A big shout to all who are still managing to follow me right now. I cannot tell you how much it all means to me. I have tried to keep publishing through a lot of difficult times. Honestly. This fic is about done. Thank you all so very very much for being here with
Kelly rose to her feet slowly, shocked by Kris's blow to her head. She looked directly at Kris, seeking some hint of explanation on her face, but just saw shocked confusion there.
"Now sister Munro…"
Marcus had backed off by four or five feet and was still feeling very much in control of the situation.
"… tie up sister Garrett. Very tightly! And sister Garrett," He kept his gun on Kris, "remember, I have the advantage. One move or one word even, and your friend will die instantly."
His voice was suddenly even again, but Kelly had no doubt in her mind that Marcus would kill. She watched Kris's face for any sign of recognition, as she stepped up to carry out Marcus's orders, but Kris appeared to be transfixed, as if lost in her own world somewhere. Kelly could only wonder at the state of Kris's mind right now. Kris roughly took hold of Kelly's wrists and began to bind the rope around them, as Kelly silently looked on, feeling the situation slide further and further away from her control. How could she reach Kris now? If she only had half a chance… She looked past Kris at Marcus, who grinned slyly, the gun never wavering.
Kris finished tying Kelly's hands, then stepped back a few feet, her arms dropping loosely to her sides. Kelly realised that Kris was sweating more now, and she doubted it was from the warmth of the stable.
"Thank you, sister Munro." Marcus praised his helper. "Now," He took more rope off a stall end and threw it at Kris, "her feet - tie them up too."
The rope landed by Kris and she turned and looked at Marcus, as if unsure of his orders.
"She's a follower of Satan, brother Marcus. Shouldn't we get away from her?" Kris asked, her voice small and hollow. Kelly's eyes narrowed on Marcus.
Marcus smiled.
"All in good time, sister, all in good time. Remember, she is dangerous to us. We must protect ourselves." He pointed at the rope on the floor. "Pick it up, make her kneel before me, then tie her feet!"
Kris nodded, then did as she was told and picked up the rope. She walked up to Kelly again, and Kelly again searched her friends face, but Kris did not even look at her. But she went around her back and kicked Kelly in the back of her knees, forcing Kelly to drop into a kneel. Kelly grunted at the surprise of this attack, then winced as Kris again, roughly bound her. She bowed her head, and whispered a plea to Kris. Kris ignored her then stood up and waited for Marcus's next command.
"Now Garrett, do you know what I have injected your friend with?"
Kelly slowly shook her head. "No, but …"
"Well, you are about to find out how sister Munro is feeling right now!" Marcus cut Kelly off. "I take it you know all about LSD?"
Kelly nodded.
"Well this…" he pulled out another full syringe from his robe "…is something of a concoction of mine." He grinned, feeling very pleased with himself.
"I wasn't sure which way I wanted us all to go - an immediate heart stopper of a moment, before we attain to salvation, or … a more pleasant trip there." He looked upwards, as if searching, waiting for a revelation of some kind. A horse snorted nearby, and brother Marcus, seemingly brought back to the present, looked back at Kelly.
"So, I decided to keep both paths in mind." He stepped over towards Kris, his gun still on Kelly, but handed the syringe to Kris. Kris looked down at it in Marcus's hand, again, unsure of anything.
"Here." Marcus pushed the liquid at Kris. "Take this, and inject into the rebellious harlot!" His voice was hard and Kris looked very scared of him. She took the syringe, but didn't move.
"DO IT!" Marcus shouted, making Kris jump, and the horses whinny again. He stepped back to watch his servant at work.
Kris knelt down to her friend and pulled Kelly's nearest sleeve up to leave her arm bare. And then hesitated. Kelly cursed inwardly. She looked pleadingly at Kris. Please Kris, don't do this! She wanted to shout. But didn't dare make a sound, for Kris's sake. She could rush Kris off her feet, but she knew that would also accomplish either Kris or herself, or both, getting shot. What the hell… she was about to try exactly that, and figured she could at least cover Kris and force Marcus to use up his bullets on her. If only Kris could snap out of it and finish what Kelly herself thought she would end. But before Kelly could pro-act on her indecision, Kris had already made her decision. She plunged the needle without further hesitation, deep into Kelly's arm, as Kelly fought to shrug her off. Kelly felt something cold and dangerous seep into the muscle and shuddered, but noted briefly that Kris had withdrawn the syringe almost as quickly as she had stuck it in. Kelly felt suddenly weak and nauseous, and toppled onto her side, feeling a weird fuzz crawl up her neck, then seemingly up into the inside of her skull.
Oh Kris, what have you done? The thought curled lazily around her consciousness, an echo building up, taunting, laughing. What have you done, what have you done what have you donewhathaveyoudone… the words ran into one long stream of babble, in her mind, and a shimmering memory of Kris's face, twisted in anger at her, appeared, blinked and danced through her mind, saying the words over and over…what have you done what have you done…
Kelly groaned and tried to force herself to her knees.
"You are mine, now, sister Garrett!" She heard a strong voice from above her. Who? Whose was she? Who was she? What's my name? I don't know! Kerry? Shelly? Kelly Kelly kelly kelly kellykellykelly…. Her mind echoed out to her, with images of people she couldn't quite recognise.
"Get up!" The voice above ordered.
"I - I'm trying!" She muttered, and then felt an arm pulling at her own, pulling her back to a kneeling position. She swayed a little, still feeling sick. She groaned again and squinted in the dim stable. A blond woman stood near her, watching her. The blond woman was speaking, she realised.
