Chapter 18

Drew and Kenzie were lying on the floor in the very small and very dark room. They had been doing so for quite a while. Eventually they had fallen asleep from exhaustion. Now they were rather brusquely woken up by the strong men from the night before. As they were dragged out of the room their eyes were stabbed by the sudden sunlight shining in through the windows.

They were given a meager breakfast of half cold porridge, and they ate in silence. After this they were allowed to go to the bathroom and then they were led outside and put in their car. The men drove towards the central part of the town.

“Where are you taking us?” Kenzie asked

“To the Church.” One of the men responded

“You mean the mad doomsday cult?” Kenzie asked

“Yes.”

“Why?!” Kenzie and Drew exclaimed

“A few days ago we sent some people out to try to find food. They were captured by the church. Now we are trading you for them and a bit of foor.”

“And why would they accept us as payment?” Drew asked

“Because you are from the infected areas. They can use you in their rites of purification.” The man said

“That… doesn’t sound very good.” Drew said

“How can you do this!?” Kenzie asked

The man turned around and looked at them. “Look, I’m sorry – but they have MY SON!”

Drew and Kenzie looked at each other; they were screwed.

Soon they stopped in front of a building that looked vaguely like a church. Mostly it looked like a fortress, with all the windows boarded up and barbed wire all around it. A lot of people were standing outside, looking at them.

The men from the skiing lodge brought them up to a man who seemed to be the leader. “Here you have them. Where are our people?”

“We decided to keep them, but we’ll give you some extra food.” The cult leader said with a smile that can only be described as evil.

“No! We had a deal!”

“The deal has changed. Now, take your food and go, before I change my mind again.”

Suddenly Drew and Kenzie noticed that some of the people at the church were armed. The message was clear. The men from the lodge had no choice but to take the food given to them and leave.

The cult leader ordered the prisoners to be taken to the basement, but not in the same room as the infidels.

Drew and Kenzie did not fight back, but as soon as they were locked in the room they started to look for a way out. They found none.

“We should have brought the others.” Drew said to Kenzie

“They can take care of themselves.” Kenzie replied

“Sure they can, but what about us? If the others had been with us none of this would have happened!” Drew said

“Yeah, sure. Because they are all such combat monkeys!” Kenzie said angrily

“No. But Asher is big enough to scare people, and we would at least have been harder to overpower. Maybe that would have been enough to discourage them.” Drew said coldly

“You’re right. I’m sorry.” Kenzie said

They waited for hours without anything happening, but then all of a sudden they heard screams and what sounded an awful lot like gunshots. They stood up and listened for any signs of what might be going on.

They heard someone running down the stairs to the cellar and they took a chance and started to scream for help.

After a while the door opened and the men from the lodge were standing outside.

“You!” Kenzie said with distaste

“What do you want?” Drew asked

“We’re taking our boys home, do you want to leave or not?”

Drew and Kenzie hurried out the door and followed the man up the stairs.

In the church was complete turmoil. It was swarmed with people, most of whom looked very dirty and bewildered. The cultists were shooting at them and apparently trying to drive them out of the church.

The six of them managed to exit the cellar without anyone noticing and darted towards the front door. By some miracle they actually managed to get out of the church without being shot, and ran towards another street. Once they had turned a corner they found two cars parked out of sight from the church. The man that had talked to them earlier gave them the key to their own one without a word. They got into the other car and drove off.

Kenzie and Drew wasted no time and quickly got into the car and started driving away. Soon they had passed through the town. When they came to the road block there was no one there, and the car that must have been parked to close the opening was gone.

They went through with all due haste and Kenzie drove as fast as she dared on the slippery winter roads. One hour later they finally arrived at the road block where the police guarded the so far zombie free zone. Kenzie and Drew had not discussed it, but from what they had seen in the church there was no question about it; the infected people were zombies.