Our Lady Queen and the Brotherhood of Eternal Life

Bryan stumbled down Collingwood Boulevard past the decayed remains of homes, and businesses. He had managed to find Our Lady Queen but was still unsure as to how he was going to get inside, the brotherhood had put up a makeshift wall surrounding the old cathedral and had guards posted everywhere. He had decided to make his way back towards the burnt-out shell of what had been a library up the road to try to come up with a plan and to rest for a moment before attempting any sort of rescue.

After the attack at the tower, he gathered anything he could make use of, including the rifle and sidearm of the younger soldier who had stopped his group as they fled the city. Then he had walked well into the night to keep from falling to far behind the men who had his daughter Susan, and Anne, the woman who had convinced his group to flee the city. He had heard rumors back in the city of the cult, the Brotherhood of Eternal Life, inbred monsters who followed the old religions in a most barbaric fashion. They were said capture travelers, then drink the blood of those they considered pure of heart. They believed it brought them closer to their god and granted them eternal life in the afterlife. He had always thought them to be nothing more than a rumor to scare the city's population into staying within the walls.

Once he made it back to the library, he found himself sitting upon the ashes of the knowledge of the world that once was in a secluded corner to avoid the notice of anyone who may pass by. Not that he had seen anyone in the entire eight or so hours he had been walking. He tried to figure out how he was going to get into the cathedral without being noticed. Despite the city being heavily bombed during the great war, the cathedral had managed to go untouched through the war. He knew he had to make his move before sunrise, there was no chance of getting in unnoticed once the sun came out. If the rumors were true, he didn’t know how long Susan had left, she was his priority. Once he had saved her, he would do what he could to save Anne but only if it caused no risk to his and Susan’s escape.

He thought about going in guns blazing but knew with the numbers he saw on the outer walls that he would run out of ammo or be killed long before securing his daughters freedom. The one thing he had working in his favor was that it didn’t seem as if they had electricity, considering that the outer walls being lit by torches. After thinking on it for a while Bryan decided to head back to the cathedral while he still had the cover of night on his side, hoping he would find a way inside the walls.

He made his way back up Collingwood Boulevard, a few blocks before he came to the cathedral cut his way through the surrounding neighborhood to Parkwood Avenue, thinking it better to approach the place from the back. He had made the right decision, there were less guards on this end of the wall and was easily able to sneak up to the wall itself. He began to walk around it, using the shadows for cover as he did so, looking for some weakness in the wall. It didn’t take him long before he found it, near the back corner he found a spot where the wall sat nearly six inches over the ground. Quietly but as quickly as he could he began to dig out the dirt and stones opening a small tunnel he could use to crawl under.

After a few minutes he had dug out more than enough space to get through and took a quick peek to make sure he wasn’t going to be crawling into trouble. He saw a small dimly lit house at the back of the cathedral but otherwise there was no activity. He crawled under the fence slowly so as not to alert the guards above him, keeping a lookout for anyone patrolling the grounds and snuck across to the back of the cathedral looking for a possible point of entry. Again, it didn’t take him long to find, a door at the rear was propped open leading into a dark hallway.

The halls were lit with torches and candles randomly placed, making it easy enough for him to sneak about in the shadows but he had no idea where they would be keeping Susan and Anne. Terrified Bryan wandered the hallways, expecting to come across one of the red robed cult members at any moment. Finally, he came to a door and after what felt like an eternity, he worked up the nerve to open it. All he found was a storage room for food and supplies, he let out a sigh of relief then closed the door back.

After checking two more doors, with similar results, he entered a door to see a man standing over a woman in bed. He nearly closed the door before he realized the woman was Anne, bound to the bed naked and gagged. The man’s attention was solely on Anne as he crept behind him, pulling a knife he had recovered at the tower from his belt. At this point Anne saw him creeping from the shadows, he nearly lost his courage as he reached the man, he had never killed anyone before. Then he remembered who these men were and what would happen to his daughter if he failed. Before the man knew what was happening Bryan had covered his mouth with his free hand and cut his throat with the knife, he held him as his blood showered the bed, only letting go as the man fell to the floor.

