Chapter 18 – Good Guys
"So, what's the plan, Cap?" Pete asked Edward as we continued to watch Emmett plowing the field.
"Well, we can either break him out discreetly, or we can start shooting until he's free."
"As long as we get the bishop first, I'm in," Pete agreed.
"The bishop is a monster, but this world has had enough death," I said to them. "Can we at least try to figure out a way to stop him without killing anyone?"
"We won't execute him," Edward replied, but I'm not going to try hard to save his life either. Bella, it's no different than Jimmy; if he attempts to use lethal force to keep us from saving Emmett, then it's self-defense."
I sighed, and nodded.
Edward had picked up some bolt cutters somewhere along the way, so he left to grab them out of the truck. It didn't take long for him to return, and we were able to stealthily free Emmett from his chain. Then we handed him a gun.
Edward thought it was only fitting to give Emmett the choice of how he wanted to proceed, since he was the victim, and I couldn't argue with that.
"I know what to do," Emmett said determinedly. Having been enslaved by them for over a week, Em had learned their habits and their schedule. It just so happened to be Sunday, which meant the entire community would soon go into church for service. With all the windows boarded up to save the building from the zombies, we would use the congregation to our advantage.
"You sure about this?" Edward asked Emmett warily, just before we were about to open one particular hatch.
"Definitely," Em replied without a shred of doubt. "This is where they are keeping them. They find their zombified family members, and dump them in here until they can be moved. We just need one."
"Right, but controlling it is an entirely different matter," Pete grumbled.
"Bella," Edward warned me.
"I know, I'm going," I said with ambivalence.
I truly understood the reason for me moving away, but I would be lying if I said I wasn't disappointed. Seeing one of them up close without fear would be kind of amazing – in a weird twisted way.
So, I stepped outside into the sunlight, while the immune men attempted to wrestle one of the zombies out of the hatch.
There were a bunch of loud bangs, and even louder grunts and huffs, but a few torturously long minutes later, the guys emerged from the building with a zombie. It was chained up and covered with a black cloth to protect it from the sun, but it was still fighting every step of the way. After a few rough steps towards the church, Emmett had enough and he picked the thing up and threw it over his shoulder.
"Are you okay?" I whispered to Edward as we walked. All three of the guys were covered in blood, but none appeared to be teeth marks.
"Yeah, we were able to fish this one out without being attacked by the others, but damn it's feisty," he explained. "We muzzled it so no bites, but its claws are like a mountain lion's or something."
"You really think you guys can keep it from escaping?" I asked concerned.
The plan was good, and I stood by it, however there were children in that church and I didn't want to see any of them getting hurt.
"This is going to work," Edward said confidently. "Just stay back," he added.
"I know."
"Ready?" Emmett asked us as we approached the chapel doors.
"Let's do this," Pete said eagerly.
With that, Edward kicked open the door, and we all entered. I hung back to make sure the doors were secured again, but the uproar in the room as the guys made their way up the center aisle was deafening. It echoed off the walls and reverberated straight into my brain, giving me an immediate migraine.
The shouting from the bishop quieted the rest.
"I already told you, heathens. You are not welcome here! And you," he said, pointing to Emmett. "You must earn your way into this community by repenting. This is not how you repent! Your request to join us will be denied."
"I didn't request shit," Emmett retorted. "You enslaved me and got away with it by telling all these people it was my choice."
"That's ridiculous!" the bishop disagreed, and then he proceeded to address his congregation in Pennsylvanian Dutch so that we couldn't understand. Unfortunately for him, his words didn't matter.
With the doors shut and the windows already boarded, Edward took the drape off the zombie, thus shocking and terrifying the people.
"What is this madness?" the bishop shouted. "Get that demon out of the house of god!"
Several men tried approaching the zombie, but when it growled at them through its makeshift muzzle, they backed away.
"This is one of your community members," Emmett announced. "It could be your father, or brother, or neighbor. The bishop would have you believe it is a demon, but where do you think your recently returned members have come from? Do you think they were being held prisoner by these things? No. I will show you where they've come from."
Edward and Pete both tightened their hold on the chained zombie, while Emmett took out the fabric gaging it. When he let it bite him, people screamed, but when it started convulsing, a dead silence fell upon the people.
