Church of Chaos (After the Apocalypse Book #2)

Chapter 3

"I hope you understand the depths of the hell you're unleashing."

I was sitting on my knees on the cold stone floor of the chapel, staring up the heavy iron cross that crowned the altar. The cross was easily ten feet tall and it looked like it had been in the Church for a hundred years if it had been here a day. The metal appeared to have been hammered into shape. The texture of the surface was rough and pitted as I ran my fingertips across it. I hadn't been able to fall back asleep after Seth had left my room. I'd come down into the main chapel of the Church hoping to find some type of solace in what remained of my faith in my parents religion.

My mother was a woman of God and she'd read the Bible to me every night when I was a child. She'd spoken often of God, Jesus and the saving grace of the Holy Spirit. I'd never been able to relate, but I'd also never dreamed that I would one day have personal relations with one the false idols that the good book spent so much time ruminating on. If there was ever a time for me to find a relationship with God, this did seem to be it.

"I don't know what you're talking about," I said. In a matter of hours, Seth and I would ride for Ra Shet in a last-ditch effort to save the lives of my parents before they were eaten by cannibalistic upper class of the city. Vera thought my parents were probably already steaks and that we were wasting our time. She hadn't been shy about saying so to my face.

Vera walked down the aisle of the church and sat down on the pew to my left. Her long, sleek hair hung down her back like a curtain of black silk. Her dress was a short black sheath that would have looked like a garbage bag on me. Her knee-high boots were made of shiny black plastic and featured pointy, open toes and ridiculously high stiletto heels. Clearly she wasn't dressing for function tonight. I wondered which one of the Church's handful of inner-circle members she had dressed to impress.

"Are you familiar with the battle of Troy?" Vera held up a battered paperback book in her right hand.

"I'm sorry?"

"Helen of Troy had a face so beautiful that it launched a 10 year war and a thousand ships." She tossed the book down in front of my knees. It landed on the stone floor with a thump.

"I've read the Iliad." I had no idea where she was going with this. I made no move to pick the book up.

"Then you should know that nothing but death is going to come from the war you're about to launch with that pretty face of yours." Vera cocked her head and shrugged her narrow shoulders.

"I'm not launching a war," I said. "I'm just trying to save the lives of the two people who matter most to me in this world."

"If you don't think you're launching a war, then you obviously don't know my brother very well." Vera sneered through lips that she'd painted cherry red. Her light blue eyes were bright in the darkness. "He's got a taste for blood and you've given him an excuse to storm the city."

"My parents don't deserve to die." I stood up because I didn't like having to stare up into her condescending sneer. Unfortunately for me, standing up did little good. She was still several inches taller than I was, thanks to the boots. "They didn't ask to be snatched from our apartment and served up on a plate to the highest bidder."

"I never said they deserved their fate," Vera replied. "I'm just asking if you're prepared to take responsibility for the hell you're about to unleash on thousands of innocent people."

"I'm not unleashing hell on anybody," I told her. "Except maybe the flesh broker who is holding my parents."

Vera laughed in my face. "You have no idea what you've done or how many people are going to die because of you."

"Seth thinks rescuing my parents is a suicide mission," I said firmly. "If anyone is going to die, it's probably going to be me."

"If you think my brother is going to let you die, then you really are much stupider than I thought." Vera brushed her fingers back through her long hair and clucked her tongue at me. "Seth's been looking for an excuse to ravage the city ever since the day we were forced to flee from its gates. Fate and luck have given him the power to level Ra Shet into dust and rubble. All he was missing was an excuse to do it. Until you came along, that is."

"If Seth had wanted to destroy Ra Shet, he didn't have to wait on me to give him a reason to do it. He's told me that human beings have been sold at meat markets within the city walls since before we were born."

Vera shrugged. "Maybe you're right. But if Seth really cared about all those innocent lives being lost, it might behoove you to wonder why he hasn't done something to stop the murder before now?"

"I can't afford to worry about Seth's motives," I said. "Not when my parent's lives hang in the balance. Seth is going to do whatever he damn well wants to do. I can't control him and neither can you. Don't try to pretend like you think I'm responsible for anything your brother does."

Vera hissed at me through gritted teeth. "You're right. I can't control him. If I could, you wouldn't be here right now and Seth would be in the library preparing to give his Thursday sermon to our loyal followers. Instead he's down in the basement, checking weapons."

"Your followers are a bunch of raving whack jobs," I pointed out. "I don't blame Seth for not wanting to deal with them. He's not a god."

"It's irrelevant whether or not Seth is really a god. It only matters that everyone outside the Church of Chaos believes he is."

"What?" I blinked at Vera in total confusion.

"You're so ignorant, Pilar." Vera fluffed her hair again. "I don't even know why I waste my time trying to talk to you. You don't understand anything about my brother or the Church of Chaos. You most assuredly know jack shit about life in Ra Shet. You didn't understand your own life within the confines of the Cube until your ignorance nearly got you killed. You understand exactly nothing about anything. Yet you're perfectly willing to walk into someone's life and demand that everything be changed to suit your moods."

"Actually, I don't really care about anyone's life other than mine. I just want my life back." I spun on my heel and walked out of the chapel before she could see me cry.

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