Pt Two-Five

5

Breathing in the air around him the traveler felt peace come over him. He knew that he had the two white ones at least by his side and that made him feel even more confident then he had been before. Looking over to where the girl had been he saw the pile of flesh that the beast had torn itself out of. Poor foolish girl, the traveler thought, she was merely a tool to be used in a battle that could never be won.

Something came to his mind suddenly something he had seen on her earlier. He walked over to the heaping pile of empty skin and bent down to examine it. Running his hands through the gore he tried to find her top half or what had been her head. He finally found it with little clumps of matted red hair still attached to it. What he wanted was on her forehead a mark of some sort that he had seen in the shack which he now saw still showing on the skin.

There were still some chunks of skull behind the skin, making it hard to fully make out what kind of marking it was so the traveler reached up where her mouth had been and removed the pieces of skull throwing them into the grass. He then took his machete and carefully cut around the mark being very careful not to damage any of the scribbling. Once he had removed it he threw the useless hunk of gore to the ground and then laid out the skin that he had removed stretching it flat over the ground so he could get a good look at it.

It had a faint green color, he couldn’t remember what color it had been when she had been alive earlier, and that had been the least of his worries at the time. It was not carved into the flesh and it wasn’t a scar or a brand it could have been a tattoo. It kind of resembled a goal post that you would see in a football stadium but it had two lines going down before the middle parallel to each other in perfect unison. The traveler had never seen anything like this before, this was something new.

He opened up his backpack and grabbed some tissue paper that he had been saving for an emergency and picked up the skin from the ground. He wrapped it carefully in the flimsy material and placed it into his bag for careful consideration at a later time. He put his pack on the ground and then got on his knees and bowed his head.

“Thank you Lord,” he began to pray, “For keeping me safe under your wing. Please continue to give me strength and guidance on the road ahead leading me to where I need to be.”

He continued to pray for several minutes lavishing praise and adoration to the one that he served who had kept him safe. He finished, stood up and put his pack on hoping to get some miles in before nightfall. He was about to continue to walk in the direction that he had been going when something caught his attention out of the corner of his eyes. Was that a human head? Before he could get a good look it quickly disappeared behind the bush it had been poking over. Was someone watching him?

The traveler did not know what he should do. He could just ignore it and keep walking but something inside told him that would be unwise. He didn’t know if this person was a friend or foe but he knew he had to find out what their intentions were. Finally, he called out hoping to catch their attention.

“I know you are there. You can stop hiding. Come out and introduce yourself.”

********

She had been watching him for quite awhile now. She had seen him easily dispatch the five zombies that the witch had called to take care of him and then had watched as the evil demon had clawed itself out of her body. Then she had watched as Legion had charged the man in front of her intending on destroying him. Then it had stopped suddenly as if hitting a wall of air its feet were continuing to move but it was going nowhere. The man had fallen to his face, the creature had started screaming about its time and whatnot then its arm fell from its body.

Legion had continued screaming and then was suddenly quiet as it seemed to be sucking into some sort of invisible hole and then it was gone. No trace of the creature to be found and the man was still on his face it sounded like he was crying. She had watched for several more minutes as the man had walked over and examined the pile of flesh that use to be the girl. She had no idea why she was here now but something had drawn her to this place, to this man and she wasn’t taking it for granted.

She had lost track of the time and was completely oblivious when she realized the man was standing still and was turning in her direction, she dropped back behind the bush instantly not knowing if she had been seen or not. She prayed to God that if she had been seen that this man was a good man and wouldn’t just shoot at the bushes. He had dropped his gun earlier anyway and it was still lying on the ground by him the last time she had seen anyway. Suddenly a voice came from the other side of the bush.

“I know you are there. You can stop hiding. Come out and introduce yourself.”

The woman did not know what to do. She could run, but he would definitely catch her and if he were bad then, well, she didn’t really want to think about that. But if she got up, talked to him and he ended up being great then she could take him back to the others and then Eli could talk to him. They could definitely use someone like him at the camp and now with the witch gone who knows what will happen to their friends that she had taken. She shuddered at the thoughts of all the horrible things that they could be going through right now.

“Don’t make me come over there and drag you out.” The voice persisted. That was all she needed. She got up from behind the bush stepped over it and dove into her destiny head first.

