Dark Paths: Apocalypse Riders (11 page)

She found the rest of them in a conference room just as she’d imagined them - sitting on the floor in a circle around in the minister while he gestured wildly and spoke at each one of them in turn. Sure enough there were only four girls total.
Two and Mikey still missing.

She knocked. Father Speer looked up. “One of our lost sisters has returned!” he declared. His eyes were watery, his hair greasy, his face covered in the beginnings of a beard. “Come on in, join us!”

Danielle sprung up and led her inside as the other girls gathered behind her. Lia pulled her in for a tight hug. “I’m so happy to see you!”

Danielle peeled herself away and smoothed her shirt.
Right. Too much contact upsets him.
“We’re happy to see you too, Lia, but do contain yourself,” he said, his eyes wild.

Lia counted them in her head.
Danielle, Charla, Simone, Yvonne.
“Where’s Sunny?” she whispered, “And Emily and Mikey?”

Danielle led her to take a seat with them around Father’s Speer’s feet. “Sunny was alive and with one of those…
bikers
when we last saw her, but she hasn’t arrived here. Mikey and Emily… didn’t make it.” Father Speer’s eyes bulged for a moment but otherwise he was unresponsive. He scanned his tiny congregation with glassy eyes.
Has he completely lost it?

“Maybe you can explain why you’re here, since all of these girls seem to lose their voices when asked. Why did you let yourself get taken by men of the devil?”

“What else was I supposed to do?” she asked softly.

“Thrown yourself from his monstrous vehicle. Found a way to take yourself out. Why, Lia?”

She glanced around at the other girls. All their eyes were on their own hands. “I wanted to live, Father. That’s all. I hoped I would see you again - all of you.”

“You’d see us in the afterlife if you had done as instructed.” He shook his head. “All that training, you’re still weaker than I thought.”

“You didn’t throw yourself to the ground,” Lia said, “You’re here and alive.” A hint of a gasp circled the room.
Wrong thing to say. Have I forgotten how to bite my tongue so quickly?

Quick as a snake, he reached out and grabbed her hair. She yelped and gripped his wrists. “Stupid girl. Don’t you worry about me. Do you have any idea what they’re going to do to you?” He bent closer, his mouth near her ear, his breath hot against her skin. “Did you know about the breeding camps? That’s what you’re destined for. When this war between the devil’s men is over, that’s where you’re all headed.” He released her and she sat back with tears in her eyes.
Breeding camps? What is he talking about?

“We must work together to escape this place,” Father Speer said to the group of them. “The more devil’s men we kill, the better. But we must be as one mind, one heart.”

“Yes, Father,” the four girls said together. Father Speer glared down at her, waiting for her answer.

“They’re not evil, Father. They saved us.”

“Did you not hear me? They saved you for their own nefarious purposes!” He spat the words down at her and she cringed. “You disappoint me again, Lia.”
Not again!
It was an automatic thought.

“I’m sorry,” she said, wiping tears from her eyes.

“Are you with us or not?”

“I… I don’t know.” She backed away as he tried to grab her again. “I’m sorry!” she shrieked, “I just can’t kill the living, Father, I can’t. They kept us alive for this long - perhaps we can let them live in return. We’ll escape together quietly. No one will know until we’re far away.”

His glassy-eyed stare cleared for a moment as he considered her. “Your heart’s in the right place,” he said, finally stepping back. “You’ve been taught since childhood - thou shalt not kill. I understand.” She sighed with relief. “However you realize this means I can’t count on you?”

“But-”

He held up a hand. “I forgive you. But I don’t trust you. Girls, put her in the closet. We’ll take her with us if we can but not until the path is clear.”

“What?!” She leapt to her feet. She considered the gun in the back of her pants, then - the only one she hadn’t left back in Call’s apartment. There was no way she’d use it on the girls, though, or on Father Speer, mad as he appeared. All four descended on her, grabbing her arms and dragging her kicking and screaming back out of the room. They took the gun and then shoved her backwards into a dark supply closet before she could say two words to them. The door slammed shut, and when she tried to pull it back open she could barely open it wide enough for a crack of light. They’d roped the doorknob somehow, maybe attaching it to another door across the hall or some other makeshift anchor. Either way, it didn’t matter - it was barely budging.

“Please, I’m your friend! You can’t do this to me!” she shouted. She didn’t even know if they could hear her. “Danielle, Charla, please! Come back!” She banged on the door with her fists, tugged it again, hyperventilating. “Father Speer, I’m sorry! I’m sorry!”

No one answered.

She paced like a lion in a cage. She screamed until her voice was raw, rubbing her arms against an imaginary chill. If anything, the tiny room was hot. Suffocating. No one replied to her pleas, no one came for her. How long before Call came searching, before Father Speer turned him away? Would he believe whatever story the minister told him? Maybe.
Does it matter? Is Father Speer right? He never said anything about… camps.
The thought of it made bile rise in her throat.
I’m overreacting. I don’t have the whole story.
But she was so used to believing everything Father Speer told her, so accustomed to absorbing his speeches and following orders that now that they were back together, his words sank in and wouldn’t leave her.
Breeding camps.
Would Call do that to her? After everything? He still had never tried to take her weapons.

