Chapter 17.

As Paris gave his order to open fire on the group, Sarah pulled the trigger of her shotgun. The blast struck Paris square in the chest and knocked him off his feet. The Watchers returned the favor seconds later. Bullets whined by Sarah's head, so close she could feel them comb her hair. She fired her shotgun a second time, then a third, killing the Watchers one by one.

Joelle fared much better. She'd been behind the crowd of women they'd rescued when the gunfire started and managed to snatch the redhaired girl out of harm's way, shoving her back down the hallway. The others weren't so lucky. The bullets tore through them, tearing flesh and muscle like it was paper. Joelle returned fire, choosing to shoot the closest enemy, instead of fleeing to the safety of the inner sanctuary. Sarah plowed through the mess, ducking and weaving her way forward as she blasted holes through their camouflage clothing. The Watchers fired back at her but couldn't seem to get a good bead as she darted and zigzagged through the church. She eventually made it to the entrance and outside.

Joelle fired until she ran out of bullets. She took out four of the men before they converged on her. They started laughing as she aimed the handgun in their direction and it fell on an empty chamber. One of them spoke to her, but she could barely make out what he said above the ringing in her ears. It sounded like, "take off your shirt," but it could've been, "you little shit." He pointed a revolver in her face, but never got the chance to use it.

A concentrated stream of bullets hailed down the hallway, slapping through skulls, necks, and in one case driving into a man's mouth and out the other side. They were all dead within a few heartbeats and Alex approached from the hall to claim the victory.

"Where'd these fuckheads come from?" He asked, and then he spotted the dead women and his eyes widened. "Where's Sarah?"

Joelle wrapped her arms around his neck and squeezed. "Thank you. They were going to kill me." She buried her head into his chest but didn't cry. She offered a little sob which died in her throat.

He pushed her away and began reloading his rifle.

"Hey!" Sarah called from the church doorway. "Are you guys okay?"

Alex lit up at the sight of her, "We're fine," he said. "What about you?"

Sarah approached them dragging her right leg and gripping her arm. "They got me pretty bad, but I made it out alive."

"What's wrong with your arm?" he asked, and gently pulled her wounded limb toward himself. "I don't see any blood."

"It just hurts. I did have a bullet taken out of it not long ago, remember?"

He nodded, recalling the incident at the school.

Sarah scanned over the limp bodies haphazardly cluttering the church. She stopped when she spotted Paris. He was lying on his back; the buckshot she'd hit him with had torn through his stomach, but she noticed a slight rise and fall of his chest. Withdrawing her sidearm, she aimed at his head.

"What are you doing?" Joelle insisted when she saw Paris. "He might know something we don't. We can't just kill him."

Sarah kept the gun trained on his head. "What the fuck would he know? He might be one of the Watcher leaders, but he's not the main one. Besides, he'd do the same thing to us."

"He might know where your friends went," Alex interjected. "You said this place belonged to them but obviously they aren't here. I wouldn't mind knowing what happened to them."

Sarah slid her gun back into her belt holster. "Fine, but we're not keeping him alive for long, and if he starts any trouble I'm putting a bullet between his fucking eyes."

"Fair enough," Alex said, and Joelle agreed. He handed her his machete. "Can you deal with the ones that might come back while I tie up and stop our new prisoner from bleeding to death?" he asked Joelle.

"Yeah, sure," she replied, and snatched the long blade from him. She bent over the first corpse she came to, a Watcher shot in the neck, and began chopping off his head.

Alex took out nylon rope from his backpack, and a firstaid kit. He bound Paris by his hands and feet, and then he got to work on the shotgun wound.

Sarah leaned over him and shook her head. She sighed as he carefully scooped out tiny bullet beads with a medical scalpel and began stitching the damaged areas.

"Don't worry," he said. "I'm not sure what I'm doing. He might die on us."

"Let's hope so. At least he's not awake yet. He must've hit the floor really hard," she said, and quickly changed the subject. "Did any of the girls make it out?"

"Only one, she's back in the inner sanctuary. I don't know what she's doing back there."

"I'll go check," she said, and patted him on the back. She walked past Joelle who was creating a disaster with the machete. Her clothing was splattered in blood and chunks of skin hung off the long blade. "Just shoot them in the head, you're making a mess."

