"It sounds like they"ve found another baby," whispered Allie. "I think this is the third one we"ve heard."
Kylie turned to her. "Where are these babies coming from? And why are they here?"
Allie, who was sitting on the ground, pulled her legs in closer to her chest. "I have no idea," she answered. "And I don"t think I want to know."
"I hope he"s not hurting them."
"Let"s hope."
Kylie sighed. "We have to get out of here and try to help them."
"The babies? How? We"re locked in. Even if we were to somehow find a way out, the mall is surrounded by zombies. Face it, Kylie," she said, her eyes filling with tears, "we are never getting out of here alive, especially with those babies. We"re all doomed."
"Don"t say that."
Allie wiped a tear from her cheek. "But, it"s true. This guy isn"t human. You saw his red eyes. And, what if he says is true?" she lowered her voice. "What if Satan is coming?"
Kylie bit the side of her lip. "Yeah, but "good" is always supposed to conquer "evil". We"ve been reading about that our entire lives."
"Sure, but that"s mostly in storybooks, Kylie. This is real. At least, I think it is. I don"t know about you but I haven"t seen anything good for a very long time."
Kylie kneeled next to her. "Don"t say that! You survived a zombie bite, so did your sister. You"re still alive, Allie. Don"t give up hope."
"Tell that to my parents, or to Luke, or to the mothers of those babies those guys are stealing! How can we have hope when we"ve been imprisoned by somebody who might actually be an honest to goodness demon? I mean, even if there was a chance for us, n.o.body knows where we are."
"But, there"s always Justice," said Kylie. "He might be able to help us, still."
"Justice?" she scoffed. "He"s not with us anymore. I mean, seriously, he doesn"t even know his own name. Obviously, that demon did something to him."
"I still think there"s hope. Maybe if we can get him alone, we can talk to him," said Kylie, standing up. "Help him snap out of it."
"Maybe."
Another noise from somewhere in the mall, this time a woman"s harrowing cries, echoed through the darkness and the girls became silent. Kylie sat down next to Allie and they held hands.
Justice watched as more zombies, and this time living, breathing people, arrived at the mall. After getting instructions from Travis, they all took off in different directions, prepared to do whatever task he had a.s.signed them.
Very bad things were about to happen, he thought. And much worse than anything seen in the last few weeks.
Although he understood and was horrified, he was physically unable to do anything about it. His limbs wouldn"t follow any of the simplest instructions, nor could he communicate on his own, any longer. He felt like a puppet, one that was being manipulated by one very evil puppet-master.
"Dwayne," said Travis, after dismissing another small group of zombies. "What is happening with the infants?"
"Still no luck."
Travis"s face darkened. "He has to be here, somewhere. The signs all point to this region."
"We"ll find the child," said Dwayne. "If he is here, we"ll find him, eventually."
"We don"t have "eventually"," snarled Travis. "It has to be soon. Very soon."
Dwayne nodded. "Yes, sir."
Travis suddenly closed his eyes and stood still for several minutes, almost as if he"d fallen asleep. Eventually, he opened his eyes and nodded. "Excellent."
"What?" asked Dwayne.
"I have been given great news," said Travis. He turned towards Justice and his face broke out into a chilling grin. "Justice, it is time that we check on your friends."
Justice felt nauseous. Why is he doing this?
"Why? Well, there is a reason as to why our paths have crossed, Justice. It was destiny."
Justice, who had been standing in one place for several hours, found himself moving towards Travis without his control.
"Follow Dwayne. Get those sweet young girlfriends of yours and bring them to me," he turned to Dwayne. "Now you will see exactly why we needed them, alive."
"I never doubted you," said Dwayne.
"Go."
Justice followed Dwayne back into Nordstrom" s and into a darker section of the mall.
"Justice!" squealed Kylie, standing up behind the metal enclosure. "Oh, thank G.o.d you"re here!"
He tried opening his mouth to respond, but found he couldn"t.
"Stand back," demanded Dwayne, searching through a large set of keys.
The girls obeyed and soon they were released from the gate enclosure.
"We"ve missed you," cried Kylie, throwing her arms around him. When he made no attempt to return the hug, she stepped backwards and stared up at him. "Justice?"
Staring at the two confused and frightened girls, he tried to speak, to tell them he was going to get them the h.e.l.l out of there, but he still couldn"t move his lips or tongue.
"I see you," said Kylie, searching his eyes with hers. "I"m not sure what"s wrong with you, if you"ve been drugged or possessed by some kind of evil spirit, but I still see you."
"Let"s go," said Dwayne, pointing his gun at the girls. "Move."
