Blake fell to his knees and watched as the sun grew to burn the earth. The blazing sun blinding him till his eyes blinked. Opening again to the sound of Jessica's voice back in the school. He wasn't sure what was happening now, getting a sense as if he was floating. Following a path to Jessica's voice without an idea of what he felt inside. Depression, anger, Sadness? No, it was just hollow emptiness inside.
"The feeling of being dead." the thought passed through his mind. Not even feeling any uplifting happiness seeing Jessica alive and well. He got down and prayed with her. Feeling cold and unhappy at the prayer she recited. Then everything went into the darkness. He floated without any thoughts for what seemed like an eternity.
"am I dead? … Did the world die? … What happened to the baby?" Blake thought, the questions passing through at what felt like a snail's pace. The last question kept repeating over and over. Blake was growing desperate to know the child's outcome.
"... did someone find her? … IS she the Antichrist? Is she okay? Is she alive?" Blake questions floated in the darkness. growing from moving at a snail's pace to zooming past. The darkness grew to be suffocating with an unexplained pressure building into a unbearable headache. Just as the pressure felt like his skull was going to split open, it popped. The pressure suddenly uplifted after one large burst of a painful heat, however the suffocation did not.
Blake opened his eyes to take a desperate gasp of air. Blinking for a moment, unmoving, as he gathered the world around him. No more darkness, he was back under the bright burning normal looking sun. the world partially scorched, but only by what seemed like a now long burnt out forest fire. Back in the hell town known as Templegate.
After gathering his surroundings he remembered his questions. Looking down to his arms to find them both bloody and empty. Fear rose along with panic at the baby missing. He quickly looked around for the baby girl.
"maybe she just rolled from my hands. Maybe someone found her and took her away. Maybe an animal grabbed her from me for a meal." Blakes mind raced, the baby's fate getting darker with each thought. He froze when he spotted a trail of fresh boot prints nearby. The tracks walking up to him and stopping before stepping off to the side to walk behind him.
Blake stared at the prints for a moment. Taking a breath of air before slowly and carefully standing. His legs popping and hurting as they moved. Something seemed off based from his last memory. The dirt he partially fell to deeply indented where his legs were. All the blood going across him turned brown from dryness. Some spots cracking off as Blake moved.
"damn, how long was I stuck in that position?" he thought with a wince. Taking note that the sun was now fully above in its afternoon slot when the last point he remembered was it just rising. As soon as he was ready to move he went forward. His body feeling horribly sore and exhausted. Feeling that if he sat down or stopped, he wouldn't be able to go forward again. His stomach painfully hollow with his mouth being as dry as the desert.
He focused only on the fresh prints. Ignoring the vast decaying corpses he past. The smell, despite being difficult in the hot sunlight, he also ignored. Seeing that maggots had already infested the bodies. Clearing off huge chunks of meat from the bones. He only took his focus off once the prints lead into a building. Painfully stopping to look up to examine the building. It was a place made with wood with white painted shingles going down the walls. A cross standing at the pointed front of the roof.
Blake sighed, trying to regain some strength to get him moving inside. Getting up onto the small front step seeming the hardest thing in the world at the moment. Then he had to do the second hardest with opening the door. Pain shooting through his holed hand as he turned the knob. He took another deep breath as the door creaked open. Carefully stepping over the small door frame sticking up from the floor to enter.
He walked in with barely a thought to his own safety. He was in barely walk-able shape, forget about being able to fight. Even so, he would save his little girl and at least make sure she was taken someplace safe before collapsing. Hed fight if he had to, but who knows if it'd get him anywhere.
He stopped to catch his breath, recovering as well from the massive pain in his body. Looking over the darkness to try and figure out where to go next. The boot prints quickly disappearing past the doorway. leaving Blake to track whoever without any hints to where they went.
"you live?" a voice spoke from the darkness. Sounding honestly surprised at Blakes appearance.
Blake would have jumped from the sudden voice if his body hadn't locked up in pain. He stood silent for a minute to process the voice. Slowly searching the darkness over for the figure. He recognized it, but in the state he was in his brain processed the information slowly. Then he remembered who the speaker was.
"val." Blake growled in his mind. He swallowed to get ready as if he was going to yell in pure rage, but only ended up letting out a quiet voice. hoarse from lack of water for who knows how long.
"you took her … where is she?" Blake demanded to know, while trying to keep his body from collapsing.
"the girl? She's long since passed in that chapel." val answered, sounding calm but tired.
"no, the baby!" Blake snapped, he didn't want to deal with val. He didn't want to play a game of ring around the Rosie with questions.
"there was no baby." val stated, sounding unfazed by Blakes tone. Blake remained silent for a second, confused.
