Status: This is my JulNoWriMo piece so updates will be sporadic at best.

The Zombie Reaper

Twelve

“It's time to move.”

Silence looked up through the black morph suit at Father Marcio. Though he hadn't admitted it to the council, there was something about the man that set him on edge. Unlike the others in their current unit, as one might call it, Silence knew exactly who Father Marcio was. Or more to the point, who he had been. And because of that, Silence was honestly glad to spar with him. It allowed him to measure the man just in case something went wrong.
And eventually, something always went wrong.

Silence stood up slowly and looked at the other seven men in their group. Father Marcio had turned to speak quietly to Father Thomas who had seemed to become his confidant. Henry was trying to give Marcus a few last minute instructions as they packed several important pieces of gear around them. Grayson and Parrish were on two different sides of the room, one sharpening a knife and the other straightening his robes. Lynuel stood alone staring at the window as if he had heard nothing at all.

Walking across the room, Silence came to stand a little behind the younger male. “You should stretch your leg before we go. You don't want it locking up on you when we're out there.”

Lynuel looked back at him and Silence was once more stunned by the boy's bright hazel-green eyes. They reminded him of something he had once lost. “Do you think we're going to get into a fight?” he asked furrowing his brow.

Silence shrugged. “One thing that we learn amongst the honored is that you should always be prepared for a fight no matter if you are simply going to eat or if you are going into a highly fortified enemy camp. You never know when you will have to fight for you life.”

Looking back out the window, Lynuel's shoulders hunched and the boy sighed. “Silence... I have a very bad feeling about all of this. The Nzombiy aren't evil. What we're about to do...”

Silence reached up and squeezed the boy's shoulder. “We do what we have to do. No more, no less,” he murmured looking away. And for Silence, it had to be that simple. Making it anymore complicated than that brought into effect emotions he could do nothing about. It was better to simply do what he had to do. That was the only way he could sleep at night... if he slept at all.

“Stretch and get your gear,” Silence ordered gently. Moving away from the boy, Silence shook off the feeling that washed through him every time that he saw Lynuel. He couldn't explain it and at the moment, anything that complicated his situation was something he was all too happy to avoid. And in this case, it meant having to avoid the boy that he would have rathered stay near and protect.

Gathering his own gear, he left the room before the others, scouting the way down to the parking garage that the Order owned. There weren't that many vehicles there as the Order honestly didn't often travel and when they did, their rides were usually... prearranged. In this case, they had been provided with a van and a hummer which Silence found both ostentatious and pointless. They would probably do better on their feet than having to take these vehicles but since he didn't make the choices for their group, he simply looked over the vehicles making sure that they were ready to travel before he slid into the back of the hummer and waited for the other eight to pile into the two vehicles.

Thomas and Marcio were the ones who drove. The air was tense. It was clear that none of them knew what to expect. Marcus was excited which made Silence that much more nervous. The boy was bound to do something stupid and if he did than there was far too much of a chance that he would get one or all of them killed. And Silence was not about to allow that. He might not have a particularly joyful or even free life, but he did have one and he was determined to keep it that way.

If he had to kill Marcus he would, for the moment he would settle for knocking the boy unconscious if he started getting too distracting or dangerous. Flicking his tongue over his lips, he watched as the streets passed them by. He could tell when they started to close in on the location. Instead of acting against whatever they considered a threat, the police had created a perimeter and were keeping all of the civilians out of the area.

Silence blocked the police out as he came up to the window to speak quietly with Father Marcio before they were waved through the barriers. The Honored Father could feel something inside of him rising. Tonight, everything was going to change. It was more than just what they were about to do. There was something about the decisions of tonight that were going to change the world. He could feel it with every part of his being. He knew that Lynuel could feel it too though the boy likely didn't understand why.

If only Lynuel realized he was what he was.

Silence shook his head and started to move towards the door as he felt the vehicle rocking to a stop. As soon as they stepped outside, everything would change. There would be nothing they could do to stop it. They would never be able to go back.

"God help us,” he whispered.