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The Church- Part 8- We must try for peace |
| Written by john mccuaig | |
| Friday, 02 May 2008 | |
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Share it:       We are on the move once again within ten minutes. I haven't got a clue what's going to happen now but I do realise is that we have got to try.
We are only a few hundred yards away from the Church when we start to get answers.
"Stop! Move and you will die!" comes a shout from behind us; from the overgrown gardens and behind the derelict cars out bursts about a dozen men all with crossbows aimed at our heads. We stop dead in our tracks and place our hands above our heads.
I can now see Matt walking slowly through his men towards us; he has a stern angry face. When he gets to about ten feet away he raises his cross bow and fires at me. I close my eyes to await the end but thankfully the arrow whistles past my ear. I turn around just in time to see a zombie, which was about to come out of a garden towards us, drop motionless to the ground.
"Thanks Matt," I tell him with a heavy sigh as I drop my hands to my side. As he gets right up to me I hold out my hand but I can see the wrath in Matt's face and that makes me put my arm straight back down.
"Shut it and get your hands back up in the air now or so help me you will be next."
He walks over to Dawn and the close up sight of her seems to mellow him just that little bit. "We watched you throw out that bastard the Reverend. I was going to cut his throat from ear to ear but I have decided to leave him to the zombies. In a week or two I might go out hunting for his rotten corpse and then I will kill him a second time." He pauses for a few seconds and then continues Now tell me everything that has happened and what the hell you are up to now?"
For the next ten minutes Dawn explains the aftermath of Matt's attack; the death of her brother and why we are out here. All this time there are crossbows being fired every so often to keep the undead away; but the firing is getting too regular; its almost non stop now.
"Matty, we have got to go now, it's now getting a bit too cosy around here," barks one of Matt's men.
This seems to snap him back to reality and he quickly scans the area and soon comes to the same conclusion. It's not exactly a hard decision, there must be forty or fifty zombies converging on our position.
Matt takes Dawn by the hand and gives the order to the same guy; I take it that he must be his lieutenant, his right hand man. "Okay guys, let's get a move on. Ron take everyone through that house over there, through the gardens and out into the next street."
He stops and looks at me; I can see that he is now deciding my fate. He eventually speaks.
"John, probably against my better judgement but I am going to take you with us. But be warned I don't trust you. I still may yet kill you. Now get moving!"
The late Jim Wallace had obviously trained these guys very very well. They all know exactly what to do, some guys on point, some others covering the rear. No words are required and whenever a zombie gets too close it's dispatched with a great expertise. We are through the house and out in the safe open street running parallel to where we started in next to no time. It isn't long before we are back inside the supermarket once more. I wouldn't say safe and sound, well not for me at least.
Matt's mistrust is plain for me to see. I am back in the store room where I had slept before but this time the door is strongly and securely locked shut.
For two days the only person I ever see is the guy who comes with my food; I try to start any kind of conversation every time he comes into my room. Silence is all I get in return.
I lie here getting depressed with just my own thoughts for company. Then the door opens again; it that time again, its time for my evening meal. I look up expecting to see my nameless butler but I am taken aback to see Dawn standing there with my tray.
"Hi John," she smiles as she puts the tray down on my bedside table. "How are you doing? How are you feeling?"
"Not too bad Dawn," I am so glad to see here but I am still a little bit nervous. "What's been happening? Have they attacked the Church again?"
"No, No," she tells me with a soft reassuring voice "Matt and I have agreed to a truce. We both know that we all need each other. There will be no official joining but we have agreed to do some trade. We have the fruit and vegetables and they have the tins and frozen food. It's just a start but we need to take it slowly. You have to remember there will be a lot of bad feeling from people on both sides. We have to build the trust."
This is the first good news I have heard for a very long time. "You know I will support you Dawn. Peace has always been the most important thing to me."
"Thanks John, I will never forget that you stopped that guy with the knife when I was getting rid of the Reverend. But I must warn you that Matt still hasn't forgiven you about his father. I have explained that you weren't in on the plan but it hasn't worked, he doesn't care. He could be dangerous so you just keep out of his way for a while, okay?"
I nod and she gets up to leave the room but stops at the door and slowly turns to face me again, "John, When we get back to the Church tomorrow I want to put myself up as the leader. It's not about control you understand, I want to put all I can back into there. I want to make up for the things my brother and I did."
As I tuck into my lamb chops I now have a good feeling about the future. Things are going to get better. Copyright 2008 john mccuaig |
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