"Of course there was a baby. How could val say there wasn't? She- he- whatever was the one obsessed about bringing it into the world. Why suddenly reject its existence?!" Blakes mind went through the questions. Slowly processing through them.
"where'd you take her?!" Blake questioned, growing angry. Val sighed and finally moved to look toward him from a seated spot. Blake noticing her movement in the dark and facing her with an expression of hatred mixed with pain.
"there was no baby. Knoth convinced both of us though, didn't he?" val stated, anger pouring into her own words now.
"yes there was! Why else- why else go through all that?! You knew, it was obvious! You can't say she wasn't!" Blake snapped. Yelling in frustration only to stop so he could swallow a small amount of spit for his dry throat. Referring to how lynn was both obviously and heavily pregnant.
"i saw her birth it. I held her in my hands as lynn died on that torture table! Now where is she dammit!" Blake began to roar. Tears welling up in his eyes as he spoke.
"there was no baby! it was like every other pregnancy, nothing! There. Was. Nothing!" val roared back, seeming just as angry with heavy disappointment underneath.
"... what? … I held her! She was there, crying. ... Knoth saw her too!" Blake argued again. Only now he was beginning to question himself. He was remembering all he went through now, including the Jessica hallucinations that seemed so real. Then there was also that moment with what lynn had said
"there's nothing there" lynns words echoed repeatedly in his head.
"but, Knoth saw." he spoke again, his heart slowly crumbling away. He saw val shake their head afterwards.
"Knoth sees what he wants. She wasn't the first to bare the "Antichrist" or the first we managed to take from Knoth either. No child had been born at full term in years. It was either a early miscarriage or a false pregnancy. Killing the "birthing mothers" as the blood left them. Either way Knoth claimed he saw the devil child. Killing it after performing some false words before thrusting the blade." val explained as Blake stood there quietly, mainly in an attempt to regain his voice.
"so … why was mine so different?" he asked.
"strange circumstance, same reason why we desperately kept her for the birth. Usually Knoth claimed someone he bedded with lust was carrying the evil. We would grab them in some cases with the event ending all the same. You and the girl however, fell from the sky into a fiery blaze upon landing. Everyone saw the whole thing. Knoth unfortunately made it there first, but that was a small misstep." val explained, taking in a disappointed breath.
"he always came first." the figure shrouded in darkness joked with a snicker. A remark Blake recognized as on the sexual side. Being not much in the mood for Vals forward humor on the subject, he gave a unamused look.
" … we thought it'd be different. That it was real this time. everything showed the signs it was and then … here we are. My loves had their throats slit or were crushed by the crumbling tunnels. I barely got out through the collapsed rock. i expected the world to shift, the earth to crack … but I only had the darkness take me over. I felt satisfied, my purpose complete, I welcomed the pain in the dark, then it ended. I was forced awake back into the world I felt I was past. I found the girl, recognized her body's state being like all the others, but at least it ended Knoth. He had finally lost and died like a coward. I wished it had been me to feel his warm blood pool onto my body." Val spoke, her voice growing in disappointment. Looking toward the ground with a pause.
"Quite a time has past here before I woke. The rot has set in to be two days old on the dead. You were in that dark place a day longer than me, how was it?" val finished off with a question. Blake stood there, glaring in deep hatred. His mind going back and forth on whether val was telling the truth.
After a moment's thought he accepted Val was telling the truth. She never really lied, val never cared about that like Knoth did, but that also came with accepting the baby's nonexistence. It hurt Blake deeply, he pushed so hard to save lynn and failed. At the time he hoped to at least save his little girl, but she never existed either.
He sighed in exhaustion, looking toward the dirty wood floor. Wondering what to do next. His only thought being he wanted to sit and maybe sleep for 10 years. He looked up to stare at val. Watching to see what she- he? Was possibly going to do. Val didn't seem to really move besides in taking a breath. Blake closed his eyes for a moment before gaining enough strength to move again. Walking back out the building onto the flat wood step.
At this point Blake didn't care. He was too exhausted and practically went through everything already. Val didn't seem to react, staying in her seated spot. Not even bothering to look at him. Blake was thankful that val looked to be dressed again. He really didn't want to see that naked mud image right now. As he tried to move off the step his body collapsed onto the wood. Any attempt at getting up proving fruitless for his weakened body.
"val said she blacked out for two days based on how far the rot has been on the corpses. I was out for an extra day, so I was in some comatose state for three days?!" Blake thought, now realizing how desperately bad his bodies state was.
"... if I don't get up now, ... i'll die, ... but would it be so bad?" he wondered as he closed his eyes for just a second.
when he opened his eyes the sun was down, Blake had only fallen asleep this time. The next time however, it would definitely be his last if he didn't find food or water.
