DUSK 2
The doors swung open, and Leonard Reed led the surviving guards in to meet the elders. Accompanying him were the six other surviving holy guards, whose help would be needed for the task ahead. Though most of the buildings were sealed off on the first floor, with ground level staircases demolished, the cathedral was open on the ground, protected by steel shutters. The three floors above the first had been demolished, to create a high ceiling, where worshippers could feel as though they looked on at the heavens while their savior delivered a sermon.
Now, the building was infested with sin, for the traitorous elders had sought refuge on the holy ground, in their effort to gain control of the flock. They claimed to preach the word of the messiah, but led their followers towards hell. They preached skepticism against their king, and acted with weakness.
Reed watched the oldest council member scratch his chin and narrow his eyes, as the righteous approached. None of them quivered in reverence as they should have. After seeing a leper with the face of their messiah, they no longer feared the fires of hell. They no longer sought salvation. They thought the messiah’s guards were no longer needed, though their purpose was grander now than ever. The new word of God had to live on, and who better to teach it than those who had been closest to walking divinity?
Ten guards, Reed counted. None of the men in black uniforms had been trained with the same rigor of the elite guards. There would be twenty more gathered outside of the building, but they would not present a problem, for Reed would carry out the plan just as God had showed him.
“Is there a problem with…” one of the elders began.
Raising his arm with grace, Reed aimed an automatic pistol at the sinner’s head and squeezed the trigger. As brains sprayed from the back of the counsel man’s skull, Reed dropped to his knees and fired at the others. His brethren, followed, aiming at both the counsel and black guards. With the elders lying in red ponds, the eight remaining soldiers of darkness sought cover. One overturned a table, where two of his comrades cowered with him. Two more found a doorway. Another crouched behind the spiral staircase. One stood his ground and shot at the holy guards, but was blasted in the stomach by a ten-gauge shotgun. Another guard’s legs were shot out from under him as he attempted to run. He held his wounds and trying to scream over the exchange of ammunition.
Behind the bodies of the elders, Reed and three of his divine crusaders maintained a blanket of cover fire as the other three jammed the shutters.
Something exploded outside, and soldiers were shouting and shooting. The dark army probably wondered where the rocket launchers came from, with the armories destroyed.
The guard to Reed’s left, a man named Axel, tossed a grenade behind the table shield. One of the dark ones attempted to flee, only to be shot in the head, shoulder, and chest. The other two were caught in the explosion, leaving three hostiles.
“Watch those corpses!” Reed barked.
One of the hostiles in the doorway leaned out too far, and a red guard named Woodrow shot him in the throat. As the blood gushed out of his dying buddy, the other doorway gunman unleashed a constant spray of ammo at his attackers.
Axel took a round to the shoulder, and gritted his teeth. One of the elders twitched and stood, eyes fixed on the wounded red. The leper’s head exploded, following a shot from the ten-gauge.
Another red, Reed wasn’t sure who, grabbed a grenade from Axle’s belt and tossed it at the spiral staircase, while the other five guns blazed at the remaining hostile positions. Pinned in his hiding place, the black uniformed soldier was shredded by the blast.
Two more of the elders raised, only to be sent to hell.
The demon guard in the doorway dropped his weapon, in an attempt to surrender, but Reed shot him in the shoulder and leg. Before the enemy hit the ground, Reed sprinted towards the doorway to grab the wounded soldier of darkness. He removed the soldier’s pistol, and dragged him across the floor by the back of his shirt. The soldier’s good leg kicked in protest.
“Look at your new gods now! Kneel before them!” Reed shouted.
The sinner gaped at his fallen idols through wide eyes. He yelped as Reed clubbed the back of his head with the barrel of his pistol.
“Look closer!”
The remaining three corpses began to slither, one at a time. Griffin, Reed’s second in command, raised his rifle but Reed motioned for him to stand down.
“This is what the seed of you infidelity brings. Revel in your blasphemy.”
The soldier tried to crawl away, but Reed pushed him into the arms of the lepers.
The elder who scratched his chin grabbed its guard by the injured leg and took the first bite. To avoid attracting the attention of the others, Reed and his assault force stood without motion, as though they had been encased I cement. The other two elders grabbed the screaming sinner’s arms, and tugged, while chomping flash away from the bones.
