"When we got the Bowdoins back into town, we gave them a trial. They were completely belligerent, ranting about their rights to do as they pleased. Shouting that it was the end of the world and who gives a rat’s ass about one little boy and besides someone else had told them to do it. If I had been allowed to bring my gun in that day, I would have just shot them all dead and hoped that God would forgive me. When it was all over and the verdict came down as guilty, none of them showed any remorse. It was never about the boy's rights, it was always about their own self-serving needs. They started swearing and threatening to kill everyone in the courtroom. Easter had a couple of the bigger guys restrain Donny. Easter then walked up to the man and placed his hand on his head. He then told the two guys holding Donny to let him go. At first Donny shrugged them off and then it was like someone had taken a 220-volt live exposed wire and shoved it up his asshole.” "Which he would have deserved,” I threw in for good measure.
"Which he would have deserved,” Talisker echoed. “He stood so rigid, I thought Easter must have stopped his heart. He looked like a plank of wood, and then he arched over backwards so that his face was pointing straight up into the sky. I damn near shit a brick when Donny uttered just one word and it was a question. “God?” And as I stand here and tell you today, blood began to fall like tears from Donny's eyes. His brother Les started screaming that Easter had poisoned his brother and that he was gonna kill everyone here and then rape their rotting bodies. Donny heard none of it as fat globs of blood began to pool on the ground. Besides Les' ranting, the rest of the room was quiet. Oh, we were all standing and watching, and I've got to think that everybody was as scared as I was. Donny then stood straight back up and slumped back into his chair. Les asked him if he was alright. How Donny saw anything I don’t know, his eyes were burnt. Where there should have been his blue irises were now just red burned husks. And no, it wasn't blood covering them up. The entire eye was the color of a cinnamon ball like you used to get in the gumball machines. ‘I've seen God,’ Donny told his brothers, ‘and he isn’t the loving and forgiving kind, he's a vengeful and demanding God.' I think Les and Lyle were now beginning to see the errors of their ways. Lyle started running. He didn’t get too far with leg irons on and all. It was the same thing when Easter touched Lyle's head. Within a minute he was next to Donny, they were completely subdued. Donny was crying normal tears this time and Lyle just kept mumbling how sorry he was. Les was going nuts, swearing that Easter had better not lay his poisoned hands anywhere upon him. Then he did something that even Easter wasn't prepared for. Les began to say the Lord's Prayer in reverse. That courtroom darkened and there wasn't a cloud in the sky. Easter might have faltered for half a heartbeat, but he recovered and slammed the heel of his hand into Les' head. The room immediately flooded with a light a hundred times brighter than I think we should be able to see and not go blind. It was like a super bright flashbulb, it was that quick. Les broke his back, he was flung so violently backward. He lay on the ground as he gazed upon his maker. He did not cry or beg for forgiveness. He seemed to want to go to the one upon whose allegiance he had sworn. We hung them that day.” I didn't know what to say, how do you dispute what the man witnessed?
"There's some canned goods up in the far corner,” a much more morose Talisker told us as he motioned for us to go through the door before he shut and locked it.
"Do you buy it Mike?" Gary asked as he rummaged around in the box until he found something that sounded good to his palate, a can of Mandarin oranges, “I mean, you’re the cynic and all.” "Well, he believes it, that's for sure,” Travis said in a subdued voice.
"Mass hallucination?" Gary asked.
"I hate that term, that's a Government term if I ever heard one. They invented that to cover up any number of eyewitness accounts of something they didn’t want people to see,” I said. “I'm more inclined to believe in Les' theory.” "Poison?" Travis asked.
"Really?" Gary asked, so perturbed that he dropped an orange in his lap.
"It's a possibility for sure, but the event as explained by Talisker seems just as real of a possibility.” Gary stopped, his hand mid-way to his mouth with the orange.
"I've been witness to a lot of events recently Gary that I can’t explain,” I told him bluntly.
He thought about it for a moment longer and then finished the action of bringing the succulent fruit to his mouth.
"Either way, I'm not sure where that puts Justin,” I said.
"Or us.” Gary smacked down another morsel.
"Any more of those?" Travis asked, heading over to the box.
"How can you guys eat?" I said as I paced the room.
"Easy, we're hungry,” Gary answered.
Travis nodded.
By the time Talisker came to get us a few hours later, I had polished off two cans of oranges and one of pears. My stomach grumbled from all the fruit, might as well have eaten a three-alarm burrito for all the fireworks that were going off in my plumbing. I was going to make a great impression when I started releasing some of the internal pressure, so to speak.
We were not led to a classroom, but rather what was once more likely the teacher's lounge which had now been converted into Easter's living abode. I was relieved we weren't on trial, but not quite comfortable. We were still waiting to be judged and by ultimately Easter’s sole authority.
Justin seemed to have had better accommodations than us. He was sitting on the couch, a half-eaten sandwich and a small bag of chips off to his side on an end table. He even had some comic books on his lap and a blanket wrapped around his legs.
"Comfortable?" I asked him, relieved to see that he was alright.
"Not so bad,” he said with a sincere smile. I could still see a sense of nervousness etched in his features, but he was unharmed and that was a good way to be.
Easter came in through another door that attached to the cafeteria. “Welcome,” he said as he spread his arms. "Please sit. That will be all Talisker, thank you.” Talisker nodded once and walked out. He did not go far, however. I could see his shadow in the frosted windowpane.
“Ah, Mr. Talbot, I can almost see the wheels spinning in your head. You're wondering if you should overpower me and tie me up, or take me as a hostage until such time that you can safely let me go.” He caught me off guard but I recovered quickly. “Well, you pretty much got everything right until the part where we 'safely' let you go, as you put it.” "I feel that I should almost be intimidated,” Easter said with a jovial laugh. “Perhaps a few months ago I would have believed you.” "What changed, Easter?" I asked, truly wanting an answer.
"I can tell you before the End of Times came I was not a religious man. I had perhaps been in a church a dozen or so times in the last twenty years and those times were either for weddings or funerals. I did not see much sense in worshipping a deity I could neither see nor understand, I guess would be the correct phrasing. An omnipotent being that was threaded through all of our lives absolutely made no sense to me. I understood the comfort others got from His perceived presence, but that was as far as it went. Something happened the night the zombies came. It altered me in ways that I have not come to understand quite yet. That there is a God is no longer of doubt to me, that He is not the kind forgiving God of the King James version I find troubling, but I do not question His will.” "So you are merely a vessel? So if my son is not deemed to be 'saved' you will rid him of his life as you will ours?" I asked angrily.