The Ark (Life of the Dead Book 3) Page 11

  “I’m fine. I have His strength inside me.” The man wobbled inside, almost falling twice before disappearing around a corner.

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  Rain trickled down, enough to soak the ground and be an annoyance but not enough to keep everyone inside. Juli pulled weeds from a patch of flowers that had sprouted up at the front corner of the chapel. She thought the color combination of the red and pink impatiens wasn’t the best, but she enjoyed seeing them anyway. They made her think about her rose bushes and she wondered if they’d blossomed yet. Probably not without someone around to fertilize and prune. Oh well, she supposed they weren’t her concern any longer.

  There was a steady drumbeat of hammers as Aben, Mitch, and Saw worked at replacing some of the rotten clapboard siding around the corner from her. Grady was inside, probably reading the bible or writing another sermon that no one but Juli would hear and Yukie was making everyone lunch.

  It was an ordinary, if somewhat boring day, the kind of day Juli had grown to appreciate in the aftermath of the plague, until the girl showed up.

  Juli heard branches snapping in the nearby tree line. It sounded light, almost airy, and she assumed maybe a gray squirrel or chipmunk was hopping around out of sight. She didn’t give it any considerable amount of thought until Prince began to bark.

  Juli peered into the trees but saw nothing. She glanced toward the men who continued sawing boards and nailing them fast. Prince continued barking and Juli set the dandelion digger aside and rose from her knees to her feet. She took two steps toward the woods, trying to spot whatever the dog could see or smell or somehow sense.

  Prince moved to her side and Julie leaned over to scratch its head. She realized the dog’s hackles were raised. “What is it, buddy?”

  While she looked at the dog, she caught sight of something out of the corner of her eye. Something pink. She spun back toward the woods and saw movement and more pink.

  A dress. A little girl’s dress.

  She moved through the trees like a ghost, there one moment, gone the next. Juli took another step toward her, trying to see her better. She was small and thin to the point of being frail.

  How long have you been alone?

  Another step. She was only a few yards from the edge of the trees.

  The girl also came closer. Juli could see her pink dress was tattered and dirty.

  You poor thing.

  Juli crouched down. She wanted to be at eye level to put the girl at ease. To show her there was nothing to fear.

  The girl pushed through the last of the trees. And that’s when Juli realized she was a zombie.

  She looked to be five or six years old. Along with her torn and stained pink dress, her light brown hair was littered with twigs and leaves giving it a wild, bird’s nest appearance. But the worst part of this creature before Juli was her face. The girl’s bottom lip, along with most of the flesh from there to her chin, had been eaten away. The white of her baby teeth stood out in stark contrast to the black, scabby tissue around them.

  Juli inhaled sharply and the girl’s dead eyes homed in on her. Her mouth fell open and a soft, barely audible growl emerged from her ravaged mouth. She sounded like a small, wounded animal.

  “Oh, God. How could this happen to you?” Julie felt her tears start to flow. The unfairness, the tragedy of it, it was too much.

  The little girl stumbled forward, only a few feet away now.

  “Juli, step aside”

  It was Grady’s voice. Juli turned and saw him striding forward his hands empty, weaponless. When he reached Juli’s side, the dead girl was almost within arm’s reach.

  “What are you doing, Grady?”

  Grady ignored her. He took another step toward the child and laid his hand atop her head. The zombie looked up at him, her upper lip pulled back in a snarl. “This is where you’re supposed to be. God has sent you here.”

  The little girl’s arm swung out, slashing at Grady but catching only the air. He never so much as flinched but Prince’s barking recommenced, only more agitated, more angry.

  Grady put his free hand on the back of the dead girl’s neck. She struggled and squirmed but he held fast. “Be calm.”

  Juli thought this was crazy. Did he really think his words made a difference? As much as it pained her to see what happened to the girl, she knew there was no hope for her. Whatever had made her human was gone now. This was nothing but a vicious, hungry shell.

  Grady pushed the zombie toward the church. As Juli turned to watch them, she saw Aben approach.

  “What’s got Prince so worked— “He stopped when he saw the child, staring, examining. Juli could see his gaze change from curious to bewildered when he realized the child was dead.

  “Get away from it!” He screamed.

  Grady shook his head. “Do not fear this child. God has sent her to me.”

  Juli caught Aben’s gaze. He raised his eyebrows. ‘What the hell?’ Juli shrugged her shoulders. ‘Your guess is as good as mine.”

  They watched Grady and the zombie approach the church, the child fighting to break free as they walked. Neither of them realized Saw was coming until he was just a few steps away, a claw hammer in hand.

  “Fucking shit, man! Get away from it!”

  Grady spun around, startled by Saw’s booming voice. When he turned he lost his grip on the zombie and she lurched away, tottering toward Saw and Saw was coming for her.

  “Don’t you hurt her!” Grady yelled, but it was too late.

  Saw brought the claw end of the hammer down on the child’s head and buried it handle deep. A squirt of black fluid jutted up like water from a drinking fountain. The girl took a step. Another. Then fell face first onto the wet ground.

