by Thomas Baker
JT and Hannah dragged a choking Albright through the pews and out the front door. They passed a few parishioners who gasped or watched bug eyed as their Reverend was hauled past them.
"No, you can't do this to him. He's a man of God. He saved us, protected us," a woman shrieked. She ran at JT and hammered on his chest in a fit of rage.
"Alice, Alice," Hannah said soothingly, stowing the rifle over her shoulder and grabbing her hands. "He's a fraud. I see that now, even though you and I couldn't have at first. He's not a holy man. He's filled with death and deceit. You saw him make me push my friend into the cage, turning him into one of those monsters outside. If he would do all this," Hannah spread her arms out wide, "Who knows how many other atrocious acts he committed. Now he's going to pay."
Alice stepped back, sobbing and shaking. "Thou shall not kill! Thou shall not kill..." She trailed off, made the sign of the cross, and walked a few steps back.
Other people from the gathering crowd were speaking up. Yelling started. They couldn't do this. What right did they have? Let our Reverend go! A man armed with a pistol stepped up. Hannah brought up the rifle she had at the helm.
"You don't want to cross meright now," JT growled putting one finger in the man's face.
The man dropped his hands and backed up. No one else stepped forward to challenge them. The two of them continued out the front door, down the stairs, and across the lawn to the large tree. Gloomy light weakly penetrated the foggy morning.
JT uncoiled some rope from around his shoulder and threw it up over a thick branch. He pulled and pulled, lifting the struggling Albright up into the air. A faint stream of profanity escaped Albright's lips as his feet left the ground. He was struggling to breathe. JT tied the rope off around one of the readied metal stakes, leaving Albright hanging only about a foot off the ground.
"Some of your former purgatory friends are on their way here," JT said, looking Albright in the eyes. "I hope they enjoy their meal."
Hannah looked at Albright as if she was about to say something. Instead, she abruptly turned around and ran back inside. JT followed her and closed the door behind him. They watched through the windows on either side of the door as a small pack of seven zombies approached through the gloom. When they got close, JT could make out that one of the zombies was Tyrone. He heard Hannah make a sharp gasp. He guessed she saw him too.
The first two zombies reached Albright, pawing at him and sending him spinning on his rope as he kicked and thrashed. Another came and got a hold on his leg and ripped into it. JT could hear Albright's hoarse screams through the window. Out of the corner of his eye JT saw Hannah turn from the window and walk away. He did as well a minute later, when all seven zombies, including Tyrone, went to chow town. He didn't feel as much satisfaction at Albright's death as he thought it would. His biggest thought was what a waste this all was.
JT walked through the pews, looking for Hannah. The church worship center was now empty. Where all the church people went JT didn't care. He found Hannah, sitting in the front pew of the church, looking up at the cross. JT sat down beside her. She was silent for a long while. He had no idea what to say.
"I hope I am not going to Hell," she finally broke, tears falling from her eyes. "Thou shall not kill. Alice was rightabout that."
"Hannah," JT said taking her hand in his. "Trust me when I say there is no such place. Besides, what you did was in self defense. What he did to Tyrone, he would have done to us all given the chance. I believe even you when he was..." He didn't want to finish the sentence. Fuck why had this happened to them twice now?
"Trust you?" She body shook as if the sobs were torn from deep within her. "For all we know, we're already in Hell."
She barely got the words out before her crying became so hard her body quaked and she was unable to talk. She pulled her hand from JT's and covered her face. JT gave her a weak pat on the back. He felt so helpless to do anything else. Gus came into the room. He looked as miserable as JT felt. Seconds later Linda and Randall came back. The three sat down next to them.
Church members trickled into the room, keeping their distance from the five of them. JT looked at them and after a few moments, then decided. He walked up the steps to the stage and spoke loudly, his voice echoing across the stillness.
"We're leaving. Stay, go, I don't care what happens to any of you. Don't try to stop us. Don't try tofollow us and I promise, no harm will come to any of you. Your false Reverend, the coward Albright, was just that, a fake, a murder, and a master manipulator. He has paid for the consequences of his actions." JT head down the steps back to where his group sat.
