Hunter Of The Dead (12 page)

Chapter Seventeen

The priest’s voice snapped Eden’s gaze from her sister. He paced across the stage, looking like nothing more than a dangerous predator. She frowned. She’d never seen that kind of caged violence before in someone who didn’t have military training. As far as she knew, there was no law saying priests couldn’t have been in the military. Still, it didn’t seem right.

“And now, my lambs...”

Eden snorted, earning a sharp look from Kaede.

“Now, we come closer to the day of reckoning. The Lord Almighty Himself has sent this plague upon us to test our commitment, our
love
, for Him. We must prove true.”

Eden couldn’t look away from him. His voice drew her in despite herself, rolling the Spanish words beautifully off his tongue. Not that she was tempted to believe him—he was clearly insane—but she could acknowledge his skill. He had to have had some serious speech training in his past.

“Did not the Israelites, God’s chosen people, face destruction time and time again for their sins, for their refusal to follow him? Yes, I tell you, and yes again. Repeatedly they were allowed to be beaten down, taken into slavery, and killed because of their sins.”

Eden wondered where he was going with this. Because he was going somewhere. She couldn’t see his eyes from this distance, but his stance was overly aggressive, demanding the survivors to believe him, to follow him. “Even the most faithful were tested. Was not Daniel sent into the lion’s den? Did not the One True God allow Satan to take everything from Job, to ravish his very body with disease? Yes and yes again. If these most holy of holy men were tested, how much more so shall you and I be tested? And now, my lambs, the time is upon us.”

He paused and Eden found herself holding her breath, waiting to see what he’d say next. Damn, he was good. “Just as it is written by the prophets Zechariah and Isaiah, the Almighty has turned our enemies into flesh-eating abominations.”

At that, there were murmurs among the crowd. Eden waited for someone to protest, to say their friends and family and neighbors couldn’t have all been enemies of God. But no one spoke out and the whispers quieted. She was tempted to yell something herself, but she couldn’t risk giving their position away.

The priest waited until he had near-perfect silence before he continued. “Do not fear, children of God. The One True God will protect you from the abominations. Has he not already done so? Did not I give warning of the coming plague and lead you here to this safe place?”

Eden frowned. He’d known the zombies were coming? How was that even possible? She shook her head, thinking hard. The fence was obviously military-grade and, combined with the priest’s rather blatant training, it added up to one nasty picture. Had someone really sent him ahead of time and then released the infection on purpose? The thought sent chills down her spine.

The priest paced back across the stage. “The Lord Almighty sent me to deliver you from this plague of sinners turned demons. I have done it once, and I will do it again. Gather your things and settle yourself to pray; two days hence, we will deliver Satan’s minions to their brethren, then we will walk from this self-made prison and exit the Valley of Death. The servants of the Living God will fear no evil!” He raised his hands into the air and looked up. “God bless us all. Amen.”

The electronic lanterns scattered about the camp flickered once as he brought his hands down and the majority of the crowd jumped. Eden doubted the failure was anything but intentional, even if she couldn’t figure out how he’d done it. But it certainly lent a bang to his words. She looked over the crowd, curious what their reactions would be, if any of them shared her suspicions regarding the priest’s words.

Some people broke off and made their way to the tents lining the cliff walls, but most gathered in small groups, whispering fiercely. She couldn’t see their faces clearly, but the tone wasn’t worried. It was reverent. These fools actually believed him. They were going to stand by while he killed her sister and Taro, and then they were going to voluntarily walk into a crowd of zombies.

Children darted in between the groups, playing incomprehensible games only kids knew the rules to. They trusted their parents to keep them safe, to make sure things would be okay, and those same parents stood by, planning their deaths.

Fury washed Eden’s vision in red and she had to force herself to breathe. Only years of control kept her from killing them all...and the fact she had no gun at the moment. People like these didn’t deserve life, and they certainly didn’t deserve to have innocents relying on them.

Her control wavering, Eden sat back and closed her eyes. She had to get herself together. Freaking out wasn’t going to help Jordan or those kids. For the first time in their lives, Jordan needed Eden’s help, needed to be saved. She couldn’t let these idiots get in the way of that.

“Are you well,
querida
?”

“Give me a moment.”

