Chapter Twenty-Seven
Donaghy
I leaned against the wall in the alley, sucking in mouthfuls of air despite the stifling humidity. The throb from the virus was long gone thanks to the vaccine, but the bacteria they’d released had brought another much more terrifying feeling. It wasn’t pain exactly, at least not any kind I had ever felt before, and I found it impossible to describe. I just knew it was there. Like a living thing moving through me, slowly taking over. Or destroying me one tiny cell at a time.
My eyes were closed when the door to the Temple was shoved open, and I cracked them just as Angus stumbled out. He didn’t seem to notice me because he was too busy sucking in mouthfuls of air, almost like he’d just surfaced after nearly drowning. He hadn’t put the ridiculous robe back on, but he also hadn’t bothered to do anything other than pull some pants on, and I had a feeling it was because he just couldn’t stand being in that damn building for a second longer. Not that I blamed him.
He leaned over and braced his hands on his knees, mumbling, “Fuck me. Fuck me,” under his breath. When he lifted his right hand and stared down at it, it was trembling.
After a few minutes he let out a deep breath and stood so he could pull a pack of cigarettes out of his pocket, not looking the least bit surprised to see me standing in front of him.
“Guess it’s my turn to be caught with my pants down,” he said before sticking the cigarette between his lips.
I snorted as he lit it, remembering the night he’d walked in on Meg and me in the shower. “I guess I should thank you for not kicking my ass since you’re Meg’s uncle.”
Angus sucked in a mouthful of smoke as he looked me over, sizing me up. “I was just lookin’ out for her is all, and I knew bein’ with you was gonna piss off that little prick somethin’ fierce.” He blew the smoke out and nodded once. “Least you got revenge on the bastard.”
I looked away because the memory of how I’d ripped Jackson’s throat out wasn’t a good one. “Yeah.”
We stood side by side in silence for a few minutes, him smoking while I tried to pull my shit together. I wasn’t sure what to say to this man, especially not when all I could think about were the miniscule hours I’d spent locked in that tiny cell and how horrible they’d been. My time had been nothing compared to what he’d gone through, to the days upon days of torture, the weeks of solitude, the years of hopelessness. I couldn’t imagine it, couldn’t figure out how he was still here and in one piece.
“You going to make him suffer?” I asked after a few minutes.
Angus turned his head toward me, the cigarette stuck between his lips. “Star?” I nodded. “I’m gonna make him squeal like a pig.”
“Good,” I said before pushing myself off the wall. “I was only locked in that cell for two days. You have to be the strongest son of a bitch to ever walk this earth.”
Angus shrugged. “That or the stubbornest.”
“Maybe,” I muttered, “but I don’t think that would get you far when it comes to something like this.”
The door behind Angus was shoved open and Jada stuck her head out. “We need to get ready.”
Angus snorted, but dropped his cigarette to the ground. “Not sure if I’m lookin’ forward to this or dreading it.”
Jada held a red robe out to him, along with a pair of shoes. “I think it would be strange if you didn’t feel that way.”
I followed them inside, back into the stuffy room that was filled to the brim with people in red robes. It took me a few seconds to locate the rest of our group amid the crowd, but only because they were dressed the same way and now blended in.
Meg held a robe out to me when I stopped in front of her. “We won’t stand out this way.”
I chuckled as I took the thing, marveling over the irony of a red robe on a muggy Georgia day helping us blend in.
“I know.” She rolled her eyes and watched as I pulled the thing over my head.
It was tight and the fabric was a hell of a lot heavier than it looked, but as much as I hated the idea of wearing it, I knew we needed to. Some of the people in our group stood out too much. Jada with her tattoos, Jim with his scars and sneer that screamed zombie slayer, Angus who would be recognizable to anyone in Star’s inner circle, Meg who had a face most people in the settlement knew. Even Parvarti and Al because they had worked the wall for years and were no doubt now on Star’s hit list. But the robes served another purpose as well. They helped hide our weapons.
No one passing us, no matter how out of control things had gotten yesterday, would think a member of The Church was armed. It had been historically non-violent since it was established, and even though the High Priestess and her daughter had made an appearance yesterday at the CDC, no one would have guessed that the other people who had stormed the building were her followers. Not when none of them had been wearing a red robe.
I strapped a gun to my waist, watching Meg as she did the same. She’d told me that she’d gone out with Jada to train before I made it to Senoia, but I still couldn’t help thinking about that day outside the walls. I’d barely known her then, but already I’d felt drawn to her. Maybe it was how fast she’d been able to pull herself together after getting attacked, how strong she’d been, or maybe it was something else that I couldn’t even name. I didn’t know for sure because an attraction like this defied all logic, but I knew that if I weren’t going to die in the next few days, she and I would be together forever. I couldn’t explain it or justify it, but I knew it in my very core.
I reached out and grabbed her hips, pulling her forward until her body was flush with mine. She looked up at me, lifting her eyebrows as I ran my hands up her back over the thick robe.
“Did something distract you from the mission?” she asked with a small smile on her lips.
