Part 15 (1/2)
”Doc!” David shouted, a little too loud.
Dejah was startled. Her eyes fluttered open like b.u.t.terflies on spring flowers. David felt deeply guilty that he was struck at such a time by just how beautiful she was. She blinked at him, confused.
”Dejah, you're safe, we're okay,” Shaun's voice cracked with emotion. Tears dripped from his cheek to the bed.
Doc Ward came over. ”Easy, girl, just take it easy. You've been through h.e.l.l and back, now.”
”Ahhhhhhh ... uuuuuh,” she breathed, her voice a dry rasp.
”Water,” the doctor demanded. David handed it over.
The doc and Shaun helped her to a sitting position, propping pillows behind her back as they poured sips of water over her lips. She coughed at first, gasped. She groaned and took a few more moments to collect herself. She looked around and seemed finally to take it all in, grasping Shaun's hand.
”Happy birthday,” Doc Ward said with a grin.
CHAPTER 23.
”Ward, I told you to let me know right away.” The reverend pushed his way through the crowd and into the med rooms. Half the church had apparently heard the mysterious woman had returned from the dead, and now they filled the corridor, a din of excitement chattering away. Carson, Kathryn, and Reeves helped keep back the crowd.
The reverend stormed across the room. A handful of other folks who were patients two of them sick, one of them a very old man who'd done little more than sleep the past two days stirred at the commotion. The reverend swept past them as if they were invisible. As soon as he laid eyes on Dejah, he fell to his knees before her and kissed the back of her hand.
”Sweet Jesus!” He cried tears of joy. ”Dear woman, you are touched by the very hand of G.o.d. Brought back from the dead by the Lord himself.”
Dejah blinked at him. She barely understood where they were. David and Shaun didn't have much of a chance to catch her up on things when the commotion started in the hall. She winced. The light hurt her eyes. The sound hurt her ears. Everything inside of her hurt, and she was hungry.
”I'm the Reverend Lawrence James Keller of the Church of the Risen King. Perhaps you've heard of me?”
Dejah didn't respond. Her eyes rolled in their sockets, hard to focus just yet. She was lightheaded, dizzy, a little queasy. The only coherent thought she could form was: Who let this jacka.s.s in my bedroom? But of course she wasn't in her bedroom, she was here with these people. Her eyes locked on Shaun. Memories came back to her: Bocadomart, the rolled Hummer, the infected attacking, Frank's death as he spent his last moments on Earth trying to save her. Tears filmed her eyes. She was a mess inside and out, no doubt about it. But she was alive. And this guy seems pretty d.a.m.n impressed.
She had no memories of what happened after she was overcome by the infected, just a snap flash of Frank pulling her out from under a cannibalizing mob. She knew she'd been pretty bad off then. She remembered blood. Holding her guts in with one ravaged arm. Feeling blood gus.h.i.+ng from her throat, unable to move one arm and leg, both eaten to the bone. Pretty bad off.
And then: Selah ... dear G.o.d how long have I been here?
She opened her jaw. It caused an aching pain deep in her neck. She couldn't speak in anything more than a dry whisper. Shaun propped her up and gave her more water.
”No matter, dear. You're a blessing sent to us by the Lord. A sign of hope. A promise of the dawning of the Kingdom of G.o.d! A new world come to man by the righteous hand of the Almighty.”
A few ”halleluiahs” echoed from the halls with a stray ”amen.”
”Look, reverend,” said the doctor. ”Give the woman some room. She just woke up and she needs some time.”
The reverend spent too long gazing at her as if she'd ascended from heaven on a cloud before him, right here, just now.
”Reverend,” said Doc Ward.
”Sir,” David placed a hand on the transfixed reverend's chest. ”You need to give her some s.p.a.ce.”
The reverend looked down at David's hand on his chest. The look in the holy man's eyes went from one of divine rapture to indignant fury. ”This is my church, sir. You're here by my grace, and my grace only. I will conduct myself, and the congregation, as I see fit.”
”Here but for the grace of Lawrence,” Ward muttered.
