Scavengers

by Christopher Fulbright

  She thrust the knife down toward Dejah’s neck.

  As if by dispelled illusion, a door burst open in a nearby wall. The wallpaper cracked open in the shape of an arch as Reverend Keller rushed through. His pale face gathered all the light in the room, but his sinister, dark eyes reflected it like the eyes of a vicious dog. Draped in a silken black robe, he rushed to Zanine.

  “No!” Keller shouted, grabbing her wrist. The knife froze in midair. The reverend knocked it away. It flipped across the room and clattered into a corner.

  Zanine stopped struggling, and her eyes lit with joy. “Reverend! Oh love, I need you!” Her eyes flicked to the opening of his robe. Between his legs jutted a pinkish erection, pushing between the flaps of his nighttime attire. She reached for his sex organ like a starved woman. He slapped her across the face and flung her away in a rage.

  Zanine fell to the floor before him. “Oh Reverend Keller. Lawrence, my love. Let me suck your cock. Let me be your slave. Fuck me! I need you! Fuck me like you’ve never fucked a woman before! I’ll be yours always. And when the Lord comes I’ll be yours from now and into Heaven—”

  “Shut up, you whore,” he yelled. “Shut up!” With the last word he slapped her again, following the loud smack with a kick to the ribs. “Harlot! Jezebel! How dare you tempt me with your wiles. You are a tool of Satan, driven by demons and sent to lead us to our deaths.”

  Dejah awoke, watching the exchange in bewildered half-cognizance. She drew closer to the headboard, clutching blankets around her in some false form of security.

  “Guards!” the reverend shouted. “Guards!” Two men unlocked the main door, barreling through, seeming embarrassed at the reverend’s state, but recognizing that the best thing to do was simply obey. “Take her away from here. Take her away.”

  They dragged Zanine from the room, writhing, shouting proclamations of love and promises of sexual favors. The reverend turned his head, closed his eyes, and covered his ears against her delusional shouts.

  Dejah watched Keller’s reactions until Zanine was gone. The guards locked the doors behind them. Both Judith and Karen were awake. Karen was crying. The reverend hurried back through his secret door in the wall and was gone without a word to the other women. The wallpaper sealed against itself, once more leaving no trace of an entrance ever having been accessible in the wall.

  CHAPTER 26

  The next morning, the reverend called an emergency gathering of the faithful and paced the stage like a caged panther. He folded his hands in a tight knot behind his back, staring grimly, purposefully at the ground. His angry breathing huffed in the speakers.

  Overlooking the crowd, Keller knew that only about half of the people currently seeking shelter here at the Church of the Risen King were in attendance. That seemed to be the consistent attendance for his impromptu updates, as well as his main sermons this past couple weeks. It crushed him knowing the majority of his 10,000-member church were out there in the world – dead, dying, their souls reaped by The Accuser, the Evil One. That many were Hell’s children walking the land in empty shells feasting on the flesh of living was a travesty not even he, in his vast wisdom, had foreseen. Now, there couldn’t be more than 600 people at the church, and not all of them were members. They were people who’d come to the church seeking refuge; others were saved from the surrounding area. Keller hoped they’d join the church family. There was strength in numbers, and if all of these sheltering beneath the roof would join as members, it would make them stronger.

  But he knew that not all of them were believers. He had a lot of work to do to bring all that were beneath his wing into the fold. God had told him the Church of the Risen King was to be a sanctuary where they would find new life and a fresh start, but to make this a reality everyone within these walls would need to buy into the vision. He felt time was short, and the anxiety inside made him feel lightheaded, frenzied. He prayed to the Lord for solace. He asked the Lord to give him serenity, but that peace that surpasses all understanding didn’t come.

  Only anxiety.

  Only fear.

  Reverend Lawrence James Keller looked across the sanctuary at the faces in the seats. He took a deep breath, drawing power from their faith in him. For these faithful few, he continued to fight the forces of evil. He fought to vanquish Satan and his hoard of minions so that he and his followers could assume their rightful place at the right hand of Jesus Christ when the son of God returned to claim his bride. Just as he was joined with the beautiful Dejah, whom God appointed to be his bride, Christ would join with Keller’s faithful followers. Keller, as shepherd over that faithful flock, would be a great man in the Kingdom of God. His years of toil would soon be rewarded.

