Carrion (The Bren Watts Diaries #1)

Chapter 21

Logan and Miguel were already on the other side, collecting the bags that we threw over. Logan gave me my bag, and I put it behind my back.

"Come! Quick! This way!" Miguel yelped.

I turned around and looked at the top of the wall. I saw a dozen hands trying to pull themselves up. I bellowed, "They're coming over!"

We found ourselves in a small garden next to the cathedral, and it was walled around. I noticed a gate at the far side, but we didn't plan on going out that way yet with so many vectors teeming the streets. Miguel led us to the back of the building and a back door.

"Father Oscar usually leaves a spare master key underneath a pot of plant or a rock," Miguel said.

"How can you be so sure?" Logan asked breathlessly.

"Believe it or not, I was a choir boy when I was young a long time ago, but Father Oscar is a man of habit," he answered.

Just as he said, Miguel found a spare key underneath a small statue of a marble angel beside the door. It wasn't only one key underneath but three sets of keys clinging to a small, thin, and round keychain. He pointed out that the bigger one of the three was the master's key.

Behind us, the vectors had just reached the garden and were coming toward us. Miguel slipped the key in and opened the door. We were in a narrow, dimly lit hallway. I shut and locked it behind us, and we dragged a wooden bench from the side of the hallway to block the door for good measure.

A second later, a vector reached the door and started pummeling with all its weight. Fortunately, The door didn't budge.

"We're trapped," said Logan worriedly.

"We're safe," Miguel corrected, out of breath.

"Not yet." I cocked my head toward the deep gloom of the hallway. Added, "We have to secure the building."

Had I ever mentioned before how I hated the dark? Not just the kind of darkness you would see at night but the pitch blackness of nothingness and emptiness that it was harder to reorient yourself. It was worse when you were gawking at the pit of darkness in a church. Churches—especially Cathedrals as big as we were in—always gave me those tingling, crawling creep, and dread.

"So, uh—who wants to go first?" I asked.

Logan gave me a stink eye as if I said something so appalling and shocking.

"I don't like creepy old buildings, particularly in the dark," I told him. From the corner of my eye, I saw Miguel did a sign of a cross and whispered a brief prayer. That frightened me more than I should be.

Miguel and Logan didn't volunteer to go first, as I'd hope. I expected Miguel to do it since he knew more about the place than I did. Sadly, he didn't. It was understandable. They were thinking the same thing as I did. Churches like these were bound to attract people who sought refuge against the horrors outside. Probably the neighboring congregation gathered around here to weather the chaos last night.

And if one of them was infected—or dozens of them—they could be waiting for us. That brought my courage down even more. When I realized no one wanted to take point, I heaved a sigh. "Fine. I'll do it."

"I got your back," whispered Logan.

I was surprised when I heard him say it, though it must be a reaction on his part. The kind of thing you would say to your best friend when you're about to do something dangerous. However, I didn't think Logan and I were at that level yet. I still considered him one of the people on my shit list for the continuous bullying back in school. But the added stress and fear of the situation warped that view to the other fence. I couldn't blame him if he had exceptions on being a little friendly to one of the only people who knew how to use a gun. If our situations switched, I would do the same thing.