Trinity Episcopal Church, Southwest Missouri
Approximately five months after the Rising
Part I
Daniel paused in his duties to wipe the sweat from his brow and onto the back of his forearm. He bent backward to stretch his back, his bare stomach pushing out in front of him. His shirt was off, and it was a struggle to keep his pants on too, in this heat. With less than five inches of rainfall so far this summer, he had taken to tying plastic bags around the leafy tree limbs that hung over the roof. This way he could collect condensation, however little there was to be had. When he had gathered up every last drop from the smaller containers into a larger one for his last haul back to the sink, he picked it up with little effort and lugged it down the stairs. Before depositing it, he splashed some on his face and sighed. It might have been slightly wasteful, but he still had a pretty good amount of bottled water in the basement, at least enough to get him through to the winter months when he could start collecting snow.
After that he went back to his makeshift apartment to change, clean up, and shave. It had only been two weeks since his last visitors, a family of four on their way to Canada, and he expected some more stragglers would pop in at some point. Despite the seemingly hopeless situation out there, people were still making it. Families, unlike his own, were still sticking together. If there was a shred of hope to be found, Daniel found it. It had always been his way to stay positive and encouraging. That had gotten difficult, but he managed.
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“God damn, Andrew. We've been sitting out here watching this dude for six days now! The only one in there is the priest! And we could take him easily. I'm fucking hungry. What we got from that family a week ago wasn't enough to last. ” The woman was sitting just behind the tree line with two men to either side of her. Andrew was a menacing hulk of a man, while Cole was about her height and size. Andrew had about six inches and fifty pounds on them both.
The big man was on his knees holding binoculars up to his eyes. He had the church in his sights. “All right. We do it tonight. Just after sun down.” He paused and looked at them both. “Cole, make sure the pistol is loaded and ready to go.”
Cole nodded. “We only have three bullets left, so if we use it, we'll have to make it count.”
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Occasionally, at night, Daniel liked to wind down by playing and drinking wine. He came from a family with established traditions that he still stuck to, to this day. He had even made a few of his own since the Rising. He lit both of the altar candles before sinking down to the carpet. He propped his back up against the wall, put his guitar in his lap, and made sure his wine was within his reach. First he started with tuning, then moved on to some of his simpler favorites. By the time he had a little buzz on he was plucking away furiously. All the songs ran together.
When the first set of frantic knocks came to one of the side entrances, he hadn't heard it over his playing. It wasn't until he heard the screams that he paused and put his guitar on the floor beside him.
“PLEASE! Help us! We've got an injured man and the shufflers are closing in!”
Daniel's eyes widened in surprise. He rushed to the door and unlocked it. Blame it on the wine, his innocent nature, or the fact that he believed that women were trustworthy, but not a second thought was given to the fact that these people might not be friendly. Dan swung the door back and watched as they filed in. A smaller man, hunched over was draped over the shoulders of a woman and another rather large man. He gulped as they lowered the man down onto the carpet right in the center of the aisle. The larger man and woman then stood and looked to the priest with scared eyes. She put her hands on her head and squeezed out some tears. The man on the floor rolled into the fetal position, arms clenching his stomach.
“Can you help him?! Please! We don't... we don't know what to do!”
Daniel's mouth hung open. A few moments later, he slammed the door back, locked it then rushed to the hurt man's side. His hands moved around the man to try and find the wound and also force him to lay back flat on his back so he could take a better look. When his fingers accidentally touched the gun tucked in the mans belt he was taken aback for a few seconds.
While Dan had his back turned, Andrew slowly pulled out a lead pipe he had tucked into his backpack.
Daniel's brows furled. “Wait... you're not--” Why had it taken him so long to see? He had played right into their scheme. Dan flipped around to look at the larger man just as the pipe collided with his right temple. The last thing he heard was that awful 'cling,' when the pipe connected with his skull.
_____
Dan's brown eyes slowly blinked open. They darted left to right. Where am I? He winced. He had a splitting headache. What happened? He pulled his hand up to his head and upon discovering just how tender it was... “Fuck!” He brought himself to all fours, then eventually into a standing stagger. When he started to fall, he was caught by the altar. The priest turned to face it and partially used it to keep himself up. He remembered shortly after what had transpired. He put one of his hands over his mouth in shock.