  He called the room to silence and said a prayer for protection, for the rise of the church, for the sanctification of its members, and for the realization of God’s will. Then, after a pause thick with anticipatory silence, he began to speak.

  “Ladies and gentlemen.” He took a deep breath, looked grimly at the ground, and then raised his head to face them. “The Devil is amongst us. And as the Devil often does, he came to us under the guise of a woman: a beauty, but a beast, a fair creature, but a whore. One who came to me virtuous and with concern for my sheep. One who I took to be one of my trusted Daughters of Heaven.” He paused to muster tears, letting them glisten in the lights shining from the high ceilings. “But I’ve been betrayed, and in this betrayal, you, my sons and daughters, have also been betrayed. Last night this whore of Babylon showed herself to be a murderer. An instrument of Satan put here to bring the downfall of the divine plan of God here at the Church of the Risen King.”

  A stunned murmur buzzed through the crowd. The reverend suppressed a smile. God had not failed him in his hour of need. His faithful followers felt the concern and the anguish that he, himself, felt broiling within as he unburdened this terrible deed to them.

  He turned with a theatrical flourish as Reeves and Carson brought Zanine out onto the stage. She kicked and thrashed, screaming like a wild woman at the crowd. Her hair flew wildly about her head as she resisted their hold, shouting curses over the heads of the congregation and praying down disaster from heaven upon their heads. But the men had her fast.

  Reverend Keller pointed a finger of accusation at Janine’s struggling form as he made his final pronouncement to the faithful. “This Jezebel tempted me with sexual favors, offering her mortal body to me to use in lustful and lascivious ways. She sought to thwart God’s plans for this church, and for all of you, with her machinations of malice. She attempted last night to murder the woman sent by God himself to be the mother of this church, to be my bride, sent to usher us into the Kingdom of Heaven that we may stand before God when he descends from the heavens without blame and without fear. We must take decisive action against the devil when he reveals himself in our midst. This woman is the embodiment of the devil, the temptress offering up sin just as Eve gave Adam the fruit that led to his downfall!”

  Cheers rose from the crowd, reverberating through the floor of the dais beneath Keller’s feet. “Tonight,” he shouted. “Tonight, we give her back to the Devil and to his soulless minions that now walk this earth. Tonight we make a stand against evil, and send a decisive message to all who would come against us, who would oppose our mission: the mission of God. We will not be defeated! We will not allow Satan and his cohorts to gain dominion over our souls, for we, here at the Church of the Risen King have a covenant with God Almighty, and he shall see that we prosper, and he shall keep us safe in his bosom. Can I hear an amen?”

  A chorus of amens rumbled through the sanctuary, as Keller finished with a flourish. The crowd of the faithful stood and cheered, and clapped. And this time, the reverend couldn’t stop himself from grinning gleefully at their zeal for the Lord.

  * * *

  In the room with the Daughters of Heaven, Reeves standing watch at the door, Keller sat next to Dejah upon her bed. He regarded her beauty, her luxurious hair, the creamy, unsullied
smoothness of her skin, her sparkling eyes and long lashes, supple breasts and pink lips. His heart raced at the thought of having her as his bride and he again thanked God for such a woman, sent by his own hand.

  He took her cool hand in his. He turned toward her on the bed, studied her face. Both Judith and Karen drew near, but next to Dejah, they were mere mortals, simple handmaidens. Still, he loved them for what they were: servants to him, visions of beauty that he could gaze upon in the deep of the night. For when he awoke from his frequent nightmares, he watched them through the looking glass, regarded their peaceful sleep, the smooth curves of their bodies, all meant to remind him of the loveliness of women in line with their God-ordained positions in life. All reminding him of the gifts the Lord had given to him and to the world. These, his precious wives, were God’s rewards for his service to his son.