He looked around and didn't see Vals presence anywhere from his view into the darkened doorway of the building. He sat up with a few pops to his neck and back from the strange sleeping position. His body feeling a bit more energized, but the pain remaining.
Blake sat there for a while to debate on what he should do next. No lynn, no baby, now what? His only thought was to save himself, but there was no way he would get far in his current condition. He needed to find more bandages, hopefully some alcohol in the damned town, and some food and water while searching.
"i swear if val plans to jump me." he growled to himself. Wondering where val went and what they could possibly be doing with nobody around anymore.
He painfully stood to walk off the wood step. Squinting up at the bright moonlight. Gagging a bit at the rotten body smell mixing with a new one. Burnt flesh, it seems val had been busy doing some clean up.
"fucking great." Blake grumbled toward the smoldering body pile. He continued on slowly, looking about the town. It was the first time he was able to actually able to look at things. As far as he knew he no longer had to fear towns people with machetes or Marta coming at him. At the notice of a dark shape of a tree he stopped. discovering Knoths hanging body, or what's left of him.
Hanging from a tall almost black tree knoths organs were ripped out to be strung around the branches. All sorts of objects from glass, knifes, table legs to branches, iron bars, and barbed wire stabbed or strung all through him like thread through a cloth. His face carved up almost beyond all recognition while also being burned just as much as the others. If Blakes mouth wasn't so dry he'd probably spit at the hanging corpse.
"good riddance." Blake thought before slowly moving again.
"fuck, where the hell can I find water. No way i am drinking from the well here." Blake thought as he carefully walked into one of the shack houses. He was fully prepared to just accept death by dehydration over who knows what in the water. Taking note of more dead bodies as he started rummaging through the cabinets for food, water, or anything useful.
"more bandages, that's one thing." Blake mumbled to himself as he stuffed a couple rolls into his bag. The rest of the house proved fruitless, along with the next three before he found a non rotten apple in the forth. He really wanted just pure water in a bottle, but he couldn't be choosy. Taking a bite of the apple then just sucking on it to try and get a nice mouthful of juice.
"these people don't have anything. Where's all the food? In the fields? Fuck, mite just have to drink from the well. Eat some of the dead fish rotting in the lake." he thought in disgust as he moved to another shack.
"still nothing." he sighed, slamming a fridge full of old rotten vegetables. Already he was beginning to feel exhausted again. Getting frustrated as he knew he'd only been awake for maybe 15 minutes. He preferred to find more food and water first before slipping into a sleep coma. He sighed in agitation before deciding to find a room he could close off.
When he did find one in the upper stairs of a building. He blocked the door off before sitting down on the bed. Letting out a groan of pain at everything hurting. Blake sat there for a moment till he gained a little more energy. Looking to his badly injured and bloody hands.
"maybe i'll get a miracle and the tap will work." he thought, painfully getting up to go to a nearby bathroom. He held his breath as he turned the brass nozzle. Letting out a breath of relief at the clean looking water. He worked as fast as he could, to scrub his hands clean. Then quickly trying to clean every other part of him. He could have tried the shower, but he really didn't want to strip here and get into a vulnerable spot.
Almost all of the blood, mud, and dirt was cleaned away. Blake getting a much clearer look at the holes in his hand. Hissing a bit as they were painfully sore and still bleeding quite a bit. He tried to dry them with a small piece off the new bandage. Hoping they would clot slightly as to not bleed so much. They seemed to slowly stop bleeding as a new scab formed at the wound.
After re-wrapping them in new bandage he stared at the flow of sink water. Smacking his dry mouth. He really didn't want to drink any water in this town, but he had to drink something. So he quickly gulped down a mouthful. Giving up his resistance soon after to guzzle down mouthful after mouthful of water from the tap. His body feeling major relief at the introduction of hydration.
He gasped for air after filling his stomach to the brim with just water, shutting off the tap afterwards. He headed back to the bed to fully lay down this time. Looking toward a nearby widow with moon light pouring through the dust covered glass. For a moment the thought of maybe someone else besides val stalking the town entered his mind. Should he find somewhere more hidden to sleep? At this point though, Blake didn't care. He was far too injured and tired. He didn't want to run again, and couldn't even if he tried. while at this point death would be a welcoming away from all the pain. He closed his eyes and in seconds was fast asleep.
Blake woke up to the morning sun blazing into his eyes. Squinting before carefully sitting up with a stiff groan. He rubbed his face as he put his feet onto the hardwood floor.
"find food, bottled water, and alcohol possibly." he thought. Deep in his mind he knew the alcohol would most likely be nonexistent in this town. Alcohol wasn't looked too kindly on in religion.
