by Burgy, P. J.
“The Wailers horde at the walls, I guess. Scream all night. They might try to climb up,” she told him. “Not that they can. But they’ll horde, if you let them.”
“It’s not the same out here, Kara," he said. “We’ve got generators running all night to keep our lights on. Multiple generators, in case of a failure. We’ve got solar panels for the day, but they don't store energy. We can’t afford to lose power, not even for a few minutes. Not at night. They don’t just horde. They hunt. They hunt in packs, and they think. They plan. We’ve had to adapt along with them. We’ve had to find new ways to catch them, to kill them. You think us monsters for how we treat the impure? You haven’t killed any in your time?”
She frowned. “I’ve killed plenty. But none that spoke.”
His gaze burned into hers, his posture lowering as he leaned across the table. “It sounds like, up until last night, you didn't know any could.”
“No, but now I do. And it changes everything.”
“Does it? The ones that speak, Kara, are the most terrifying.” He sat back up, sipped his water and glanced off, his gaze moving around her. “The warning was meant to be just as terrifying. In the hopes of scaring travelers off. It doesn’t always work.”
“Obviously.”
“Obviously,” he echoed, and then smiled at her. “It looks pretty terrible, I know.”
“You know they aren’t demons, Eli.” She pushed her plate to the side, unable to continue eating. She stared at his face, meeting his eyes. “You know they were people. It was a virus, not a curse. They aren’t devils. You kill them because their disease makes them killers, mindless killers. That's why we kill the Wailers. But Russell is different. He isn't mindless. He risked his life for me, twice. There is a... there is a person in there. You have to know that.”
He studied her face and then looked down at his plate. “I know what I’ve seen.”
“Russell knows his way around the city, he told me. And if you won’t help me, he’s the only one who can, if he even will after everything I’ve put him through. Let us go, Eli. Please.” She leaned toward him, placing a hand out onto the tabletop, her fingers close to Elijah’s hand.
“Imploring my son for help to free the demon?” Father Isaac spoke from behind Kara. “I suspected that you would try, and here I am being proven right.”
She turned around and looked at Father Isaac. He was dressed in a black, button down, long sleeved shirt, and a pair of black slacks. Both had been mended a few times, the thread a different color near the shoulder. He had tucked his shirt in, his sleeves rolled back to his mid arms in much the same way as Elijah. Father Isaac came around to sit next to Kara, who followed him with her eyes and twisted around to face him.
She rolled her shoulders. “I knew you wouldn’t help me, but Eli seems to care.”
“Of course, Elijah cares. We all do, in fact. We aren’t monsters, Kara,” Father Isaac said and then looked at her plate. “Why don’t you finish your breakfast, and then we can go for a walk around Salvation, hm? Would you like a tour?”
“A tour?”
“Yes, that would be nice, don’t you think?” Father Isaac smiled. “You aren’t a prisoner here. Not technically. We’re keeping you for your own safety, and for our own. But you aren’t a prisoner.”
“I am certainly being held against my will,” she said. “And I’m not safe. I’ll be dead in three days, won’t I? You said that. Three days.”
“I wanted to do this later, after the service.” Father Isaac exhaled, looking to Elijah. Kara could see that Elijah appeared concerned, his brows knit. Before Father Isaac spoke again, he folded his hands on the tabletop. “I can see that you’re upset. I told you that, offered you three days, and I meant it. Joining us means life. Turning down Salvation means death.”
She regarded him with cold eyes. “There are worse things than death.”
“Yes. They are outside these walls, in the darkness,” Father Isaac said.
“Kara?” Elijah tried to catch her eyes.
“What else is out there, Father?” she asked.
“Soon, hopefully nothing,” Father Isaac told her. “Holy fire and faith will see to that.”
She bared her teeth. “What does that mean?”
