Free Plague Of The Revenants by Edward Chilvers

way to satisfying my hunger although there was still room for more. But the rest of the survivors were still grieving the others and as I had not known them that well I retreated to the bell room of the tower, sat on a stool and tried to collect my thoughts. Somebody had managed to set up a generator which whirred in the background and served to power the church, although the thing would surely need a great deal of fuel. Elsewhere I noticed a makeshift chimney and fireplace had been constructed to lead the smoke out of one of the windows and this served as both the oven and the radiator. For myself I had just taken my share of tins and wolfed them down cold. Still, it was good to know the survivors still worked to keep some semblance of civilisation in place. After a while the door to the bell tower opened and Reverend Thorpe came in to join me. “You’ve made quite an impression,” said Reverend Thorpe approvingly as he came to sit beside me and offered me a mug of steaming hot tea which I accepted gratefully. “I’m not sure if it was your intention or not but the people certainly seem impressed with your promises and for myself, having heard how you saved my daughter earlier, I have no doubt you’re more than capable of delivering.”
“Aren’t you worried about your daughter going out on runs?” I asked him, changing the subject because I was not quite sure how to handle either praise or thanks.
“Of course I am,” replied Thorpe solemnly. “But I can’t afford to show favouritism. She’s one of the few young people left and as such she stands a much better chance than most others. At least she can run.”
“We need to be able to do far more than run,” I told him sternly. “You can’t have afforded to lose many more. What would you have done if all the able bodied men and women had been turned and there was only the old and young left?”
“Don’t think I haven’t considered it,” sighed Reverend Thorpe. “I have to say none of us have a great deal of experience in this sort of thing.”
“Well you need to get experience, and fast,” I said firmly. “You know looking around this place just now I found myself wondering how you’d survived so long. You’ve got the very old and the very young, but I think I understand a bit better now. The stronger members of your party are the ones you send out on runs, they’re the ones who take the biggest risks and as a consequence most of them are dead now. People like Farrow, and that Block chap. It’s because you’re not ready to fight, because you’re afraid to do so.”
The Reverend sighed sadly. “It is true,” he conceded. “You have come to us just in time. When I heard your background I was hoping you’d take a leadership role. Tell me, is there anything left of the government?”
“Last I heard the government had fled to the prisons and locked themselves in with about six months’ worth of food and a ring of steel in the form of the army,” I told him. “They should be alright in there for the time being but it isn’t as if they control anything. And when the food runs out they’ll be forced to scavenge the same as the rest of us. Meanwhile if the army guarding them are anything like our unit they’ll be deserting in droves until there’s nothing left. So no, there’s no organisation, no leadership anywhere. I’m not aware of any part of the country, and part of the world, that hasn’t been hit. Maybe an Antarctic station or somewhere like that but we’re hardly going to be able to make our way there.”
“So we really are on our own then,” sighed Thorpe.
“Maybe it isn’t all bad,” I said. “I don’t see many revenants around here.”
“They come by every now and again,” replied Thorpe. “But only in small numbers so that we are able to hide out until they go away again. I suppose you’ll be wanting us to kill them from now on. It is as well this church being as isolated as it is. The village was mostly