"maybe I could find a bottle of wine in the chapel." Blake thought. His heart seized at remembering lynn was dead inside that building. He'd have to face her body again once he entered. He swallowed hard wondering if hed have the strength to even face her.
He got up to slowly work his way back to the chapel. Upon seeing her body from the doorway he froze. Staring as he held back the tears welling up in his eyes. He quickly swallowed them down into the painful pit in his stomach. Carefully walking down the mostly clear isle up to her.
He swallowed down at the painful disgusting sight of maggots swarming over her. He looked away to take a few deep breaths. Desperate to hold himself together. Looking back when he felt he was ready. He needed to cover her body before he could move it.
"wrap her up in something." he thought, looking around the chapel. Deciding on a nice piece of curtain hanging over a window. He returned to lynn with the large bundled up curtain in his hands. Carefully covering her before slowly wrapping the thing around till she was fully bundled up in the fabric.
"at least val didn't desecrate you. … I hope." he spoke to himself. A thought of him not being entirely sure as she was stuck with val for an entire night, although he rather not think of that.
"i need to bury her, but do I want to bury her in this hell town?" he thought. In the end having no choice. He knew he couldn't carry her far, but he could at least take her to the forest edge. Past all the rotten bodies and crumbling buildings.
"Someplace under a nice tree." he thought, leaving her body for the moment. He wanted to dig a deep grave first before carrying her body out. He searched around a bit managing to find a nice shovel. Going slightly past the town to now find a tree. Coming across a large green pine that just managed to survive the fire. Half of its green top being singed from the flames that were now long dead.
Blake returned to the chapel with his eyes welling up the entire way. By the time he reached her body the tears were overflowing.
"i'm sorry, i am so so sorry, I should have been faster. I could have made it. You could have lived, but I couldn't help you." he cried, trying to wipe all the tears away only for the streams to be quickly replaced. He took a long deep breath to calm himself. Hugging her wrapped body for a moment before picking her up into his arms. His whole body locked up in agony from the extra weight. He stood frozen in place with her weight in his arms and took in another deep breath. Slowly working his way toward the grave, taking deep breaths the whole way in an attempt to keep his strength up.
Once at the grave he carefully got to his knees before slipping one leg after the other into the grave. Gently setting her down and fixing up her wrappings. Tears started to heavily flow again requiring him to sit next her in the grave to regain himself. He took a few deep breaths, wiped away the tears. Giving lynn's forehead a final goodbye kiss with his hand then climbed out of the grave. Standing tall next to the grave lynn was now resting in, he looked to the sky to gather some words.
"a good friend, a loving wife, never forgotten. Rest in peace … wherever you are." Blake spoke clearly as if speaking to a actual crowd at a funeral. He folded his hands over each other and lowered his head for a moment of silence.
"amen." Blake said in a way to end the funeral, although the word seemed sour to him. After all this his faith was even more crippled than before. All sorts of questions on why this happened passing through his mind. He wasn't going to debate it though. He was tired of religion and if who ever existed he no longer cared. Blake was going to leave it all at that. He just wanted to move on.
Blake grabbed the near by shovel and began to slowly fill in the grave. Trying his hardest not to fall apart as lynn was covered. His body was exhausted by the time he was done. The afternoon sun now shining over head. The town actually looked remotely nice in the bright sun. not every pile of dirt or tree looking like some horrified monster ready to grab hold. Much easier to see the annoying small cacti Blake remembered from all the past needles stuck in his leg.
He grabbed a nearby small wooden cross he made out of two thick branches and a tied cloth. Setting it at the head of the grave almost against the trunk of the large pine. He smoothed out the grave and circled its edging with all the nice stones and flowers he could find. Finally adding the last touch of a handful of both pink and white flowers he plucked off a cacti.
"you didn't deserve this." Blake spoke to the grave. Shutting his eyes tight as he took a deep breath. Opening them again once he felt like he wouldn't cry again. He looked down at the grave before turning away to search the town again for supplies.
The rest of the day was unfruitful for anything. All the food old and maggot infested with no water insight.
"i guess if worse comes to worse, at least I got a maggot farm." Blake thought. His face crinkling in disgust at the thought of eating a wriggling maggot. He sat down at the stairs of a building he just left. Looking out toward Lynn's marked grave and noticing something. Val was standing near it. Blake filled with hatred glared hard enough to try burning a hole in the back of her head.
