’s will is a mystery to us all.”
“So that’s what just happened here? God’s will?” I look at him with a raised eyebrow.
“You are a defiant woman,” the Leader tells me. “My people would have cut out your tongue by now. It is a shame that these men have not claimed their rightful position as leaders of your pack. I admire your zealous interest in justice, but your liberality with your women is something that the Council must discuss before we bring you into the fold. It may be that this one will need to be relieved of her ability to speak.”
“Fuck you,” Lexi shouts at him. “We’re not interested in your damn town.”
“Then why else have you stopped?” The Leader looks at her with cold, calculating eyes and his face is willing to endure whatever anger she has toward him. “You will come to find that the Will of God has led you to us and that it is in his plan that you must put your faith. You two will become warriors of God,” the Leader points at Noah and Greg. Then he looks at Lexi and me. “You two will have the honor of bearing the fruit of the new age, a generation of enlightenment.”
I feel my stomach completely somersault and vault out of my body and into the ether. There is no way that I’m going to let a bunch of strange men gangbang me in some sort of cult ritual so that I can die in childbirth in this hellish wasteland. I can picture all of them, pulling their dicks out and plugging every hole that they can find, of course all in the name of God. They’re probably just going to be extra thorough. But before those bastards ever touch me, I’ll be dead before I let them touch my sister. If they so much as put a finger on her, I’ll blow all of their dicks off and they’ll have fun bleeding out the next time they think about raping some woman.
“We’re going to have to pass,” I tell him with a growl.
“It’s not an option,” the Leader says. He walks toward the truck and stretches out his hands. “I don’t know how it’s possible, but the four of you have come into the possession of our property.”
“Bullshit,” Greg says.
“Most certainly not.” The Leader smacks the side of the truck. “This truck is a colonization truck. Our family uses them to plant seeds of the faithful in places where there is no hope. We bring the Will of God to the heathens and the barbarians by force or by love. Those who accept us, come to join the fold and find true peace. Those who resist will burn. This truck was meant for Savannah.”
“How could you possibly know that?” Noah spits. “There’s no fucking way you could know that this is the truck you’re looking for.”
“They are all marked,” the Leader cuts Noah off. “There was a man who committed the most heinous sins against our fold, a man who stole a truck much like this one. Those sent to recover the stolen property and put the man to death never returned. However, I am divinely shown that five strangers somehow took the property and have successfully delivered the valuables back into the hands of the faithful. For this, I am willing to overlook your rudeness, your petulance, and your ignorance in this matter and bring you before the Council nonetheless.”
I feel a nervous sensation deep inside of my core, rattling in my bones as I think about what he just said. My father had this truck. My father is responsible for one of two things. Either he is the man who took this truck from whoever killed the assassin from the Faithful, or my father is the man who committed the heinous sins against these people. I think back to the black crosses on the map. Those were not sanctuary locations, those were markers for the Faithful. The only other place that had the Faithful was Atlanta. I remember the circle around Atlanta, the name Lindsay, the strange annotations, and the flames he had drawn around the dots. What did my father do to Atlanta? My father is the evil sinner. This man cannot know this, or he will kill us all. They will sacrifice us to their twisted image of God and we will never make it to Dayton to find out what made it so important to my father.
“Give us the keys,” the Leader orders me. I look at him with a blank expression. “Surrender this vehicle and I swear that you will be championed as heroes of the Faithful. People will praise your heroism for years to come and you will be given a place of honor among us. All we require is your basic submission to our cause.”
“I’ve been thinking.” I look at Brute and the Third, then I slowly look back to the Leader. He looks at me with a blank expression on his face, as if he’s still shocked that a woman keeps speaking to him. “I’ve been thinking that I don’t think there’s anyone else out here with us.”
“What do you mean?” The Leader looks at me like I’ve just asked him a trick question. He furrows his brow and glares at me.
“I don’t think you are legion,” I tell him coldly.
“Don’t be so certain,” the Leader replies coolly. I have to give him respect for how well he plays his character. “Surrender this vehicle now.”
“Or you’ll kill us?” Lexi growls at him.
“Or we will be forced to take it,” the Leader says ominously, but for some reason
I think it’s the same thing that Lexi said.
“Over my dead—” Lexi snarls, but I cut her off.
