We made our way down into the bank vault as quickly and as quietly as possible. Ben said the black smoke was bad news and that our only option was to hide. He also said that standard weapons were no good. I don’t know if he had intended to or not, but Ben had scared the hell out of me. And even as we huddled together down in the bank vault, I had no idea if we were safe or not.

Maria was fully awake now. She was able to stand and walk on her own. Awake and terrified. Just like I was.

“What was that thing?” Maria asked. “What are we going to do?”

“We wait,” Ben answered.

“Wait for what?”

“For the all clear. These people have obviously hidden down here for the past few weeks. So as long as we stay put, keep quiet, we should be safe.”

“Wait,” I said as I remembered his conversation with the priest, right before they tied us up, right before I lost consciousness. “I thought you said that we couldn’t hide from it. I thought you said the only thing to do was run, get out of here?”

“Hopefully the nano-swarm will be satisfied with Ed.”

“And what if it’s not?”

Ben didn’t answer.

Maria suddenly looked worried. “Where are the guys?”

“I don’t know, but I’m going to find out,” Ben said as he headed for the door.

“What? You can’t leave us!” I said.

“Keep your voice down. I won’t be gone long. Your friends have got to be locked up around here somewhere.”

“You’re going to look for them?” Maria asked. “With that thing out there? How are you going to find them?”

“The priest and his bald bodyguard,” he answered. “I’ve got them tied up in the church. I’m going to ask them where they locked up your friends. And where they’re keeping my things.”

“And what if they don’t cooperate?”

“I’ll ask them the hard way.”

Ben turned his enormous back on us and left, closing the vault door behind him, but not locking it properly.

Maria sat down against one of the pallets of cash. “Can we trust him?” Maria asked about Ben.

“I don’t think we have a choice.”

“What if he’s just left us here to die? What if he comes back and then decides to kill us?”

“He wouldn’t do that.”

“Why not? Seems like something he’d be perfectly capable of.”

“He was the one who saved us.”

“He what?”

“Don’t you remember?”

Maria stared blankly into space. She shook her head. “I can’t. It’s all just a hazy blur. I remember a pulsing light. Throbbing pain. I remember screaming. I could hear the howling moan of the infected. A lion’s roar. But that’s all I remember. Just the sounds. I thought I was dead.”

“The priest,” I said. “When he took us down into the basement of the church, he drugged us. His plan was to sacrifice us. Feed us to that monster thing. He took us out into the town square, strung us up by our feet.”

“Like those other two women?” Maria asked.

“Yes.”

“I… I can’t believe it. We nearly died?”

I nodded. “I was able to cut myself free. And then I cut you down. But I took too long. The monsters…”

“Wait, monsters? As in plural. Meaning there was more than one?”

“Yeah. There were three of them. And they had us practically surrounded. Ben saved us from a certain death. When the monsters showed up, he took them on. He didn’t back down. He was possessed. Out for blood. A gladiator or something. He killed them with an axe and a crowbar for crying out loud. No guns. No grenades. Just a freakin axe and a crowbar and his brute strength.”

Maria was shaking her head in disbelief. She was struggling to come to terms with the fact that we almost died, that we were almost eaten alive. “I should be thankful, right? I mean, he saved our lives, right?”

“Yeah. We owe him big time.”

Maria was still skeptical. “But I think more than anything, I’m just scared of him,” she said. “He looks insane. He’s covered in blood. He looks like a maniac.”

“I know. He’s been through hell. I’m pretty sure he killed those other men with his bare hands. But he has to be one of the good guys. He just has to be. Why else would he save us?”

Just as Maria was about to agree with me, we heard screams coming from somewhere upstairs.

“You were saying?” Maria asked.

I moved over to the vault door and opened it a little bit more. The damn thing weighed a ton.

More screams.

Whatever happened to being quiet, I thought.

“Who is screaming?” Maria asked.

“I don’t know. But I’m gonna check it out.”

“I’m coming with you.”

“No. You have to stay here. It’s too dangerous.”

“There is no way you’re leaving me behind all by myself. Are you crazy?”

“This is the safest place to be. Nothing can get you in here.”

“You are not leaving me alone!”

And then I did something that I don’t think Maria will ever forgive me for.

I shut the vault door and locked her inside.

“I’m sorry,” I whispered to myself, because there’s no way she’d be able to hear me through the thick steel door.

I was already practicing my apology speech to her as I ran up the stairs.