Eden counted to ten—twice—before she opened her eyes. Her fury hadn’t diminished in the intervening time, but it now had a focus.

“Do you think I’ll go to hell for killing a priest?”

Kaede laughed softly. “I doubt he’s really a priest. Did you see the way he moved?”

Eden glanced over, but she could only make out a vague outline of the other woman. “I thought so too. But he could be former military and crazy. Definitely crazy.”

“It’s possible. If you believe in coincidences. I don’t.”

Eden looked back at the camp but the priest had disappeared into the largest tent. Kaede was right. It was too much of a coincidence. “I wonder how long he was here before the initial infection. Because he’s obviously got an agenda.” A horrible thought wormed its way into her mind, taking root no matter how hard she tried to deny it. “He’s cleaning up the mess. No nasty survivors to muddy things.” It made her sick just thinking about it. “I’ve changed my mind. We’re definitely killing the priest.”

“Help yourself,” Kaede leaned over the ledge. “There are plenty of shadows now since they’re dimming the lanterns. If we climb down here we’ll come out directly behind this line of tents. It will provide cover while we get to Taro and Jordan.”

Eden followed her gaze. The tents weren’t huge, but they looked new in the false light. Paired with the fence and the dais, it indicated a level of premeditation that blew Eden’s mind. She’d always wondered if the infections popping up were intentional but, until now, she’d been able to write it off. The longer they stuck around this valley, the more questions Eden had. And she didn’t like the conclusions she was coming to. Or her part in them—unwitting or not.

“I don’t suppose you have a conveniently installed repel line?” she asked.

Kaede snorted. “No, princess. We’re doing this the old-fashioned way.”

“Of course we are.”

Kaede double-checked her pack and slid her legs over the ledge. “See you at the bottom.”

Eden waited until the other woman’s head disappeared before she said, “Hopefully not in a million pieces.”

Her only answer was soft laughter drifting up from the darkness below.

“Here.” Alejandro pulled something out of his pack. Rope.

“What do you think you’re doing?” Even as she asked, she had a feeling she knew.

“You are too weak.”

Eden’s head snapped back as if he physically slapped her. “I am not.”

“Yes,
querida
, you are.”

He came at her with the rope and she swatted his hands away. “You can’t hold me even if I do fall. Back the fuck off.” The thought of falling and taking him with her scared Eden more than her death alone. There was no way she’d be responsible for another person’s life like this. Especially Alejandro’s.

Alejandro sighed. “You are going to be stubborn about this, no?”

“Just because you’re being stupid.” As soon as the words were out of her mouth, she regretted them. He was being stupid because he was concerned about her. “Alejandro, I’m sorry.”

He kissed her, a hard crush of lips that was gone before she could sink into it. “I know,
querida
. This is difficult for me as well.”

There was nothing she could say to comfort him. Eden sighed and slid over the ledge, feeling her way down. It was hard, harder than going up. She was tired and could barely see the cracks in the darkness. Halfway down, her arms began quivering, her fingers feeling like sausages, unable to grasp the small cracks.

Alejandro was five feet above her, clinging like freaking Spiderman. As she watched, he slipped easily down another foot. Damn him for making it look so simple while she was covered in sweat and couldn’t make her muscles stop shaking.

“Take a deep breath,
querida
. Stop and breathe.”

She stared at the rock wall in front of her. It was hard to tell in the shadows, but the crack in front of her left eye looked kind of like the Mona Lisa. Ah hell, she was officially loosing it. “I’m fine.”

“I know,
mi amor
. I know.”

Eden moved, blindly reaching for the next handhold. Through the rest of the way down, she cursed her pride for getting her into this mess in the first place, for refusing to be left behind. She could be relatively safe right now, tucked away in a tree somewhere, while Kaede and Alejandro did insane things like scale cliffs and kill priests. She was too stubborn for her own good...a running trend in her family.

When her feet finally touched solid ground, she collapsed, offering a prayer of thanks. At this rate, she’d be going to Mass twice a week whenever she made it home. Funny how the thought didn’t repel her like it normally did; there was nothing like living through hell to make you appreciate the thought of heaven. Alejandro dropped smoothly to the ground next to Eden and helped her sit up.

“Are you well?”

