So this is kinda gonna be a lil unconventional but…Chapter 15 is turning out to be a real DOOZER, and I'm very eager to share it all with you guys, so I'm gonna split it into 2 to 3 parts, depending on how much longer it'll go on. Once you read it, you'll understand why. Thanks for being so patient and amazing everyone!

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The Survivor's Guide to Surviving the Infection

Chapter 15: O is for Oasis

? months, ? weeks, ? days after first Infection

'Clean water'

'Warm food'

'Clean clothes'

'All are welcome'

Despite the name chosen for herself, Divine was never a holy person. Yet, as she glanced between the spray painted sign and the church up ahead, she supposed that just this once, she could believe in a little act of God. Especially when the act had "clean" and "warm" mentioned in it. The idea of finding shelter where she could eat something not rationed, or wear clothes that wasn't covered in her own filth was extremely tantalizing.

It had been a long time since they had a suitable place to stay. The Infected didn't care one way or another, but now in the dead of winter, Divine sought out anywhere she could to avoid catching her death of hypothermia of all things. But, the one thing that sounded really enticing? The one thing that drew her to it the most?

People.

Real people.

Live people.

There just…had to be real, living and breathing people in that church. It seemed evident that people were here, given the shoveled pathways and smoking chimney stack. The paths to and from the church were well traveled as well, leading back into the rest of the hamlet they had found. It felt like that's all the beginning of the midwest was, tiny towns scattered across a couple withered corn fields, clustered in the middle, then the long stretch of highway of more empty farmland.

And out of all that, after all this time since the military troop, Divine actually had a chance at talking to someone that wasn't hopefully going to shoot her on sight. And when that thought appeared in her mind, she quickly realized the inherent problem with this all; the boys. It could be argued that the sign diiiid say 'All are welcome', so suuurely that extended to Infected. And her boys were very well adjusted, well behaved Infected…

When they didn't have guns pointed at their faces…Or at her…Or guns pointing at anything at all. Whiiich could be a problem. Granted, that always sounded like a problem but….But….Hurrrngh oh she just wanted to go, and find out what this meant, and see if this was somewhere they could stay. Just for a little while at least.

"Soooo," Divine finally spoke, looking to her motley crew.

"So." Ryan echoed.

"So uh…I think there's people here" Divine said.

All three Specials nodded their head.

"We're aware," Toni grumbled.

"Yeah so uhm…I'm going to say hello. You three are staying here." Divine instructed.

"Awwww, whhhhyyy?" Zachary whined. "I wanna see the people!"

"So do I, but it's easier to see them when they're not shooting at us."

Zachary paused, but he nodded slowly in agreement, despite how disappointed he was.

"Also, I don't want you trying to fucking kill them all, soooooo, again, you stay here, I'll be back. Just…hide yourselves until I give you the all clear. Kay? Kay, cool, see you in a bit."

They separated, her boys to hide somewhere and she to the church. Divine kept her gun at arm's length, tried not to rush up to the church too quickly, just a casual pace for her, a casual traveler meaning no harm to anyone. The windows were boarded up, and no visible light shone through the cracks. She could only hope that someone was home inside.

Divine approached the doors, reached up and grabbed at an iron knocker…Then banged it against the door a few times. She rocked back and forth on her heels as she waited, humming gently as she did. There was a scraping sound from the other side, muffled voices speaking rapidly before one of the doors creaked open. Half a face shrouded in shadows peered out at her.

Divine opened her mouth to speak…But nothing came out. Cause she didn't exactly know what to say. Hello would be a good start, or maybe a question like if they were still offering shelter, things like that. But her mouth clicked shut, and she gave the face a weak smile.

"Areooinfctd?"

She blinked.

"What?" Divine asked.

For some reason the voice sounded so…strange. Almost like a foreign language. She knew it was English, it had to be English, and yet, it tickled her ears in an unfamiliar way.

"Are. You. Infected?" the voice repeated more slowly. It sounded hard and gruff, a bit growly too.

"If I am, then this is a really weird conversation we're having," Divine replied, with a half grin.