"if Val dares desecrate Lynn's grave they're going to pay." Blake growled in his mind. Holding his glare on the unmoving figure that stared down toward the grave. He finally relaxed when Val began moving away from lynn's resting place, but not entirely. His paranoia of maybe something small was done while he wasn't looking bringing him to look over the grave. Blake stood by with an agitated expression as he examined all over the grave for any difference. Even checking the dirt for anything drawn into it. Nothing was different on the grave or anything done to the tree either.
He sighed in relief as he was not in the mood to clean up some carving or blood painted symbols. Or whatever Val may have been wanting to do. Then he turned his attention toward the fresh tracks in anger. He hated them being near and quickly scuffed fresh soil over all the nearby tracks to rid the area of there existence.
After clearing a 15 foot area surrounding the grave he went to tiredly sit by the grave. He leaned his head back to rest it against the tree. Finding himself immediately falling asleep again. When he woke only a few hours later he saw more of Vals tracks leading near the grave and away. Blake growled out of anger at seeing the tracks. Getting up to again carefully examine the grave for desecration in any way. Again, thankfully, finding nothing.
Again, like before, he swept away the invading tracks in a 15 foot area around the grave. Growing quickly exhausted, thirsty, and his stomach painfully growling. He'd only eaten a apple and hot pocket within the last 4 days. The hot pocket he grabbed before the regretful helicopter trip here. He walked away from the grave to only make it 10 feet. Looking back in paranoia at leaving the grave unguarded.
He swallowed in nervousness until his painful stomach growling made him wince. He was mentally kicking himself as he left the unguarded grave, but he desperately needed food. Blake went even deeper into the town to search new areas for supplies. Finding a few more bandages and even a few useless battery's. After Knoth died and before his black out he remembered losing grip on his camera along the way. And at this point he didn't care to search for it either. It was probably laying in a pool of bloody mud and or sewage at this point. Maybe even Val took it and burned it in the body pile, who knows.
As he walked across the open dirt patch between houses he noticed more of Vals boot prints crisscrossing over the dirt. Glaring down at them, knowing Val had already raided the houses here.
"probably snatched up any supplies. Fuck, now what then?" Blake thought, looking up to the bright sky momentarily in exhaustion. Now his options being between maggot farming, or picking a floating fish from the diseased lake full of mercury.
"yay to eventually looking like the mad hatter." Blake spoke with a huff.
"maybe there's a farm around here. There has to be, no way they could feed so many from a bag of groceries fetched from a real outside town. I ran through that corn field at one point. didn't look like there was any corn though from what I remember." he noted in his mind.
"which way to go?" he thought, looking at the varying paths leading in all directions. From all his running around he had no idea where anything was. Running through the whole night also muddling his whole sense of direction. He got an idea to look at where the sun was. It was past noon so wherever the sun was heading down to it lead toward the west. It didn't help him much in deciding a path, but he could just barely remember where the sun was before the helicopter ride and the direction they flew in.
from there he tried hard to remember every direction he walked in since the crash. Unfortunately his memory were more like blinks. He could only get points A and B of certain places. The whole between just seemed like a black warped puddle with the flash of something fuzzy forming now and again.
He found his memory no use. instead deciding to approach the best guess option. Looking at the tree lines for a thin or cleared area. Farming wasn't exactly a small patch to clear of trees. Soon spotting a massive open area between the tree line and heading straight for it. A 10 minute walk leading him up face to face with possibly the same corn field he zigzagged through.
Blake examined the stalks as he walked between the rows. Seeing no evidence of any corn. Assuming that maybe the town had harvested and eaten it all already. He noticed a bright color orange from between the long rows as he got deeper into them. Heading toward it expecting it to be leftover corn, but instead.
" … pumpkins... ?" Blake stated out loud in the middle of a pumpkin patch. Looking like none of them were harvested yet.
"had to be pumpkins. Couldn't have been something easy like fucking potatoes, but no. I don't even know how to really peel a orange I always needed lynn to do it for me. How the fuck do I eat a pumpkin?!" Blake spoke to himself. Knowing he was definitely not a cook of out of the way veggies. Usually working with simple potatoes or the most complicated being peas in a pod.
"i've heard of diced pumpkin, so do I peel it then chop it? I know I can bake the seeds, but can I also cook the guts and eat it?" Blake spoke to himself.
"if there was ever a time to figure out my own pumpkin pie recipe, it'd be now." Blake joked. He always joked as some kind of protection mechanism. It helped uplift his spirits when down, even just a little helped him keep going.
Blake picked up a nice sized pumpkin about the size of his head. Taking it back to lynns grave and setting it down momentarily. He was happy to see no new tracks from Val around the area. Now his new goal was to find supplies for a fire and some sort of cooking pan.