  Grady stared down at the girl. Juli expected the worst. She knew what happened to his son and how it had sent him into a catatonic state. She almost expected the same to happen now. His sanity seemed so tenuous. She didn’t know if she could bear to see him regress back into that condition and she prayed that Grady’s God, if he was really up there, would protect him.

  Saw ripped the hammer free from the little girls’ skull and wiped the black blood off on his jeans. He looked to Grady. “You can thank me later, mate.”

  Grady’s head came up slow, like someone cranking an old manual window. But eventually his eyes met Saw’s face. Juli could see them from her vantage point. They weren’t broken or wounded or sad. They were enraged.

  “You’re no longer welcome here,” Grady said to Saw.

  The killer furrowed his brow. “What’s that supposed to mean? I wasn’t allowed inside your precious church anyway.”

  “That chapel and this ground is Holy. You have no purpose here. Tomorrow, I expect you to be gone.”

  Grady knelt at the girl’s body and slid his arms under her. Juli could tell it took all his strength, but he lifted her. Saw twirled the hammer in his hand as if debating whether to use it again. After a moment, he turned away. “Man’s off his rocker, he is.”

  Grady didn’t say a word. He carried the girl’s lifeless body to the church and disappeared inside.

  “Can you tell me what that was all about?” Aben asked Juli.

  She shook her head. His guess was as good as hers. “I have no idea.”

  The door to the church slammed shut. She jumped.

  “Let me talk to him,” Juli said.

  “Good luck with that.”

  As Juli went to the church, she saw Mitch conversing with Saw, the older man gesticulating wildly while Mitch laughed.

  As Juli approached from behind, Grady had the dead girl’s body sprawled out on a pew as he used a wet rag to clean the death from her head and face.

  “Grady, are you all right?”

  He didn’t look at her. “I’m fine.”

  “Are you really?” She moved in front of him into his eyeline. “What were you doing out there?”

  Grady squeezed the rag. Black fluid dripped from it. When it stopped, he continued cleanin
g the body. He didn’t answer Juli.

  “Grady, you have to speak to me. What am I supposed to tell the others?”

  “They’re welcome to listen to the sermons if they care to hear God’s message.”

  “I want to hear from you, not God.”

  He finally looked at her. “God speaks through me. His words are my words. Do you not know that?”

  “Apparently I don’t. I’m asking you Grady, why you risked your life out there.”

  “I was never in danger.”

  “Bullshit.”

  He flinched as if the word caused him pain.

  “We were all in danger. The girl was a zombie. And zombies kill us. That’s what they do.”

  “You don’t understand.”

  “That’s why I’m asking. Help me understand.”

  Grady set the rag aside. He moved to Juli and peered into her eyes. He reached out and took her hands and Juli felt her skin break out in goosebumps. It was almost as if she could feel a mild electrical current running through his hands, into hers. She nearly pulled away but stopped herself.

  “You think the zombies are the monsters but they’re not. We are. The zombies don’t kill us for our flesh. They consume our sins and cleanse our souls so we’re worthy of entering the Kingdom of God.”

  Juli didn’t know what to say, so she said nothing.

  “In John, Jesus said, ‘Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day. For my flesh is true food and my blood is true drink.’” Grady rolled up his sleeve to show the healed bite wound on his arm. “My Josiah didn’t hurt me when he did this. He gave me salvation. So, do you understand now, Juli? We have nothing to fear from the undead for they were sent here to save us.”

  She could see the earnestness in his face, the belief in his eyes that he believed what he said. It was so raw and so real that Juli started to believe it too.

  Aben found Juli crouching beside a small garden that grew in an open meadow behind the church. At the sound of his footsteps, she spun around, clasping a small pair of clippers in her hands.

  “Only me,” Aben said holding his hands up in submission.

  Juli lowered the clippers and smiled.

  “You were expecting someone more exciting.”

  She shook her head. “I’ve had enough excitement to last a lifetime.”

  Aben sat down beside her. “That doesn’t exactly help my ego.”

  “Sorry, Aben. My manners are lacking. “

  “Well, if my wounded self-confidence is my biggest problem, I’d say life has taken a definite turn for the better.”

  Silence fell between them. Aben knew what needed to be said but hadn’t quite got there yet. He tilted his head toward the garden. “What you got there?”

  “Someone was nice enough to plan a garden before the plague. I feel a tad guilty that they won’t be able to enjoy the bounty.”

  She plucked a green tomato nearly the size of her fist from a vine. Aben looked at it skeptically. “Shouldn’t you let it ripen up first?”

  Juli looked down at the tomato. “I used to fry green tomatoes at home. Not for the kids, they turned their noses up at them, but for Mark. I’d coat them in some flour, salt and pepper then fry them in butter. Real butter, not margarine. Sprinkle them with some freshly grated parmesan cheese, not the canned stuff, at the end. Mark ate them like candy.”

  “Sounds like a way to take a healthy food and make it practically sinful. I approve.”

  Juli looked at him and he saw her eyes were misty.

  “I’ll make you some, if you want. We don’t have any cheese and I’ll have to substitute oil for butter but…”

  Aben shook his head. He appreciated her kindness but it only made what he had to say more difficult. He considered saying nothing at all. To instead vanish like a coward in the night, which was pretty much all he was anyway. But he’d been with this woman for almost two months, a longer period time than he’d been around anyone in twenty or so years, and he felt he owed her his honesty, for what little value that held.