********

The traveler had been growing impatient. He knew there was someone over there so he had called out again and almost immediately a figure had emerged from the bushes. The traveler was caught off guard a little. She had blonde hair and was very attractive. This was the last thing he expected to come from the bushes but he could deal with it. The girl had her hands up over her head showing she was not a threat and was about ten feet from him.

“That’s far enough for now.” The traveler said raising a hand signaling the woman to stop.

She stopped with no hesitation and looked over at the man. The traveler looked her over again and immediately something on her forehead caught his eye. It was a mark though it looked nothing like the other woman’s it almost looked like a-

“It’s not polite to stare you know.” The woman suddenly spoke. The traveler collected his thoughts quickly and focused on the task at hand.

“Sorry about that. I have been through a lot today hence the edginess. How long have you been watching me?”

“Since the witch sent her zombies at you,” the woman said lowering her hands now knowing that the man was not going to harm her, “You handled them very well.”

“So you saw everything?”

“I saw the beast and I saw him stop suddenly as if hitting a wall and then get sucked into some sort of invisible hole.”

She had not seen them. The traveler had been the only one who saw the boy and the two angels. That didn’t necessarily mean anything this girl seemed harmless enough.

“What’s your name?” the girl asked.

The traveler shook his head.

“I no longer have a name. I forsook it a long time ago when I started out on my journey. I have no need for it anymore.”

The woman reached out her hand to the man as if to offer it for a handshake.

“Well man with no name. My name is Emily and it’s nice to meet you.”

The traveler hesitated for a second and then walked up and grasped her hand accepting her greeting getting a closer look at her forehead. It was a fish, almost identical to the ones that you use to see on the back of the cars. The traveler looked away quickly not wanting to burn a hole into the girl’s forehead from his stare.

“What’s up with the mark on your forehead?” The traveler asked.

“You’ve never seen one?” Emily said smiling.

“No I haven’t,” the traveler said shaking his head. “The witch had a mark on her forehead as well but it wasn’t as lovely as yours.”

The girl continued to smile as she looked at him. She knew that he was a good man beyond a shadow of a doubt.

“Yours looks quite lovely also.” She said.

The traveler looked at her with puzzlement and confusion on his face, his hand immediately went to his forehead.

“I don’t have one. I think I would have noticed it by now.”

Emily giggled unable to contain herself. He had no idea at all what was going on.

“You can’t see it,” she began. “I can’t see mine either, but yours is clear as day. It’s a mark showing that we belong to the One and only. It’s a mark of his love and grace for us and it shows us who we are and who you can trust.”

The traveler looked at this girl in amazement still with his hand on his forehead. The boy? Were there still others that held the same beliefs as him? Of course there were he had been so stupid to think he had been the only one. This was why he was here. He had been led here to find this girl and hopefully find others like himself. As for the marking he couldn’t be sure until he saw someone else like him but for some reason he felt completely safe with the idea. He thought back to his dream when the boy had kissed him on the forehead and the warmth had spread through his body? Had he done it then or had it been there all along.

“Penny for your thoughts,” Emily broke his personal thinking time laughing as she spoke.

“It would cost you more than that.” The traveler told her as serious as he could.

“Sorry,” the girl said the smile disappearing. “Anyway, I was out looking for some supplies when I felt a breeze pick up out of nowhere. It had been calm all day so I knew there was something special about it. I followed the direction it was blowing and it led me to that bush over there just as you sliced into the first zombie.”

Emily paused for moment looking up at the man who had just been thrown into her path. She knew that it was more than just coincidence they had been brought together for a reason and she could tell the man knew that as well.

“I think we were meant to find each other.” Emily continued, “God led us here so that you could come with me. There are others not far from here and one of them will be very interested in you.”

The traveler knew that she was right. He could feel it in his spirit. Go with her, the voice said, you will find what you are looking for. The traveler looked at Emily a smile on his face realizing he was getting closer and closer to learning the truth.

“Okay. Take me to your leader.”

Emily laughed at the cliché comment as she spoke.

“Alright, don’t forget your gun we have ammunition at the camp for it. Our arsenal isn’t as good as it use to be since the raid but it will do.”

The traveler walked over and picked up his shotgun from the ground putting it in its familiar spot under his coat. He quickly cleaned the blood and chunks of flesh off his machete then slipped it back into its place as well. It sounded like there was a battle going on. A battle, between these people, who were believers of The Way and followers of the evil one who not only had weapons but also an army of undead at their disposal. As the traveler and Emily headed towards the camp she was thinking only one thing. Their people had hope now in the form of a traveler, who had no name.