  Keller looked into Dejah’s eyes.

  “Tonight, Zanine pays the price for her sins against us, my love.” He smiled at her, feeling a flutter in his chest. A deep sense of euphoria rushed over him as he touched her skin. His groin stirred, eliciting an erection, which he wished he could guide her hand to touch, but, alas, not yet. But soon. “Tomorrow night, I’d like to have our marriage celebration to remind the faithful of the wonderful things that God has sent us. We’ll have a grand celebration that will bring us together in the Lord, and share my joy – our joy – with the faithful, so they may feel the hope we feel. Our celebration is a firm reminder that God has ordained the Church of the Risen King as the birthplace of the new world. Here, with us, within the confines of this church consecrated unto the Lord, life begins anew.”

  Dejah nodded, lifting his hand to her face, and brushing it against her cheek. “Oh, Reverend,” she said, her voice heavy with desire for him. “My love.”

  “Please, Dejah. Call me Lawrence.”

  She smiled. “Lawrence, I can’t wait to be joined with you, to be your wife. But, I feel guided by the Lord to pray. I need time alone. I don’t want to spend even a minute away from your side, but God speaks to me powerfully, and I must obey him. With this gift that he’s given me, he’s also given to me an understanding of his will. I … must obey him, Lawrence. I know you bear this burden also, that you shoulder a great weight of responsibility for your flock. You know what it means to do God’s bidding, to follow the plan the Lord has ordained. So, I need to find a quiet corner where I can be alone. I have to get away from everyone to pray for what he would have for us, for you. I feel the moving of the Holy Spirit to pray for the world, to pray for wisdom for establishing our coming kingdom. And to ask God’s blessing on our union.” Dejah dropped his hand and in doing so, very lightly brushed against the bulge of his slacks. Keller flushed. His heart raced. He felt as though he couldn’t contain himself. Embarrassed, he glanced over at the other two women watching this exchange.

  “Yes,” he said, standing. “Absolutely. Do what you must, my love. But please return by sundown. I’ll want you by my side as we send the Devil’s whore to her death.”

  “Oh, I will.” She smiled at him from the bed, sliding one leg over the edge of the mattress with seeming innocence, showing him most of her left leg before coyly covering the flesh again. She glanced at him with a look composed of apology and desire.

  “Reeves,” Keller commanded, somewhat shaken by the strength of his desire for Dejah. “Allow Dejah time alone in the church. Let her go where she needs to.”

  Reeves grunted acquiescence.

  “Thank you, my husband,” Dejah said.

  Lawrence hurried into his chamber, using the secret door in the wall. Feeling full of shame, he went straight to his marble and gold fixture bathroom to relieve himself. As he finished, pants around his ankles, flushed semen whirling down the toilet, he looked at the razor sitting on the counter. Methodically, he rolled up his sleeve to reveal a scarred forearm.

  He sat upon the commode, penis red and flaccid from his wild masturbation, and took the razor between his thumb and finger. Tears in his eyes, guilt, regret and shame burning in his cheeks with the heat of hellfire, he cut himself seven times, seven holy times, the number of God. The number of completeness. He watched blood run from the slices slivered into the flesh of his arm, watched the crimson flow dribble onto the marble floor between his feet.

  He atoned with his own blood, as God had sent his son to do for humanity. He poured out his lifeblood in supplication, beseeching the Lord that he would once again be spotless and without sin.

  CHAPTER 27

  Dejah hurried through the corridors of the church, trying her best not to be recognized. When any of the faithful spotted her, they reacted as if she was Jesus himself, and she just couldn’t take it. She wanted to scream at them to wake up, to see that Keller was twisting the scriptures and their minds. It sickened her to know that, out of anyone here, she had the power to break the spell that Keller had woven around these people. She was the one who’d arrived as a bleeding mass of flesh and the next day was completely regenerated. They would listen to her. It tore her up inside, but she didn’t dare cause a stir if she intended to get out of here with her life.

