'Til Death Do Us Part (54 page)

“
When did I become a psychologist? You want advice, I will give it to you, but not freely. Give me willingly
what
lies between your breasts.
”

Eliza clutched at the blood stone she wore.
“
Jehovah has broken covenant.
”

“
What?
”
The snake roared. The walls glowed brighter.

“
He is directly helping a human,
”
Eliza said.

“
You have proof of this?
”
An image of a snake head appeared and hovered close to the edge of the protective circle.

Eliza laid out every detail she thought led to divine intervention up to and including his death and rebirth.

“
This is all very interesting
,
and I would not put it past him, but I fail to see how this affects me?
”

“
He has broken the laws of nature and you
fail
to see how this affects you?
”
Eliza asked with vehemence.

“
I loathe the zombies
,
my child.
”

Eliza winced at his use of
‘
my child
.’  H
e sounded too much like a father she had spent
five
centuries trying to forget.

“
They are dim-
witted and dull, they are not easily led astray. I have never had so much fun as when I twist a Catholic priest into a world of perversion. To twist God
’
s
messengers
,
ahh
,
now those are the moments I yearn for.
This human creature which He loves so much is so fallible I would have thought he would have scrapped the entire failed experiment of them by now.
”
The snake head turned into a p
riest regaled in a black suit with a white collar, his eyelids half closed as he enjoyed some unseen sexual ministrations.
“
This might be one time where I
would
be on His side.
”

Eliza was beside herself.
“
You cannot be serious?
”

“
If H
e is trying to turn the tide so that man can once again be the dominant species, then yes. Before His creation came into being
,
I onl
y controlled the lower animals—
snakes, spiders,
rats and
cats. Man is so malleable and will do almost anything to anyone to get ahead. They are so wrapped up in themselves
that
they fail to realize just how little time they will walk the earth
. A
nd an eternity in my domain
?
Well
that
’
s just a bonus f
or me. He gets so upset when He loses one of H
is children to me.
”

“
This was a waste of time,
”
Eliza said as she prepared to revoke her incantation.

“
You desire this Michael Talbot and his family to stay safe?
”
t
he priest asked Tomas.

“
More than anything.
”
Tomas spoke up.

“
I can make that happen.
”

“
I have no soul with w
hich to bargain, Great Deceiver,
”
Tomas said.

“
Purgatory is a realm in which I have full access.
”

“
He lies,
”
Eliza said.
“
He can only go there if given permission.
”

The priest hissed.
“
Ye
s
…
with your permission I can retrieve your soul and we can make a bargain.
”

Tomas was looking like he was weighing his options.

“
You cannot be serious
, Tomas.
You
would give up eternity for a mortal and his family?
”

“
Yo
u will have a seat next to mine,
”
t
he priest said
. A
s he waved his hand, an image of Tomas sitting next to him atop the tortured souls of the damned show
ed
on the far wall.

“
You are a fool
,
Tomas!
”
Eliza shouted.

“
Is he
,
my daughter?
”
The priest turned into Eliza
’
s father.
“
I offer him true immortality, to rule alongside me.
”

“
We are immortal, Deceiver!
”
Eliza spat.

“
Ah
,
now you lie
,
my child. To be immortal implies that you d
o not have the ability to die…w
hich I most assuredly guarantee you that you do. I have waited patiently for you to join me. I have set aside such wondrous things for the two of us. If He is helping to facilitate that
, then I may have to thank H
im.
”
Eliza
’
s father turned back into the form of the priest.

The echoes of the Destroyer
’
s laughter could still be heard as Eliza recanted her invocation.

“
Did that go as planned
,
dear sister?
”
Tomas asked as he stepped out of the tomb. Her response was icy silence as they got back in the car.

Mike Journal Entry 11

Azile drove the truck like the pro she was
,
getting us through some rough patches of choked traffic jams mostly unscathed. We saw the occasional zombie
,
but with food so scarce
,
they were going to stasis
mode more and more. We only had one run in of any
sort while we were on the road:
two motorcyclists who looked like they
’
d seen better days rolled up alongside us.

One pulled out a large caliber pistol and waved it around
,
making sure that I saw it. I started laugh
ing my ass off as I raised my
M-240
.
He
veered off so hard
that
I thought he was going to flip his bike. I saw him waving his partner off as they both stopped.

“
What
’
d they want?
”
Azile asked with some concern.

“
I guess they just wanted to say hi
,
”
I told her.

“
You do know that the M-16 is a much easier weapon to handle don
’
t you?
”
s
he asked.

“
Don
’
t take this away from me
,
Azile. When am I ever going to be abl
e to walk around with a machine
gun again?
”
I asked her back.

“
Have it your way
,
”
s
he replied.

“
Just like Burger King,
”
John said.
“
Although that
’
s not always the case.
I once asked them for McDonald
’
s french fries with my Whopper, because their fries taste like used socks and the kid behind the counter called me a hippie and maybe if I didn
’
t have tin foil on my head that I would realize what burger joi
nt I was in. I knew where I was,
”
John said as if he needed to defend himself to us.
“
BK has better hamburgers and Mickey D
s has better french fries.
Is
it too much to ask to have the both of them together?
”

I nodded in agreement.
I couldn
’
t even remember how many times I
’
d had that exact thought.
I sincerely hoped there weren
’
t too many more th
oughts
John and I shared in common.

“
Did you ask for extra pickles?
”

“
Pickles give you whooping cough. Everybody knows that,
”
h
e informed me.

I looked over to Azile for confirmation to see if he was speaking the truth, she shook her head slightly.

It was a couple of hours later when Azile spoke, at some point I had dozed off.
“
Now what?
”
s
he asked as she reached across John and shook my shoulder.

I brought the machinegun up rapidly only to notice that the truck was idling and I was looking at the
‘
Welcome to Philadelphia
’
sign.

“
John…
what now
,
buddy?
”
I asked him
.
H
e was staring at the sign also, although I wasn
’
t sure if he was cognitively registering it.

“
We get Stephanie!
”
h
e said excitedly.

“
Philly is a pretty big place
,
Trip
,
any idea where we should start?
”
I asked him.

“
Are you kidding me?
”
Azile shot out.
“
The stoner doesn
’
t even know which direction to go? How are we going to find her? We can
’
t waste our time on a wild goose chase!
”
Her voice was raising and I think she was approaching flip-out.

“
Azile...Azile,
”
I said more forcibly when she didn
’
t listen the first time.

John
’
s eyes were wet.
“
I know she
’
s still alive,
”
h
e said with dejection.

“
I know, we
’
ll find her,
”
I told him, giving Az
ile a healthy dose of stink eye
over his shoulder.

“
We don
’
t have time for this
, Mike,
”
s
he told me much more softly.
“
Your family is in danger.
”

“
So is his,
”
I told her.

“
Eliza will get away,
”
s
he said resting her head on the steering wheel.

“
You haven
’
t met the Talbots yet, they
’
re not just going to roll over and allow her to do as she wants. We
’
ve got some time.
”