We’d promised that we’d put my impending death out of our heads, and I had to give her credit, she was better at holding it together than I was or would be if the situation were reversed.
I leaned down and covered her lips with mine, twisting my hands in her robe as we kissed.
When I pulled back I whispered, “Be careful. Okay?”
“I didn’t plan on being anything else.”
“Good.”
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Meg
We were in the middle of the group, all of us smashed together and surrounded by other robed figures. Between the thick material covering me from head to toe and the crowd pressed against me, it was nearly impossible to get a mouthful of fresh air. The already humid day had turned into an inferno even though the sun was setting, and I knew it was only going to get worse. Right now we were only walking, but soon we’d be fighting. Soon we’d be running through the CDC in search of Star.
I wanted to be there when he died even if I didn’t get to be the one to pull the trigger.
All around me people chanted, their voices and footsteps so in synch that they sounded like they were one person, one voice. The beat of their feet against the ground vibrated through the air, and the echo of their chant bounced off the surrounding buildings as we made our way down the street. I couldn’t see much through the crowd, but every now and then I caught a glimpse of the people we passed stopping, either turning to stare or moving forward to join us, the lesser members of The Church getting swept up in the crowd as we moved through the city.
I stood on the tips of my toes as the top of the CDC came into view, trying to get a glimpse of the people at the front of the group. I knew which hooded head was the High Priestess, although I wasn’t sure how. Her robe was no different and she wasn’t any taller or bigger than anyone else, but somehow she stood out.
I glanced around, catching fleeting glimpses of my friends and family. We were the only ones in the crowd who hadn’t joined in the chanting, and even though we were covered in red from head to toe, I felt like we stood out. Like it would only take one look at the crowd for the enforcers and CDC guards to spot us.
I pulled the long sk
irt of my robe up so I could unhook my gun, my fingers itching to pull it out even as my palm started to sweat.
“You okay?” Jada hissed from my left.
I turned my head and found only her eyes visible in the dark folds of her hood.
“Yes,” I lied, and then let out a breath. “I’m fine.”
She didn’t look convinced, but she didn’t ask me again.
We moved closer, our numbers growing with every street we passed. Now there weren’t just hooded figures in our group, but people from all over the city as well. Enforcers who had most certainly worked side by side with my dad, parents with their children, people from the construction and maintenance crews, and even men and women who looked like they had been on their way to the entertainment district for a night of fun. So many people that we took up not just the street, but the sidewalk on both sides as well, the crowd swelling and growing the way a wave did when a storm rolled in.
We didn’t stop until we’d reached the courtyard of the CDC, and it was the High Priestess who signaled for the break. It was our cue to move forward, and Angus went first, but the crowd had thickened so much that it wasn’t easy to push our way through. He had to force his way between the followers surrounding us to get them to part, but once they did it was like Moses parting the red sea as robed men and women stepped aside and made way for him.
They bowed their heads when he passed and we followed, sticking close to one another as if we expected the sea of red to slam in on us once Angus had been led by. Jim and Jada were right behind him, with Donaghy next and me close on his heels. He had a gun in one hand, concealed by his robe, and with the other he reached back and grabbed my hand. His palm was moist and I tried to tell myself it wasn’t from a fever or the bacteria moving through his system, but it was a hard thing to believe when I knew his time on this earth was slipping away with each passing second.
The High Priestess was turned toward us, waiting for Angus to join her at the front. When he reached her side the expression on her face once again sent a feeling of doom surging through me. I wasn’t sure that this was the right way to destroy the CDC and Star, not if it opened the floodgates for this group of fanatics, but I also knew that Angus had been right: we didn’t have another choice.
Guards were already outside the CDC when we came up, but even more streamed out as we stood there. There were dozens of them, each of them armed with several guns and even a few grenades. The sheer number of weapons in front of us was daunting, but when I looked back over the crowd and saw how many more of us there were, I knew the guards didn’t stand a chance.
“Are you ready?” the High Priestess asked when Angus had stopped at her side.
He nodded and then he climbed up on the ledge of a flowerbed. Up there he was nearly a foot taller and was able to look out over the crowd of followers. A hush fell over the area, and with the sudden silence the guards at Angus’s back shifted uncomfortably, as if the calm was even more unsettling than the chanting had been.
Angus once again wore no shirt under his robe, and already people had begun to whisper about the bite marks that were visible on his chest. Then he pulled it up and over his head, tossing it aside, and the voices grew louder. The people who hadn’t been in the temple for the revealing craned their necks as if trying to figure out who he was.
They didn’t have to live in suspense for long.
“I am Angus James,” my uncle said, his voice floating out over the crowd.
A guard at his back rushed forward, his gun raised. “Get down. Get your hands up!”
The High Priestess pulled out a gun and shot the man in the head, and before his body had even hit the ground every single robed figure at the front of the group had their guns out as well.
“Do not move,” the High Priestess called.
The guards shifted and looked back and forth at each other. Some lowered the weapons while others raised theirs higher. Some took a step back while others shuffled forward. None of them knew what to do. None of them had expected this.