"What about all the zombies you brought on us?" someone from the back suddenly yelled out.
JT stopped on the bottom step. He snapped his head up. "Deal with them. There are more waiting in the tunnels that lead into the basement. Maybe they haven't come out yet. I guess you better go andcheck." JT gritted his teeth. He was out of patience for any of these people. "Consider that your penance."
JT finished walking down and gently grabbed Hannah by the arm. He wanted to lead her out of the room, but she resisted. She pulled away and bolted up on the stage.
"I admit, I was taken in by Albright," she started slowly but built up steam as she continued. "I was in distress and grief. I needed God in my life again. It's not an excuse, it's a fact. A fact Albright took advantage of. He pushed me to kill my friend. Tyrone was his name. I will never forget him or my part in what happened to him. It will be with me all my life and when I die I wonder how God will judge me. Albright manipulated my pain and possibly even drugged me. A weak excuse I know. You people though. You were here a lot longer than me. Saw more than I ever did. You watched him hang people. Some of you even participated. Were those reallyevil people who had attacked the church or just people who didn't agree with Albright? Even more twisted, some of you were willing to feed living people to zombies. What were you thinking? Is that the kind ofenvironment you wanted your kids to grow up in? You wanted to live in yourselves? Just because he said the word God, you thought thatmade it right? I've learned commitment doesn't mean the same as blind obedience. Have you?"
She saw some defiant faces staring up at her but most wouldn't meet her gaze. Alice was one of the defiant ones. Hannah felt for the poor woman. Albright had twisted her faith into something ugly. She might end up staying that way for the rest of her life.
With how she felt off her chest, Hannah walked away. JT led the way as the five friends went out the back door and quickly crossed over to the college. Once outside, Gus made a pointing motionand they all headed back to the police cruiser.
The rising sun was burning away the fog. They made it back to the top of the hill where the logs made circles. JT stopped and looked back. He could see the zombies still shuffling around the tree. He decided he couldn't ignore the twinge in his gut any longer.
"Sheriff, what kind of range does your rifle get?" JT asked in a dead voice.
"Hundred fifty to two hundred yards, depending on what kind ofshot ya are. Why you ask?"
"How far would you say we are from the church right now?" JT asked again.
"I'd say maybe a hundred or soyards."
"Can I use your weapon Sheriff? I can't leave Tyrone out there like that. Not as one of those things."
Randall grimaced as he took what JT was saying. He raised his rifle, surveying the area in front of the church by the killing tree. He came to a stop and pulled away from the sight, looking to JT with a nod.
"No. Me. I want to be the one. I did this to him," Hannah whispered out the words.
"Hannah, no!" Gus and JT both exclaimed at the same time.
Randall looked at them, looked to Hannah. JT watched, his trembling hands shoved deep in his pockets, as Randall situated the rifle in Hannah's hands. He helped guide it back to the spot he had seen Tyrone. He kept his hand on the rifle to help her trembling hands steady it. Hannah wiped at her eyes before looking into the scope. Her index finger quivered spor
adically as she tightened her grip on the trigger. She almost dropped the gun, but she steadied herself again. JT struggled not to go over, rip the gun from Hannah's hands and get it over with. She didn't have to do this to herself.
"Tyrone I love you. I am so sorry, please forgive me!" Hannah screamed at the top of her lungs as she squeezed the trigger. JT watched on as the shot knocked Tyrone back several feet. He crumpled to the ground and didn't move.
Hannah shoved the rifle away back to Sheriff Randall and collapsed into JT's arms. He held her tighter than he ever had before. Gus wiped tears from his eyes. Linda rubbed her hand up and down his back in comforting strokes.
"Rest in peace buddy," JT whispered to himself.
After what seemed like hours they climbed into Randall's vehicle in a morose silence. Randall and Gus took the front while JT, Hannah, and Linda crammed into the back. Hannah never left JT's embrace as they made their way back to Sheriff Randall's hideout.
