We were taken back down to the bank vault and told that we’d be locked up for at least another day. The men were going to do a sweep of the town. Make sure it was safe. Until then, we were to remain in the vault, locked up and out of harm’s way. It was for our protection. Or so they said.

We quickly put our shoes back on, and once we were sure we were alone, Jack spoke up.

“Screw this. These guys are crazy. Feeding a monster? No way. No goddamn way. We need to get out of here.”

“I agree,” I said. “But How? We’re locked up. They have guns.”

“We need to get the jump on them somehow.”

“It’s too risky,” Daniel pointed out.

“You all need to settle down,” Ben said. “Maybe dying is the better option. You all know how hard it is out there. You all know how small your chances of survival are. Maybe living out our shortened lives here is the best thing we could hope for.”

“What? You don’t mean that,” I said.

“Maybe I do. Maybe I want to die. Maybe I don’t deserve to live. Hell, maybe being sacrificed to that thing and giving these people a chance to live a few more days is what God had planned for me all along.”

No, I thought. He didn’t mean that. This guy was too strong to just give up. He had been through just as much bad stuff as we’d been through. He’d been in Melbourne when everything went down. Got out before they dropped nukes on it. Survived out in the desert for over two months. Hunting. Scavenging. It wasn’t in his blood to give up.

“You don’t mean that,” I said. “You’re not gonna quit. Not you. No way.”

“Begging my pardon little missy. But you don’t know a goddamn thing about me.”

“What if I told you we need your help?”

“I’d say, so what?”

“What if I told you we could stop this? All of this. The plague. What if I told you we could create an anti-virus? A vaccine.”

“I’d call you a liar.”

Daniel stepped forward, put a hand on my shoulder. “Don’t. Not yet. I can reason with the priest. It’s going to be OK.”

“Reason? He’s not going to listen to reason!”

I felt like pulling my hair out. I felt like everyone was going crazy. Is crazy contagious? Was everyone suddenly losing their minds? Didn’t they realize the severity of our situation? The way I saw it, we had been locked up by a madman. Jack was right. We needed to get the jump on them and we needed to get the hell out of here.

I mean, how was Daniel going to reason with someone who was completely insane?

I was about to ask Daniel that very question but I never got the chance.

The vault door clicked and unlocked and slowly swung open. It was the priest. He was only escorted by one other man this time. It was Ed. You could already see the bruise on his throat from where Ben had choked him.

He was carrying a shotgun.

And I guess the priest could’ve had anything underneath his black robe.

Two shotguns.

A rocket launcher.

“So,” Kenji said. “Is it safe out there? Can you let us out?”

“I’m sorry. I’m afraid it’s still too early to tell. We must take every precaution. I hope you understand. What am I saying? You’re a soldier. Of course you understand. Reconnaissance is a very important exercise. You know, we could use a man like you. And you,” he said, looking at Daniel. It was this weird look. A look of desire and hunger.

“We’d be glad to help for a few days,” Daniel said. “We can help you guys set up a perimeter, organize contingency plans and exit strategies. We can help with weapons training. But we can’t stay for much longer. We have to keep moving.”

“I recognized the moment I saw you, that you were soldiers,” the priest said, ignoring Daniel. “Men of war. Trained killers. Hunters. Survivors.”

“What’s your point?”

“I am hopeful that I can convince you to stay. Protect my flock.”

“Like I said. We can’t stay for much longer. But we’d be glad to help you guys for a few days.”

The priest lowered his head and was silent for a moment, like he was considering Daniel’s offer of help. “We can talk about that later,” he said after a while. “When it’s safer. But for now, we need to separate you.”

“Whoa, hold up,” Jack said. “Separate us? Why?”

“We need to make sure we can trust you.”

“Trust? Of course you can trust us.”

“We need to be sure.”

“So why separate us?”

“We need to interview you individually. Make sure your stories add up. Make sure none of you are lying.”

“We’re not lying,” Maria said. “We’re not bad people.”

“It is for the protection of the group. We must stay vigilant.”

There was no arguing with him because at that point, the bald guy and another man entered the room with their guns aimed at us.

They motioned for Maria and me to step outside.

The guys were pleading with the priest to keep us all together. But there was no use. Jack continued to argue, he started shouting. He was fuming. He wanted to take action. He wanted to fight his way out. Daniel had to hold him back at one point just to make sure he didn’t do anything stupid.

“It’s going to be OK,” Kenji said. “We’ll be back together in no time.”

Maria and I were taken away. The vault door shut. The bald man pressed the barrel of his gun into my back, right between my shoulder blades, and urged me forward.

“Listen to your friend,” the bald man whispered. “Everything is going to be just fine.”