The church stood tall off of the freeway like the old woman said. However when we arrived, there were dozens of people filing inside, all wearing matching white robes with the same bull symbol on their backs.

Next door to it, there was a rickety old barn surrounded by a white picket fence and with a few neglected cows mooing in the distance, sitting around, oblivious to the corruption next door. I wonder where their owners were? Were they sacrificed by these psychos or did one of those mutated people get to them first?

I shuddered at the thought as we parked near the barn out of view. As we waited for it to quiet down, I gazed back over at the church. Yellow dim lights shined out of the glass stained windows and a light murmuring could be heard coming from the parking lot.

After about twenty minutes, everyone was inside and we drove back towards it. When I opened up my door, a brush of cold wind whipped at us and a chill ran up my spine. I couldn't tell if I was shivering in terror from what we're about to walk into or the thought of us getting caught that was giving me goosebumps. Or worse. We need to find Ray fast. I just hope he was okay.

Camila appeared behind me, looking just as uncomfortable as I did.

"Okay so what's the plan?" She asked nervously.

Before we had time to talk it out, another black van rolled down the freeway ramp towards us and we all scrambled away quickly. Camila and the old woman went to hide behind the van we came in and I hopped into the bed of my truck.

I held my breath and laid flat on my back. My heart pounded painfully against my chest when I heard the tires on the gravel parked right in between us.

"Damn it, we're late Terry! I told yer ass we shouldn't of took that detour." An angry high pitched voice came.

"Dude, I told you someone was followin us. Did you want them to follow us back here and give away our cover?"

"Wait a minute, shut up for a sec Terry."

"Who's truck do you think this is?"

My eyes shot open. No, No...please don't find me. Please don't find me.

"Don't think it's one of ours." The other responded.

Oh God, please don't come over here. Please don't come over here!

They tapped their knuckles against the side of the truck a few times and their footsteps pressed into the grovel as they scouted around my vehicle. A white light swept over the other side of the window and then down at the end of the bed. My heart drops as it starts to trail up towards me.

"Hey Keisha, I think someone left their dog in here or-"

"Step away from the truck!"

The light swooped up over my head so quickly that I was sure they didn't spot me. Something else was distracting them.

"What are you two doing out here?" The one named Terry yelled.

"Put your hands up where I can see them, come on rapido, rapido!" I heard Camila commanded.

Judging from the loud clacking hitting the ground, it seemed that the duo were intimidated by her.

They were facing away from me, their hands up in the air. I slowly sat up. Maybe if I caught them off guard...

I targeted the skinnier of the two and slightly crawled over. While they were preoccupied with Camila, I appeared behind the man and wrapped my arm around his neck, strangling his back into me with a sleeper hold.

"What the hell?!" The other cried out.

"Whoa." Camila gasped in amazement as she held them at gunpoint.

The man struggled against me and tried to yank my arm off but I tightened my grip harder. Go to sleep already!

"Let go of him! Get off my brother you damn hussy!" The bigger woman yelled.

"Not so fast!" Camila shouted, now aiming her gun directly at her. She glared at Camila and then back at her brother

Camila gestured for her to get down on her knees and she complied.

The man finally felt heavier in my arms and his frantic breathing and struggling was finally giving up.

His whole body went limp in my grasp. I released him, letting him hit the ground with a thud.

"Terry!! Terry, wake up!"

I hopped out of the truck feeling exhausted but good. I've only ever practiced that move back in school with my teammates but never had a chance to actually try it out of class. It was exhilarating to say the least.

"Damn chica and here you were worried about me breaking into the store. Where did all that come from?"

"Indeed." The old woman agreed. "Here I thought ye were a bunch of helpless teenagers. Where ye learn to do that?"

"Long story, I'll tell you about it after we rescue Ray."

Camila cleared her throat loudly.

"Oh and Sofia."

"Right." Camila said dryly. "But how do you suppose we do that?"

"Start with this." The old woman tossed a line of rope over at me and I almost fell over trying to catch it. "We need to get these two out of the way while we decide on how to get you ladies in there."

"Que? You're not coming in with us?" Camila asked.

"Nah, I had another plan. I'm going to create a diversion for you ladies so you can escape out of ere once you find your siblings."

"Escape? Why do we need to escape?" I asked.

She grunted. "You kids really don't know what's going on here?"

The woman who was kneeling on the ground started chuckling. "Oh child don't you know? The rapture is here just like Father Isaiah had predicted many years ago. We're collecting everyone so we can send them all up to heaven before us and be free of this filthy tainted Earth. All of this has been foretold."

"Up to heaven? You mean sacrificing them?"

The woman laughed hysterically. "It's over, the time has come where we must all rise from our shells of bodies and let our souls join him! Join him! Those who rise from death again are sinners! Abominations of the Devil in the making! We all must shed our skin!"

