After The Apocalypse (Book 2): Church of Chaos (17 page)

Chapter 29

Two guards were posted outside the south gate and I had lost my fake ID papers. The paperwork had been in my backpack. My backpack was probably still in Emmett's apartment.

I briefly considered walking up to the guards and explaining that I'd had a bad night and lost my paperwork. It might have worked, except the guards wouldn't allow anyone inside the gate who they even suspected might have come into contact with a zombie.

I didn't have a mirror on hand, but I was pretty sure that I looked like I'd been attacked by zombies. The cut on my leg had finally stopped bleeding, but I had dried blood caked to my shin. My shoes were long gone. My feet were cut and bleeding from running barefoot through the woods. I raked my hands through my hair in an attempt to smooth it down and discovered that the zombie who had tried to catch me by the hair earlier had left his finger behind when he'd let me go.

Gross.

I threw the offending digit down in the dirt and shuddered. No way were the guards going to let me through the gate. I had zombie chunks in my hair.

Before I'd met Seth, I might have given up. I'd been raised to do things the right way or not do them at all. Rules were not meant to be broken.

Except all the rules seemed to have been made up by the bad guys to suit their own purposes. I scowled and considered my options. The guards couldn't see me because I was hiding behind a large tree roughly 20 feet away from the gate. I was either going to have to sneak past the gate or take out guards using hand to hand combat.

It unexpectedly occurred to me how ridiculously brave Seth was. He never hesitated to go up against bigger, badder enemies. Not even when he was severely outnumbered. I'd never once seen him back down from doing what had to be done, regardless of how scary the task was.

I took a deep breath and looked around my surroundings. Trees. Rocks. More trees. Lots more trees. The broken wheel off some kind of vehicle. I seriously doubted that throwing a rock into the path would be enough of a distraction to make both guards abandon their posts.

And then I saw the zombie.

It wasn't much of a zombie, as far as zombies went. It was small and old. One of its arms was nothing more than a skeleton. It appeared to be stuck in a tangle of vines roughly 50 feet away from the gate. I doubted the guards had noticed it. It wasn't even making any noise as it half-heartedly fussed with the vines that had tangled around its feet.

I sucked in a deep breath through my teeth. If I could control zombies, then I could use this zombie to distract the guards. But first I had to set it free.

I glanced back towards the guards. They were deep in conversation and not paying the slightest bit of attention to the woods surrounding the gate. It wasn't particularly difficult to pick my way through the woods until I reached the zombie.

“Hold still,” I hissed at the creature.

It immediately stopped moving.

I nervously began yanking the vines away from the zombie's rotting feet. Some of the vines were thick, but I was able to use the edge of a sharp rock to cut through them. Roughly fifteen minutes after I'd started trying to free the zombie, it was loose.

I tried not to look into its dead, cold eyes as I gave my next command. “Attack the guards.”

As the zombie slowly shambled towards the two unsuspecting men who were protecting the gate, I crept back through the woods until I reached the very edge of the trees by the gate.

One of the guards noticed the zombie. He gestured for his friend to pay attention to the approaching monster. The two of them stood up and began walking towards the zombie. Their weapons were out and ready. The gate was unprotected.

With a silent prayer of apology, I bolted out of the woods, through the gate and back into the confines of the city of Ra-Shet.

Chapter 30

The Underground was on fire.

Smoke billowed through the air. It was so thick that I choked on it. People were screaming. People were running away from the fire. Other people were running towards the fire carrying pails and buckets.

Clearly, whatever horrors Emmett had planned to unleash on the Underground had already been unleashed. I was too late to prevent the attack.

I didn't see Seth. I didn't see Gauge. I frantically scanned the crowd for a familiar face. Finally I caught sight of a girl I recognized.

“Eden!” I called her name. “Eden! What happened?”

Her bland face was covered in soot. Her hair was a snarled mess. She was wearing a frilly pink piece of clothing that I assumed was some sort of nightgown. She was staring up at the roof of the burning building. “The Church of Chaos attacked us,” she whispered.

I followed her gaze. Seth was standing on the very top of the Underground. Flames were licking out of the windows below him. He had one hand wrapped around the throat of a struggling man who I quickly identified as Emmett.