“Ah, I hate to see all that food go to waste.” Father Isaac broke eye contact and reached over, picking up a bit of bread from her plate. He ate it in front of her, smiling as he chewed. He moved to stand up, leaving Kara to turn on the bench seat to maintain her sight on him. Father Isaac backed away a few feet, sliding his hands into his pockets. “If you aren’t going to finish your meal, please take it to the pigs. They’ll love you for it.”
“If I don’t join you, how will you kill me?” she asked.
“That isn’t a very pleasant topic for morning conversation. I’ve a sermon to plan. I would love to join you two on your tour, but I can see that our relationship is still floundering. Seems Elijah is more favored than I, but I have come to expect that.” Father Isaac smiled again. “Elijah is bright with the Word, and good of heart. He will take care of you.”
She watched as Father Isaac bowed and then walked off toward the corridor she had just come from. She followed him with her eyes and then turned to look at the locked doors in the corner. She heard Elijah clear his throat and spun in her seat to face him. She again began to eat, an idea forming in her head, her eyes scanning the tabletop as she shoveled some eggs into her mouth.
“I know how it is. I wish it wasn’t this way. I think you’re very brave. Brave, and loyal. If I were lost, it would mean everything to me if I knew someone was looking for me. He is right though. We haven’t the means to help you, and letting you go would be your doom. I’m sorry,” Elijah said, then continued to eat as well. He ate slowly, chewing his food, watching Kara.
She nodded, and forced herself to clean her plate, filling her mouth even when her stomach began to ache. When she was done, she brought her gaze to Elijah’s and the two held one another’s eyes for a few long moments. He was still chewing, and he seemed perplexed. He finished his last bite, quickly swallowing it with some water, and then tilted his head.
She pushed her empty plate away. “I am ready for that tour. But I want to see everything.”
“Hm? Everything?”
She nodded. “Everything.”
The tour started in the hall, Elijah showing her the shelves of board games. She avoided asking about the locked doors just yet, but he did mention that they went downstairs to the lower levels. They walked to the front lobby, and he introduced her to the three guards who were working the door. They waved at her, greeted her, and were polite. One of them blessed her, and bowed. Kara, unsure of how to receive such a gift, forced a smile and bowed right back at him.
“You have running water. Hot water,” she said as they walked side by side down the long corridor toward her room. They had walked past it by now and reached a branch of intersection halls. “How is that?”
“We’re running the generators during the night. We’ve got a wood stove. There’s wood everywhere, if you think about it. If you gut the houses, older buildings. The solar power, we use during the day if it's sunny. It’s all very efficient,” he told her. He pointed down the right hall, then the left. “We’ve all got rooms down this way, and that way. My room’s that way. Father’s down further. Simon, down there.”
“I don’t like him. Simon.”
He chuckled. “I shouldn’t laugh. I’m sorry. Simon is… Simon.”
There was an open door leading into a large room of shelves and racks, clothing everywhere, hanging up or thrown over the backs of chairs. She saw that there were people working in the back of the room, scrubbing the insides of sudsy buckets, the water sloshing back and forth. A young man placed a basket onto a cart and rolled it away into a connecting room. Hearing Elijah rifling around in a box, she turned to see him going through matching pairs of shoes.
He found a pair of sneakers, black and gray, turning them over to s
ee their size. She took them from him, tried them on and found that they fit.
“Impressive guess, Eli.” She stepped back and forth in her new sneakers, testing their grip on the floor.
“I’ve an eye for these things,” he told her and they continued on their way.
“Where do you get fuel out here? All the sources should have dried up years ago. Especially out this way.” She followed him down the straight hallway and looked around. There were plates bolted into the walls with support beams attached, and holes in the floor filled with concrete. They passed closed door after closed door on either side of the hall.
“We make our own,” he answered, tilting his head toward her and smiling. “If we find it, wonderful. Can’t count on that though. We do send out search parties, scouts, to find and bring back what we can. But we’ve had to learn to be resourceful. You can make fuel from alcohol, or from other oils that were left behind in stores.”
“Really? Are you kidding me?” she asked. “Alcohol fuel kills machine guts.”