"You will be at peace shortly…" The woman said, kindly.
"Do - do I know you?" Kelly managed to utter. The woman looked so familiar, she felt they were possibly connected somehow. But too many thoughts and images were crashing into her consciousness, causing all logical rational thinking to crash and tumble along with them.
"You both belong to me now, and will be with me in heaven - so very soon!" The mans voice reverberated around her head. Heaven? Was she dying? Kelly was indeed beginning to feel peaceful. She liked the idea of being at peace. Heaven. Peace. Sounded nice. No more struggling. She briefly wondered what heaven smelledlike. She giggled a little. There was a strong smell right now… what was it? She sniffed. A herd of galloping horses then proceeded to stampede though her brain, neighing and frothing, as they came. Kelly winced and was in two minds whether to dive out of the way, or to throw up. She toppled onto her side again, and rolled side ways a little, taking in slow, deep breaths. The horses disappeared, the sounds of their hooves pounding the dirt, becoming distant, then silent. She then felt her legs being freed, and the blond woman was helping her to stand up. She looked at Kelly kindly.
"It's going to be okay. We're going to be free soon. Free and so very, very peaceful." The blond one encouraged her. Something at the back of Kelly's mind niggled at her. Stop this! Kelly looked around, wondering where the mans voice was coming from. She watched, as a robed man brought a horse out of it's stall and saddled it, then tied lengths of rope to the saddle.
"Come, it is time to leave, my children." The man spoke. Kelly and Kris walked over and watched with mild interest as he tied them both to the horse, then led them all outside into the sunshine. The light hurt both the girls eyes and they blinked hard, trying to adjust to the brightness. Then Kelly fancied she heard a wailing sound. Only this sound seemed to be outside of things somehow. She looked at Kris, who appeared to be listening to a sound also.
"Is that God?" Kris asked, in awe. "Is he coming here?"
"No!" Marcus cursed. "That is more of Satans hoards! Come, we must flee to the mountain!" With that, he climbed up into the saddle and kicked his mount forward, pulling Kris and Kelly with him. Startled, they were both almost pulled off their feet by the jolt of the forward movement, but managed to stay upright, as they were pulled along behind Marcus.
"We must find refuge on mount Zion!" Marcus called, practically to himself, urging the horse out of the yard, then up through the tangle of brush on Heavenly Mountain, heading up towards the peaks.
The gates finally shattered off their hinges as a line of vehicles screeched into the grounds, police cars and sombre coloured FBI vehicles, all pulling up sharply at the hall and spilling out their contents of uniformed and suited men. Someone in charge yelled orders for units to break up and enter the building or search the grounds. Every man moved swiftly off and followed orders and suddenly, the building and the grounds were swarming with officials.
"Reardon?" The team leader bellowed down the empty corridors inside, his booming voice echoing off every surface, carrying easily in the high ceilings of the sanctuary. "Reardon!" He moved quickly along, scrupulously inspecting every angle as he went, so very careful of every shadow. A colleague followed doggedly. He listened, and thought he heard a voice, somewhere above him. He motioned to his colleague as to the source of the sound. They looked at each other, then moved on, searching for a staircase.
Marcus kicked on relentlessly upwards, dragging Kelly and Kris behind him, always seeking a path upwards. As he negotiated his way up through the trees and spring foliage, Kris and Kelly tried hard to keep their footing behind him. Neither spoke. Neither shared looks or glances between them. As they constantly tripped, slipped on the stones and brush, and regained their footing and were pulled relentlessly onwards, neither of them spoke. Perhaps, to break the silence, would perhaps be an act of betrayal to their leader. Neither Kris nor Kelly were about to be a party to anything such as this.
Marcus drove his mount constantly upward. He was not in any way worried about the terrain. As long as the horse went up and the girls followed, that was all that mattered.
Somewhere , not too far below him, he could still hear police sirens. But of course. Someone down there had escaped and blown the whistle. Ah. It did not matter now.
Marcus glanced behind him, at his two charges. His heart swelled. He was going to take the ultimate sacrifice. And… he was also going to take two more transgressors with him… to paradise.
He urged the horse onwards, looking for the way.
Kelly felt light and awkward. No. She felt… kinda drunk…. She tried to blink and swallow, as she felt herself being dragged forwards by her arms.
What the….? She tried to thing rationally. What?
Kelly understood the danger, but was unable to react with full clarity. She understood she was drugged and therefore, compromised. As she looked around her and tried to orientate herself, she felt even worse. Off to her right, she saw Kris, being dragged onwards in a similar fashion. She tried to speak.
"Kris!" Kelly's voice came out as a hoarse whisper, and she tried her best to sidestep towards her friend.
But Kris did not acknowledge Kelly. At all. Kelly bumped purposefully into Kris, but there was no response. Kris's glazed stare continued forward. Kris continued forward. Kelly sighed hopelessly. Through her own cobwebbed thinking, Kelly was yet aware that herself and Kris were in so much immediate danger from the man on the horse. If only…if only, she could talk to Kris, or if only she could relate to the guy on the horse…all these thoughts and more, impinged on Kelly's awareness, as she fought so desperately to find a way to control this situation.
Yet, even if she could control Marcus. What then? Was there enough left of Kris to deal with? Kelly felt a whole new knot of fear and apprehension build inside her. Goddam! She had no choice!
Only 1 more chptr to go. if you can go there with me. thank you.