She continued to rant while chanting a weird incantation until the old woman bashed her in the back of her head with the butt of Camila's gun. She held a startled look on her face before her eyelids closed and she toppled forward into the dirt.

"See what I mean by stupid? We need to get you ladies in there pronto."

"Holy shit, what she was saying...was chilling." Camila said, holding herself.

"Yes, that's why we need to get you guys inside there quickly and get your family, but they'll spot you if you're not wearing their members' robes."

She stripped the large white robes off the two people and tossed them to us.

This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

"What about them?" I asked.

"Don't worry about these two." The old lady huffed, dragging both of their unconscious bodies towards the van. "Just get in there, find yer loved ones and then get the hell out of there as fast as possible."

"Got it." We agreed.

We looked at each other before opening the church's large wooden double doors.

The smooth velvet carpet felt amazing against my feet as we walked in and it provided enough cushion so I didn't have to hobble so much on one foot. I had Camila on my right and I borrowed her left shoulder to balance myself and walk at her pace.

The first thing we came across was a nicely lit cozy reception area filled with bright beige couches.

But no one was at the desk.

There was a booming muffled voice echoing off the walls and neither Camila or I could make out the words. We continued down the hallway, looking around at the multiple pictures of priests and staff who once occupied this church. Or maybe still did.

There were a few rooms that looked like offices and the last door we came across led to a parking lot full of more black vans.

But no sign of a single pastor or cult member.

"Where is everyone?" Camila whispered.

"I don't know." I frowned.

Don't tell me we were too late?

The booming voice fell to a hush and suddenly a chorus of murmurs followed. The murmurs grew louder when we passed the other parking lot and we finally came across a few other members walking towards a labeled room called, "The Great Hall."

This had to be the room they were holding Ray in.

We scurried behind them as if we were a part of the cult before slipping inside. The murmurs we heard outside came from a crowd of over a hundred people all praying in symphony together. The room was gigantic in height but the width was barely wide enough to hold them all.

However, each row of chairs were filled up to the point that they were squished together side by side and even some were standing up along the walls of the room.

Ahead was a pastor on stage with his hands up and spread wide in the air. Beside him was a random white tub full of clear steaming water. His eyes were closed as he listened to the prayers and chanted that same junk the woman outside did. Beside him, an older woman was playing a disturbingly haunting tune on a large organ that matched the theme of this creepy place.

Another pair of people dawning the same robes came in behind us and Camila and I were forced to move along into the crowd. We nervously went along with it just so we wouldn't stand out and stood in the back with the others. Every hair on my body was on ends as we got closer inside and when the wooden doors closed behind us, everyone including the pastor lifted their heads up.

"Welcome children, for the day we have all been waiting so long for has arrived. The day that our prophecy can finally be fulfilled. Now that it is midnight, day five of the dreaded foreseen apocalypse, we must do our duties as civilized patrons and help those who are not able to make it to the rapture on their own. We are these people's saviors and once the world is cleansed and saved from the abominations, then we will all go as one."

People in the crowds let out horrific cheers of joy as if dying for this cult was the best thing in the world. Just how demented are these people?

I felt a frantic tapping on my shoulder, and I turned to find Camila but her face was pale white. Without saying a word she nodded her head towards something to her right.

Five people of all different heights and ages were gestured into the room single file, each of them wearing a black hood to cover over their entire face. Their legs were shaking and their clothes were tattered up to shreds like if they've been fighting against someone. Two of them were being restrained by a collar and leash by three different cult members, trying to keep them still as they frantically thrashed about.

No way, don't tell me they caught one of those mutated people?

I tried to ignore that and scanned over the line of people for anything that would distinguish Ray from the rest of them.

Wait...

I glanced closer at a pair of shoes and noticed a considerable amount of faded blood splattered on them while everyone else's were just muddied and covered in dirt.

Last time I remember, Ray ended up slipping at the hospital in a puddle of blood. Maybe that was him?

"Camila, the one with blood on his shoes. I think that 's Ray."I whispered in her ear.

"OK but do you see Sofia?"

I looked back at the row of people.

"Now, let's begin our ritual!" Their leader boomed over the loudspeakers. "Tonight we will make them pure before sending them off to the great beyond. Tonight they will all be baptized to become one of us and then be free of the flesh to let their soul be sent to the heavens!"

As the line of people started to move, not a single one of these captured people wore a dress or was even as small as Sofia to match her description. They all seem to be adults and a few teens around Ray's age.

"I don't see her."

"I don't see her either." Camila whispered desperately as tears welled up in her eyes. "Where do you think they took Sasha?"

"I-"

"Now reveal their faces to us! Bring our first sacrifice!"

The room erupted with cheers and we both looked to see the sacks being yanked off of their heads, revealing panicked and terrified faces.