Emmett was screaming. From the angles his legs were dangling at, I suspected they were broken.

I needed to get to Seth. Against my better sense, I ran towards the burning building. The front door hadn't quite been engulfed by the flames yet. I shoved through it as a man carrying a thin girl came out of it. They were both coughing hard.

I took my last deep breath of semi-fresh air and headed for the stairs that I knew would lead me up to the roof. The floor was scoring hot underneath my feet. Flames were licking at the windows and creeping across the floors. The entire building was creaking. I had a feeling that it was going to collapse sooner rather than later. The muscles in my legs burned from exertion as I forced myself to go up all three flights of stairs and out onto the roof of the Underground.

“Give him to me and I might let you live.” The heavyset man from the meat market was standing less than 10 feet away from Gauge and Seth.

“You might let us live?” Seth laughed. The muscles in his arms were bulging from the effort it took to keep Emmett suspended in the air. It was a wonder he hadn't already dropped the screaming man to his death three stories below.

“You're not in control here, Merrick.” Gauge had soot from the fire streaked across his hair and face. He was holding his ax in one hand. The blade looked bloody. I scanned the rooftop and saw one of Emmett's thugs, the man he'd called Dervitt, was lying dead near the far edge of the roof. He had a gaping hole in his chest.

I wanted to call out to Seth but I didn't. The last thing I needed was to distract either him or Gauge from their immediate problems. I stayed hidden in the shadows that the fire and the smoke had created.

“Gauge, think about what you're doing.” Merrick Mavon was sweating profusely. His dress shirt was torn and stained. “You've broken the law. We had every right to raid the Underground. You were harboring a wanted fugitive. The man beside you is a murderer.”

“You're a murderer,” Gauge said. “You murder dozens of people every week in the meat market.”

“The deaths that occur because of the meat market aren't murders. They're an unfortunate consequence of our very human need to survive. Uncontaminated meat is a necessity, Gauge.”

“No, it's not.” Seth briefly loosened his grip on Emmett. The flailing man dropped several inches before Seth re-tightened his grip. “Food is a necessity. Uncontaminated meat is a luxury. If the people in the Burroughs can survive while eating slightly contaminated meat, so can you.”

“Father! Help me!” Emmett cried out. “He's going to kill me. They're going to kill me!”

The fat man paled. His fleshy cheeks were flushed from exertion and his shirt was covered in sweat. “Gauge, violence isn't the answer to your problems. If you align yourself with the Church of Chaos, you'll be a criminal.”

“I'm aware of the potential consequences.” Gauge's attention was focused entirely on Merrick. “And you're right. I've always believed in finding a peaceful resolution to the problems that plague Ra-Shet.”

Merrick nodded at him. “Taking a violent stand like this will only cause more deaths. You don't want people to die. Stop this nonsense and turn yourself in. I'll suggest that the king show you leniency when you're sentenced for the crimes you've committed tonight.”

“You're the one who came into my sanctuary,” Gauge gestured to the burning building under our feet. “You and your men attacked my people. You poured kerosene on the floors and set our home on fire. You crossed a line when you came into
my home
and started killing
my people
.”

“You were harboring a criminal,” Merrick gestured at Seth.

“My people weren't even armed,” Gauge spat the words at Merrick. “I've refused to let them carry weapons because I didn't want to give you an excuse to arrest them.”

Seth mimed dropping Emmett again. The captive man howled in terror. Merrick swallowed visibly.

“We had a tip that the high priest of the Church of Chaos was within your walls. I had every right to enter your premises and take control using whatever means necessary.”

“You attacked and slaughtered a group of unarmed civilians.”

“Most of your people survived.” Merrick held his arms out in a gesture of partial surrender. “You can rebuild.”

Gauge shook soot out of his blonde hair and snorted in disbelief. He shifted his grip on his ax. “I can rebuild?”

“Assuming your permits are approved and you can find the funding,” Merrick said.

Emmett screamed again. Seth choked him back to silence.

“You're not doing a very good job of convincing me to let your son live,” Gauge sounded almost thoughtful. “If I give Emmett back to you now, I'm still going to be arrested. My people will still be dead. The Underground itself is gone. You and I both know that I'll never have the permits or money to rebuild.”

