CHAPTER SIX: THE CHURCH

"No, not here."

"Why not?"

"It won't sound good out here. I'll play it for you," said Talia, "but it will be somewhere that does the song justice."

"Like what?"

"I don't know, somewhere with good acoustics."

Lou laughed. "Right, good acoustics."

Quad was history to them. Lou would visit it again in the far future, but Talia would never return to her hometown. She would never see her parents again, or the house she was raised in. They became memories to her, and she did not mind. She was glad to be leaving it behind, with all its sand and theme music performed by cicadas.

Lou had pocketed Provo and Nikki's map while drunk. He wasn't proud of himself for it, but it's not like they would be trekking to Chrome Capital any time soon. It was of much greater use to him. He checked the map and found the capital city was farther away than he expected. It was discouraging, but he didn't have anywhere else to go.

The land was not totally barren here. Grass was sparse, but it grew nonetheless, albeit sun-bleached to the point that it blended in with the sand. Plateaus still dotted the landscape, and Lou saw no end of them in sight. He wondered if they appeared throughout all of Blockland.

"Hey, look," said Talia. She point to the right, off into the savannah. A faded orange and gray building sat out there, with a steeple pointing up from the roof. "It's a church."

"A church?" Lou wondered what deities the people of Blockland worshiped.

"Yeah. We should go check it out."

He nodded. "That's not a bad idea. We could stay there tonight."

They walked off the road and marched into the savannah. Dead grass crunched underfoot, and strange bugs scurried away from them. For the first time ever, Lou realized Blockland had its own complicated ecosystem—the animals living here fit into a food chain somehow, and this world wasn't just a bunch of plastic creatures struggling to stay alive.

The abandoned church's thick doors were already opened up. Lou and Talia stepped inside to find row after row of dusty pews, with light shining down on them from stained glass windows. The windows all had the same subject matter—a single golden block.

Talia pointed at the windows. "You a believer?"

"No."

"Me neither. I never bought into it."

Lou didn't know what religion this church was dedicated too. He wasn't sure if its dogma was truly ridiculous, or if Talia didn't hold faith in it because of the rebellious persona she had built for herself. Either way, he doubted he would ever worship a Blockland religion.

At the head of the church, behind the lectern, was a grand piece of stained glass. It was more masterfully crafted than the rest, with greater attention paid to detail. It portrayed a two-by-four golden brick, which Lou figured must be a religious icon similar to a crucifix.

He would have never guessed the brick was the deity itself.

While Talia walked around the pews, Lou turned back to the door. He saw a ladder led up into the bell tower above.

"Hey," he said. "Look at this."

She walked over and they looked up the ladder. It ended with a hatch in the ceiling.

"Do you think it's unlocked?" she asked.

"Let's find out."

He took hold of the rungs and climbed to the top. The hatch was indeed unlocked, and swung open with a light push. Lou climbed up into the steeple, ducked beneath its big yellow bell, and found it granted a view of the scrubland around them. Talia joined him moments later, and spotted something he did not.

"There's a backpack here," she observed. The brown bag sat slumped in a corner. It was not as dusty as the rest of the building. "You think someone might be staying here?"

Her question was met with an answer. They heard yelling and hooting outside, and stepped over to a window to see what the commotion was. A hefty vehicle sped down the road, kicking up loose bricks behind it. The vehicle held no regard for safety—it swerved and skidded to a stop in front of the church. Its occupants, a group of people dressed in leather and furs, got out but did not leave the wild attitude of the vehicle behind. They punched each other joyfully and roared obscenities. Talia and Lou looked at each other. She went over to the hatch and watched them advance inside.

The group, toting long blades and rifles, walked into the church and threw their weapons down on the pews. One of them didn't belong—he had a bag over his head, and was being walked down the aisle, toward the stage the lectern sat upon.

"I fucking hate taxes!" one of them said. He pulled the bag off of the other's head. "You got a name?"