When the tormented screams were replaced by the sounds of undead hands swimming through intestines and blood, Reed turned to his generals.
“I am going to the rooftop. Griffin, you’re with me. Woodrow, look after Axel. The rest of you, put down the lepers.”
The rapid beat of multiple firearms filled the entry of the cathedral as Reed and Griffin climbed the stairs. Above the shots, undead moans were barely audible. The coming war would attract lepers from outside of the compound, but they could act to his advantage before being purged from the Earth.
The staircase ended at the fourth floor, where the elders’ sleeping quarters were located. In front of Reed, there was a hallway, lined with four rooms on each side. The staircase which accessed the roof was on the other end.
Signaling Griffin to watch the rear, Reed walked down the hallway with his pistol raised, though he doubted he’d meet any resistance. The elders had lacked the foresight to predict an assassination from within, so they probably did not have any traps set around their sleeping quarters.
Reed stopped at the last door to the left. After glancing at the staircase to the roof, he cranked the doorknob and walked into a medium sized bedroom. Twin beds occupied a quarter of the floor area, while dressers were placed at an opposing wall. There was a gun rack hanging next to the window. Reed walked to one of the dressers, where a bullhorn sat.
When he retrieved the item, Reed stepped back into the hallway.
“Griffin, grab two men from downstairs and have them raid the rooms up here. Have the rest of the men gather weapons from the fallen enemy.”
The guard submerged through the staircase, and Reed returned to the open bedroom. After retrieving a thirty caliber hunting rifle, with a scope from the gun rack, Reed tore the drawers out of the dressers in search of ammunition. Armed with a weapon fit for the rooftops, Reed ascended the staircase and walked to the edge of the roof, where he stood tall on the ledge.
Below, a unit loyal to the messiah and one hundred strong was holding the outside of the cathedral. They’d slaughtered the twenty guards stationed at the doors, and were preparing for the heretics’ retaliation. Another three hundred troops were beginning to move through the compound, finding those loyal to God, and engaging those who weren’t.
Fortunately, Reed had the foresight to store a small ordinance of rockets and other explosives in a hidden location prior to the attacks on the armories. The sinners would only be armed with automatic rifles.
Outside of Reed’s circle, there were many who had no clue of Reed’s plan. They would be stirred into the open, where they might hear the Messiah’s message. He leveled the bullhorn to his mouth.
“The final battle between good and evil has begun in our home! Those who had once been considered your spiritual leaders and councilors have betrayed the one they were supposed to serve. They questioned the word of God and the sovereignty of our king. There are those among us who would wish to abandon salvation for servitude under Satan! I hope that you will join us in our crusade.”
He placed the speaker down, and dropped to his belly, poking the rifle over the edge of the rooftop.
*
Minutes after General Ruben Fitzsimons had been roused from his sleep by explosions and gunfire, he was sending his lieutenants to the barracks, and scouts to see what in the hell was going on. Had the heretics returned to slaughter the rest of the flock? Was this a test of loyalty to their fallen messiah?
A black garbed figure jogged into Fitzsimons’ war room. He hung his sub machine gun over his shoulder and fingered the handle of the machete strapped to his side.
“Sir,” the divine guard have murdered the council and taken the citadel.”
“Those Judases! They allow our leader to be murdered and now they want to destroy us,” the General said. “How many troops at the citadel?”
“One hundred outside. Looks like the entire divine guard inside.”
“Alright, we need to gather our troops. The traitors probably have an army together already. Contact the other scouts and send them to the rest of our locations. We can’t let this offense go unavenged.”
*
Reed watched the barricade in the streets. A truck was parked at each of the four walls, providing cover for the troops. In addition, the truck in front covered the entryway, allowing troops to move in and out of the building without being in the enemy’s sights.
“Sir,” Griffin said. “Axel is dead.”
“He died well. If we are alive when this battle is over, he shall receive a hero’s funeral.”
“We found five rifles and ammunition in the bedrooms. There was an RPG launcher under the floorboards in the entryway. We have about ten shots from it.”
“Excellent. Bring it here, and be ready to fire.”
“Yes sir.”
“One more thing. Order the troops outside not to take head shots.”
*
“Sir, we have a force of a hundred and fifty troops ready to take back the citadel,” Lieutenant Russo said.
“What of our reinforcements?”