"hopefully Val wont snatch it and get her own from the pumpkin patch." Blake thought while searching the nearby shacks. Finding a pan and a small box of matches pretty quickly. Getting a lucky find of a small clean white pouch that could hold pumpkin seeds well. Returning to his pumpkin to create a small fire pit ringed with rocks. He piled a bunch of twigs and handfuls of dry leaves into the small pit. Lighting a match to place on the dry pile. Now he had to figure out what to do with the pumpkin. His best bet was roasting seeds and collect a whole bags worth of them. They would last as long as they did not get wet.
Blake grabbed a nearby broken shard of metal off a gate. He looked it over to see if there was any strange substance on it and found nothing. Leaning it against the wall to force it into a curved hook before he brought it to the fire. Letting it sit over the flames to clean anything he couldn't see sitting on the surface. then began his task of carefully carving a hole at the top of the pumpkin as if starting a jack o lantern. Picking out all the seeds he could to throw into the empty pan.
He roasted a good cup full of seeds till they turned a golden brown. Eating a few to test them determining them worthy of being stored in the pouch. Leaving still a lot of empty space for at least 6 more cup fulls of seeds inside the bag. After the pan was cleared Blake took his chances with trying to prepare the pumpkin guts. Cutting out the annoying pile and slopping it all into the pan with a sizzle as the wet goop hit the hot metal.
He sat there watching the goop pile slowly cook. Turning and mixing it with the metal piece, but finding it hard to determine if it was done or not. Half was still raw goop and the other half was now suddenly burnt. Before the last bit of it was burnt he took it off the fire to cool. Throwing more branches into the fire to keep it going. He decided he would stay by lynns grave to keep watch with the fire keeping him warm in the night.
He mixed the oddly looking pile, at this point just playing with his food. Afraid to take the first bite. He swirled it onto the metal piece like stringing noodles. Taking his first bite and scrunching up at the burnt taste covered in half slimy texture. As the first shock of flavor past he started unhappily chewing. Deciding it was better then nothing while saving the seeds for emergency case. By the end of it he was getting a bit sick from the disgusting flavor. Thankful that it was all done and gone at least till his next pumpkin. The rest of the pumpkin he would scrape out the sides and try to cook tomorrow.
He sat by the grave to lean against the tree. Sitting there and watching the sun pass into night. Making sure to keep the fire going as much as he could to keep the area lit. who knows what Val was doing out in the darkness. Honestly he really didn't want to know after all he had seen Val do. As long as they stayed far away from him that's all Blake cared for.
"if i keep going at this pace, MAYBE, I'll have enough strength to walk back in a day or two." he thought, the back of his mind arguing the time frame to be more like a week.
"no way i am staying that long. I'll take my chances hitch hiking in the forest. Once I get home ill recover lynns body and give a proper funeral in a nice cemetery. Have this place burned to the ground with flame throwers. Probably the only way to cleanse this area of all the pollution of disease. Especially that "quarantine" area." he grumbled in thought.
"wonder if any of the ill survived up in the mountains? Probably not with how bad that storm was. Landslide, fallen trees, and rocks would have buried them." Blake thought. He threw a bunch more wood onto the fire, curling up against the tree to slowly drift to sleep.
The next morning he woke to a familiar sight of Vals boot prints walking nearby before going off.
"ugh." he thought with a glare. Getting up to check the grave again. Seeing nothing still and again scuffing the prints away. The feeling of paranoia coming up as he realized how close Val was getting to him in his sleep. Maybe he should go indoors from now on. That meant leaving lynn's grave unguarded however.
"i have to let go. Cant keep guarding the dead forever." he thought. Lynn was dead now, nothing could bring her back. So why was he so diligently guarding her grave? Wanting to feel like he accomplished protecting in some way? He wasn't able to protect Jessica, wasn't able to keep lynn safe. He failed and now the last thing he wanted to do was fail a third time. Last thing he wanted to see was lynn unburied to be put up for some satanic display by Val.
Blake looked toward the sun to get the jest of what time of day it was. The sun was up a bit past sunrise but not close to afternoon yet. He yawned and stretched his cramped body. He was feeling a little better. Still sore in the legs with pain in his injured hands, but feeling much more well rested.
Blake then recalled why he went into the chapel in the first place. He wanted to find some wine or alcohol of sorts for his hands. Maybe for everything else if he found enough. Even after the small sink bath his skin still felt stained with who knows what. Inside the chapel he looked around the front podium for some sort of small storage of wine. Finding nothing his attention turned toward a shut door to the side. Trying to open the door gave no effect.
"locked? In a town that leaves everything open?" Blake wondered. Grabbing a nearby metal bar to thrust it into the door wedge. Leaning back to provide force into the door. The door creaking as it bent in a way it wasn't supposed to before shooting open as the door broke away from the locked knob.