"You two head into the upstairs bedroom," Gus directed as JT carried Hannah inside the house. "Linda and I will stay up, take turns keeping watch." Behind them, Sheriff Randall limped inside, and with a moan, almost passed out on his couch.
JT ended up not sleeping at all that day. He got to know the walls of the room well. Hannah was beside him, passed out. She whimpered a few times, tossing and turning. He would touch her and she would settle down.
He couldn't have dreamed in a few weeks out from Harold's cabin, they would have been captured by not one wacko but a group of wackos, Hannah would be traumatized again, and Tyrone turned into a zombie. When the sunlight faded, and the room became dark, JT's exhaustion finally overtook him.
Hours later, with light now seeping through the blinds, JT moved to get up from the bed. Hannah stirred and blinked awake when he moved.
"How long have I been asleep?" She sounded very groggy.
"Hard to say. You tossed and mumbled for a couple of hours before I conked out. I say for over twelve hours though." JT tried his best and succeeded for once in talking calmly to her and not blowing up.
He knew it wasn't her fault really, but he still couldn't block out her part in Tyrone's death. He could understand her being manipulated, even if she wasn't drugged JT couldn't deny the fact she was vulnerable and Albright was charming. His heart couldn't seem to understand though. "Are you ok?" She asked sounding like she picked up on his vibe.
"Yeah, just tired is all." Even JT could feel how abrasive of a brush off that was. Damn it all.
"Are we going to be ok?" Hannah timidly asked, trying to look into his eyes.
JT sighed. He didn't want to bring all that up now though. He was running on empty, like they all were. The words were out before he could stop them. "Hannah, you know it can't just go back to the way it was before right?"
Already her eyes were glistening and her bottom lip quivered. "I know and it's my fault." Hannah sobbed. "What am I going to do JT? I had nightmares before, ones filled with Harold and Ashley. Now...I don't even know how I can close my eyes. How can keep going? It, it..." Hannah broke down, her words unintelligible.
JT softened for a moment, knowing she was suffering again from something that wasn't totally her fault. He wanted to grab her and hold her but the warm anger in his belly took over. Instead of comfort he mouthed off.
"I don't want to be a dick Hannah but how could you be so damn gullible? How could you so easily leave Tyrone and I and get into bed with Albright? Were you that desperate?"
JT sat up. Sliding to the edge of the bed, he swatted a picture frame off a side table sending it flyingthrough the air, crashing against the wall. He sprang up.
"Damn it, damn it, damn it!" JT yelled until he was breathless.
He was about to continue on when he glimpsed Hannah shrinking away into the corner, a look of horror on her face. JT slumped over and sighed.
"Hannah, what are we going to do? Everything has turned to shit. Look at us, the zombies not only broke the world we knew, they broke us. It's like the worst of people caused this to happen and the worst people in the world survived it. I don't know what to do. Should we even bother to keep on going?"
He felt on the verge of breaking down himself now. He collapsed back down, sitting on the edge of the bed. Hannah slid over and sat beside him.
"Don't you think I know that? She said sternness creeping into her voice. "Don't you that's what Albright's appeal was? This world, it has taken everything from all of us. I don't know what to do either."
She took his hand and linked her fingers between his. JT sat there, mulling over all that had happened. His old friends in his other life were likely dead or zombies. His new friends, Tyrone, Ashley, Dusty, all the others they had met since the Outbreak. All dead too. How long till Gus and Hannah joined them in the grave? All the niceties of the world, all the things taken for granted, gone. Everything from hot showers in the morning to playing video games after a long day at work. Simple things. Would any of that stuff, the way things used to be, ever return? Or will it just be this? Having to make horrible choices over and over, until either he died or became a walking corpse?
The weariness of not only his body but his soul crept over him. Without a word he laid down on the bed and pulled Hannah in close to him. She didn't resist him at all as she nuzzled her head under JT's chin. The weight of it all consumed him as they both eventually drifted back off to sleep in the comfort of each other's embrace.
JT woke with a start when Hannah leapt up from the bed. The light through the blinds looked about the same as when he fell asleep. As far as he knew no one had come up to disturb them or check on them. How long they had slept he couldn't guess.