“Over three hundred troops are unaccounted for. We’ve drawn two hundred, and are working on finding more.”
“What about the civilian populace?”
“I’ll send a unit to round them up.”
General Fitzsimons followed his subordinate outside, and joined the assault force.
*
The sounds of small battles filled the compound as the followers met the heretics. Reed could not see or command the battles, but he knew those loyal to him would triumph, and meet the forces at the cathedral. A convoy of trucks, jeeps, and cars moved between the buildings, advancing on the newly taken fortress.
“We have movement at the rear!” Griffin shouted.
“Be ready to fire as soon as they are in range.”
One of Reed’s comrades had left the cathedral to command the troops outside, while twenty of the ground troops had taken positions inside. Reed and Griffin were the only ones on the roof, but snipers were stationed on the floor below.
The advancing force fired first, but they were met by rockets and artillery fire from the ground. Three jeeps and a truck were hit by the blast on Reed’s side, but the enemy continued their advance. On Griffin’s end, the rapid tapping of gunfire sounded, and Reed saw one of the enemy troops set up a fifty caliber machine gun.
Where did he get that? Reed wondered as he took aim at the rifleman.
Something exploded at the ground, by the cathedral. Reed switched position, in time to see another unit advancing. These troops were armed with improvised explosives and Molotov cocktails, as well as the standard firearms. He aimed at a soldier who was pulling his arm back with a flaming bottle in his hand, and squeezed the trigger. The bullet hit the assailant in the chest and he dropped the flaming cocktail on the ground.
One of the attacking soldiers ran away from the cover of a nearby building to avoid the fire, and was shot by someone below. A defensive soldier tossed a grenade at the attackers, and the others continued to fire at the hostile positions.
Griffin fired the rocket launcher, as Reed moved to another corner of the roof to monitor the west side of the battlefront. A jeep was pulling out of its spot to make strafing runs at the defensive soldiers. Reed fired at the driver, and missed. He shot at the tires, but hit the well. He fired three more rounds, which only hit the door. The gunmen on the passenger side opened fire on, but Reed could not see the devastation below. He did see one of the gunmen in the jeep grab his chest and fall backwards, leaving his body hanging out of the window from the waist up.
Several rifles concentrated on the attacking jeep until it crashed into a nearby building. A gunman continued to fire from inside, while the driver stumbled out. Another jeep moved to their position to provide cover.
Reed fired three rounds, killing one of the gunmen in the second jeep, then moved back to the side of the building where the demolitions team had attacked.
*
A jeep exploded in front of Fitzsimons. The charred body of the driver was still inside, but the soldiers who had been taking refuge behind the vehicle had been thrown against a brick wall. Snipers fired from the rooftop and windows, taking out soldiers who stepped into the open.
Before the battle had started, the rope bridges connecting the cathedral to the rest of the compound had been cut or burned, leaving only one route inside. Unfortunately, there wasn’t enough firepower to blast the trucks out of the way, so the traitors on the ground would have nowhere to hide.
Another round of artillery fire erupted on the other side of the cathedral. Someone screamed, and automatic fire erupted on the west side of the building.
A soldier’s body twitched and began to rise about ten feet away from Fitzsimons. He drew his sidearm and fired one bullet into the leper’s forehead.
“Sergeant!” Fitzsimons shouted. “Tell your men to watch the corpses.”
Three bodies in the open road between the siege and the fortress rose and walked in ether direction. They were cut down within seconds. He couldn’t tell which side had done the firing.
The exchange of bullets slowed from the enemy side, as they tossed Molotov cocktails into the street, igniting a protective ring around the building. Not only did the fire keep the undead back, but it made the combatants inside of the circle harder to spot.
Sniper fire tore a hole through Sergeant Grummle’s chest. His legs buckled, and the body hit the ground.
Fitzsimons shot him in the head before he could get up again.
*
“Griffin, how many shots do you have left in that RPG launcher?” Reed asked.
“Three.”
“Use them to seal off escape routes, then spread the word below.”
Griffin moved to the edge of the building and fired a rocket. He then moved over to get a different angle.
Reed took aim at commanding officers. Of who he saw at the scene, he guessed Fitzsimons was in charge of the assault. Reed always thought the general was a true follower. Though he had the commanding officer in his sight, Reed refused to fire. The man below deserved the sinner’s death.