“We prefer to make fuel out of other oils, yes. Alcohol does become a necessity from time to time. Maintenance is key.” He forged ahead and then turned left at an intersection, glancing over to make sure she was still with him. “We’ve been making it work for the last fifteen years or so.”
Her eyebrows lifted. “You’ve been here for fifteen years?”
“Oh yes.” He grinned. “We’ve grown in numbers. Gathered many into our flock. We needed to. Our home had to be fortified. Salvation took years to build.”
“Never heard of you guys until last night.”
“And that’s how we’d like to keep it.” He led her around another corner and down yet another hallway. He glanced at her from time to time as they walked.
The doors were open down this way and she could see the boxes and crates stacked in the rooms. The smell in the air grew pungent, earthy, and the floor dirtier. Then, in the next intersection, she saw that the rooms had been opened up, the walls either taken down or attached to wooden fencing, wire mesh, or horizontal bars. She heard them before she saw them, and she rushed into the big room up ahead to look at the animals in their cages.
The geese wandered around loose, waddling out a set of doors into yet another big room. She walked across the dirt and dried grasses thrown all over the floor, making her way from pen to pen. The goats bleated at her, and she counted six of them.
She heard grunting and ran over to look at the pigs in their bigger stall, ten of them, with plenty of room to spare for their food and water troughs. She went stall to stall, looking at the animals. More goats. A pen of sheep, some puffy and others sheared. The two lambs were bouncing around while the adults chewed, staring off.
Moving down the row, she saw a mother pig and her six piglets. In the last stall, a single, puffy white sheep with a skinny little lamb curled up at her side. She looked back at Elijah and he smiled at her. Clearly, he was pleased that Kara seemed so excited.
“Look at them all!” she said. “Fantastic!”
“We take good care of them,” he told her. “You want to see the horses?”
“Horses? You have horses?” She rushed to the next room, passing Elijah. She heard him laughing as she burst through the open double doors and saw that the geese had gathered near a pond, the water source built right into the floor. The smell was unmistakable emanating from a row of stalls. She went to the first door and was greeted by a long, black and white face. She pet the horse, smiling widely as the creature nibbled at her shirt collar with its lips.
“It’s feeding time. He wants to see if you brought him a treat," he said.
“I’m sorry, buddy, I don’t have anything for you,” she told the horse. She went to down the line, petting and greeting each and every one of them. There were fifteen in all: brown ones, tan ones, brown and white ones with spotted rumps, and even a black one with a white nose. She’d never seen so many horses in one spot all together, and she felt her heart racing. “They’re so quiet. I didn’t even hear them.”
“Purger horse, trained to be silent.” He approached one of the horses and tsk'd twice, tapping the beast’s nose. The horse immediately bowed its head to him. “Fearless.”
He had his palm on the horse's face. When he lifted his hand, the horse took a few steps back and then bowed its head down, lowering as if to kneel before Elijah whistled and it stood back up again.
“That's astounding.”
He nodded in agreement. “They're very loyal beasts.”
“Why do you have them?” she asked, her cheek pressed to a gray muzzle.
“We go on missions to look for supplies.” Elijah smiled at her, walking over to where she stood at the last stall in the room. He seemed distracted for a moment. The geese began honking and scuttled back into the other room, leaving a few tufts of white feathers in their wake. He turned to look at Kara. “Do... do you ride?”
She nodded. “I've ridden.”
“Do you want to go for a ride? Sometime, I mean.” He cleared his throat.
“Are you sure about that, Eli? Aren’t you afraid I’ll run off?” She stared at him as she pet the horse. She backed away from the stall then, brushing her hands on her shirt.
He approached her, cutting the distance between the two of them dramatically in only a few seconds. He looked down at her, smiling just a bit, his hands on his sides. “I feel like you wouldn’t though.”
“You’re half right. I wouldn’t run while my friend’s still in here. I wouldn’t leave him behind.” She rolled her shoulders, taking in a deep breath of air, smirking up at him. “I don’t think your father would appreciate the risk though.”