She was gasping for breath, shaking, and sweating like a pig. It was pretty obvious she was
not
well, so Eden ignored him. She looked around in time to see Kaede melt out of the shadows behind the nearest tent, slinking over to them.

“There are armed guards at the front and back of the priest’s tent.” At Eden’s frown, Kaede shrugged. “They aren’t obvious about it. All four are dressed like the survivors and they have their guns hidden, but I can pick out muscle a mile away. There are also four armed guards set up along the fence.”

Eden had seen them from above. She nodded and accepted the water Alejandro offered. “Where are Jordan and Taro?”

“Still on the dais. They have three survivors guarding them.”

That would make things easier. Or it would have if the dais wasn’t in the middle of the damn camp and the camp itself wasn’t lit up like the fourth of July. Eden tried to force her sluggish thoughts into order. A nap would have been helped tremendously but there wasn’t time for luxuries.

“What did you have in mind?”

“The Columbian can take out the guards on the dais. Probably shouldn’t kill them since it will piss the villagers off. You get the guards alongside the back of the tent. I’ll take out the ones in front and the priest.” Kaede watched Eden closely. “Unless you want to.”

Did she really want to kill a man, even one as vile as the priest? No. If it came down to him or her, she wouldn’t hesitate, but having Kaede take care of him would take the decision out of her hands. Eden desperately wanted to tell the other woman to deal with him. But he’d hurt Jordan, planned on killing her and he wanted to kill all those brave and lucky enough to survive the initial infection. Eden wouldn’t even care about the survivors—if those people were idiots enough to walk out of a perfectly safe place and into certain death, more power to them—if it weren’t for the children. She wanted him dead because he didn’t have the decency to protect the truly innocent.

“Whoever gets there first can do it,” she finally said.

Alejandro brushed the hair out of her face. “Be careful,
mi amor
.”

She nodded, knowing she’d do no such thing. Being careful would have been staying home and having a normal, boring life. The was no room in her world for careful, not when she knew the monsters weren’t pretend, knew what could happen if they were left to slaughter and turn unchecked. But there was no reason in making him worry. Either she’d survive the next few hours or she wouldn’t. It was a remarkably freeing thought after so many days of fear and uncertainty.

“Enough,” Kaede muttered. “Let’s do this.”

Chapter Eighteen

Eden and Kaede kept the cliff to their left as they headed for the priest’s tent. Alejandro disappeared in the opposite direction, blending in effortlessly with the survivors as he made his way to the dais. She had no idea how the hell he was going to get rid of the guards without the rest of the survivors seeing him and rioting. Eden pushed the thought from her mind. She couldn’t afford to be distracted right now.

The last of the tents fell away, and she was left standing before the small open space surrounding the priest’s tent. Kaede shot her a grin before slinking around the front. Eden crept closer, keeping to the shadows.

She carefully slid the
bolo
out. For one long moment the tent beckoned, tempting her to go straight for the priest. But that wasn’t the plan, and leaving the guards conscious would be a mistake.

One guard stood with his back to her, facing the space behind the tent. Eden slipped up next to him, careful not to make a sound. She grabbed her knife out of her boot; it was easier to maneuver than the
bolo
. Before he knew she was there, she covered his mouth with the forearm of the hand holding the
bolo
and knocked him over the head with her knife hilt. He staggered, not going down, and she hit him again. This time he went limp. Eden grunted softly as she lowered him to the ground. Damn, he was heavy. And it would have been smarter to kill him. She could almost hear Dad’s voice in her ear, yelling at her to finish what she’d started.

The small sound must have alerted the other guard. Footsteps approached from the left, tracing the back perimeter of the tent.

“Cohen?”

Eden startled at the sound of his voice. The guard had a Southern accent. One more thing indicating this situation wasn’t anywhere near as simple as an outbreak of infected.

“Cohen, where are you?”

Her element of surprise was gone, along with the chance to knock him out. Any second he would appear out of the darkness and see her handiwork. Eden panicked, flipping the knife until she held the blade. She froze, listening hard. A rock moved, kicked by the guard’s unwary foot. She threw her knife.

“Shit!”

Damn it. The survivors might not hear him, but the priest would. Eden jumped to her feet and rushed him. He saw her coming and raised the pistol in this hand, getting a shot off. She threw herself to the ground, rolling and coming back to her feet with barely a pause. Before he could shoot again, she swung her
bolo
, sending a thin trail of blood spurting when she made contact. When he bent over, instinctively protecting the stomach wound, she cut off his head.