“Go get the keys,” I look over my shoulder at my sister. I lock eyes with her so that she knows exactly what I mean by that. She looks at me for a moment, processing what she thinks I mean and then nods to me. Lexi and I have rarely seen eye to eye on anything other than protecting each other. She turns and walks around the front of the truck to get the keys. “While she gets the keys, I just want to tell you something.”
“What is that?” the Leader asks me.
“I’ve always wanted to try this,” I confess to him.
The engine to the truck roars to life and I know that Lexi got the message that I was hoping she’d get. The Leader turns around with a surprised expression on his face and the Third and Brute immediately stare at the truck like it’s a rocket ship from the stars, sent to tell them their futures. Lexi wastes no time and immediately puts the truck in gear and starts to peel out, sending a thick cloud of dust up into the air, and I’m given my opportunity to do what my father always told me was too dangerous to try at the shooting range.
Unfastening the snap, I rip my Sig from my holster and fire from the hip, squeezing the trigger and feeling the concussion of the gun firing. It’s a powerful feeling and I can’t help but grin like a wild gunslinger as I feel the bullet ejected from the barrel at speeds that I could never comprehend. The bullet shreds through the air as the casing shoots out of the ejection port, twirling in the air before it starts to careen toward the ground. Before the brass casing hits the ground, I watch through the swirling cloud of dust as the Leader’s kneecap explodes in a tangle of red flesh and the spatter of blood disappearing, vanishing into the plume. The Leader screams, but it’s lost in the sound of the truck trying to shift gears and speed away.
The Leader is writhing on the ground, groping his knee as he twists and shrieks in pain. I look at Brute, who is searching through the darkness and the plume for me. Thankfully, I hear another gunshot and see Brute take a bullet straight between the eyes as he lurks with his bloody, hellish weapon ready to shred us apart just like it did with Henry. I can hear Lexi turning around, making a loop back to pick us up before Brute’s body even hits the dust. The Third is the only one missing in the cloud of dust. I’m too afraid to call out to Greg to see where he is. If the Third is nearby then I’ll be giving away my location and he’ll tear me apart with his enormous club and sword. I’m not interested in dying today. I can still hear the groaning and moaning of the Leader.
“You shall all burn,” he shrieks through the cries of pain.
“Heard it all before,” Noah says somewhere behind me.
Lexi is drawing closer and the dust is vanishing. That’s when I see that the Third isn’t even here. He’s running back toward Tifton. My stomach sinks at the sight of that. He’s fleeing to find others. That’s alright, we can leave him and the Leader alive. They’ll come back here to see if their Leader is okay and hopefully that’ll buy us time to get well away from this place. I turn and look at Lexi behind the wheel of the truck as it comes closer and closer to us. I smile at the sight of her. For once, she does exactly what I tell her to and everything works out fantastically.
Something pierces the windshield and I scream as it suddenly explodes in a spider’s web of fractures and white lines surrounding the epicenter, a black hole in the middle of the window. The truck swerves and I dive out of the way as I feel my heart exploding in horror and terror. Turning, I see the truck skidding to a stop, running over the Leader who is holding his crossbow up, pointed directly at the truck. The wheel slams into him, pulling him under the weight of the skidding truck and pulling him apart with the friction. The Leader screams in agony as the truck makes a long, bloody smear out of him, leaving a hand and one leg behind in the wake of the truck. The sanded off remains of the Leader are thoroughly ground into a mush under the front wheel of the driver’s side of the truck. I don’t even care. I immediately rush to the driver’s door.
“Lexi,” I scream at the top of my lungs. “Lexi, can you hear me?”
I shove Noah out of the way. I don’t care if he’s slightly infatuated with my sister, she’s my sister. I’m going to be the one to see if she’s okay. I climb the step and throw open the door, looking inside at my sister who is sitting behind the wheel, her chest heaving and her eyes wide, staring at the spider’s web of fractures and lines. I can feel my heart pounding like a thousand drums as I look at her, wondering where the arrow hit her. I can see the shaft and the plastic feathers.
“Lexi, don’t move,” I caution her.
“He fucking shot at me,” Lexi gasps before turning and looking at me with horrified eyes. “The bastard fucking shot at me.”
“I know,” I tell her calmly, trying to keep her level right now. I don’t want her to panic and do any kind of internal damage with the arrow. “I know, Lexi. Just stay calm. Don’t do anything sudden.”
