Messiahs by Matt Rogers (bookstand for reading txt) 📕

every potential hiding space in the nave and the transept before bounding over the altar.

She threw the sacristy door open, ran down the hallway, and burst into the room.

Her heart hammered at the sight. She almost fired out of impulse.

Then she realised all wasn’t what it seemed.

Brandon had Addison’s gun. He was no longer restrained, but he wasn’t jumpy or antagonistic. He sat in the desk chair, and when Alexis burst in he didn’t aim the weapon at her. Alexis swept the room, fearing the worst, expecting to see the young girl facedown in a pool of her own blood.

But Addison was unharmed. She sat against the far wall with her knees tucked up to her chest and her eyes red with tears.

Alexis aimed her weapon at Brandon. ‘Put it down.’

Brandon put it down immediately, and lifted his hands into the air.

Alexis said, ‘What happened here?’

‘I didn’t like being tied up,’ Brandon said. ‘So I got free.’

‘On your own?’

‘Yes.’

Alexis turned to Addison. ‘You let it happen?’

The girl looked up, her face sorrowful. ‘Of course. He’s my brother. I couldn’t hurt him.’

Alexis said to Brandon, ‘And when you got free, you took the gun off her?’

‘She handed it to me,’ Brandon said. ‘I know how to use it.’

‘But you didn’t hurt her?’

‘Of course not,’ Brandon said, refusing to look away from Alexis. ‘She’s my sister.’

Alexis sighed.

Humans were complicated animals.

She said, ‘And me? You didn’t try to shoot me.’

‘I probably would have missed,’ Brandon admitted. ‘I’ve only shot a gun a couple of times before. And … I’m tired.’

She could see that. His shoulders were slumped, his back bent like a hook. There were black bags under his eyes from lack of sleep. In comparison to the simplistic, straightforward existence of ordinary life in the commune, the previous twelve hours had been a whirlwind of emotion and stimulation. Brandon was committed to the cause, but it had worn on him all the same.

Brandon said, ‘Are you going to kill me now?’

‘No.’

‘You should.’

‘I was never going to kill you.’

Brandon looked at her with vacant eyes. ‘Did you do what you said you were going to do?’

‘It’s being done,’ Alexis said, ‘as we speak.’

Brandon’s gaze drifted to the desk.

She said, ‘How does that make you feel?’

‘This is an important movement,’ he mumbled. ‘We mean no harm. You shouldn’t…’

He trailed off, recognising the hypocrisy of his own words.

Alexis said, ‘Maeve sends you to kill people and you mean no harm?’

Brandon said, ‘Which is why you should kill me. If you’re here to do the right thing.’

He was starting to insinuate that he knew Mother Libertas and its founders were evil.

It was all the progress Alexis could ask for.

She said, ‘Come on. Up. Both of you.’

Brandon slumped back in his chair. ‘Why?’

‘We’re getting out of here. I don’t like tight spaces. We’ll go to the mess hall and wait there.’

‘Isn’t that risky?’ Brandon said. ‘They’re still prowling the commune, looking for you.’

Alexis said, ‘Not anymore.’

Brandon stiffened.

Alexis repeated herself. ‘Up. Both of you.’

Addison worked her way to her feet like she was carrying an extra hundred pounds of weight.

Brandon followed suit.

Recalling what she’d found when she searched the office drawers, she retrieved a pair of binoculars from deep in one of the lower drawers and tucked them into the back of her jeans. Then she fetched the second Beretta off the desk, held the pistols akimbo, and led the brother and sister at gunpoint out of the sacristy. She wasn’t sure why she was putting so much effort into ensuring their wellbeing.

That’s a lie, she told herself. You know why you’re doing this.

She couldn’t save everyone in Mother Libertas from the downward spiral, but she could help two people.

That was a realistic goal, and purpose in life comes from setting and achieving realistic goals.

She led them out of the empty church and over to the mess hall. The same tight clusters of disciples were scattered across the commune, but they deliberately avoided eye contact with Alexis, pretending she wasn’t there. Like they could deny the fact their world was coming down on their heads simply by closing their eyes and covering their ears.

Alexis swept the exterior corridors of the mess hall. The hallways were long and empty and lathered in shadow, devoid of human life. She guided Brandon and Addison to the side of the building that faced the farmhouse up the hill.

A small window stained with fingerprints was set into the exterior wall at head height.

She crossed to it and looked out, keeping the Berettas at shoulder height for precaution.

She saw two people’s backs like tiny specks as they made their way up the trail to the farmhouse.

King and Violetta.

Awaiting them was a crowd of disciples.

Maeve must have summoned them to the house to protect her.

Brandon was also staring out the window. ‘What’s going on up there?’

Alexis said, ‘We’re about to find out.’

104

Dane looked pathetic sitting against the wall, staring through a haze of shock at his leg.

Slater threw the switchblade away and sat down beside him.

Dane said, ‘I’m dead, right?’

Slater said, ‘Yeah.’

‘What if I put pressure on it?’

‘Won’t help you. I severed your femoral artery.’

‘Will it give me some time?’

‘Maybe. A couple of minutes more.’

Dane pressed down hard on the jagged gash in his quadricep. Blood oozed through his fingers in thick streams. There was so much of it. An impossible amount. It flowed down the sides of his thigh and coagulated in the dirt.

Dane said, ‘It doesn’t hurt.’

‘You’re in shock.’

‘How long do I have?’

‘Not long.’

‘I want to talk.’

‘Won’t do you much good.’

Slater was done with it all. He didn’t want to hear another word that came out of this scumbag’s mouth, but for some reason he couldn’t muster the determination to get the blade back out and cut Dane’s throat. The man fascinated him in some strange way. Dane had achieved so much for the worst reasons.

And the sunrise was beautiful.

They could watch it together.

Dane said, ‘Maeve is worse than I ever was.’

Slater scoffed. ‘I thought you were a demigod. Why are you