"You okay?" he asked, concerned.
She looked like she was about to pass out. She ran out the room and across the hall. JT followed her, passing Linda. She stopped as Hannah slammed the bathroom door shut. They heard her getting sick.
"Yeah, yeah," Hannah said, coming out and leaning up against a wall. Sweat glistened on her forehead."I've been nauseous since everything with Tyrone. Now I've emptied my stomach, I feel much better."
"Hon, you better drink some water," Linda said. "Come downstairs."
In the kitchen, Linda grabbed a bottled water off one of the shelves. She handed it to Hannah. "Here. Let me look around, maybe I can find you some crackers too."
"Thanks," Hannah said, with a weak smile. She sat down at the little kitchen table. "What I want is to leave this shithole of a place. The sooner the better."
"Yeah, shit hole place number two. Cabins and churches, checked off my list," JT said, disgusted. "When is our luck going to change?"
"Hey, it's already looking up," Gus said with a chuckle, coming into the kitchen. "We didn't have to leave this place by burning it down and I didn't have to get stabbed. Maybe we just avoid places starting with the letter C from here on?"
JT couldn't help it, he let out a laugh. "You got it Gus. Come on, let's go check on Randall. We can see where he stands on staying and what he may let us take if he isn't coming."
It took JT three hard shakes to rouse Randall. The Sheriff held his hand to his head as he gingerly sat up.
"The room needs to stop spinning," Randall said, staying seated. "Fuck old age."
"You're singing my song Sheriff," Gus chuckled.
"Hey, JT." Randall got to a sitting position and made motions to rise. "I've been up twice already since we came back. I thought you two were going to sleep a week. What you want?"
"Sheriff Randall," Linda said. "I think you might have yourself a concussion. Take it easy."
She moved across the room to sit down close to him, so she could look him over. Hannah joined her. JT looked out the windows on each side of the house. Satisfied nothing was going on, he rejoined everyone in the living room.
"I'm guessing now that Albright has been dealt with, you guys will be on your way. What's your plan?" Randall asked, taking two white pills from Linda's hand. He swallowed them down with some water, grimacing the en
tire time.
"What will you give us for supplies?" JT said. "That is,if you're staying."
"I dunno, where you going?"
"I kind of had an epiphany about that," Hannah said, jumping into the conversation. A little smile swept across her face. "As I laid in bed, I prayed on it. I fell asleep thinking about what we should do. I woke up with my answer."
"Prayed on it?" JT slurred. "Do you still believe in that religious stuff after what just happened?"
"What happened up there, that wasn't God JT. If I hadn't been so, you know...I would've seen that much sooner. Albright made a perversion out of The Bible. The fact I...that we, made it out of there, that was a miracle."
"Whatever you say." JT sounded noncommittal. He thought the sacrifice they all made to go in after her was what saved her but whatever. He didn't have a real opinion about all that God stuff either before Albright. Now it wasn't ever going to be a part of his life. "Look, I only know Albright may not have been a psycho, but he still killed Tyrone, he wanted to kill me too, and he was trying to own you like some kind of property."
Hannah looked crushed. Gus threw him an angry, I can't believe you look.
JT let out a huge sigh. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to drag that up again right now. Go ahead, what's your epiphany?"
"The mountains!" Hannah exclaimed. "Don't you see? It's perfect. We could be safer there. Look, we're in the middle of Kansas now. So the mountains aren't that far away. My guess, I bet there were fewer people in the smaller mountain towns when this all started. Who knows, maybe the zombies can't even make it up the mountains or function in high altitudes. There might be whole towns of people untouched by the entire Outbreak. Imagine that!"
JT sat there thinking about it. Maybe she was right. The more he thought about it the more excited he was letting himself get. Part of him wanted to bound out the door and take off. To start over and to not have everyone look at him for the next idea. That sounded good to him. He was done.
"Little lady, that is not a half bad idea," Gus said. He looked to Linda. "What do you say? You gonna to join us on our continuing kooky road trip through zombie infested America?"