"geeze, some fucking lock." Blake thought, examining the knob still attached to the lock in the door frame.
"why so protective of this room?" he wondered, knowing that the common lock around here was a slider over the doorway.
"ah, now I know why." he said. Looking at the vast fancy decorating. Nice rugs, fancy bedding, large nice wood crosses, bottles of pills everywhere, a desk covered in radio equipment and wires heading out a window near the roof. Boxes of jewelry, empty wallets, a stack of bibles.
"knoths room." Blake answered to himself. Avoiding in touching anything. Only doing so to grab a pill bottle that looked untouched so far.
"penicillin … I mite need these." Blake recalled with his time in the quarantine area.
"Better safe than sorry." he said before grabbing a couple of the untouched bottles and immediately swallowing two of the pills. Thankfully the labels said they were not expired yet. Hopefully he didn't manage to catch 10 different diseases.
He looked about the room, examining the radio at first to see if he could get an outside signal for a call to help. No success as only one channel seemed active which Blake could hear the microphones outside slightly buzzing or pooling static from a broken wire setup. He quickly switched it off with an aggravated huff.
His attention was then turned toward the boxes of valuables. Empty wallets cleared of cards or anything cash worthy. The jewelry being items containing large diamonds, probably solid gold or silver chains. Even expensive name brand watches among the pile.
"Knoth needed money somehow for his drug dealers. Cash out peoples cards, use cash, trade in at pawn. Not like his people would care there cards were maxed out while living away from society with debt collectors." Blake said to himself.
He continued looking about the room. Again being careful with what exactly he was touching or rubbing his hands against.
"score!" Blake spoke excitedly as he found a couple bottles of unopened water by the bed. Removing batteries to shove them into the bag around his waist, just barely managing to fit them. He moved onto searching the drawers managing to find more useful items.
"jack Daniels, that will definitely work." he said, undoing the bloody bandages and quickly soaking them in a large splash of the alcohol. Hissing as they both burned as if on fire. As the pain came it was quickly washed over with relief at fully having the wounds cleaned out now. Getting another bandage out to soak it slightly in a few drops before wrapping his hands with it. As Blake finished tying off the bandage he saw movement out of the corner of his eye. Turning quickly enough to just catch a glimpse of Val disappearing from view. He stood there frozen to watch the doorway to the empty room. Waiting to see if Val would show herself again. she definitely didn't want to be seen by him as she watched what he was doing.
"maybe val was attracted by the radio coming on, afraid Knoth may have risen from the grave. I would have checked too if I suddenly heard them switching on." he thought. He wasn't so afraid of Val out in the day in town. It was at night when he couldn't see three feet in front of him or when he was forced into a small dark space with her when he was afraid. Val wasn't so intimidating when she was pretty much the only one left. No one to back her in a fight or jump in if she had trouble. Easier advantage in a cramped tunnel over open town space. Blake was sure that Val knew that too.
"i wonder if that's why she does nightly visits? Testing how close she can get to jump me in my sleep?" he thought as he returned to searching the room. He started looking underneath the furniture. Finding mainly dust bunnies or cobwebs. Something caught his eye under the bed however. A small perfect hole the size of a quarter. He reached over and pulled up by using the hole.
After using a bit of force he assumed maybe it was nothing. But the hole seemed so out of place for him. He grabbed the hole and wiggled it a bit. The board sliding in one direction before popping up. It surprised Blake as he fully moved the board out of the way. Seeing a small hidden space containing a small black book with a bunch of pens and nothing else. He took out the small book, crawling out from under the bed, to look inside.
"looks like knoths diary." Blake sighed as he saw all those stupid gospels he wrote. A bunch of references to the actual bible. Some of his daily writings repeating the general message of "the end is near!" on every ending page. He flipped toward the front of the book finding something new. something with the government raid on the last place Knoth and his disciples lived.
"
DEC, 10th 1969
me and what's left of my flock are moving to new lands, someplace safe from peering eyes of the enemy who wishes to stop me. The government has already taken so much, how much more do they want? Now they mite be taking my followers faith in me. I've been getting many questions I do not like being asked. Questions of why I didn't foresee the raid, why god let over half of us be dragged away. Why my promises of protection and peacefulness were broken.
I've been managing to keep them at bay through words of "its what god chooses". Usually i am spoken to by the lord so that I know the correct answer to such questions. It seems god wants me to do this on my own. It must be a test to make sure I can keep my flock faithful. Even with Marta by my side I can only make them fear me for so long. Marta can handle a few men revolting, but a whole mob? I doubt that despite Martas words of reassurance she'll take care of them. I don't want my whole flock to abandon my words and leave me with only a minor few. Or have Marta hang them when we should really be sticking together in these trying times to the new lands.
