Abigail's hand tightened at the collar of her blouse. “What exactly are you asking me to do?”
“Nothing like that. There is a small group that has taken up residence in a facility to the south. Their numbers may be small, but they are skilled and resourceful. They are a threat, Mother has decided she cannot allow.”
“Where do I fit into this plan of yours?”
“You were taken from near their location, that will be your story. I want you to join them and look for a way to be of assistance, when our people show themselves.”
“If I do this, you'll give me my daughter back, she can leave the program?”
“That is the plan.”
“You should know, I don't buy this True Believer crap of yours. I've never been a church going sort, I don't know how you pull off that trick with the dead ones, but I am sure that is all it is.”
“People need something to believe in. We've brought together a lot of people and kept them alive, trick or not, you cannot argue with results.”
“That may be, but if you die, you better have somebody at hand to keep you from turning. If people see you become one of those monsters, your house of cards here will come crashing down.”
“You are a perceptive woman, Mrs. Cross. Two more things ma'am. You are going to have to look like you did when you first met Silas, I am sorry about that, but it will help sell your story. We will be sending you to them in the next couple of days, I'll make sure you have a visit with your daughter, before then.”
Abigail took a deep breath, considering her options. “Thank you. I don't know what I can do, but the promise to return my daughter to me, had better be sincere.”
Josiah went to find Silas in his office, attached to the supplies warehouse. Silas being rotund and pale in complexion, did everything in his power to avoid the heat of the day. He did enjoy company and being one of the few individuals allowed to have air conditioning, people would quite often find an excuse to drop in.
Two men were in the office, when Preacher Josiah entered. Josiah fixed his austere gaze on them.
“Uh Silas we see you have company, we'll be by later to wrap this up.”
“Come in, come in.” Silas beckoned, to Josiah.
As Josiah entered, Silas pulled a a bottle of Kentucky's finest and two glasses from a drawer and poured them each a drink. “You do have a way of puttin the fear of God into folks.”
“I had a very evangelical upbringing, I guess that's why Rachel chose me to be her front man.” Josiah responded.
“What can I help you with, my friend.”
“We are going after that group that took out Cain, I'm taking a force of seventy on the march. That group is entrenched in a theme park, we could be there a while.”
“I see. It is a warm one today, give me a moment to crank this AC.”
With the hum of the motor drowning out there conversation, Silas continued. “You think these are the people we've been looking for?”
“I hope so, time is running out. Everyday we get farther and farther away, from what I thought we were doing. If we don't do something soon, we could have another Jonestown on our hands, or worse. Rachel has over a hundred children in her program now, in a few more months, they will be a horror worse than the fallen.”
“How many people will be left in our compound, then?”
“About seventy, but half are Rachel's zealots, they are never far from her. Watch yourself old friend, they are a suspicious lot.”
“This is quite the game you've got going.”
“It is a lot of people to manipulate, a lot of chances for things to go wrong, I'm not cut out for this, I'd rather be enjoying one of our chess matches.”
“When do you leave?”
“A few days. The group has been busy fortifying and I've been dragging my feet to give them time. If you can help stall things, I'd be grateful.”
“You can count on me. Drop by before you leave, I have a new gambit I've come up with, I'd like to finally best you in a game.”
“I would enjoy that. Right now, I need to see Rachel and get her to order me to march on those folks.”
After leaving Silas, Josiah went across the compound to the children’s dormitory. As he walked, his mind ran over the events of the past year. It had started out so noble and in a span of a few months, had become a nightmare.
After the cancer took Josiah's wife, Estelle, from him five years ago, he was lost without her. Eventually, he was able to find a reason to be with people again, in a community chess club. There he met Silas Rigby and the two became fast friends. Silas was more the student of the game and could go on at length, extolling the history of the game and every gambit ever employed. Josiah was a more natural player, he had a way of looking at the board and seeing the game to its end.
Estelle had always enjoyed seeing, what she called, the real America. She and Josiah had planned a trip, after Josiah retired that avoided the usual tourist spots and took them down the back roads, across the country. Eventually, Silas convinced Josiah to retire early and the two of them would go on the trip. Some stops on the way, Josiah could imagine Estelle's delight with an antique shop, or hometown restaurant. Occasionally, a tear would come to his eye, but in a way he felt that Estelle was with him and that she was happy.
On a fateful day in south central Kentucky, their lives would be forever changed.
“I tell you Josiah, those are zombies. I seen all the movies and that's what those people are, turn around and get out of here now.” Silas argued.