It was incredible. Watching the transformation of the monster back into a person was definitely like witnessing a miracle. There were silent tears all around, and as the newly cured man regained awareness and control of himself, people dropped to their knees and began praying out loud.
"Now they know the truth," Emmett told the bishop. "Your reign here is over."
Because the people had witnessed Emmett cure a zombie, they basically began worshiping him. He was given the chance to explain everything, and the hatred directed on the now former bishop was immeasurable. Thankfully, we were given free access to the place the cured woman was being held in, and we were able to get her the medical help she so desperately needed.
"She is very weak," Pete said after grabbing his EMT bag from the truck. "She really needs a blood transfusion, but I'm not a doctor and I doubt anyone here is qualified."
"We don't do that kind of thing here," the only community health caregiver told him. Her skills basically ended after stitches and natural honey for a cough.
"All we can do is keep her hydrated and hope for the best," Pete told Emmett gently.
For three days straight, Emmett stayed by the woman's bedside. The people were very accommodating, but kept their distance most of the time. Edward helped cure the remaining zombies in the hatch, and the community celebrated the return of many of their friends and family. One cured zombie in particular, was a man of great respect and importance and he was immediately dubbed the new bishop. He was a good, kind man that would hopefully lead the people with genuine righteousness. They dealt with the former bishop in their own way, and we left them to it.
When the woman finally woke up from her near coma, Pete was optimistic that she would make a full recovery – at least physically.
"She is in a real bad place," Pete told us when the woman refused to speak or even make eye contact with anyone. "She has suffered extreme trauma, and I'm not sure she can handle much mentally and emotionally right now."
Because she wouldn't speak, all we really knew about her was that she was not Amish. The people of the community didn't know her and suggested that she had come with the drifters that had locked them up as offerings.
"She must have been important to those men if they kept her in the closet," one woman told us.
"Well, they're all dead now, so I guess we will just take her with us," Edward told them.
We gave the woman a chance to stay with the Amish, but she never responded, and the new bishop, though kind, reminded us that the Amish lifestyle wasn't for everyone.
"If she chooses to return to us, we will welcome her back," the new bishop assured us.
"Thank you," Edward replied with a courteous handshake. We had no desire to become Amish ourselves, but staying friendly with them could only be a good thing in an apocalyptic world like that.
We headed back to the truck, and Emmett retrieved the bigger truck as well, and then we were back on the road. The woman remained cowered into the truck door for most of the trip, and refused to speak or eat.
"I know it's hard, but you need to try to get your strength back," I told her gently. "You lost a lot of blood, but you're going to be okay as long as you keep drinking and eating."
But she didn't seem like she wanted to get better. Every time I spoke to her, she would cower even smaller, and if one of the guys would attempt to talk to her, she would tremble violently.
"You're safe. No one is going to hurt you here," I tried telling her, but it was of no use and seemed to fall on deaf ears.
When we arrived back at home, we kicked Irina out of the bedroom and let the woman use it to have some privacy.
"Um, I'm not sleeping out here with stinky men," Irina complained. "Do you even know how many times I had to smell Seth's flatulence while you guys were gone?"
Seth only responded with an evil laugh, which made me giggle.
We all felt horrible for the woman, but with our limited resources, there wasn't much we could do for her. She needed to want to live, and at the moment, she just didn't. Every day we would bring her food and gently remind her she was safe. Occasionally, hunger would win and she would eat a little, but she stayed locked up tightly in her own personal prison, and my heart truly ached for her.
The guys all resumed their work on the house addition, and I stayed outside most of the time to help wherever I could, but it wasn't until we were back home for a little over a week that I realized something very odd was happening with Irina.
"What are you doing?" I asked her as I practically ran into her on my way to the bathroom. The only bedroom was right across the narrow hall, and that was where she was coming out of. "We are all trying to give her space."
"She doesn't need space. She needs to stop all the bullshit," Irina disagreed. "There is work to be done and everyone needs to pitch in."
"And what exactly have you been doing to pitch in?" I questioned heatedly.