He looked at the man at his feet, frozen for a moment by the act of violence he had just committed. The sound of Anne screaming through the gag quickly knocked him out of this state though and he rushed to her side to untie her. She was borderline hysterical once freed; Bryan had to cover her mouth and restrain her for a moment to get her to settle down. Once he could see understanding return to her eyes, he let her go and took a step back from the bed.

“My god Bryan, I thought you were dead.” she nearly screamed.

“You’ve got to be quiet” he whispered, prepared to restrain her again, if need be, “They could be all over the place.”

“How did you know where they took us?” she asked much quieter, as she climbed from the bed and gathered her clothes from the floor where the man had thrown them earlier.

“I’ll explain later, right now I need to know where Susan is.” he told her.

Her eyes went wide, causing the feeling of panic to rise within Bryan. “They took her to the main hall when we got here, I don’t know where she is now, but we can’t go to the main hall. There has to be at least twenty of those guys out there.”

“I have to find my daughter Anne; I don’t have a choice.” the desperation clear in his voice. “You’ve heard the rumors just like I have, what they do with children like her. I don’t care if they kill me, but I’m not leaving my little girl. If you go down the hall to the left, take a left, and then the next right, follow that hallway to the end you’ll find a door leading outside, stay quiet and stick to the shadows, across the courtyard you’ll find a hole going under the fence. You can get out there, just point me to the main hall.”

“If you go right out of this room, and then to the left it leads into the main hall, but Bryan you can’t do this by yourself. There’s far too many of them.” she pleaded with him.

“Well, there’s no one else, and I won’t leave her.” he said making his way to the door. “You get out of here, go a few blocks north and hide in the old library, if we’re not there by sunrise you get out of this city.”

“I’m coming with you Bryan” she said as he opened the door.

“No, I couldn’t ask that of you Anne.” he looked at her.

“I wouldn’t be able to live with myself if I didn’t, if you’re going to go then so am I, there’s no point arguing” she told him as she joined him at the door.

“Alright then, if you’re sure, take this though” he handed her the pistol he had been carrying and then the two walked out into the hall.

They quietly made their way to the main hall of the cathedral where men in red robes sat amongst the front pews. The man with the more elaborately decorated robes stood at the front of the hall speaking to the crowd, what he said was complete insanity to Bryan. He spoke of how the blood will cleanse their souls and prepare them for the next life, an eternal life in a glorious kingdom. Then he saw her, Susan was laying on an alter behind the man, he could barely make her out due to the dim light of the hall, but he knew it was her. For a moment he thought about just opening fire into the crowd, but he knew this would just draw in more of them from outside. Then he knew what he must do.

He explained to Anne that he was going to go and make a distraction, allowing her to sneak up behind the alter and grab Susan. He didn’t give her a chance to argue, he just pulled the heart shaped locket out of his pocket and handed it to Anne.

“Make sure she gets this, get her to the library. Hide out there and wait until sunrise, if I haven’t made it there by then get out of the city. Get her to Jacksonville,” and with that he quietly made his way to the back end of the main hall.

He sat at the back of the row of pews, watching Anne creep closer to the front. Once she was at the front of the hall, he raised the rifle and took aim at the man speaking to the crowd. He was worried about hitting his target, but when he pulled the trigger, he saw the man fall to the ground lifeless. The crowd screamed as they turned to him, he began firing at those closest to him while backing out of the main hall. Some took cover while others began to close in on him, he heard voices coming from behind him, but when he saw Anne scoop Susan off the alter and run out of the hall it didn’t matter anymore.

He managed to drop three of the men chasing him as before he made his way through the main hall’s doorway, but when he turned to run away, he heard a gunshot and felt a sharp pain causing him to stop. He looked down to see blood spilling down from a hole in his stomach. He tried to take another step but collapsed to the ground as robed men surrounded him from behind. He heard men screaming around him, but all that mattered to him now was that Anne got Susan to safety. He wished that he could see her again and hoped that she would find a better life. His vision started to become fuzzy as a man with a pistol filled his view, he could barely make it out as the man pointed the pistol at him, and then before he knew it everything was gone.