”Pardon me? Do you have some comments, doctor? Do you think this is a laughing matter? That G.o.d sends us a messenger - this woman come to us through the gates of death, flesh restored to her bones, life restored to her flesh by the power of his Holy Spirit, a miracle the likes of which hasn't been seen since Jesus Christ walked this Earth! A modern-day Lazarus is before us, and you take this lightly, doctor?” The reverend's cheeks were red. His eyes were wild and veins stood out on his neck and temples.
The Reverend Keller swatted David's hand away. David looked for just a moment as if he might reach out, grab Keller's wrist, spin, twist, and break the man's arm. Instead, he lowered his hands.
Dejah saw the flicker of rage leave David's face and was relieved. Violence wouldn't help. And, G.o.d help them, she could see from the crowd of faces gathered at the door that there were a lot of people here who believed Keller was some kind of modern day Moses sent to lead them through the last days to the promised land. Their eyes were eager, some not comprehending the scene before them but only fixating on the pastor longingly, as if he were Jesus in the crowd, and if they could only touch the hem of his garment, they'd be saved.
And now here I am, she thought. Back from the dead. It was compelling evidence of something supernatural at work. No doubt. A whirl of questions about what was happening to her and why were enigmas of the highest order for herself, never mind a crowd of people huddled in a church, thinking the end was nigh.
Not only couldn't she say exactly what was at work in her, she couldn't say much of anything in this condition. But her priority was to be understood. Her priority was her daughter. And now more time had pa.s.sed. More precious time. Her muscles tensed and she felt anxiety quiver in her at the thought of Selah crying out for her from some darkened s.p.a.ce, surrounded on all sides by the infected....
”I-I--,” Dejah's voice rasped. ”Selah,” she managed. ”Call.”
The reverend latched onto her words. ”Let those with eyes see, and those with ears hear!” Keller proclaimed in a voice honed in the pulpit. ”Call? Call on the Lord?” His eyes searched her face desperately looking for a clue, wanting needing something more. He clasped her aching hands in his sweaty palms.
Shaun blinked, understanding that the reverend thought she was speaking in some kind of code. That he was trying to translate her words ... Selah, for the word used in the Psalms.
”No,” Shaun said, an edge in his voice. ”Selah is her daughter's name. She needs to call her. We need a phone.”
The reverend acknowledged Shaun for the first time. He blinked at the teenager, his face blank, unfeeling, not wanting to understand what he was to this blessed woman. After too long a pause he answered, looking at Dejah. ”Of course,” he said. ”Of course we'll get you a phone. But first, let's get you situated in more comfortable quarters. Carson!” Reverend Keller stood, raising a finger and swiping it forward.
Carson snapped to attention. ”Yes, sir.”
”Make sure this woman-”
”Dejah,” Shaun said.
”Make sure Dejah is transferred to my personal wing, in the room with my precious Daughters of Heaven.” Keller smiled and Dejah couldn't say for sure, because she felt so d.a.m.ned bad altogether, but the look on his face made her stomach a little sicker. ”You'll be much more comfortable there, my dear.”
David looked skeptically at the doctor, then met Dejah's eyes. In David's eyes she saw sanity, a need to help in the face of dawning helplessness.
Doc Ward said: ”Look, Reverend, I really don't think she should be moved just yet. She needs more care, I need to keep an eye on her and make sure-”
”You can care for her there, Ward,” Keller said in a dead tone. ”She's not staying down here-” he gave a meaningful glance of disgust around the room and continued, ”-anymore.”
”Reeves, T.D.,” Carson said. ”Escort this woman to Reverend Keller's personal wing.” The two militants did as they were told. As they gripped Dejah by each arm, heaving her to her feet, pain ripped through her body and she yelped like a wounded animal. Her vision went blank, shot with white flashes before her eyes.
At her cry, Shaun yelled: ”Hey!”
Shaun went for the soldiers, but Carson stiff-armed him, and shoved him harshly onto the cot. Shaun looked stunned; gazing at Dejah, mouth agape, he was unsure this was happening. Dejah couldn't be sure herself. For all she knew, maybe she'd died and awakened in some terrible Wonderland, and Reverend Keller was the Hatter or, perhaps, the Queen of Hearts.