"Do you see that sprouting garden out there? Do you honestly think little inept Seth did any of it? No, it's all been me. And when was the last time you did laundry? Because none of the boys do it, and yet, they are all wearing clean clothes."
"I wasn't aware you knew how to work a washing machine," I said, feeling slightly bad for accusing her of doing nothing. I didn't want to admit it, but the truth was my pregnancy was already taking a toll on my body. I wasn't sick, but I certainly was exhausted all the time and I did occasionally find myself dozing off under the tree while the guys worked.
"I may not have grown up with modern conveniences, but I'm not an idiot," Irina snapped back at me. "Pete showed me once, and now I do it all myself. So, you can take your attitude and shove it up your ungrateful ass!"
"Irina, I apologize, but you don't have to be such a bitch all the time," I said before going into the bathroom and slamming the door shut.
I dismissed Irina's exit from the bedroom, up until the moment I saw it again…and then again.
"What are you doing in there?" I asked suspiciously, feeling the need to protect the poor woman from Irina's assault tendencies.
"Oh, stop it," she said, already knowing what my concerns were. "I have no romantic feelings for her whatsoever."
"So, why do you keep going in there?" I questioned.
"Look, I know what it's like to feel lost in a strange world, okay?" she replied, sounding unexpectedly genuine. "When I first left on Rumspringa, I was so scared. I just needed to know I wasn't alone, so that's what I'm doing for the woman. I just sit in there with her. It's completely innocent."
As much as I hated admitting it, perhaps Irina was onto something. A few days later, she emerged for dinner with the woman quietly in tow. It was quite shocking.
The guys and I gave the woman welcoming smiles, but we all knew to allow her as much space as possible as to not overwhelm her. I tried not to stare, but it was hard to miss the way she was eating. She took a few tiny bites, but otherwise just pushed the food around her plate, which I suppose I couldn't blame her. All that canned food we were consuming was really starting to get old.
Later that evening, we all settled in the living room, and the guys turned on a movie.
"No. They'll hear," the woman said in a panic. It was the first time we heard her speak, so we all looked at her in shock.
"I already told you, the zombies don't bother us here," Irina assured her.
"It's still not safe," the woman maintained.
"I agree!" Seth said in an obvious attempt to suck up to the woman. "We should all be quiet and read books after sunset," he added with a nod and a wink directed at her. She responded by quickly looking away.
"Well, I think tonight is as good of a night as any," Pete said while bringing out a couple bottles of wine and some glasses.
"I thought we were saving them for a special occasion?" Emmett questioned.
"This is a special occasion," he replied with an uncharacteristically cheerful tone. "We all survived the fight to save Miss, and now she has come out and looks to be on her way to a full recovery. Do you like wine?" he asked the woman.
She glanced up at him, and then ever so subtly nodded.
"See? Let's have a little." He looked at the woman and added – "Or a lot."
"Can I have some?" Seth asked, not expecting a positive answer, so when he was handed a glass, he was shocked and beaming with excitement.
"This is the end of the world, son, no need to wait until you're twenty-one to enjoy a nice glass of wine," Pete told him.
Everyone received a glass, regardless of age, except for me.
"A little won't hurt the baby," Emmett encouraged.
"It probably wouldn't, but I'm perfectly fine passing," I assured him. "My dad let me try some before and I didn't care for it."
Something made me look at the woman, and I was surprised to see her looking back at me curiously. I smiled at her, but again, she quickly looked away.
The next day, however, when the guys all were outside working on the house, and Irina was in the shower, the woman scared the shit out of me by approaching me so quietly that I didn't know she was there until she was right next to me.
"Sorry," she whispered for my spook.
"It's okay," I replied with a smile. "I just didn't hear you come out of the room. Is everything okay?"
"Are you pregnant?" she asked bluntly.
"Yeah, but it's still early," I said while stroking my flat stomach.
"I used to be a nurse in the NICU," she said so quietly that I almost couldn't hear her.
"You were a nurse?" I asked to clarify.
She nodded. "For sick babies. We don't have any equipment here, but I may be able to help if the baby needs anything."
"That would be amazing. I've been so worried about any potential issues we could face. Pete is an EMT and said he could help with the birth, but it's still so nerve-wracking," I told her in a rush. It was so surprising that she was speaking at all, but her background with babies really did make me feel better.