Josiah was more inclined to believe the odd shuffling people, were sick and in the need of assistance, but Silas was so insistent that he took his friends advice. On a lonely stretch of country road, where seeing another car is a surprise, Josiah's camper was passed by a small speeding car.
Suddenly, the car turned sideways blocking the road and as Josiah skidded to a halt, a painfully beautiful blonde stepped from the car. She was probably in her early twenties, tall and dressed in business attire that accentuated, rather than hid her curves.
The two men were so taken by the beauty walking their way, that at first, they did not see the short matronly woman, coming up behind.
“Well, I guess it would only be good manners to invite them in.” Silas commented.
The two women had barely entered the camper, when the older woman began giving orders. “Delilah, go and move our car, out of the way.”
“You sir, don't just stand there go and help her with our belongings.” She commanded of Silas.
Josiah was not spared as she handed out his assignment. “Pull up next to our car and help get our belongings.”
The women had packed very little in the line of clothes, but had focused on food, water, and weapons. A lot of weapons.
“You ladies expecting a war?” Josiah asked.
“My good man, have you no idea what is going on?” Retorted the older woman.
“Apparently not.”
“Start driving, I have a destination for us that is not far off and I will tell you what we know.”
As Josiah continued on down the road, the woman began her story. “I am Rachel Howard and this is my associate, Delilah. You are aware that something has caused the dead to rise and feed on the living, are you not?”
Silas grinned. “See Josiah, I told you those were zombies.”
“How very astute of you, Mr. Rigby.” Rachel said, tiredly. “We have been traveling from upstate New York this past week, have you not seen or heard reports on this?”
“To be honest, we've purposely been trying to stay disconnected, but we went to town yesterday and saw what Si described as zombies.” Josiah pointed out.
“We left at the first signs of the outbreak, before society as we know it, collapsed. By now, there is almost no government, no law enforcement, nothing that we have taken for granted.”
Josiah almost on instinct turned on the campers radio and either got static, or a repeating automated message. “Son of a bitch, I take it
you have a plan then.”
“Most certainly and you two are at the core of it.”
“If you haven't noticed Si and I are just a couple of old coots, we are not exactly zombie fighters.”
“We will find fighters, but first we need to give people something to believe to help them carry on. You see, I am a behavioral psychologist and I know that without a guiding hand, most people will resort to their most primitive behaviors. Ahh there is our turn off now.”
Rachel had lead them to the Brighton Academy. In its day a private school, primarily used by middle class families trying to insure their children got the best education possible. It was a large gated facility that could not remain open when the economy tanked, but was perfect for providing security, from a zombie horde
Rachel had worked there several years ago as staff counselor and it was here,that her association with the beautiful Delilah, had begun. Rachel's familiarity with the area, allowed her to direct them to less obvious locations to gather needed supplies.
As the two men would gather the supplies, Delilah provided security. Constantly shocking the men with her ability to take on the fearsome dead, with absolutely no emotion. When not on supply runs, or working on the property, Rachel instructed Josiah on assuming a persona she assured him would be the most effective, in convincing people to join them.
“You see, people must feel you have an answer to this frightening new world. You must help them get past their fears of the horrors that exist now. Then we can rebuild a community that will survive the breakdown of society, you can no longer be Josiah, you must now be our Preacher.”
Josiah scoffed. “I walked away from religion a long time ago. My parents were strict evangelicals, I never could toe the line to their liking. As soon as I could, I got away from them and their puritanical beliefs.”
Rachel took his hand. “We are fighting for the survival of humanity. We must act quickly, to bring people together. I know it seems a bit under handed, but I need you to help me bring people together.”
Josiah closed his eyes tightly, fighting back a memory of his Father punishing him for improper behaviour, in church. “What do you need me to do, woman?”
Rachel smiled. “Exactly that. Are you familiar with the book of Genesis? There is a passage where God is speaking to Satan, who is still in the guise of the the serpent. I am paraphrasing, of course, but God promises Satan he will send a woman, whose offspring will crush the head of the serpent. You will get our followers to see me as that woman and our followers will be my offspring that defeat these pathetic, dead creatures.”
Josiah shook his head. “That is exactly the type of twisting of religion I’ve spent my life, getting away from.”
Rachel continued to smile and nodded her head, sympathetically. “I understand, but you need to think of the greater good, besides in time, all things come back into balance.”
Rachel had also worked out that the dead tracked their prey, through motion, or sound, they identified the living by their scent. Using enough scent from the dead, on a living person, would camouflage them from the dead. She created the coat, which oozed small amounts of fluids from the dead and gave Josiah the appearance, he was protected from the dead.