The shadowy face pulled away, and slammed the door fully shut. Divine blinked in surprise, and looked around wildly. She was almost expecting to get suddenly swarmed, they knew she was here now and the calvary was going to be sent in. But nothing happened.

Whatever happened to, all are welcome?

There was another scraping sound, and then the door flung wide open. A woman stood before her, short, portly, hair up in a bun and hard lines around her face. But the woman smiled at her and held out her arms.

"Hey there sweet pea, you looked tired!" the woman cried as she approached Divine and flung her arms around her. Divine gasped in surprise and immediately froze up. This was not the face behind the door, was it? And did they greet all newcomers like this? The woman eventually let her go, and Divine stumbled back. "Come on in, sugar, let's get you cleaned up!"

The woman grabbed her hand, and guided her inside. Just beyond the doors, a grizzled looking man with a wild beard gave her a grim look as he shut the doors behind him.

"You stop right there, girly," the man growled, and Divine recognized it as the voice that spoke to her earlier. "State your business here."

"Oh Damon, don't be like that now!" the woman scolded.

"Look at her Maribelle, can you really trust her?"

"I'm right here you know," Divine spoke up. "And I'm just here looking for supplies. I don't wanna cause any trouble or nothing. I just want some shells, food, and a fresh pair of underwear."

"Oh we'll get you right on that, dear," Maribelle assured. "Let's just go find the pastor, let him know you're here. Is that okay?"

Divine nodded, anything to get away from the zealous door master.

"Okay! Let's go see him then!"

Maribelle held onto her hand the entire time as she pulled Divine away from Damon and into the church proper. The first two rows of pews were overturned and covered with chains and things, converted into makeshift barricades. More pews were pushed out of the way, up agains the walls, partially blocking out big, stain glass windows. She recognized dried blood on the carpet, a fight of sorts had happened in here.

Briefly, Divine wondered if the Infection broke out in the middle of communal. There was a good chance it probably did, but out of respect, she didn't ask.

In front of the altar, there was a long table, that probably at some point held the holy wine or something, and candles, and figures of Jesus Christ on the cross. Those were long gone, instead replaced with a few boxes and guns stacked on top. Two people were in quiet discussion behind the table.

Another woman, who looked no older than Divine herself, curly dark hair falling to her shoulders, just as dark skin, yet soft features. A scar visibly ran down from her cheek to her throat. A parting gift from a Hunter or Witch? Maybe a lucky Common got her?

And then there was another man. Tall, older than Damon was. Salt and pepper beard, graying hair, a wrinkled face. Divine could tell, even with the table in the way, with his stance and how he shifted his weight, old leg injury that still wasn't one hundred percent yet.

The Infection had been here, and she knew the signs just from looking.

"Father Barnes," Maribelle addressed the older man. "We have a guest."

The pair behind the table paused their conversation and looked up at them. Divine's brows briefly furrowed when they started at the sight of her, eyes suddenly big and wide, and the color drained from the woman's face. It took another few seconds for them to relax, to shake off their sudden fright and act human again. It was more than a little worrisome.

"W-Welcome miss!" Father Barnes spoke in a warm tone as he walked around the table to greet her. "Welcome to our little community here, it's been so long since we've had visitors," he continued as he stuck out his hand.

"It's been just as long since I've seen another person," Divine smiled anyway as she shook his hand. "So about that clean water and food and stuff…"

"Of course, of course!" Father Barnes laughed. "I imagine you're quite tired from the road. All are welcome here. I'm Father Barnes, you've met Maribelle, and this is Harmony," he motioned towards the darker skinned woman. "And what's your name, miss?"

Her name.

Well her name was-

Well.

How stupid would giving them a silly pen name be? To say, oh yeah, I just have my rotting, zombie boy band call me Divine. She was actually Rob Zombie in disguise, finally amongst his people. For some reason, it never actually occurred to Divine that, at some point, she'd meet healthy, human people who would actually ask for the name her parents gave her when she was born. And as much as she disliked her name…

Oh….Shit well…

"Betha," Divine finally said. "Betha Fandell."

