Threnody (Book 1) (33 page)

Lydia saw this as well, and though she was deeply saddened by the fate of the girl and the woman, she knew there was nothing she could do for them.  Seeing a hole open up as several of the infected pounced on the stricken woman, Lydia scooped up the remaining little girl and bolted through their ranks into the relative safety of the dark forest beyond.

Despite his focus resting on the fate of the others rather than on protecting himself from the infected mouths less than a foot in front of him, Ezzard remained essentially unscathed.  Though his joints and muscles ached from the exertion, the mouths of the infected bestowed no pain upon him.  Satisfied that at least two of his children had made it out of the besieged building, he finally gave in to his body’s overwhelming cries of exhaustion.  As he stopped pushing against the infected horde, he closed his weary eyes, and said another short prayer as he prepared to greet his Lord in the Promised Land.

Several long moments passed while Ezzard prayed for the strength and grace to endure the imminent pain—only it never came.  Reluctantly, he opened his eyes and found himself flailing amidst a sea of tormented faces like he had somehow fallen from Charon’s ferry into the river Styx.  While he watched the wretched procession of the Devil’s minions defile his church—his God’s house—his confusion quickly morphed into anger.

No longer concerned for his own mortality, Ezzard shoved his way through the macabre congregation gathered before the Lord’s righteous altar.  A fiery rage overcame him, and he was consumed with the need to cleanse the temple of the evil befallen it.  Clothed in the whole armor of God, he picked up a heavy, brass candlestick and waded into the horde to deliver God’s retribution.

Chapter 34

October 20, 2015

“Let me tell you, child. I’se an old black man, and I’ve seen some right evil things in my days, but nothing could hold a candle to what I bore witness to that night.”

Tears flowing and lips trembling, Kate listened intently as she watched the old preacher’s heart breaking right before her.  She wanted to tell him to stop, even beg him to do so, but her mouth could not shape the words. All she could do was slowly shake her head in disbelief.

Seeing Kate’s distress, Ezzard placed a gentle hand on her tear-soaked cheek. “Fear not child, for though we walk through the valley of the shadow of death, we shall fear no evil.  For there is no darkness black enough to quell the light of the Lord. If I ever needed proof of that, I saw it that night.  Those of us that made it to the safety of this room came to the understanding that the 'people' out there were no longer our former parishioners.  Whatever was happening to them destroyed the former people and replaced them with monsters.  Now I know the Devil has a hand in this mess, but I don’t believe those folks was possessed by demons or anything like that.  We knew we had to get out of the church if we were going to survive, and we knew what it was going to take to make that happen,” said Ezzard.

Ezzard understood the irony that the very infection trying to kill them had probably saved them that night.  Having seen what happened to those who became infected, Lonnie accepted that he was a dead man.  Rather than implode from self-pity and denial, he chose to extract what good he could from the situation.  Reflecting on the young man’s heroic final sacrifice, Ezzard considered something he had heard before: ‘It is not the thing that is good or bad, it is what man does with it.’

Concluding, Ezzard said, “Now I’ve thought about this a great deal in the last couple of weeks, and I don't truly know if this is a plague sent by God in response to man’s wicked ways, or the Devil coming forth to wage war against the righteous, or merely man’s stupidity and unrelenting quest for money and power gone horribly wrong. Maybe it's just bad luck. I do know one thing; it sure isn't enough to shake my faith. If anything, it’s stronger now than ever before. After all, when the entire world is crumbling around you, what else do you have? Now more than ever, the only thing that defines a person is what's inside and what they do with it. All the cars, money, and toys you had yesterday don't add up to diddly today.  Except maybe that rifle there, that's still worth something, I suppose.  I only wish I would have remembered this tunnel when we were trapped in here, maybe things would have turned out differently.”  A lone tear trickled down the old pastor’s cheek and hung precariously along his sagging jaw line before plummeting to the dust-covered floor.

Ezzard’s reverie was broken as John shouted from the depths of the cellar, “We got it!  I think we can get through!  Everybody come down!”

Chapter 35

October 20, 2015

Kate called to Reams, who looked like a Sherpa when he entered the room, carrying all of their gear at once.  “They got the tunnel cleared—we can head down now,” said Kate as the big man unloaded the packs and weapons next to the cellar opening.

“Good timing, too, the revs are stacking up out front.  I’m not sure how much longer the barricade will hold,” replied Reams. “Kate, I’ll head down halfway and you pass me the gear before you come down, okay?”  Kate nodded in agreement as Reams started to descend into the darkness of the cellar below.  Once he was in position, Kate passed their three rifles down.  Next, she handed Reams each of the packs before turning to address Ezzard.

“You’re next, Ezz,” said Kate as she motioned for him to head down the ladder. 

Still wearing his trademark smile, Ezzard gave Kate a small shake of his head, and said, “I’m staying here, child.  This is where I belong,” said Ezzard.