"I will help you in any way I possibly can," she said with a shy smile before quickly retreating back to the bedroom.
Little by little, the woman began to interact with me, but it was always when the guys weren't around. Irina and I soon learned her name was Rosalie and she had been in a relationship with one of the men who had imprisoned the Amish.
"And you were just okay with that?" Irina asked scornfully when Rosalie was attempting to explain her prior situation.
"No, I was… scared," she admitted. "Royce was not a nice man. I tried leaving him before, but…." She let her words trail off.
"Well, you were with him when you people barged into my community," Irina argued.
"When the virus spread, it hit my family hard," Rosalie explained. "I was working in a hospital, so when it first hit, I stayed away from my family to avoid potentially exposing them." She shook her head at the memory. "They got sick anyway, and it killed me to stay away, but I was also trying to avoid contamination from them so I could keep working. I never thought it would get this bad…until it did. It passed through my family so quickly and they all died before the mutations even started."
"That's horrible. I'm so sorry for your loss," I told her gently.
"I really don't deserve your sympathies. I should have gone home to help them, but I chose strangers and my job over my family.
"You chose to help people," I disagreed supportively. "You had no way of knowing it would turn into this."
She smiled her gratitude, and then continued her story. "Royce and I weren't together anymore at that point, but when he heard I lost my entire family, he came back for me. I was such a mess from grief, and I was terrified. When he told me we had to hit the road in an attempt to outrun the virus, I just… went. I believed him when he said he had changed and he would never beat me again."
"But he didn't change," I assumed.
She shook her head no. "He would allow his friends to… do things to me, and then he would beat me for cheating. It was never my choice. I tried leaving, but the world ended. The world ended and I thought we were the only survivors. Surely being assaulted and abused was better than being alone, right?"
She had so much pain in her eyes, and she looked at me with an almost desperate plea – as if she was begging for some kind of confirmation that she did the right thing by staying with such horrible men.
"I probably would have stayed too," I told her sympathetically. "If I really thought everyone else on the planet was gone."
She nodded to herself and seemed to find a little peace from my words. "When we found the Amish community, I was so grateful," she continued. "I was ready to convert and become one of them. I would have done anything to escape my current situation."
"You were given a host family," Irina confirmed her story. "I remember people talking about it, but we never saw you. They said you changed your mind."
"I didn't change my mind; Royce locked me in the closet and refused to let me go. When the bishop said we couldn't stay unless we converted, Royce and his friends got mad and used their guns to imprison everyone. I couldn't take it anymore, so after a few nights there, I managed to escape them, and I… I went outside at night and offered myself to the zombies."
"You tried to kill yourself?" Irina asked with a gasp. "That is one of the worst sins."
"Irina, can you just shut up for five minutes?" I snapped at her.
"It's okay, Bella, she's right. I wasn't well in the head. Actually, nothing about me was well; I felt entirely hopeless. I remember the zombies coming – the loud screaming noise they made, and then… nothing. The next thing I knew, I was waking up in chains in a dark room. During the daylight hours, men would come in and hurt me…"
"The Amish were assaulting you?" I asked horrified.
"Probably the bishop and his posse," Irina grumbled. "They were known around the community for their assaults. Of course, everybody else were too much of chicken shits to ever stand against them."
"Well, at least they're being held accountable now," I said, hoping it brought Rosalie a little peace.
"After the men used me during the day, they would throw the monsters in with me at night, and they would attack me, but then something would happen to them," Rosalie said, confused by her memory.
"Your blood can cure them," I explained softly. "That's why the Amish bishop locked you up. They would use you to cure their community members."
"How does my blood cure them?" she asked horrified.
"Because you were cured. You were a zombie, and you were cured by biting Emmett. Emmett was also previously a zombie, and he was cured by biting Edward. We aren't sure how Edward became immune, but it seems to be natural for him."
"Edward is the one with the dark curly hair that was with me in the dark room for a while?" she asked to clarify.
"No, that was Emmett. The one who you bit "
She nodded in understanding. "Emmett. He was a prisoner too. He tried to help me."