Two words that sounded so foreign on her tongue, it was amazing she even remembered how to say them. And she realized, that she had been using those words simply a few months ago.

"Well it's good to have you here, Ms. Fandell. I leave you in capable hands." Father Barnes said.

"Come along dear, let's draw you a hot bath." Maribelle urged, and grabbed at her hand again to guide her into the back of the church. Harmony followed, and they took her through a back door, down a short hallway, and into what looked like a living room to a house. It was a very bizarre, surreal experience, being with healthy, living people as they walked through a perfectly clean house as if the Infection had never happened.

Off in the corner, surrounded by toys, a young girl with the same dark skin and hair as Harmony played with some dolls. She looked up at them as they walked past, with eyes that widened considerably when she saw Divine.

"That's my daughter, Noelle." Harmony said. "Don't worry about her, she's just…shy."

Noelle didn't utter a word as they passed, and Divine shot her a small smile with a tiny wave. Noelle just kept staring until they walked out of sight down the hall. And it was only then did Divine start to question why everyone had been looking at her…oddly since she arrived. She wanted to chalk it up to everyone having the same reaction as her, to finally find another person after all this time. And that would have been a very good, plausible thought that she would have been happy to keep going with-

Until Maribelle walked her into the bathroom, flipped on the light, and Divine nearly screamed and aimed her gun at the mirror.

"No no, Betha wait!" Harmony cried.

"No, sweetie, it's okay, calm down! Please, put the gun down!" Maribelle assured as she grabbed onto her shoulders. Divine's heart was still racing, and she breathed rapidly and gulped for air. She thought she saw a Witch. The pale hair, with the even paler complexion and the dark rings around her eyes-

But it wasn't a Witch she saw in the mirror.

It was her.

It was her reflection. She was the Witch. No, not a Witch, but from a glance, it was easy to see why she would confuse herself for one. Harmony reached down and pulled the shotgun out of her hands, and Divine let her as she took a few shaky steps closer to the mirror. Divine braced against the bathroom sink and leaned in for a closer look.

She looked absolutely awful. She lost weight, and a lot of it. Not that Divine ever had that much weight to lose to begin with, but now it was super, super apparent. Her hair hung down limply from under the beanie she was wearing. Her hair had been a luscious brown before, but now it almost looked more like the color of sand, or maybe it did under all that filth.

Her eyes looked sunken in, impossibly dark rings around them like heavy mascara. Her eyes were red from exhaustion, but very hazel, almost golden irises peered back at her. Which, that wasn't right. Her eyes were as brown as her hair. They used to be brown. Divine briefly cracked her mouth open, and she whimpered at the sight of her canines slightly bigger and more pointed than they were ever before.

Divine backed away into Maribelle's arms, turning to the older woman and burying her face into her shoulder.

"There there, it's okay," Maribelle soothed. "It doesn't look that bad, honest….Uhm Harmony? Dear? Why don't you go find our friend here something clean to wear after her bath?"

Harmony nodded, and she left the room, still with the shotgun in her hands. Probably for the best, Divine didn't want to be holding that anymore, at least not right now. Maribelle soothed her some more, and eventually got her get moving again, undressed and into the tub. It took a few minutes for the faucet to spout out warm water, and when it did, it felt like a godsend even if Divine didn't really register it.

She sat still in the tub as Maribelle scrubbed her down, her mind in a completely different place. A thousand thoughts ran through her head, trying to figure this all out. But it was really quite simple, a very obvious answer. Divine wasn't as immune to the Infection as she thought she was. It made sense, given how often she surrounded herself with the Infected after all.

She cuddled with them, kissed them, was "kissed" back, if slobbering all over her face could count. Well, Zachary slobbered over everything just naturally. But their germs were definitely in her system. And now it made sense why everyone looked so terrified of her, they probably thought she was also an Infected. And other things made sense, no wonder her senses had improved over the last few weeks. And why she hadn't gotten her period again after the first time when the Infection started. And why, and why, and why-

And why she suddenly felt so different amongst all these normal, healthy people.

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Chapter 15 will continue.