When Josiah first wore the coat, the stink of it made him vomit. Eventually, he learned to control that reflex and as long as he was careful to only wear the coat when near the dead, no one was the wiser. With Delilah dressed in a modest white gown, buttoned tight at the collar, her long blonde hair pulled back into a simple braid and her face scrubbed of makeup, venturing along, Josiah went out in search of initiates.
Josiah worked hard to come off as part bible belt evangelist, part mystic and part showman. In the first couple of months, pockets of survivors were easy to find and the population, at the academy, swelled to nearly one hundred. Rachel employing the guise of Mother Rachel, directed affairs at the academy. She found ways to use the dead, now called the fallen, as part of their life. Several were corralled outside the perimeter of the academy to conceal their growing community, from the masses of the dead.
Mother Rachel also went hard at work finding individuals, she could bind to her. Using their fears and desires to be on the winning side. Josiah at first joked about this small, but growing group, calling them the zealots. However, after returning from a six week recruitment expedition, he found his friend Silas beaten, near to death, by the zealots. Silas had tried to oppose Rachel's edict that all of the communities children were to be separated into one of the dormitories, so that they could be “properly” trained in their faith and be prepared to take their eventual place in the world.
Josiah now realized that the people he thought he was rescuing, were being asked to trade their humanity, for the crazed vision of a mad woman. Rachel knew Josiah would need to be put on a leash and assigned Zachary to be his aide. As long as Josiah played his part in her plans, Zachary was his subordinate, if Josiah were to ever oppose Rachel, then Zachary would be his executioner.
Rachel confronted Josiah as soon as he entered the building, “Josiah, I need to talk to you.”
“That's good, I needed to talk to you as well.”
“Go ahead.”
“The group to the south, have secured themselves well. Your zealots have tried herding the fallen towards them, but they are highly resourceful.”
“So what are you suggesting, our next move should be?”
“Zachary has been assembling a number of our people and training them to march on them, but I wanted to plant someone inside their group, first.”
“How many are in this group?”
“Eighteen to twenty, but about half are children.”
“Josiah crush them, before all these holed up groups, band together and confront us.”
“I understand, we may have numbers, but we ain’t got no soldiers. To help our infiltrator gain their trust, I would like to send one of your children, from the program.”
“I'll send Chloe, she has taken well to the program, who will she be accompanying?”
“Abigail Cross”
“You think that is wise?”
“She knows her daughters welfare, is in the balance.”
“When you march, you will take Delilah and some of my sisterhood, as well.”
“Very good. Silas is preparing supplies and establishing resupply distribution.”
“When are you sending Mrs. Cross?”
“In a couple of days. I did promise she could visit her daughter first.”
“I wish you hadn't done that, every time they see their parents, it sets back the program.”
“It will motivate her, though.”
“Very well.”
Rachel paused and looked Josiah in the eye. “Josiah, do not let me down.”
In deference, Josiah placed his hands together palms up, bowed his head and touched his fingertips to his forehead. “I wouldn't dream of it.”
That evening, before their supply run, Tom assembled everyone into the security office to review their plans. Tom's first order of business, was to pair a child with and adult.
“You all know I'm convinced someone is messing with us. I know you young people have been practicing real hard. I still want to make sure you are paired up, with someone more experienced. James, you’re going to be with me, Jack with your dad and Caleb with yours. Lizzie you are with Red, Margo with Turk, Mitch with Pete and Arianna with Sue. Prescott, your a bit more experienced so your partnered with Tracey. Where ever your partner goes you go. Got it?” The children nodded, pleased to be included in the plan.
Tom continued. “I'm not crazy about splitting us up right now, but we need vehicles that can go off road. Turk will lay out the plan for the run tomorrow.”
“Shore nuff. We've been pinnin our star on that power line exit for an emergency evacuation, we need to make sure that is truly an option. Leaving that way, should also keep anyone watchin from knowin we left. We are pretty well stocked up now, but we want barb wire as an extra la
yer, at the gates. The only vehicle we got to handle the road out the back gate, is the willys. Another four wheel vehicle would help us, if we needs to run. I'm bettin we can get all that stuff at one of these ridin stables near abouts. Red and I will be takin Lizzie and Margo along. Lookin for a volunteer to drive the other vehicle, providin we come up with one.”
Miri, without hesitation, raised her hand. “I'll go and I can drive a stick shift, if needed.”
Jeff cocked an eyebrow at his wife, but she silenced him with a look.
“Glad to have you along Miri. This should be a quick in and out and we will be in radio range, the whole time.”
Red Rises (Book 2): Dead To Rights (HZA, Vol. 4) Page 17