“Ezzard!  You can’t!  That’s suicide!  There are two hordes of those things converging on this place right now.  I know you have managed to avoid getting bitten thus far, but that luck isn’t going to last forever!” said Kate with noticeable disapproval in her voice.  “Now get started down the ladder!”

“Kate, my being alive is not of my own doing.  I am an old man.  I don’t possess the skills or the youth to survive something like this, yet here I am.  That is the work of someone stronger than me, so who am I to question that?  You see, the Lord is my rock, my fortress, and my deliverer.  How can I want for more than that?” said Ezzard as the rhythmic banging at the front of the church intensified.

“No child, my place is here, but this place ain’t safe for you.  So go now, and don’t fret another minute about ol’ Ezz.  I’ll be all right.”

Though she didn’t like it, she sensed there was nothing she could say or do to sway his mind. Before heading to the ladder she gave Ezzard a huge hug as she openly cried.  “Take care, Ezz, and thanks for everything.”

“Go with God, child,” replied Ezzard with a smile as he closed the cellar door, plunging them into darkness.

Switching on a flashlight, John turned to Kate, and asked, “Where’s Ezz?”  Though she didn’t speak, her tear-stained expression and the subtle shake of her head told him the answer.  He started to inquire as to why he was not coming with them, but something in Kate’s expression told him the answer to that question as well; through her tears, she was smiling. 

Russell broke the silence, saying, “John, you go first with Kate and Reams following behind you.  I’ll head down the tunnel last.  Let’s get going.”

The group crept out of the cramped cellar and into the narrow, ancient earthen tunnel; each silently praying it would not collapse.  Moving cautiously in a single-file line as though the slightest vibration might bring the roof of the derelict tunnel down on top of them, they made it to the site of the previous cave-in.  John and
Ethan
had cleared a small opening by enlarging the gap near the top of the dirt mound.  After removing their packs John and Kate wriggled through the cramped opening in the earthen wall.

Reams eyed the diminutive hole suspiciously, wondering if John or
Ethan
considered his size when they dug the passage.  After passing the bags and weapons through to John, Reams tried to psych himself up for the impossible feat.  While not particularly claustrophobic, Reams felt his anxiety was justified when the potential for further collapse of the tunnel, as well as his limited ability to breathe due to the restriction of his rib cage were factored in.

Steeling his nerves, Reams crawled into the constricted section of the tunnel.  Though it was less than four feet long, it seemed like a mile as he tried to wriggle and squirm through the constrictive passageway.  Alternately flexing and relaxing nearly every small muscle in his body as he imagined a snake might, he tried to advance as he exhaled in order to offer the least possible resistance to forward motion.  He could not tell how far he had moved because the confined space required him to keep his head turned to the side.  Even with copious words of encouragement from John and Kate, panic overtook his mind when he sensed his upper body was stuck only about half way through.

Hyperventilating and unable to see anything in the darkness, Reams began to flail his legs wildly in a futile effort to free himself.  “I’m stuck! Oh shit! Oh shit! Oh shit! I’m gonna die in here! Oh shit!” he said repeatedly.  In his agitated state he was unable to comprehend that, in much the same way as a Chinese finger trap, the more he struggled, the tighter it got.

After struggling nearly to the point of passing out, Reams finally managed to free his left arm.  Kate grasped his sweating hand and tried to calm the frantic behemoth.  John sensed that the situation was only getting worse as Reams’ spastic struggling became less forceful; he realized they were going to have to help him through.  “Russell, can you get a hold of his feet?  I’m going to try to pull him while you push him,” yelled John.  Turning to Kate, he said, “Crawl up there and try to keep him calm so he can work with us.”

After a three-count, they tried to force Reams through the opening. John and
Ethan
strained until miniscule flashes of light danced through their visual fields, but Reams budged nary an inch.  As he lay motionless, John wondered if the big man had lost consciousness.  If so, getting him through was certainly going to be a much more daunting task.

“Reams, you with us?  We’re still here.  Do you think you can work with John and
Ethan
to get you out of there?” said Kate in a soothing, almost angelic voice.  As her words faded, an eerie quiet filled the tunnel unmarred even by the sound of breathing.  No one moved a muscle as seconds passed while they awaited his reply.

“If those two scrawny white boys think they can pull my big ass through this little hole, then I’m all for it,” came a calm, rumbling voice from inside the tight gap.

Caught off-guard by Reams’ lighthearted reply, John let out a clipped, girlish laugh that would have made milk shoot out his nose as the mood in the dark, cramped tunnel rose by leaps and bounds.

“Good to have you back, ol’ buddy,” said John. “Now let’s see if we
can
get your big ass out of there.
Ethan
, wedge yourself between the walls of the tunnel, and give Reams something to push against.  Reams, I’ll pull on your arm while you try to wiggle side to side.  Don’t try to muscle through too much; it’ll just make it harder.  Take it from a scrawny white boy!”