My guess turned out to be true; the one with the bloody shoes turned out to be Ray.

His grey beanie was missing from his head and his chestnut hair was scattered all over the place. His eyes were wide with fright as he searched the crowd nervously for any sign of anyone to help him.

The first person they brought over to the pastor was one of the rabid people they captured, three of the people dragging her by a leash over to the pastor before they all forced her into the tub.

Not even seconds later, the girl burst out of the water growling. Herentire face and body was burning red from the boiling water and the priest started chanting in some weird foreign language as the cult members pushed her back down. Soon the entire room had bowed their heads and joined in, reciting the strange prayer back in soft murmurs.

"Cami, let's sneak around to the door by the stage and try to grab Ray." I whispered.

She nodded and slowly pulled us to her right. We weaved and maneuvered behind the screaming crowd quietly, being sure not to brush against any of them and draw attention to us.

My heart skipped suddenly and I couldn't help but glance back at the stage again. My eyes went back to Ray who was behind two other people. He tried to make a run for it but he was shoved back in line by one of the priest's henchmen. Ray's eyes were glued to the man in the tub and I peeked over someone's shoulder to see what was happening.

As Camila continued to pull me through, I saw a shiny object in the pastor's hand as he raised it up in the air.

"Now, may this man's soul rest in peace."

The four captives on stage gasped and disappeared out of my sight as everyone in the crowd began standing up and cheering.

Camila couldn't see what was happening as she led us through the screaming crowd, but I saw everything.

The poor girl, murdered on stage.

Sliced down her neck by the silver dagger in the priest's hand.

Her blood spilled back into the tub, coloring it to a deadly red.

"Oh God." I cried and covered my mouth. What the hell is this place? Why are these people not even fazed or shocked? They're all applauding her death. Demented, twisted, people with sickening grins on their faces.

This was way worse than I anticipated. This priest was kidnapping and sacrificing people without a care.

The bone-chilling organ music played on as they sent the next victim in line. Everything in my body went cold and stiff as when I saw that there was just one person ahead of Ray. The whole room began the same chant like before. One of the cult members forcibly shoved an overweight man who was next in line towards the front of the tub. The poor guy toppled forward on his own feet in front of the priest and shook violently as the crowd cheered on his death.

The priest and a few of his helpers grabbed the heavy weight man up from under his arms and dumped him into the hot water. He disappeared out of the crowd's view briefly before the leader of the cult pulled him out of the bloody water by his collar.

"Stop it you freak!" He coughed out, struggling against the other man's grip. "Somebody! Please help me!"

"Now, may this man's soul rest in peace." The pastor repeated, bringing the same dagger up into the air again.

"No! Please stop! I have a wife and two little boys! Please I'll do anything I'll-!"

I didn't even realize we stopped moving until Camila pinched my arm. "Come on!" She hissed.

"We need to get the fuck out of here!"

I'm freezing up.

What if I didn't make it in time? What if these freaks get to my brother before I can? What can I do? What should I do?!

An eruption of cheers filled the room again.

We tried to maneuver through the crowd but one of the people standing backed up suddenly and shoved his back against me. There was a pain beyond anything I had ever felt when his steel toe boots crushed down onto my bare feet.

"Oh shit, sorry about that, I didn't mean-"

"Ouuuuchhh!!! You giant fucker! What the hell is wrong with you?!" I snarled at the top of my lungs. I couldn't help my foul mouth. I was in excruciating pain that hot tears blind my sight. I bent down and cradled my foot.

A few people around him fell to hush whispers as they diverted their attention to see what was going on.

"I'm so sorry honey! Here, please, let me help you up." The guy offered and reached down towards me. "Just, try to keep your voice down."

"No, don't you dare put your fucking hands on me." I hissed in response.

Him and a few others backed up from me and exchanged confused glances while Camila quickly dashed to my side.

"Lo siento folks, she hasn't been feeling so well lately. Right Sasha?" She asked with emphasis on my name to be sure I caught on.

"Y-yeah, I just need the bathroom." I winced, allowing Camila to help me back to my feet. This was bad. I bit my tongue when I saw that two of my toenails were chipped off from the skin and bleeding.

"What's going on back there?" A voice came through the speakers around the room.

The organ had stopped. The chanting and cheering had stopped.

All eyes were on us now.

The question lingered hauntingly in the now silent room and my heart stopped and accelerated at the same time.

Everyone froze in their spot; Camila, the guy and me.

Not one of us dared to move or said a word.

The crowd parted down the middle for the priest so he could see what everyone was staring at.

He was already halfway on his next sacrifice before we disturbed him and he released the crying woman's shirt that she dropped onto the stage soaking wet. She was crying and wasted no time scurrying off now that the attention was diverted from her.

Everyone in the entire room caught us.

It was over.

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