"I ran out of bullets after you left me."

Sarah walked by her. "I did what I had to. I didn't even think I'd make it outside. You should've just followed me," she spat.

Joelle lifted the machete and brought it down on a corpse which had started to reanimate. She hacked and chopped until it was motionless.

Sarah hurried to the inner sanctuary. She didn't look back at her friend as she was afraid to see the remorse in her face. When the Watchers showed up, she'd acted on instinct. Had she not used her primal skills she would've been just another corpse on the church floor. She brushed away the thoughts and replaced them with anger. She had done all she could do and more. Joelle would have to learn to look after herself from time to time.

Once she reached the inner room she spotted the beds tipped over and the bedding ripped to shreds. The bodies of the rapists were thrown into a large pile. Alex had done a number on them and spared their remains no mercy. In the far corner of the room sat the red haired girl. She had her knees up and her face hidden.

"Hello?" Sarah said, inching forward. "You can come out now. They're all dead, or deadISH, at least."

The girl wept and didn't move out of the corner.

Sarah knelt down. She stayed a good five feet away just in case the girl decided to back out. She had been repeatedly raped, saved by strangers, and then watched as her friends were mowed down by gunfire; the girl was more than a little damaged, she should've cracked. When she spoke her voice was a whisper, like the wind scattering dead leaves and then drifting back off into nothingness.

"Did you kill them all?" she asked Sarah.

"Yes, we did. Why don't you come over here? I'll get you some clothes and we can leave this shithole behind us forever." She extended her hand.

"Did any of the other girls make it out safely?"

While Sarah pondered the correct way to answer her question without hurting the girl's feelings, her silence spoke more than she could and the red haired girl began to cry. Sarah went over to her and put a hand against her head.

The girl leapt forward, curling her arms around Sarah and weeping. Her grip was like an Anaconda and she wouldn't let go. Sarah tried to pry her off but gave up after her shirt was soaked in tears.

"It's alright. You'll be safe with us. I'll watch over you," Sarah said, and then added. "What's your name?"

The girl lifted her red head. "My name is Candy."

"I'm Sarah. The blond lady in the church is Joelle, and the guy dressed in black is Alex. Don't worry, I'll introduce you. Now, how about we get out of here?"

"Okay," Candy said, and broke their embrace.

Sarah took off her backpack and rummaged through it. "Here's a shirt and a pair of shorts for you to wear. I'll get you some other clothes once we get to the RV."

"You have an RV?"

"Yep," she said and turned her back as Candy put on the clothing. "It has a shower in it, and a microwave. So you'll be able to clean up and have a hot meal."

"Thanks Sarah," Candy said. "I'd like to leave now if that's okay."

She spun around and saw Candy wearing her black shirt and blue shorts. She grinned.

Together, they left the inner sanctuary and joined the others. Alex was still patching up Paris and Joelle sat on the altar catching her breath. The machete was next to her and it was filthy with gore.

"How's Paris coming along?" Sarah said.

"He's not dead yet, sorry," Joelle snapped.

"I thought you said everyone was killed?" Candy said. She stormed over to where Alex was stitching up a few bullet wounds, and bunched her hands into fists. "He's not worth saving, trust me."

"We know," Joelle said. "But he might have valuable information and we can't take the risk in losing that."

Candy stormed up to Paris and went to kick him, but Sarah was faster and grabbed her arms and yanked her backwards.

"Calm down, Candy. I don't like this scumbag either but he's going with us."

Candy's eyes grew huge. "What? You can't take him with us. He's a rapist and a murderer."

Alex finished patching the shotgun wound and faced her.

"Don't worry, he won't touch you, I promise. I'd be surprised if he doesn't die within the hour. And once he's told us what we want to know you can be the one to put a bullet in his head."

"Don't tell her that," Joelle said. "She's just a little girl."

"I can take care of myself," Candy snapped. "And I'd be honored to end his worthless life." She stared at Joelle. "You have no idea what he did to us. There were seven women when we came here. The four of us tied to the beds were the lucky ones. He nailed the other three to the church walls."

The group lifted their heads and saw the bodies of the women stuck to the walls. They'd seen them upon entering the church, but had no clue who'd they had once been.

"I'm sorry for your loss," Joelle said.