The man, who Lou could now see wore glasses, was breathing frantically. "Jonathan."

"Johnny!" his escort roared. "What made you become a tax man?"

"Please, let me go! What are you going to do to me?"

"We're gonna get our refunds." The leader of the group nodded to his friends, and they rushed up to the stage. A trapdoor behind the lectern was opened, revealing a pit of zombies in the floor. The undead growled and hissed, throwing dark red spittle into the air.

"No!" said the hostage tax collector. "Please!"

"You did this to yourself."

They threw the tax collector into the pit. Talia saw the zombies descend on him like a tsunami, muffling his tortured cries. The trapdoor was thrown shut.

"What happened?" Lou whispered from behind. She waved for him to be quiet.

The group of murderers below laughed at the act they had just committed. The leader pointed at one of his followers.

"Do me a favor, will ya? Go upstairs and grab my bag."

"Sure thing, Nark."

Talia flung herself backwards, away from the hatch. "One of them is coming up!" she told him.

"Shit. What do we do?"

"Go—out a window!"

They rushed over to one of the windows. It was high on the wall, so Lou had to help Talia up to its lip. She climbed, struggling to get out. One of her feet met the bell. It rang.

For a second Lou stood still in fear. Then he heard the leader downstairs yell, "There's someone up there! Hurry!"

He heard someone grab firmly onto the ladder below and start to climb. An excitement hormone entered Lou's bloodstream—he didn't know if blockheads produced adrenaline or some other variety—but it got him moving. He leapt up onto the windowsill and climbed out, crashing onto the roof next to Talia.

"Get over here," she said. He crawled next to her, hiding beneath the lip of the window so that if someone looked out, they would not see them.

Someone emerged in the bell tower. "I don't see anybody, Nark!"

"Check the roof!"

The man walked over to the window and looked around. Lou could hear him place his hands on the ledge, and to his dismay, heave himself up.

Lou remembered the sword Grant gave him. He drew it out as slowly as possible, but it still produced a sheen ringing sound, alerting the murderer above of his presence.

The man jumped down from the ledge seconds after Lou rolled out from underneath and got to his feet. He brandished the sword, but looked very out of place with it. His lack of training showed as clear as day. The man approached him with just his hands, and yet he looked ten times more menacing.

"The hell were you doing in our church?" he asked. Lou did not speak. The man snorted. "No matter. You'll be good zombie feed."

The man lunged forward, but Lou managed a lucky hit between his shoulder and neck. Blood spurted as the man stumbled back in screaming agony.

"Motherfucker!" he exclaimed, and fell off the roof. He hit the ground with a deep thud.

It was the first time in Lou's life he had drawn blood from another person. Even though these people were made of plastic, it still came as a shock to him. He looked down at the sword as the world grew silent around him, and nearly passed out.

"Lou!" Talia shouted. She was on her feet now, and jostled him back into reality. He saw more of the murderous people were gathered in the bell tower.

"Come on," she said, and they went to the edge of the roof. The man Lou had hit with the sword lay on the ground beneath them, grasping his wound in an ill attempt to dam the bleeding. Talia leapt down and landed on him, and Lou followed suite. Everything about it disgusted Lou, but he was filled with an urge to escape no matter the cost. The excitement hormone in his body told him that people were going to die here, and would be better if it was them and not him.

He and Talia started to run down the road, but were stopped when a half dozen leashed zombies were brought out of the church doors and put in their way. They turned around, prepared to go in the opposite direction, but the rest of the murderers had climbed down from the roof and stood behind them.

"Who the fuck are you two?" the leader asked. "Do you even know who Iam?"

"No," said Lou.

"I'm Narkis. You ever heard of my gang?"

Talia gasped. "Narkis. You're raiders."

"That's right, little lady. You fucked with the wrong people today. You're dead."

Lou didn't know who Narkis was, nor what the raiders were going to do to them, but he didn't want to stick around and find out. He grabbed Talia by the hand and broke away, but the raiders were quick to block him off. They formed a ring around them.