  “I’m leaving with Saw. Mitch is too.”

  Juli’s gaze fell from his face to the ground, but her expression remained unchanged.

  “You don’t seem surprised?”

  “I’m not. I’ve felt it coming for a little while now. Can I ask, why?”

  Aben had asked himself the same question and didn’t have much luck coming up with a solid answer.

  “What’s so special about Saw and Yukie that you’d choose them over us?”

  “It’s not like that. I’m not choosing them.” But he was.

  “We’ve been here for going on six weeks. And it’s the same thing day in and day out.”

  “So, you’re bored? That’s the only reason?”

  “I don’t like sticking around one place to long. Never have. Call it boredom or whatever you want, but it’s time to move on. You can come too. We all want you to.”

  “You know I can’t leave Grady alone.”

  “But he’s better now.” Aben took a glance at the church. “In a way.”

  “He still needs someone to look after him.”

  “Why does that have to be you?”

  She looked at him again, her eyes narrowed. “Because there’s no one else to do it, Aben. That’s why.”

  “But he’s off his rocker. Come on Juli, you see that don’t you? You don’t buy his holy roller ‘I’ve been chosen by geeeee-zus to save the world’ bullshit, do you?”

  Juli rolled the tomato between her hands. “He was bit by a zombie— “

  “You don’t know that for sure.”

  “You told me that. You and Bolivar both. And I saw the bite wound. It was made by a child’s mouth. So, don’t try to rewrite history to fit your new agenda.”

  Ouch, that one hurt.

  “Grady was bit and he didn’t turn. Isn’t that some kind of miracle?”

  “We don’t know how any of this really works. We’re going off what we’ve seen in movies for Christ’s sake.”

  “I’m going by what I’ve seen with my own eyes. Everyone I saw get bit by a zombie turned into one. Grady is still normal— “

  Aben chortled, derisive.

  “Relatively speaking. You asked me if I believe what he’s preaching? The answer is, I don’t know. But considering everything else I’ve seen the last two and a half months, things that seemed so impossible they were silly… Why is it so hard to believe that God is speaking to Grady?”

  This was going nowhere. Aben had suspected it would go something like this, but it still disappointed him. “Alright then. We’ll leave in the morning. If you change your mind before then—”

  “I won’t.”

  “I know you won’t.”

  He strode toward the church ready to gather his meager possessions his dog, and be done with this place.

  The dump truck, with its bizarre, violent armor, rolled away from the church and into a heavy fog that filled the valley. To Juli it looked like it was being swallowed up.

  She felt a deep ache inside as she watched it fade out of view. Aben had become a kind of family. A brother she never had, maybe. And even Mitch, for all his annoying faults, had been with her so long she couldn’t imagine what life would be like without his presence.

  Part of her wanted to scream. ‘Come back! I changed my mind! Take me with you!’ She could see herself running after them, her feet smacking against the pavement as she gave everything she had to catch them. Catch them and run away with them.

  “I know you’re sad,” Grady said behind her.

  She hadn’t realized he was there and she quickly wiped away tears that had whetted her cheeks. He’d remained in the church when the others left and, as far as she knew, hadn’t even said goodbye. That had angered her and now she let the anger come back and push away some of the sadness.

  Juli turned to Grady. His face was so calm, so peaceful that she almost wanted to hit him. She wondered how he’d
react. Would he even react? She could imagine him standing there with the same maddeningly serene expression plastered to his face even after getting blindsided.

  “Aben did so much for us. He saved you, you know that don’t you?”

  Grady nodded. “The choice was his as we all have free will. In the end, he turned his back on God.”

  “He turned his back on you.”

  “And I am God’s vessel. He still has time to find salvation, but the longer he sidles up with evil, the less chance he has. I wish I could say I was optimistic, but considering his choices…”

  Juli couldn’t stand looking at him. She walked past him, toward the garden, but he grabbed her wrist. His touch was light and harmless, but she didn’t pull away because she felt that same strange electricity she’d experienced earlier.

  “We have to look at the bigger picture, Juli. We can’t mourn one man when our mission is to save the entire world.”

  Juli glanced back at him. The rising sun poked through the clouds, spraying rays of light downward. One of them illuminated Grady’s face and made him look like he was glowing.

  It’s just the sunrise.

  But it felt like more than a coincidence or some happy accident. Grady looked like an angel or maybe some prophet straight out of the New Testament. John the Baptist maybe.

  No, it’s Jesus. He’s getting lit up like Jesus himself.

  She didn’t believe Grady was the Second Coming. She wasn’t even certain he was sane. But she’d made her choice.

  Part Three

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  Doc knew the sedation should be wearing off any time now so he sat by the young man’s side and waited. Eventually his eyelids fluttered and a few small moans escaped his stitched-up face.

  “Wake up, my child, and tell me your tale of woe.”

  It took a few more minutes, but the teen did awaken and as his eyes focused under the dull green fluorescents, he turned his mangled face toward Doc.