“Chill out, Doctor Val.” Lexi lets out a sigh and rips the arrow out and hands it to me. I stare at her in horror, looking at the tip of the arrow and seeing that there isn’t any blood on it. It’s impossible. There’s no way that arrow could have gone through her and not caused any damage. “If it were a centimeter to the right.”
“Jesus, Lexi,” Greg lets out a groan.
“It’s going to take more than a tiny arrow to kill me.” Lexi starts shivering, obviously in shock. I look toward the direction that the Third ran off to and I can’t help but feel like we’re hanging out on borrowed time. I’m glad to see that Lexi is fine, but we need to get out of here as quickly as possible. Her being alright is enough to keep us from losing time patching her up. I realize that I’m still holding my breath and slowly let it out, relieved that my sister isn’t dying.
“Noah, take the wheel,” I tell him. “Lexi, scoot over and let Noah drive.” I turn around to Greg while Noah is climbing into the cab. “Go get them something they can shoot at people with.”
“We’re not going through Tifton,” Greg says nervously.
“We have to,” I tell him. “There’s no getting around it.”
“Shit,” Greg growls as he heads toward the back of the truck.
I look at Lexi and Noah in the cab of the truck. “I can’t see a damn thing,” Noah complains but I ignore him. I don’t have time to babysit him right now. He needs to do exactly what I tell him.
“We’re going through Tifton,” I tell them. “So get back on the main road and head north. We’re going to be in the back of the truck and we’re going to shoot anyone that starts to follow us.” Greg opens the passenger door and hands Lexi a shotgun. I watch her hold the gun and look nervously over her shoulder at me. “Whatever happens, just keep driving. Don’t stop for anything.”
“Val, I need to talk to you,” Lexi says after a moment, her face twisting in a strange sort of pained grimace. I’m not sure what’s going on with her, but we don’t have time for this. We need to get moving.
“Can it wait?” I ask her. She looks at me with a distraught face and I know that she really wants to talk to me, but now is not the time. We need to use this small window of opportunity that we’ve been given. If we don’t utilize this time, they’re going to be all over us before we can pick up speed. “I swear we’ll talk about it the moment we get clear of this town, but right now, I need you to keep it together. You guys got this?”
“We got this,” Noah says with a determined look in his eyes.
“Keep her safe, Noah,” I tell him sternly. “If she doesn’t make it, you don’t make it.”
I make my way to the back of the truck where I’m prepared to make my final stand with Greg. I climb in and wait as I listen to him coming around the side of the truck over the rumble of the engine. As he climbs into the box with me, I can’t help but feel scared that we’re not going to make it out of this town without a few bumps and bruises and that’s putting things lightly. I’m scared that the man I love is going to end up
dead. I’m scared that my sister is going to end up dead. I’m even scared that her annoying boyfriend is going to end up dead because of this horrible place. Standing alone and frightened, I close my eyes and feel the warm, sure embrace that Greg offers me. He’s the best thing that’s happened to me and I wouldn’t be here without him. I lean my head against his shoulder and feel the truck start to roll toward Tifton.
Chapter Nineteen
They’re waiting for us. It’s disorienting being in the back of the truck as we head into town. I’ve never been to here, but what I see of it makes me never want to see it again. Upon entering the town, we’re greeted by all of the street signs, streetlights, and traffic lights piled with charred debris and bodies bound to the poles, burned alive long ago and left as a symbol for whatever horrible truth that they’re trying to convey to the people that live under their rule. I look at the bodies, chained to the posts, blackened by the fires of their hatred and left there for us to ponder. This is a place run by terror, governed by fear, and filled with those imprisoned with violence. Almost immediately, the fanatics begin to appear.
All of them are dressed in white. They come out in packs and groups staring at us as we drive by. The women are all easy to spot. Their heads have been shaven and their chests have been wrapped to make them as unappealing or least distracting to the men as possible. It has the look of something out of a dystopian movie and that’s when I realize that this is exactly what we’re living in. We’re living in a world that is worse than I could have ever imagined if people like this exist. It’s not just that they exist, but that there are others following them, others who are loyal to this system. Their basic human rights are being thrown out the window in favor of what some religious fanatics take as the truth and need for this time in their lives. I look at them and pity them.
LEFT ALIVE (Zombie series Box Set): Books 1-6 of the Post-apocalyptic zombie action and adventure series Page 64