As she stood over his dead body, her conscience reared its ugly head.
Holy crap, I just killed a man
. Eden’s breath came too fast and she dropped to her knees. In all her years as the team’s sniper, she’d never killed a human, not even a bitten one. Sure, she’d wanted to kill the priest, but it was an abstract thought. And this man was just a guard.

There wasn’t time for her to have second thoughts. These people took Jordan, planned on killing her—or at least standing by while the priest killed her. They deserved to die. Despite her crappy pep talk, guilt rose, choking her. She hadn’t wanted it to come to this.

Eden searched his body for the knife she’d thrown. It was stuck in the meaty part of his left thigh; not a killing wound, but it’d slowed him down enough to give her the advantage. Eden’s fingers brushed his gun as a voice behind her said, “Don’t even think about it.”

The priest. After his speech, she would have recognized his voice anywhere.

She moved slowly, sitting back on her heels and raising her empty left hand. The knife was already back in her boot and her right hand held the
bolo
. If she moved fast enough, she could finish this before he knew what was happening.

“I have a gun leveled at the back of your head and I’m out of range of your blade. Drop it and stand. Slowly.”

There was no way to tell if he was speaking the truth so she did as he said, opening her hand and letting the
bolo
drop to the ground. It made a wet splat as it landed in the mud created by the guard’s blood. She sent a silent apology to the blade as she rose to her feet.

“Turn around.”

Eden turned, her hands raised in the universal gesture of surrender. There was no way she could get to the knife in her boot without him knowing. So she waited. Obviously he wanted to talk or he would have shot her as soon as he had her in his sights.

Her first up-close view of the priest didn’t tell her much. It was too dark, even with the nearly full moon overhead, to see more than his body and a vague impression of his face. He was bigger than Eden had thought, broader than Alejandro through the shoulders and a few inches over six feet.

“Into the tent.” He motioned with his gun, the moonlight reflecting off cold steel.

Eden did as he said, entering the tent through a back flap she missed seeing earlier. That had been careless of her. Jordan was right: Eden wasn’t qualified for groundwork. If she got out of this mess alive, she was never going to bitch about being a sniper again. It was darker in the tent than outside so she stopped a few paces in. Hopefully he would come close enough for her to stab.

He didn’t. Instead the priest turned on a lantern, illuminating a sleeping bag, several piles of books and three crates stacked haphazardly in the corner.

Eden turned to face him. His coloring fit in with the locals, but she’d bet her
bolo
he was from a country farther north. He wasn’t particularly attractive, his jaw a little too soft and his lips too full and shapeless. But he looked like someone trustworthy, someone who walked old ladies across the street and rescued cats from trees. No doubt he used it for all he was worth.

“You look familiar.” He cocked his head to the side, his dark eyes searching her face before giving her body a cursory glance. Even without all the grandstanding, his voice was beautiful, his accent nearly perfect. “Have we met?”

Thank God she was fluent in Spanish. Her accent was even better than his. “Do you use that line with all the girls?” Eden forced a smile, laughing bitterly. “You already have me in your tent.”

He didn’t answer, still frowning at her. If she gave him long enough, he would realize she was related to Jordan. Dad always said they could nearly pass for twins, even with the five-year age difference. It was probably only the length of the hair throwing him off now.

Eden made a show of looking around the tent. “You know, lying is a sin. Says so in the Bible.”

“You don’t say?” He raised furry eyebrows. “Good thing I’m a priest then, isn’t it?”

She needed him to get closer. “I’m pretty sure priests aren’t supposed to lead their subjects into certain death. Homicide and all that.”

“They are free to make their own decisions.” He circled around the wall of the tent, careful to keep the same distance between them.

“Suicide then. However you look at it, it’s sin, sin, sin. Not very priestly of you.”

He shrugged, the gun pointed at her never wavering. “I am not responsible for the actions of my lambs. I merely serve as a guide.”

Of course he did. After all, he knew exactly what would happen once those people went through the gates. “So what’s the next step? I assume you have an escape plan.”

His expression went hard. “Enough questions. Who are you and what the fuck are you doing sneaking outside my tent and killing my guards?”