While Marta is my right hand, I am missing a left. Sure there is always laird who follows me without question, but he isn't so well on the eyes and can be too aggressive on those questioning me. I need someone with a more delicate touch of speaking. Someone intimidating, but soft enough to be approached, and above all highly devoted to me. I have a feeling laird won't be around us for much longer either. He's been doing his best to hide the symptoms of sickness, but I see it. After we are settled in the new lands and I no longer need his help in overlooking the work I will send him away."
Blake flipped through the next few pages, finding nothing else besides same old same old. Templegate founding celebration, town built, blah blah. For a moment Blake debated on burning the diary so some poor soul wouldn't get sucked into the lies and spread the evil of knoths gospel. It may have more interesting information though as it was so carefully hidden. Knoth wasn't exactly known for hiding his teachings so this book might be holding delicate information Knoth never wanted to see the light of day. looked to have pages written for each day going back over 42 years. Would be nice to know where all this madness grew from for curiosity's sake.
He shoved the book into his jacket pocket, aiming to read more later in the night. He determined he had gathered everything useful from the room. Heading out back to lynns grave. Blake stopped in his tracks at seeing multiple boot prints swarming all around the grave. All of them left by one person. Now Val was doing this on purpose. He let out a yelling growl in anger toward the sky since Val wasn't present for him to yell at.
"i am going to snap your ankles when I get the chance!" he shouted generally into the air. Not entirely meaning it as he knew he wasn't in good condition to fight. He once again checked over the grave, finding again to be untouched although the footprints did get incredibly close to the graves edge. The prints also having a pattern of purpose. Leaving prints around the grave in a pacing motion before making rings spreading out from the grave and then turning random. However all the prints were kept within the exact 15 foot radius Blake never wanted them to be in.
he grumbled to himself about being sick of this as he scuffed all the prints away. Getting the help from a twiggy branch he used as a makeshift broom on the dirt. When he was done he tossed the branch off to the side, spotting Vals tracks heading off in a quick manner. He growled at being left exhausted from cleaning up prints again. This needed to stop, NOW, before Val took it any further. He was tired of being tired at fixing up the mess everyday.
He followed after the tracks with the idea of where they lead coming into question. Would they lead to another mine? Another town building? Was Val purposely leading him somewhere? Did she even expect him to follow this time?
He came to a small cliff edge clearing able to spot Val immediately. He stopped as he saw her peering out from behind a tree, but not toward him. she was looking intently at something down the small cliff edge. He glared at the back of there head. Confused but not really caring about whatever crazy thing they were doing currently.
"hey!" Blake snapped at Val. she turned to look at him as if knowing he was there the entire time. Shushing him with a calm expression.
"they're searching." Val spoke in an ominous manner before turning back to whatever they were looking at. Blake stared confused at her before walking forward a bit. Making sure not to get too close to Val. He looked across the lower forest area till he saw the movement of a group wearing black uniforms.
"police officers?! there searching for me and lynn. our hotel probably called police since we never officially checked out." Blake stated.
"that's not what there here for." Val stated.
"what else would they be here for!?" Blake argued.
"strangers don't just find Templegate. They've been here before and have come to fulfill a personal goal. Just like everyone else who has gathered to Templegate." Val answered. Blake huffed at that answer.
"well i am going to meet them and getting out of this dump." Blake stated before turning back to find a way down.
"the outsiders are not friendly." Val warned, turning to look toward Blake.
"what would you know?! You think everybody's the enemy!" he snapped angrily.
"I know Templegate better than you do. Their outsiders that shouldn't be here." Val warned, When finished she turned away to head back toward the town.
"whatever. … lunatic." Blake said with the last part only being in thought.
As Val left his sight he made his way down. Walking through the forest brush toward the group. As he drew closer he felt the need to be silent. Something felt wrong deep inside.
"pfft, Vals lunatic talk is getting to me. Its nothing. There looking for me and lynn, Vals probably afraid of being arrested. doesn't want me to rat on her to police. No where for Val to escape now. Why else would they possibly be here?!" Blake tried to reassure in his mind.
He was coming up upon the uniformed men. Getting ready to call out when he noticed the men weren't just in regular uniform. It was bulky, like a swat team uniform. Having patches on their shoulders of a strange logo with the word Murkoff underneath. Blake swallowed as he examined the group more closely. Alongside the swat uniforms they were carrying heavy military fire power in their hands. This was no longer seeming like just a search party. He moved up just enough so he could stand behind a nearby tree. Listening carefully as the group talked amongst themselves. Still unaware of Blakes existence.