  You’re being selfish, came an accusatory tone deep in her mind. No, she told herself, I’m trying to get to Selah, who needs me more than anyone. These people were screwed up when I got here, and they’ll be screwed up when I leave.

  And leave she would.

  Dejah made her way through the halls of the church, upstairs into some administrative offices. She checked the desk phones for live lines, but none worked. She was willing to bet Keller had the lines disconnected on purpose. She felt a sinking feeling in her gut. The man was insane. They didn’t have much time.

  And, digging painfully at her heart was the unknown punishment Keller had exacted upon Shaun for his antics in the sanctuary yesterday morning. Dejah was terrified for the boy. She had to find him. They had to get out of this crazy place.

  She tousled her hair so it hung in her face. She couldn’t do anything about her clothes. The dress made her stick out like a ballerina at a square dance, but so many people were concerned with themselves and survival, no one seemed to notice.

  She moved like a ghost through the marbled main entry hall. She passed through the massive corridor past the bookstore and coffee shop, went through the commons, and then followed the hallway that curved behind the sanctuary. It led to the Sunday school rooms being used for dorms. She guessed – hoped – she’d be able to find Shaun, and maybe even the Doc back here.

  The red-carpeted hallway curved to the right. A few doors were open. People sat on cots, played cards, talked in hushed tones, stood gazing out of windows, prayed, sang or slept. It struck her just how many people were staying here. The sanctuary hadn’t been entirely full when Keller delivered his announcements, so she didn’t have any idea there were this many people in the church complex. Perhaps not everyone was crazy, brainwashed, or expecting God to show up handing out silver wings. It was a small comfort.

  Dejah found the room serving as the makeshift medical center. Peering cautiously into the room, she saw Doc Ward hovering over a sleeping, sick child. He looked up with a scowl, but his expression immediately changed when he recognized her.

  “What on Earth?” he said in a half-whisper. “What are you doing here?”

  “Where’s Shaun?”

  The doc stared at her. His face was that of a hardened man doing what he had to in order to survive, but deeper in his eyes was compassion.

  “Come on.” He waved for her to follow.

  Two rooms down, Dejah found Shaun, asleep, curled on a cot. David sat in a chair next to him, guarding him. He was reading a book and looked up in surprise to see Dejah there. Doc Ward excused himself with a nod, returning to the med room.

  David regarded her as she knelt beside Shaun.

  “My god,” she breathed, brushing the hair from the teenager’s face. She looked up at David. His unshaven face looked severe, angry, his eyes full of sorrow.

  “They
brought him in a few hours ago. He’s been asleep ever since.”

  “What did those bastards do to him?”

  “He didn’t say,” David said. “But I’m guessing they didn’t take him to the fucking circus.”

  Dejah rubbed Shaun’s back and he stirred. She perched beside him on the bed.

  “Dejah?” he said sleepily.

  “It’s me, Shaun.”

  He pushed himself up and hugged her. She closed her eyes tight and tried not to cry at the things she saw in his face. Aging beyond his years, a desolate longing for a time before this world went completely mad, a strain no one should endure, much less anyone his age. Add to that a bone-weary exhaustion, and just looking at him made her want to mother him.

  When Dejah released her embrace, again she was struck by what she saw in him.

  “How are you?” Shaun said. “Is that asshole treating you okay?”

  She laughed, tears coming to her eyes. “I’m okay. Keller treats me like a queen, a damn princess in a tower. I told him God told me to pray alone just so I could get of that damn room and find you. God, I’m glad you’re all right. I’ve been worried sick.”

  Shaun mustered a smile. “I’m tougher than you think.”

  “I think you’re pretty damn tough.” She ruffled his hair.

  Shaun sobered. He glanced around before he said, confidentially: “We’ve got to get out of here.”

  Dejah glanced to the door. The few people in the cots around them were oblivious. There was a woman with a little boy looking at her. Dejah looked away, guilty again. She tried to remind herself she wasn’t responsible for these people as her eyes grazed the child, legs swinging over the edge of the cot, playing a card game with his mom, unaware of the full measure of tragedy sweeping over their world.