A few minutes later Daniel heard the two males exchanging words in the working sacristy.
“Who knew he was hiding all of that food down there? God, we really made it good this time! The others will bow down to us now.”
“Sooo, what are we going to do with him?”
“Well, we'll talk to him. See if we can't get him to come around to our side. Four is better than three. At least for the trip back to the group. If anything, he'll be a nice distraction for the dead.” The guy laughed.
“That's going to be difficult though right? The guy's a priest, after all.”
“Nah. He's a priest and the world ended. There's nothing left for him. He'll give up. He'll have to if he wants to live.”
The words triggered something in him, something he hadn't felt for a long time. Rage? These people tricked him. They came into his church. They knocked him out. They were stealing his food. Now they expected him to roll over in defeat. Daniel made a decision then that would later surprise him. He decided to fight. He plunged his hand into his pocket to retrieve his knife... but discovered it wasn't there. They must have taken it off me.
Dan crouched and went over to the altar rail. Among the several iron rods that held the thing up, he knew just where to find a loose one that should have been repaired ages ago. He yanked it free then silently made his way back to the vesting sacristy. The priest almost walked straight through the door when he saw a shadow moving in his apartment. He then heard the woman in there scrounging around through his things. With his back to the wall, he edged closer to the door frame and took a quick peek around. She started to pluck at one of the strings on his banjo, her back to him now. Without hesitation, he took two long bounds toward her and brought the rod down directly onto her head. She went down, taking one of the banjos with her.
Daniel stood over her a few brief moments. She groaned, her chest still rising and falling with each breath. Something changed in him then. He didn't feel like himself. He looked down at his own hands and body, but he didn't recognize them. It was like he had become a robot replica of himself and a miniature him was controlling his actions from a console in his brain. The rod was then brought down on her head again.... and again... and again until a bloody crater formed and inevitably caved in.
The priests body had taken to acting on its own. He found himself back at the entrance to his room. He looked around the corner to see if the men had come out of the working sacristy yet, but they hadn't. He crouched and made his way over to the pews. He hid himself behind the third one and slid to the end nearest the center aisle.
“Oh fuck! Andrew! He's gone,” Cole called out. Daniel hadn't noticed the man come out, but the man hadn't seen him yet.
The big man came running out. He looked out over the church. “Fuck. Jillian! Get out here!” He paused a few seconds waiting for her to come out. “God damn it. Where did that girl get herself off to?” He shook his head and started walking toward Dan's room. “Cole, get out there and check the pews. This fucker couldn't have gotten far.” Cole brought a out a knife from his pocket, Daniel's knife.
The priest felt a hideous smile creep across his lips as the unsuspecting man walked out toward him. He went pew by pew first looking to the right then the left. This gave Daniel the advantage as he would be looking to the pew across from the one he was hiding behind first. Again, Daniel didn't flinch. When the man was within reach, Danny lunged at him with a growl and brought the rod down between his shoulder blades. The man dropped the knife and fell to all fours. The priest picked up the knife. He knew it well and it felt comfortable in his grip.
“Fuckin' shit!” Cole staggered to his feet and reached for his pistol. He got it out of his belt and took the safety off, but it was too late. Dan used his left arm to push the gun aside and plunged the knife right into the mans chest. He pulled it out and repeated once more before the man crumpled down onto the floor in one bloody heap and proceeded to bleed out. He gasped for air, his punctured left lung deflating and flooding.
Andrew, who had run back out panicked from seeing Jillian murdered in the vesting sacristy, got there just in time to see the display. He stopped in front of the altar. “What the fuck kind of priest are you?” He hadn't yelled, but it carried far enough.
Daniel ignored the question and knelt down to grab the gun. He returned the knife to his pocket. When Danny stood back up, he faced the guy and held the gun out. He was shaking from the adrenaline. He had fired a gun once or twice in his life, but never quite liked it. The first shot was way off and the bullet was stopped by the back wall. Andrew dove to his right just as Dan fired the second shot, which left a deep graze across his calf, before planting itself in the marble altar.