“Alright.” Merrick was nodding. “I see your point. Maybe I'm not explaining myself clearly enough to you. If you kill my son, then you and all of your followers will die the most painful deaths imaginable. How is that for convincing you to give yourself over to me?”

“Not good enough,” Gauge said. “I'm going to die regardless of what I do.”

“Set Emmett loose and I won't persecute your followers,” Merrick said.

Gauge hesitated and then turned to face Seth. “You believe him?”

“Not for a second.” Seth was watching the flames that were beginning to lick up the sides of the building's walls.

“If you side with the Church of Chaos, you will be officially labeled as an enemy of the city.” Merrick took several steps towards Gauge. “I'll see that you die for your crimes.”

“Not before you die for yours.” Gauge threw his ax without warning. The weapon sailed through the air, flipping end over end until it crashed into Merrick Mavon's face. The blade of the ax buried itself in Merrick's face. Merrick stood completely still has blood began to ooze from the skull-splitting wound. Merrick fell backwards onto the ground with a thud.

Emmett was screaming at the top of his lungs. He struggled and flailed against Seth. The fire was crackling and roaring around us.

Gauge stepped up onto the ledge of the roof and said something to Seth. Flames had begun pouring out of the doors on the bottom level of the building now. I had no idea how we were going to get down safely. I might be able to control zombies but I was definitely not fireproof.

“Seth!” I called his name and he turned to face me. I saw the slightest flicker in his eyes. He opened his mouth to say something but I couldn't make out his words. He gestured for me to stay where I was. Unsure of what else to do, I obeyed him.

Gauge nodded at something Seth had said. Seth pulled Emmett back onto the roof of the burning building and abruptly let him go. Emmett crumpled into a broken heap. His wailing could be heard even through the chaos of the crowd that had surrounded the Underground.

“Ladies and Gentleman,” Gauge called out from very top of the roof. “Ladies and Gentlemen, hear me now!”

The crowd quieted down slightly. The crackling hiss of the fire was louder than the whispers of the people below.

Gauge held his arms out wide. “You all know who I am. You all know that I've spent the last four years of my life doing everything in my power to bring a peaceful end to the violence and cruelty in this city. I've done everything in my power to save the lives of hundreds of innocent human beings without shedding a single drop of blood!”

No one spoke. Everyone in the crowd stood rapt and waiting to see what he would do.

“I believe in the law! I believe in reform! I believe in the people of this city! I believe that the people in this city have the right to live their lives without having to worry that one day they will have to sell themselves at the meat market in order to put food in their families’ mouths and a roof over their heads. My people and I have worked hard to create a sanctuary for others who are in need. We've worked hard to make the Underground a place where people could come and feel safe.”

A massive burst of flames shot up through the roof of the building. The rush of heat that came from the fire was intense. I was sweating but I didn't step back from the flames. Whatever point Gauge was making, he needed to make it fast. The building was going to collapse.

“Tonight, Emmett Maven and a group of his paid thugs came into the sanctuary we created and lit it on fire.” Gauge gestured down at Emmett. The man in question was sitting on the ledge of the rooftop. He probably would have tried to flee, but Seth still had one hand around his throat.

“For those of you who don't know who Emmett is, he's the son of Merrick Maven. His father owns the meat market. His father came with him tonight when he attacked us.”

Some people in the crowd began to boo and jeer.

“Emmett and Merrick thought they could intimidate me. He thought he could torture me into giving up in my quest to protect the innocent people of this city,” Gauge continued. “They were wrong.”

Gauge raised his ax high into the air above Emmett's head.

“I've seen tonight that it's too late for pacifism. Ladies and Gentlemen, this is officially a war.”

Gauge brought the blade of his ax down fast and hard. He struck through Emmett's neck in one quick blow. His head flew loose from his neck and fell off the roof. It landed on the ground in front of the crowd. Emmett's thick lips were still wide open from his last horrified scream.

As people screamed and cheered below, I felt the entire building shift underneath my feet. “Seth!”

Seth turned back towards me. His eyes were wide and he yelled for me to run, but it was too late. The building exploded underneath us.