“Ah, yes. Father.” He chuckled. “He would be mad with me, I am sure. I would risk his wrath to ride with you. I am a man of faith, Kara, but I am still quite human. I have my foibles.”
“Foibles, eh?” she said, “Well, I kinda like your foibles, Eli.”
“I appreciate that.” He looked pleased as some color appeared in his cheeks. He stepped away from her, walking toward the double doors leading out of the room. “Why don’t we head upstairs? I can show you the greenroom.”
“I would love that.”
They walked back down the steps leading from the upper levels of the building, Elijah talking to her about the different vegetables that they grew each year, describing fruits on vines and bushes; big, juicy watermelons, pumpkins, and berries. Kara smiled and asked as many questions as she could about how those things tasted and their consistencies.
“Back home, we eat a lot of fish,” she said.
“Oh, I would love some fish.”
She glanced at him. “You don’t fish?”
“Yes, years ago. Not now.” He laughed. “There are some deep ravines in the city streets, but you seldom see fish in those. Frogs maybe. I’ve eaten a few frogs. Turtles.”
“Not many big animals out here.”
They reached the landing and walked into a hall. The windows here were open, the daylight streaming in and warming the air around them as the two walked side by side. She watched him as he spoke to her, and saw the warmth in his eyes, in his smile.
“Ah, no. Mostly just pigeons and rats," he said. “Raccoons, rats. A skunk, maybe. Crows. Foxes. Did I say rats?”
“You might’ve mentioned them,” she replied.
“We were lucky to get the farm animals we did,” he told her. “Brought them back with us, evading the Brethren, the gangs. You’ve had trouble with them too, I assume?”
She nodded. “The Red Brethren? Oh, yeah. Sure do. Hate those bastards.”
“They try to raid the city sometimes. Come after us. So, we’ve had to take some drastic measures. It isn’t what we want to do, Kara.” His tone grew serious.
They were walking back to the dining hall, their paces matched. When they stepped back in, Kara saw that the room had emptied out. The food in the buffet had been cleared, though she could still smell the lingering traces of the spices. Elijah paused the
re, standing with her in the hall.
She lowered her voice. “Eli, I have a favor to ask.”
“Hm?”
“Can I see him?”
“Oh.” He sniffed, rubbing at his chin. He looked off to the left, to the closed double doors in the far corner of the room. Looking back to her, he grimaced and shrugged. “I don’t think so, Kara. I’m sorry.”
“Please.” She took a step closer to Elijah, gazing up at his face. “I just want to see him. That’s all. Please, Eli.”
“Kara...”
“I won’t ask you for anything else. That’s it. If you do this, it will mean everything to me.” She swallowed, looking to his eyes. “It’s my fault he’s in here, Eli. It’s my fault he’s going to die. He’s saved my life, twice, and I’ve sentenced him to death. You can’t imagine how it feels. He might be an Infected, but he isn’t a monster. I just want to see him. Please.”
He stared right back at her, blinking and straightening his back. He chewed on his bottom lip, brows knit, and then began to nod. “All right. All right. I’ll take you to see him. I can tell he means a lot to you. If you need to see him, to find your own peace, then it is my duty to provide that for you. Come with me.”
“Thank you,” she whispered.
She followed him to the double doors and watched as he took a key ring out of his pocket. He unlocked the door. “Usually, there’s another guard here. But, not right now. Not so close to sermon. We’ll be quick.”
“I hope I don’t get you in too much trouble.” She stood next to him as he opened up the doors. The air that drifted out was dank and cool. She saw him looking at the landing on the other side of the doors, staring down at the concrete steps further ahead. She could see the descending stairwell through the little window of glass in the door.
“I told you before, and I meant it. I’m willing to risk quite a bit for someone like you, Kara.” He smiled at her. “Doesn’t mean I’m particularly happy about it, but, if it brings you some closure, it is worth it to me.”
She searched for the words to say in response, but none came. He held a hand out and she took it, following him onto the landing. He locked the door again from the other side while she looked around.