Possessed? Was something really possessing his body? The thought was horrifying but something told him that it really wasn"t too far from the truth. He had no control of his body, although he knew what was right and wrong, could still think and feel every emotion.
They started back towards Nordstrom"s, with Dwayne following behind, trying to light a cigarette and Justice could hear the girls whispering frantically behind him.
"Justice," murmured Kylie, clutching his arm. "You have to try and overcome this, whatever it is. Travis is evil, but you aren"t. Please, Justice, if you don"t snap out of this, I have a feeling we"re all going to die."
Justice tried to respond but as before, he was still unable to speak.
Allie moved to the other side of him. "Justice, help us. Please," she begged. "For G.o.d"s sake, you said you didn"t believe in a G.o.d before, but I think he may be our only hope." She removed the cross necklace from around her neck and pressed it into the palm of his hand. She closed it. "This was my mothers. Look, you have to believe and pray. Justice, pray for some kind of a miracle."
"Listen to her. Travis said he is paving the way for Lucifer, Justice. Do you know who that is?" whispered Kylie. "If there is a Devil than obviously, there is a G.o.d."
"That"s enough," growled Dwayne, pulling the girls away from Justice. "Quit groping the boy or I"ll have to cut you both. Believe me, it will be a great pleasure."
Justice could feel the cross in his palm and thought about what Kylie and Allie had said. It was obvious that whatever was happening to his body wasn"t something that could be explained. Still, it was hard to conceive that if there truly was a G.o.d, he would allow so much horror, grief, and misery on earth.
"Oh Good," smiled Travis, as the girls were ushered back outside into the early, morning light. "They"re back."
Justice stared at the large group of people who must have arrived when they"d left to get the girls. These people were dressed in red robes and each had downward-pointed pentagrams painted on their forehead.
Satan worshipers?
They stared at Travis as if he was some kind of G.o.d himself and he felt like retching.
Were they going to sacrifice the girls?
Justice looked at Kylie who was silently pleading with her eyes for him to do something.
To save them.
Travis grabbed the arms of both Kylie and Allie, pulling them towards the crowd of onlookers. "Our newest disciples!" he hollered, a purely evil smile on his face.
"What? No!" cried Kylie, looking horrified. She tried pulling away from Travis, but he held her firm.
"Oh my G.o.d!" sobbed Allie, staring at the delighted group of people. "Are these Satanists?"
"How lovely, are we going to sacrifice them?" hollered a woman from the crowd with jet-black hair, and a wicked smile.
"No, they are going to help us search for the "chosen one"," he said with a sneer. "Our father says they will lead us to the child."
"Lucifer?" gasped a man, with awe. "Has he arrived?"
"Not yet," said Travis. "It"s not yet time for him to grace us with his glory. Right now, we must continue our search for the child and destroy it, before the day of reckoning."
Realizing, now, why the babies had been brought in, Allie and Kylie stared at each other in horror.
"Please," cried Kylie. "Let us go! We can"t lead you anywhere. We don"t know of any babies! Most of them have died because of the flu and the zombies."
"Oh, I plan on letting you go," laughed Travis, releasing her hand. "I"ll even bring you home to your families." He leaned forward until he was staring into her eyes. "Both of you."
Chapter Twenty-Six.
"How is he doing?" asked Kristie, stepping into the guestroom.
Nora sighed. "The same."
"Has he woken up at all?"
"No."
"Okay. Well, if you get hungry or thirsty, let me know. I"ll bring you something."
"Thanks. So, where did you find that baby?" she asked.
"Bryce, Paige, and Billie found her in Stillwater, when they were trying to search for Ca.s.sie"s grandparents."
"Oh."
Kristie looked at Billie, who was snoring on the bed. "I still wonder... what in the h.e.l.l was he going to do with Adria?"
She stretched her legs and yawned. "I think he was just delirious, from the virus."
"Yeah, you"re probably right."
Nora closed her eyes and opened them again.
Kristie frowned. "Do you need a break? You look tired, hon."
She stood up. "No, I"m fine."
"Okay, well, let me know if you change your mind," said Kristie.
"Thanks."
Kristie nodded and left the room.
Nora sat back down and stared longingly at Billie. Although she wanted nothing more than to lie down next to his body, put her arms around him and try to somehow, comfort him, she knew it was too dangerous.
"Come back to me, Billie," she whispered, blinking back tears. "Please."
"My, you were hungry," said Kristie, burping Adria after she"d sucked down an entire bottle of formula. "I guess that"s a good thing."
Tiny sat next to her on the couch and smiled. "You"re a good mother, Kristie."
"Mother? I"m going to be old enough to be a grandmother in another ten years."
"Ten years, huh?" he said, his eyes twinkling.