The Scavengers (17 page)

The yelling woke me up. It echoed through the stone walls of the church and boomed in the open chambers. I whimpered and pulled my pillow over my head.

“You stupid fool! Why would you risk everything?”

I abruptly occurred to me to wonder where I'd gotten a pillow. I sat up and looked around. I was sitting in a nest of bedding. Thick, plushy comforters and pillows had been heaped onto the largest bed I'd ever seen.

“I needed a purpose.”

“You're an idiot. You already have a purpose. The lawn of church is filled with worshipers begging for your blessing. Groveling for your touch.”

I slid out of the bed and noted that I was wearing a shift-dress that was nearly identical to the one that Vera had been wearing earlier. I felt strangely exposed as I made my way to the doorway of the bedroom and then followed the echoes of the shouting out into the hallway.

“I never wanted to be worshiped!” Seth yelled as I stepped into the big chamber at the end of the hall.

Seth looked rough. His clothes were filthy and torn. His arm had a fresh, oozing scrape that went from his exposed shoulder all the way down to his wrist. It didn't look like the kind of wound that would heal on someone who was already gradually turning into a zombie. Dark circles underlined both of his eyes and the white of the scar on his face stood out starkly against his skin.

“You're a fool,” Vera snapped at him. “Taking off for days at time because you thought you saw the girl you've been dreaming about since we were children. Leaving everyone here to fend for ourselves while you chase one wild goose after another. What kind of a High Priest abandons his followers?”

“You and I both know that everyone on that hill is crazy as a fucking loon,” Seth snarled. “I'm no more sacred than that pot in the corner is.” He pointed to a fat blue vase that was just left of the doorway I was standing in.

His jaw dropped when he caught sight of me. He took two steps towards me and then stopped dead in his tracks. “Pilar?”

“Hi.” I gave him a small wave and a small but genuine smile. “The hospitality here is really something.”

“I can only imagine.” Seth closed the distance between us. He grabbed my chin in his right palm and put his left around my hips. “I thought you were dead.”

“I'm sorry?” I swallowed a lump in my throat and leaned against him. I could feel how hard his pulse was pounding in his throat as I laid my cheek against his neck. His skin was so hot I was surprised touching him didn't burn my fingers.

“I went back to the river and you were gone. Your clothes and your machete were there, but you were gone,” his voice shook as he spoke.

“Drake found us.” I didn't even try to hide the bitterness I felt. “Did you know that he only invited me to join the Scavengers because the Powers that Be had told him to kill me?”

“You know I had questions about why you were on an active hunt,” Seth reminded me. “But no. To answer your question, no. I didn't know he'd brought you out of the Cube to kill you until Jeb told me.”

“Jeb told you?” I sucked in my breath. “You saw Jeb? Is he okay?”

“I followed his tracks from the river to the bus. He was loading thousands of cans from Drake's not-so-secret stockpile onto the bus when I caught up with them. I offered to get him out of there, bring him back here with me, but he says Drake won't hurt him. I don't know if I agree with his assessment, but it's his choice. Drake's gone insane. He killed Shayla and Kennedy both.”

“I know,” I said with a nod. “Kennedy was trying to get away. He wanted to leave the Scavengers for good. Drake slaughtered him in the woods before he even made it halfway here.”

“It's my fault. I knew he wanted to defect. I should have stayed with him.” Seth turned his head to the side so that he wasn't looking me in the eyes. “But I didn't. I was more worried about you.”

“Vera says you dream about me?” I asked.

“Vera has a big mouth.” Seth narrowed his eyes at his sister.

“You told me she was the girl. Why else do you think I let her shove her way in here?” Vera crossed her arms over her chest and glared back at Seth.

“You shoved your way past Vera?” Seth looked mildly impressed.

“She also got into a fight with the worshipers on the stairs,” Vera explained. “I would have thrown her out, but she started talking about you and guns, so I decided to listen to what she had to say.”

“Me and guns.” Seth smiled slowly and reached down into the back pocket of his jeans and pulled out my father's revolver. “Missing this?”

“I didn't figure you'd been dumb enough to lose it in the junkyard,” I said as I took it back from him, only to belatedly realize I had nowhere to carry a gun in this dress.

Seth noticed my problem and let out a short laugh. “You want me to hold on to it for you?”

“I want you to come with me,” I told him.

“Come with you?”

“Drake talked a lot the other night on the river bank. He told me Bud Moon took my parents to Ra-Shet. He says they're-.”

“Being sold in the meat market.”

“You already knew?” I pulled away from him in horror.

“No.” Seth pulled me back to him. “I just know what Bud Moon does for a living. He's a flesh broker.”

“I have to save them.”

“Pilar-.”

“I have to save them. At least, I have to try.” I stared up into his eyes, trying to focus on the very alive blue one rather than the ice cold dead one. “I came here to ask you to help me. You don't have to. I know its dangerous. Whether or not you come with me is your choice.”

“When do we leave?” Seth asked.

COMING SOON

IN 2015

CHURCH OF CHAOS

The Sequel to The Scavengers

“I hope you understand the depths of the hell you're unleashing.”

I was sitting on my knees on the cold stone floor of the chapel, staring up the heavy iron cross that crowned the alter. My mother was a woman of faith and she'd read the Bible to me every night when I was a child. She'd spoken often of God, Jesus and the saving grace of the holy spirit. I'd never been able to relate, but if there had ever been a time for me to find a relationship with God, this did seem to be it.

“I don't know what you're talking about,” I admitted. Tomorrow, Seth and I would ride for Ra-Shet in a last-ditch effort to save the lives of my parents before they were eaten by cannibalistic upper class of the city. Vera thought my parents were probably already steaks and that we were wasting our time. She hadn't been shy about saying so to my face.

She walked down the aisle of the church and sat down on the pew to my left. Her long, sleek hair hung down her back like a curtain of black silk. Her dress was a short black sheath  that would have looked like a garbage bag on me. Her knee-high boots were made of shiny black plastic and featured pointy, open toes and ridiculously high stiletto heels. Clearly she wasn't dressing for function tonight. I wondered which one of the Church's handful of inner-circle members she had dressed to impress.

“Are you familiar with the battle of Troy?” She asked me as she held up a battered paperback book in her right hand.

“I'm sorry?”

“Helen of Troy had a face so beautiful that it launched a 10 year war and a thousand ships.” She tossed the book down in front of my knees. It landed on the stone floor with a thump and I recognized the title.

“I've read the Iliad.” I had no idea where she was going with this and I made no move to pick the book up.

“Then you should know that nothing but death is going to come from the war you're about to launch with that pretty face of yours.” Vera cocked her head at me and shrugged her delicate, narrow shoulders at me.

“I'm not launching a war,” I said. “I'm just trying to save the lives of the two people who matter most to me in this world.”

“If you don't think you're launching a war, then you obviously don't know my brother very well.” Vera sneered at me through lips that she'd painted cherry red. Her light blue eyes were bright in the darkness. “He's got a taste for blood and you've given him an excuse to storm the city.”

“My parents don't deserve to die.” I stood up because I didn't like having to stare up into her condescending sneer. She was still several inches taller than me thanks to the boots. “They didn't ask to be snatched from our apartment and served up on a plate to the highest bidder.”

“I never said they deserved their fate,” Vera replied. “I'm just asking if you're prepared to take responsibility for the hell you're about to unleash on thousands of innocent people.”

“I'm not unleashing hell on anybody,” I told her. “Except maybe the flesh broker who is holding my parents.”

Vera laughed in my face. “You have no idea what you've done or how many people are going to die because of you.”

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