"Drop the sword," Narkis commanded. He produced a pistol. "Fucking drop it!"

Lou obeyed in the hope that it would make the raiders go easy on him. One of them rushed forward and grabbed the sword, examined it, and fell back in line with the rest of the gang.

Narkis spat. "You two caused more trouble than I would have expected, just from looking at you. Somehow you managed to kill one of my boys. That ain't gonna fly."

Lou looked between the raiders before him and saw a shape materializing down the road. It was dark green, with a couple of white spots on the front of it—headlights. It was a Jeep.

"Look at me!" roared Narkis. "The hell is wrong with you? Got a brain problem?"

The Jeep grew closer.

"Tell me your fucking names. I like to know who I'm feeding to my zombies."

The Jeep was close now. Its driver leaned out and grinned. It was Argus. "Well don't just stand there!" he yelled to Lou. "Get outta the way!"

Lou shoved Talia to the side, sending her flying into a raider. They hit the ground, and then he dove out of the way. Argus smashed into Narkis and swerved to the side, drifting over a couple more raiders and killing them.

Argus laughed uproariously. "Eat shit!" He brought his car to a stop and pulled out a shotgun. He blasted two of the nearby raiders. "Get in the car, Lou!"

Lou ran over to Talia and helped her up. The raider she landed on wasn't going to let them get away, though, and grabbed her by the ankle. She and Lou fell to the ground.

"Fuckin' hell." Argus leapt out of his car and ran over to them. He grabbed the raider's hand and snapped his wrist in the other direction, breaking it with a loud crack. The raider scooted away in horror, clutching his broken hand.

Argus practically picked Lou and Talia up by the collars. He hurried them over to the Jeep and set them down next to it. "Get in the car!" he said, and drew his shotgun. He fired a shot at the raider with the broken wrist, then cut through the leashed zombies. After they were in, Argus joined them. "Shit, Lou! You got into some serious trouble here." He pressed the accelerator and sped down the road.

Narkis, with zero feeling in his legs and a broken arm, watched them escape. Blood and saliva hung from his lips. One of his eyes would not open.

"Fuck," he grunted as the car kicked loose dirt into his face. When he opened his one good eye, he saw the Jeep was disappearing in the distance. He lay there surrounded by dead raiders, the members of his once-powerful and widely feared gang.

"How the fuck," he said to himself, in between shallow breaths. "Did this happen."

He knew the name of the man with the sword. His rescuer called him Lou. Narkis vowed to someday find Lou and kill him.

• • •

"Argus!" Lou was amazed to see him. "Where the hell did you come from?"

"Good news, mate. The Zombie Hunter Guild heard about what happened to the Argo, and since everyone fuckin' loves me there, they pitched in to buy me this beauty." He patted the dashboard like a lover. "Meet the Argo II."

Talia, in the backseat, leaned forward. "You two know each other?"

"Yeah. If it wasn't for Argus, I'd be dead," Lou explained. "He found me on the road to Quad and gave me a place to stay for the night. The zombies would have gotten me if he hadn't showed up."

"Just doing my job as a zombie hunter."

"How did you find us?"

"After the guild gave me my new ride, they told me some raiders were harboring zombies out here. I came looking for them and found you two." He extended a hand for Talia to shake. "I'm Argus by the way."

"Talia."

"Who were those guys?" Lou asked.

"You've never heard of 'em?" Argus turned onto another road. It was the first intersection Lou had seen so far. "They're the Narkis Crew—were the Narkis Crew, I should say. Led by Narkis himself."

That only raised more questions, but Lou decided to spare Argus's breath. Talia needed more information though. "Where are we going?" she asked.

"Narkis didn't keep zombies as pets. Well, he did, but he was also in a ring of zombie traffickers. That was his collection point, where he kept the zombies until it was time to ship out." Argus turned the radio on. Music blared in the car, forcing him to yell. "Now I'm going to his bust his buyer!"