"I know you were hurt so many times, but there are good men, and these guys here are all good," I tried convincing her.
"They haven't shown any aggression towards you?" she asked uncertain.
"Not at all."
"Don't believe they're good for a second!" Irina cut in strongly. "Men are scum. You clearly know that by how much you've been assaulted. They are all disgusting pigs, and just wait until they go long enough without sex during this apocalypse. They'll be raping us for sure. It's only a matter of time."
"Irina, that is not true, and you're scaring her," I said sternly.
"She should be scared, and so should you," she replied unyieldingly. "In fact, you better hope that baby of yours isn't female, because it won't be long before she is being attacked by them as well. Hell, they will probably attack it whether it's a boy or a girl. Even Sam the dog isn't safe from grown men. It's just the way they are. Men are monsters, driven solely by sex; so much worse than the zombies. We really should start thinking of a plan to get away from all of them. After Pete helps you deliver your baby, of course."
I laughed once humorlessly, before turning back to Rosalie. "Besides Edward, I haven't known any of them very long, but they have been nothing but kind to me, and I know they respect you as well. They even respect Irina; they don't like her, but they respect her enough to never even dream of hurting her."
Irina snorted her disagreement.
I continued to try to convince Rosalie that the guys we lived with weren't going to hurt any of us, but not even a few days later, she happened to catch Edward and me in a compromising position. We were just having a little fun, and getting a little kinky, but I could see how she could take it the wrong way. It basically stripped away all of the progress I had made towards her trusting the guys, and I felt like absolute shit.
"We need to come up with a better solution than this," I told Edward after another failed attempt to speak to Rosalie about what she saw. "There is nowhere private for us, and we absolutely need privacy."
"I'm sorry, babe," Edward said sincerely. "I wouldn't have even thought to do something like that if I knew anyone would be around."
"Don't be sorry, it was amazing…until Rosalie saw us. I just feel so sorry for her. She has been through so much and been hurt by so many men. It's no wonder she is scared of all of you guys. Of course, Irina's constant trash-talking doesn't help."
"Hey, how is she doing?" Emmett asked concerned as he approached us. Since the moment she bit him, Em had felt a strong connection and sense of duty to protect her, even if she refused to communicate with him in any way.
"She is doing okay, but I have to keep telling her that Edward wasn't hurting me. Hopefully she will start believing me soon."
"What the hell were you two actually doing?" Em asked us with a mix of bitterness and amused curiosity.
I patted Edward on the shoulder. "I'll leave you guys to do the guy talk thing," I said, knowing Edward wouldn't be disrespectful. Had we been living in normal times, I probably would have been horrified by the idea of my boyfriend divulging our private details like that, but since it affected Rosalie in such a way, it was probably helpful for them to know. There really was no such thing as privacy anymore anyway, so what difference did it make.
The very next day, Edward surprised me with the single most amazing thing I could possibly imagine…
"Are you kidding me right now?" I nearly shouted with happy tears.
"It was just sitting there in town behind one of the buildings, and I figured, what the hell. I actually can't believe I didn't think of it sooner. Emmett hotwired it, and now we have our privacy," Edward said as he opened the door to the sun beaten but fully functioning motorhome.
It was an older model, and the thin walls probably wouldn't protect us much in an attack from a horde, but it had been so quiet there that I wasn't worried. It was perfect, and I was so grateful. We were even able to plug it in to the house's electricity for power. It really was a luxury I never expected.
Thankfully, after a few more days passed, Rosalie was able to relax a bit. It was clear that Edward loved me, and whatever we did together was completely consensual.
When Rosalie finally began speaking to the guys, Emmett became hopeful. He had not-so-secretly hoped their connection would eventually grow into something more, and her subtle brief smiles his way only further encouraged his attraction to her. He was going to take it as slow as she needed; hell, he would wait for her forever if he had to, however his hopes were soon extinguished.
"Wow," I said a little louder than I intended. Me and the guys had been outside, and when we came back in to get ready for the dinner Irina was supposed to be making, we found her and Rosalie making out.
I reflexively looked at Emmett, and the shock and devastation on his face was heartbreaking. He immediately turned around and walked right back out of the house…