Using their new tactic, Reams began to inch forward at a snail’s pace until his right arm finally joined his left on the outside of the hole.  John grabbed both of his wrists, pulling him to the left and right until the big man was crowning at last. 
That’s one hell of a case of shoulder dystocia!
  With one last hardy tug, Reams flopped through the opening like a twelve-pound baby sliding out of the birth canal. 

Shining his flashlight through the opening,
Ethan
quipped, “That hole looks
reamed
!”  Several clods of dirt flew through the narrow gap, unceremoniously striking him in the chest.  After clambering through with ease,
Ethan
emerged on the other side and said, “What?”

With the entirety of their group freely mobile again, they scurried down the remainder of the tunnel until they came to a similar sized cellar at the opposite end.  They found a ladder much like the one on the other side, except the lower half lay broken on the cellar floor, while the upper half hung loosely from cellar wall.  Cursing,
Ethan
shined his light around the room looking for ideas.  This room differed from the previous cellar in that it was shorter, only about ten feet tall.  Above the useless ladder they could see the hatch that would take them back above ground.

Before anyone could voice a plan to get out of the cellar, Reams was already moving an old wooden crate that was about two feet tall.  He reached up and tore the remainder of the ladder from the wall with ease, showering the survivors with a barrage of dirt and mortar as the rusty, disintegrating hardware pulled free.  After positioning the crate under the cellar door with the ladder on top leaning against the wall, he motioned for John to try out his new creation.  “Unless you think I should try it out first,” he said with a toothy grin.

Once atop the ladder, John was able to open the hatch with a few solid blows from his shoulder.  Dust and dirt trapped around the door for nearly a century rained down into his mouth and eyes as it gave way.  He let out a sigh of relief that the small door had not been locked like its counterpart in the church.

Peering through a crack beneath the partially opened hatch, John found the room above to be cloaked in darkness every bit as black as that in the tunnel.  After a silent pause, he was satisfied that he heard no sound coming from within the house.  Shining his light around, he saw what appeared to be a utility room, with several shelves and a large sink along the wall.  Carefully, he pushed his head farther through the opening, forcing the cellar door fully open.  Though he intended to lower the door gently to the floor, it slipped from his grasp, knocking a small chair over before crashing to the ground with a loud thud.  Wincing from the noise that sounded like the report of a cannon against the quiet of the room, John quickly pulled himself out of the cellar realizing he must have dropped his flashlight in the commotion.

As the reverberations of the crashing door faded in his ears, a subtle creaking sound he had not heard before registered in his brain.  Immediately, John froze as he strained to see in the darkened room.  Edging forward cautiously, something firm struck his face.  While there was no real force behind the blow, the alarm he felt caused John to flail out wildly, striking whatever had hit him as he fell back onto his haunches.  He recoiled as he realized that whatever he hit was unmistakably human but lacking the characteristic warmth he had grown to associate with being human. It was also at that instant that the sickly smell of death finally found its way through his olfactory pathways to his cerebral cortex. 
I am going to die here!

Sensing something was wrong,
Ethan
leapt onto the crate and moved up the rickety ladder.  Once there, he clicked on his flashlight and aimed it up through the open hatch as he ascended the wobbling ladder.  Illuminated by
Ethan
’s flashlight, what John saw before him was the stuff of nightmares, and he felt his blood run cold.  To his horror, a massive human form loomed before him right above the open cellar door.  Struggling to find his voice to warn the others, John saw
Ethan
poke his head through the open cellar door with an incredulous, quizzical look on his face.

“John, you look like you just saw a monster or something.  You okay, buddy?  You know this guy or something?” said
Ethan
as he tapped the dangling leg of the corpse suspended from the rafter by a rope secured around his neck. The leg drifted away slightly before softly rebounding into the back of
Ethan
’s head.  If he noticed the contact at all, John couldn’t tell. Over the incessant hammering of his racing heart, all John could hear was the creaking sound of the rope as it pulled on the rafter above.

After several moments during which John stared wide-eyed at his friend that he still thought might be devoured by the monster looming above him, the catecholamine storm tearing through his bloodstream slowly regressed taking with it the deafening roar of blood raging through his carotid arteries.  He began to hear
Ethan
’s repeated inquiries about his condition and whether or not he knew the ‘monster’ above him, the ‘monster’ that John now realized was the corpse of a man who had chosen death by hanging to whatever more malefic fate he perceived to be awaiting him.

Drawing his first breath in what seemed like hours, John said, “No, I’m fine. I just thought it was…never mind.  It just startled me. I’m good.”
Ethan
hopped out of the cellar door and joined John in the small utility room.  They, in turn, helped Kate and Reams out of the cellar, thankfully concluding their subterranean adventure.

Moving in a loose formation, the band of survivors cautiously prowled through the large, plantation-style home looking for any means of escape from the nightmare.