When Griffin expended the last two rockets, he set the launcher down and sprinted towards the stairs to carry out his orders.
The sinners threw improvised explosives at the ground troops and the blockades.
*
Before the battle, Fitzsimons had loaded a truck with TNT, which he got from their demolitions storage. To even the odds, he’d ordered six of his men to distribute the explosives through the forces, so they could hit Reed’s army at once, and overwhelm the survivors. An explosion rattled under one of the trucks, sending three troops stumbling into the open.
“Aim for the chest!” he shouted at the closest gunmen.
Let’s see how they like it.
Explosions shook the building on all sides, and more gunfire erupted. This time, it sounded like most of it was coming from his end.
Fitzsimons ducked as a rocket shot out of a fourth story window and blasted a truck in the back. Another flew out of the first story window. He could hear rockets being fired from all sides, all aiming at the back. The crazy bastards were cutting off escape routes while their attackers were advancing.
He grabbed the nearest soldier; a brown haired teen with freckles on his cheeks.
“When I give the order, we’re going to charge. Tell the other sides to follow our lead.”
The soldier nodded and ran.
Fitzsimons watched as fallen soldiers on the defensive side rose and attacked their former comrades. One took a bite out of a distracted soldier. Another’s head dissolved as soon as it sat up.
Blood spilled out of the back of the leper who attacked its buddy, and a soldier raced to the wounded. Fitzsimons tried to fire on him, but hit the cathedral walls and a truck instead.
The boy returned, and informed Fitzsimons that the others were ready for the attack.
More TNT was tossed at the building before Fitzsimons shouted the order.
*
Time for judgment, Reed thought as the enemy charged from all sides, making easy targets of themselves. Had they decided to ram the cathedral’s defenses with trucks, their attack would have done more damage at less of a cost, but they were still getting through. Reed’s forces below had been thinned out quite a bit.
He squeezed the trigger, not taking much time to aim, but still hitting something with almost every pull of the trigger. Reed tossed two grenades on the advancing army.
*
To his left and right, soldiers were tossed in the air by two explosions. Others keeled over, clasping their stomach, legs, head, and, chest. Some survived their wounds and cried out, but there was no time to aid them. Victory was close.
Fitzsimons raised his rifle and squeezed the trigger on full auto, wasting bullets along with two enemy soldiers. He fired at another who ducked, but was killed by another stick of TNT. The snipers inside and on the roof continued to blast the advancing troops, but not as fast as they were losing their own.
A red cloaked guard lunged out from behind a truck, and opened fire with a pair of automatic pistols. He took out two soldiers before hiding behind the truck again. Fitzsimons fired, hitting the truck’s grill. Another soldier rolled a stick of TNT below the truck, forcing the guard to abandon his cover.
With both guns blazing, the guard charged at the forces by the back of the truck. Fitzsimons saw him take a shot to the stomach and leg, but he stayed up and kept firing until a shotgun blast demolished his skull.
There were only a handful of troops left outside, but without cover they were dropping fast.
He had to get his remaining forces inside, while there were still enough troops to eliminate the rebels.
“Blast the front door!”
The sounds of engines filled the air in the distance.
*
Reed knew they would come. He’d only wanted to hold out long enough for the rest of his disciples to show up, for if they could not overcome the evil that lurked inside of their home they did not deserve to be saved, but he’d known they were worthy. Had they not been worthy than the messiah would have spent his time on Earth in vain.
The snipers outside continued to fire, but Reed stopped to watch his flock work. The motorcade that swerved around the ruined trucks was composed mostly of jeeps and sport scars. Passengers were armed, and ready to shoot. Some of them tossed explosives at the unholy army, while others short at them with automatic rifles.
There must have been six hundred troops rallying to Reed’s cause below.
*
After his assault, Fitzsimons was cowardly enough to surrender. To make sure he couldn’t run away, Reed planted two bullets in each knee cap. He forced the sinner to watch as Reed sent a bullet through the back of every survivor’s head.
“You dare defy our messiah?” Reed said.
“You were the one who killed the elders.”
“Their faith was weak, just like yours. I find you guilty of heresy.”
Griffin and a soldier dressed in black grabbed the heretic and hoisted him to the side of the building, making sure his feet were well above the ground. Another soldier rushed to the prisoner, and nailed his wrists and ankles to the wall.