“We just want the man,” one of the guards called.
“You will not take Angus James again,” the priestess replied.
It happened quickly after that. One minute Angus was towering over us while the guards tried to decide what to do, and a second later the High Priestess had given her signal and the crowd was surging forward. Angus dropped down as the chants rose up, once again joining us in the sea of red. The bodies swelled around us, pushing us forward as they moved toward the CDC. Some of the men guarding the doors yelled for us to stop while others backed up, unsure of what to do in the face of such a large group. I moved with everyone else, tethered to Donaghy’s side by the hand he had wrapped around mine. I felt like I was holding my breath as I waited for the inevitable gunshots. There was no way this would go down peacefully, and I knew it was only a matter of time before someone pulled the trigger.
Even though I’d been waiting for it, my body still jerked when it rang through the air. The chant that swelled around us was broken as some people gasped and others cried out. Still, there were other church members who weren’t at all fazed by the burst of violence. They continued to chant, seeming to call out louder so they could make up for those who had faltered.
The first gunshot was followed by a second, and then another, and within seconds the sound of gunfire popped through the air like fireworks. Screams joined the sounds, both from the people around me who were surprised by the violence and those who had been hurt. There were others too, shouts from far off, probably from citizens who weren’t members of The Church but had gathered to see what was going on.
“Come on!” Jada yelled from in front of us as she shoved past men and women wearing red robes.
Donaghy pulled me after her, and to my right I caught sight of Luke pulling his robe over his head as he hurried alongside. I fumbled with my own robe, but with my gun in one hand and the other one trapped in Donaghy’s grip, it was impossible. It would have to stay for now.
As far as I could tell, my group made it into the lobby without having to fire a single shot. Once inside the red robes thinned out, but the chaos didn’t. Some of the guards had run inside, either retreating to the safety of the locked halls or rushing to Star’s aide. A few fired from the back of the lobby where they were fighting to get through the only open door, but we were well out of range thanks to a huge pillar.
“What’s our next move?” Jada asked as she slid the blade of her knife down the wide neckline of her red robe, cutting it away.
I pried my hand from Donaghy’s so I could do the same, anxious to free myself from the stifling fabric. When he saw what I was doing, he copied me while Jim did the same and Dragon pulled his own robe over his head. Al had already gotten his off, as had Parv, and in seconds we were all back to our normal clothes. Even though I was grateful to be out of the robe, I felt suddenly vulnerable. We would be totally recognizable now. There was nowhere to hide.
“We go where they’re goin’,” Angus growled, his gaze focused on the door the guards had just fled through.
He was shirtless still, thanks to The Church’s twisted desire to see the scars that covered his skin, and in the bright lights of the CDC lobby, they looked more jagged than ever.
“He’ll be in his office for sure?” Jim asked.
“That bastard will be wherever he’s safest,” Angus replied. “That’s either in his office or in the hall.”
His gaze flickered our way and I could tell which one he thought it would be. The hall. It made sense, Star wanting to be with the zombies he had worked so hard to create. If the guards weren’t enough to keep him safe, he’d have an extra layer of protection in the dead.
“Then that’s where we head,” Jada said.
Outside the fighting continued, but the gunshots were getting fewer and fewer. With the number of guards who had fled into the building, we knew we’d need the backup, and thankfully all it took was one whistle from Angus and a group of robed figures rush
ed toward us. Sabine was among them.
“My mother wants me to make sure you succeed,” she said when she stopped in front of us. She nodded to the men at her back and I recognized them as the same men who had escorted us into the city. “She’s sent her most trusted warriors.”
I never thought of The Church as having warriors before, but I was learning that there was a lot more to them than I’d ever expected.
“No time to waste,” Angus muttered, and then took off across the lobby.
With Star’s code in our possession, getting through the CDC was a snap. I wasn’t sure if he had no way of knowing how we’d gotten around the last time we were here or if he’d intentionally kept the code working in hopes of luring Angus back into the building, but I was hoping it was the first one and he was in for a major surprise when we finally found him.
Just like the day before, the halls of the CDC felt like a maze, but Angus and Jada seemed to maneuver them with very little effort. They must have memorized the layout of the building, because we reached the now familiar locked door that led into the observation hall without taking a single wrong turn. It wasn’t until we were standing in front of it that we stopped to take a break, but even then it was only so everyone could double check their weapons. We were all breathing heavily, but it was as much from adrenaline as it was from the trek through the building, and that wasn’t likely to get better until we took Star out.
“Be ready,” Dragon said as he punched the numbers into the keypad that was mounted on the wall.
The beeps seemed twice as loud as before, and with each one my heart pounded faster. I inhaled slowly, my fingers tightening around my gun as I waited for the door to open. I had no doubt in my mind that there would be a surprise waiting for us, and I was relieved not to be at the front of the pack. Let the bulky guards from The Church go in first. After all, they were the ones who had been waiting twenty years for this day.
Twisted World Series Box Set | Books 1-3 & Novella Page 95