He already knew she wasn’t from the village, but better he thought she was working alone than turning his attention to what might be going on outside the tent.

“Answer me.”

“I don’t like liars.” She spat at his feet. “And I’ve never met a priest who talks like you.”

He crossed the space between them in two strides, pistol-whipping her in the face. Eden saw stars for a split second as she collapsed to the ground. While this got him closer, she could have done without the new injury. The priest stood over her, pointing the gun at her face.

“I’m out of patience. Why are you here?”

“Why wouldn’t I be here?” she gasped. Her left hand inched to her boot, the movement hidden beneath her body because of the way she’d fallen. Her fingers wrapped around the knife hilt as he stepped forward. The priest swung his foot, but she anticipated the movement and rolled, toppling him to the floor. He landed on her, knocking her breath from her lungs for one eternal moment. White spots danced across her vision as she tried and failed to draw a breath. Eden panicked, slashing and stabbing him in the side and leg. She couldn’t breathe. She had to get him off her.

The priest thrashed, backhanding her. Eden’s vision blinked out and she lost her grip on her knife.
This is it. I’m going to die
. She couldn’t even see straight, let alone fight him off. And then the weight of his body was gone and she could suddenly breathe again. Eden blinked, waiting for the world to stop spinning.

A low laugh made her look over to find Kaede bending over the fallen priest. She reached drew a finger along his neck as if she were slitting his throat. “Hello, Father. We have some questions for you.”

Eden rolled over, trying to move her head at little as possible. Her jaw was one big blur of pain, throbbing in time with her racing heart. At least she was pretty sure he hadn’t broken it. By the time she got to her knees, Kaede was sitting with the priest’s head cradled in her lap. “Now, Father, are you going to be a good Catholic and give us answers?”

“Fuck you.”

She grinned, making Eden’s blood run cold. “I had hoped you’d say that.” Kaede did something to his stomach, making him scream.

“Stop.” Was that raspy sound her voice? Eden cleared her throat. “Kaede, stop.”

Kaede drew her hand back, her fingers dripping blood.
Oh God
. “We don’t have time for pussy-footing around, princess. He’s going to die soon and we need to know what he does.” Before Eden could protest, she dug her fingers back into his open wounds, making him scream again.

The priest writhed, trying to get away from Kaede, but he was too weak. Too weak from stab wounds Eden had given him. She swallowed hard. “There has to be another way.” A way that didn’t include torturing a dying man.

“There isn’t.” Kaede lifted her hand and let blood drip into the priest’s face. “Are you going to talk now, or do I get to play some more?”

“Talk,” he rasped.

Kaede threw a victorious look at Eden. “Why are you in the valley?”

“To infiltrate the village.”

She tapped his forehead, hard. “Duh. Why?”

Eden bit back her protests. Kaede was right. They did need this information. She desperately didn’t want to watch, but she was the reason he was bleeding out on the dirt floor of this tent. Not that she regretted his death, only that it was being drawn out like this.

“To test...” He gurgled and blood foamed from his mouth. Kaede made a face and wiped it away almost delicately. “How effective...religion is...when infection runs rampant.”

Kaede met Eden’s questioning gaze and shrugged. She had no idea what he was talking about either. Maybe he truly was crazy.

“Who do you work for?”

The priest coughed, blood running from the sides of his mouth. His entire body shuddered once, twice, and then went still. Kaede made a disgusted sound and pushed his head off her lap. “That was a waste of time.”

“Kaede.” Eden paused, not sure she really wanted to ask the question hovering just inside her lips. “You were awful comfortable with this.”

Kaede smiled, but her dark eyes were dead. “Just a little skill I picked up from Mommy Dearest.”

There was nothing she could say to that. Hell, she couldn’t even be horrified. Eden knew all about screwed up families. Her dad might not have taught her torture techniques, but he had taught Eden and her sister countless ways to kill humans and infected. Their team was so fucked up. “Help me up?”

Kaede pulled Eden carefully to her feet. For a long moment, Eden thought she might puke, but her stomach held. “The other guards?”

“Dead. And the one you knocked out.” Eden’s horror must have shown on her face because Kaede shook her head. “He was awake and about to come running to the priest’s rescue. It had to be done.”

Somehow Eden didn’t believe her.