She had none, now. The girls had taken the one she kept tucked behind her pants. The rest were with her other belongings in Call’s apartment. Not that she really believed she would shoot her way out if she could.
I’m not that desperate. Yet.

She didn’t know how long she cried. It didn’t matter. No one was listening. Someone opened the door just a crack, just long enough to push a canteen through, but her begging went unanswered. She wore herself out and finally slept some, and dreamed little. Time passed but she had no sense of it in the dark. Curled up on the floor, she felt like she was floating.

After what felt like days, the doorknob shook and then the door opened just a crack. Enough so she could hear whoever was on the other side. She dragged herself to her knees. “Hello?” Her voice was hoarse and it hurt to speak.

“Lia.” It was Father Speer, finally.

“I’m sorry, Father!” she said, “I was away for so long and I was confused, and I just wanted to live. I thought of you and the girls and the farm all the time. I never forgot what you taught me. Please, I’m sorry.”

“I know you are. It’s time to confess, Lia,” the minister said. “Tell me the truth of what you’ve done while we were apart and I will be able to go easier on you.”

“Father, please, tell me what you know about the camps.”

“No. You must confess and be purified before we can begin to let you back into the fold.”

She thought about the things she’d done. He’d never forgive her, never. She was still a virgin in the technical sense, but how much would that matter after everything else?

“Your sins are weighing on your mind, Lia,” he said. “I can hear your heart crying out for cleansing.” She clenched her teeth. “You haven’t been apart from us for so long,” he went on, “You can still return to us. We’re your home, Lia. Let us take you back in.”

She was torn. Part of her screamed
yes!
That part of her that was so desperate to please; that part missed her parents, missed family, missed her simpler life on the farm. That part still, despite everything, despite his instability, still couldn’t let go of Father Speer, just
couldn’t
let herself disappoint him. The part of her that screamed
no
- was that just her sinful inclinations? She knew she was full of them.
Father Speer and the girls are my family. Call is nearly a stranger next to them.
Call. Just picturing his face made her want to weep. She pushed thoughts of him away.

“I’ve sinned, Father,” she said, choking on her words.

“I know you have, my dear. Tell me everything.”

◙◙◙◙◙◙◙◙◙◙

She had no voice left for screaming, but she tried. “Cut it out, Lia. You’ve done this before, we all have.” The girls were pinning her down in the hallway, two on each arm, while Father Speer leaned across her legs. Her pants were around her knees. Danielle tried to calm her but the words fell on deaf ears.

“I confessed everything, I swear!” It came out more like a squeak than a shout.

“It’ll be over in a moment,” Danielle said, leaning her weight on Lia’s shoulder.

Without warning Father Speer inspected her sex with two rough fingers, prodding and pushing inside. She whined, lying frozen, afraid he’d hurt her if she struggled any more. When he pulled away, he sighed with relief. “At least you’ve kept that much of your purity intact,” he said. The girls released her and she scrambled to fix her pants, her vision blurry with her tears.

“See?” Danielle said soothingly, “Over already.” Lia had no response for her.

“Our sister has returned to us,” Father Speer said to the group of them. “Though her virtue was somewhat tarnished, she is still pure in her body. We will work together to make her pure in her heart once again.”

“Yes, Father,” the girls said.

“This is a joyous occasion and a merciful revelation. Take a moment to embrace your sister. Welcome her home.” Each girl hugged her briefly in turn. The action warmed her torn heart. They were rarely allowed any sort of affection. His command truly meant something; it meant that all would be forgiven and forgotten. It meant she was one of them once more.
My girls. My sisters.
She hugged them back as relief washed over her.
The house wasn’t “home,” this family was.

“You’ll stay in my room with me,” Father Speer said, “Danielle, you’ll move in with Charla and Yvonne for the time being.”

There was a knock on the stairway door as they rose to their feet. She looked up to the little window where someone was holding up and waving cans of food. Father Speer and the girls turned away.

“You have food?” Lia asked.

“We’re rationing what we carried ourselves,” Danielle said, “We accept nothing from them.”

“I could get my bag,” she said, suddenly seeing a window of opportunity. She wiped her eyes. Not a chance to run - there was no running, now.
I’ll come right back, I have to.
But she felt that she owed Call an explanation. Especially after she’d promised to stay with him. “I have food left, and my weapons…”

“You’ll stay right here, Lia,” Father Speer said, leading them back to the conference room, “We’ll worry about retrieving your things. Your weapons in particular will be needed.”

“Here.” Charla passed her back her pistol. She tucked it away in her pants with no thought of using it to get away. This was her family. This was her home now.