The priest didn't want to miss the next shot, so he started making his way toward the altar. Andrew had scrambled behind it for cover.
“Hey man, listen! I'm sorry for what we did! I don't have any weapons on me! Just let me go and I promise I'll never come back here! Please!” Daniel sensed the desperation in his voice, but he felt nothing. Hearing the footsteps getting closer and closer, Andrew laid down on his stomach, trying to think of what he could do to stop this crazy fucker.
Dan walked up the right side of the altar. When he turned to point the gun he felt something grasp his ankle. Andrew managed to yank his leg out from under him. As Daniel was falling he fired the gun a third time. Then he hit the slate floor hard. The back of his head smacked into it so hard, he thought he might pass out again. He shook his head back and forth a few times in an attempt recover quickly.
Andrew, stunned that his plan had actually worked took those crucial few seconds to get to his hands and knees. He found himself a few seconds later face to face with the barrel of the pistol, but he knew something Dan didn't. He smiled as Daniel pulled the trigger. The priest, expecting all sorts of brain matter to fly out of the back of the mans head was shocked when no bullet came out. He turned the gun to the side and stared at it in awe. A second later a heavy weight lowered itself atop his hips. Andrew knocked the gun from his hand and laughed, turning his face up toward the roof.
Daniel started to struggle. He writhed underneath the weight, but it was just too much for him. His out of body experience was coming to a close and fear was setting in. He had done so well, and now he was fucked. Utter dread filled his heart. He was done for.
“OH.... boy. I'm going to enjoy this.” Andrew said, cracking his knuckles. He put his left hand on Daniel's chest to try and keep him still. He pulled his right elbow all the way back, formed a fist, then brought it down with all of his force to Daniel's left cheek. Dan screamed out as the pain surged through his face. He tasted blood. Andrew repeated again, but this time switching arms. Then twice more before he stopped to flex his fingers.
Andrew stood up and looked down at the man. He smiled, much like Dan had before killing Cole. Daniel had rolled onto his side and tried to lift himself up but was stopped by a kick to the ribs. Then another to the chest. It knocked the wind out of him and he coughed desperately, trying to get it back.
“Stand the fuck up, priest.” Daniel couldn't stand, much less move. He stayed in a ball on the floor. Eventually Andrew reached down, grabbed a tuft of Daniel's hair and yanked him up. The priests hands went to weakly tug at the mans fingers to try and get him to release. Andrew dragged him before the altar before letting him go. Daniel fell to his knees as if he was going to pray. Perhaps it was time to pray. God, save my soul. He reeled in tiny circles. Everything was starting to go blurry and he was seeing black spots. Then he remembered. Dad's knife... He gently slid his hand into his pocket and put the knife in his fist.
“What's wrong? Feeling down? Where's your god now? Who's going to save you?” Daniel could barely hear what the man was taunting. A few moments later he felt a pain between his shoulders. Andrew had kicked him to the floor once more, but it enabled him to pull the knife out without being noticed. He hid it under his stomach and turned his head to the side to watch Andrew out of his periphery. The guy was coming back down at him. Daniel turned as quick as he could onto his back, bent at the waist, outstretched his arm and plunged the knife into the mans stomach.
Andrew looked down in surprise. Daniel didn't even get a chance to pull the knife out. The man just fell off of it and onto his back.
This time it was the priests turn to have some fun. Daniel only mimicked the mans previous actions. He crawled on top of him.
Daniel looked down at the man. Fear was in his eyes. “How did you put it earlier?” The priest smiled. “This is going to be fun?” He took the knife in both hands and pulled it up above his head. He looked to the christus rex on the back wall and licked his lips. Is this what you wanted? Is this the sacrifice you spoke of? He brought the knife down into the mans chest over and over again until his arms became numb.
Dan rolled off of the body and onto his back. He laid there for several minutes trying to catch his breath. His whole body hurt. He felt something poking at his side which he knew must have been a broken rib. His eyes were so swollen up he could barely see. Despite everything that had happened, he managed to pull himself up to a seated position. He looked down at his body, covered in blood. He looked around him. When he realized what he had done, he started wailing uncontrollably. Eventually, like a child, the tantrum wore him out and he went to sleep right where he was.