Corn, Cows, and the Apocalypse

The Great Escape

When I arrived, I was wet with sweat, wet with tears, and wet with blood. I couldn't imagine what Priest thought when I burst through his church doors. "Priest!" I stumbled down the aisle, trying to find a happy medium between crying and breathing.

He was standing at the altar with one of his female friends. I was relieved that whatever they were about to do hadn't started yet. "Lenore?" He scrambled around the altar fully robed in what probably would have been saved for an Easter ceremony. It didn't matter.

Priest reached me in four long running strides. He caught hold of me and lifted me into his arms before he could see that my injuries weren't that serious. "What the hell happened to you?"

"I didn't know where else to go. He tried to rape me."

"Who tried to rape you?" he asked, enraged by even the tried part.

"I did," Garrett's voice sounded at the door. My head whipped around, and between me wanting to run again, and Priest wanting to attack him, I was out of his arms in one swift movement.

"You followed me?" I asked behind Priest's arm. I wasn't sure if he was pressing me behind him, or if I was cowering there, but I was content to grip onto his arm like it was a life preserver.

"Technically, I arrived before you. I still have my motorcycle, remember? I knew exactly where you were going. August told me about your... friend."

"She didn't mention you." Priest took a step forward that I wasn't ready to take, so it looked as if I was holding him back. "Who are you, and what did you do to Lenore?"

"My name is Garrett, I'm August's brother. She brought me here to train Lenore. Until tonight, I haven't really been training her so much as preparing her. Tonight, I attacked her."

"You tried to rape me!" I screamed at him and took that step forward that I didn't want to take before. However, I was still firmly plastered to Priest's arm, so it didn't look that threatening.

Garrett looked down at the floor before answering. "Yes, that is what I appeared to be doing. I would not have done that, but I needed you to believe I was going to do something to you. I needed you to be afraid enough to fight. You did well, by the way."

"Fuck you! I hate you!"

"That's okay," he said, returning his gaze to Priest. "Could we speak alone, Matthew, as gentlemen?" Garrett held up his hands in surrender.

After a long moment of evaluation on Priest's part, he nodded. "One moment." Priest turned around, pulling his right arm from my grasp in exchange for his left arm around my back. "Come with me."

"Priest, no. Don't talk to him. Just tell him to leave," I begged as we headed to the front of the church.

He shushed me gently as he led me into his dressing room off the side of the sanctuary. After he closed the door behind us, he slipped off his vestments and hung them up carefully. The casual jeans and t-shirt he had underneath were something I had never seen on him. Without the robe and collar, he looked almost normal—whatever that was at this point.

There was a small bathroom within the room, basically a closet with a toilet and sink. We both squished into it and he set me on the toilet while he washed the blood off my arm. I watched him fiddle in his first aid kit before he found the butterfly bandages he wanted.

He glanced at me before he started. His eyes were a little red, but he seemed lucid enough to trust with my care. He smiled at my no doubt stupefied expression. I couldn't understand why he treated me with such reverence, while he played with the insecurities of other women to get them into his bed, or in this case, onto his altar.

"Did you know I wanted to be a doctor?" he said as he kneeled down in front of me. I shook my head. "Before I wanted to be a priest, I wanted to help people, save lives, all that jazz." He pulled my cut together and placed the butterfly bandages. "I decided that I could save people in a different way." He brought out a gauze roll and wrapped it around my forearm. I was mesmerized by the unraveling fabric. "Maybe I should have stuck with being a doctor."

Before he finished, I leaned forward and kissed his forehead as a thank you. I probably would have kissed his lips, but his forehead was much more accessible. "You're doing a pretty good job tonight, either way," I said. He smiled and placed his hand on my cheek. He mumbled a blessing before opening his eyes. "Why do you keep blessing me?"

"Because you don't know how insane it is to seek me out to be save you from a lecherous man."

"You're not a rapist," I argued.

"No, I'm worse." He squeezed my shoulder before dropping his hand entirely out of contact. "I'm a seducer."

"You're going to let him take me back, aren't you?"

"Is he really training you?" he asked, rather than answer me.

"Yes," I whispered. "August and the others left so I could work on my self-defense skills with Garrett.

"Do you think what he said was true? Was he just pretending to rape you?"

The sudden attack did seem out of character for Garrett. He barely paid any attention to me, let alone demonstrate any attraction to me. "Maybe, but he was pretty convincing as a rapist."

"I'll talk to him, but to answer your question: no, I'm not letting anyone take you. I will, however, let you leave if we can trust what he says." He pulled me up and walked me back to the door. "There is a vent in the bottom of the door, so you'll be able to hear us." He frowned and touched my cheek where Garrett had punched me. His jaw clenched, but he didn't say anything before he slipped out the door.