"If you were really sorry you'd end this bastard before he hurts somebody else," Candy explained.

"He won't be able to hurt anyone," Alex told her. "He'll be tied up and kept under twentyfour hour surveillance. And besides, he won't be healed for weeks, if not months."

Sarah put her arm around Candy's shoulder. "Paris isn't going to live longer than a week. I'm not going to sit by and let him eat up our food and use up our medical supplies. Once he's conscious we'll get what we need from him one way or the other. Are we all in agreement? Raise your hand."

Candy's hand shot up first, followed by Sarah, and then Alex. Joelle didn't move.

"We're not murderers. If we kill him we're no better than he is," Joelle said. "I vote we let him go afterwards. No food, no water, and no weapons. Let the zombies finish him off. Raise your hand."

Everyone put their hands down. Joelle crossed her arms in defiance.

"Sorry Joelle," Sarah said. "No dice. All right people let's get back to the Winnebago. Alex and Joelle, you two carry Paris. Candy and I will keep an eye out. We have to move fast. All that gunfire must've called every walking corpse in the vicinity to our location."

Alex grabbed Paris by the front and Joelle took him by the legs. Together they hoisted him up and carried him out of the church. Sarah made sure she gathered all of their belongings and instructed Candy to take every gun from the bodies littering the floor. Once this was done they followed the others and left the church and its nightmares behind.

They made it halfway down the outside steps when the wind carried the scent of rotting flesh to their nostrils. It wasn't just coming from the unfortunate people nailed to the tombstones, this was much worse.

"Keep moving," Sarah ordered. She was the only one of them capable of firing because she wasn't carrying anything. She immediately took the lead of the group and headed toward the graveyard and the woods where the Winnebago was hidden. Alex and Joelle carried Paris, while Candy lagged behind shuffling a stack of rifles in her arms.

They were going downhill when Sarah spotted them. Zombies, hundreds of them, were headed their way. They made hungry groans and some lifted their arms as they shuffled toward them.

"Oh fuck," Alex said. "It looks like the entire town showed up."

"Get that scum to the Winnebago, I'll try to stall them. Joelle, give me the rest of your pipe bombs."

Joelle and Alex set Paris on the ground. She took off her backpack and handed it to Sarah.

"I hope you know what you're doing," Alex said.

"Don't worry, lover boy," Joelle quipped, "she can take care of herself."

"I can help," Candy said.

Sarah dug into the backpack and withdrew two pipe bombs and a lighter. She put the backpack on and grabbed her shotgun.

"You've been through enough, Candy. Go with the others. I'll distract them and maybe we'll make it out of here without too much trouble."

"But . . ." Candy whined.

Alex interrupted her. "If we're going we'd better do it right now."

As Alex spoke the wave of zombies reached the church. A dozen or more went inside but the majority of them headed toward the group. He lifted Paris by the shoulders and Joelle took the legs again. She stumbled a little with her cast but the fear in her eyes made her get through all the pain and discomfort.

"See you soon," Alex said, and they were gone, barreling down the hillside and toward the woods.

"I'm not leaving you," Candy said.

"Fine, but try to keep up," Sarah said impatiently.

She lit one of the pipe bombs and threw it toward the crowd. It landed near the front lines and exploded, sending a handful of the zombies toppling backwards. Sarah ran up the hill and darted sideways, away from the graveyard and the church. Candy lagged behind. She was already sweating from carrying the firearms and huffed to fill her lungs with air.

"Drop them," Sarah said.

Candy did, letting about ten good rifles fall to the ground. She picked up one of them and chased after Sarah.

"We need to get them away from here," Sarah said. She lit another pipe bomb and tossed it near the church. This time the bomb missed the zombies completely, but it kept their attention as the swarm of undead advanced on them.

Candy shot blindly into the crowd. The buckshot dug into midsections and stick thin legs but did little to stop the undead horde. They moaned in a loud chorus and pushed one another out of the way in order to reach their prey.

"Move it!" Sarah shouted to Candy.

They raced out of the area, leaving the church and graveyard behind. The zombies followed them every step of the way, calling after them with incessant hungry moans.

"Where are we going?" Candy said, trying to keep up.

Sarah slowed her speed and jogged beside her.

"We need to get them away from the others. Just stay close to me and we'll make it out of here alive."