Mark Tufo - The End Has Come and Gone

Easter tried to remove his hands from Justin, but in less than the blink of an eye Justin grabbed his forearms in a strength that was being intensified through supernatural means. The room was cool but Easter looked like he was baking under the Sahara sun. Easter pulled for all he was worth to get away. He might as well have been super glued to Justin. Justin was now sitting up and staring intensely at Easter.

"Charlatan! What kind of two-bit magician are you?" Eliza asked Easter.

"Let me go, the power of Christ compels you!” Easter shouted.

"The power of Christ? Your God is a false prophet to whom I will never bow down,” Eliza answered menacingly.

"Then who do you worship?" Easter asked her. I thought that we all knew the answer to that, but Eliza surprised us once again.

"Why myself, of course,” she said slyly. Eliza turned Justin's head to scan the rest of the room. “Michael, so good to see you again. I sense that you possess something that belongs to me, although what it is I cannot determine,” she said with a sneer. “Ah, and who is that with you, he bears a family resemblance, a brother perhaps? Is it not good to be reunited with family?" She asked, obviously sticking a dagger in my already broken heart with the loss of Tommy.

Easter was frozen. A look of sheer terror creased his features. Myself, I was ready to run. Eliza had a way of making me feel like a jack rabbit and she wasn't the sly fox, she was the rabid wolf, so big was the difference in my perception of her.

Gary seemed the least disturbed by the situation. “So that's Eliza?" he asked me. I could barely nod in reply. “Yeah, she's a mean one,” he said solemnly.

"You think?" I gritted out.

"And what of this man, Michael?" Eliza asked as turned back to Easter. “I fear that he means you harm.” "And that bothers you somehow?" I asked her incredulously, not believing that we were having such a conversation.

"That death befalls you is of a main concern of mine. That it is by my own hand and in my own way is of the utmost importance. What good would it be if I did not first destroy everything that was dear to you, and then crush the broken shell of your existence? And do not be flippant with me again, Michael, I can easily turn Justin against himself. Would you like to watch as I make him tear his own eyes out?"

"Wait Eliza, we will have our confrontation!" I told her, putting my hands up. I hoped she would take heed of my words and not hurt Justin.

"What of this man!” she spat, shaking Easter's still form. “He calls himself a Holy man, but he is a trickster. His wizardry lies in chemistry and staging.” "How has he reached you then?" Gary asked.

"Michael, I grow weary of this encounter,” Eliza said, ignoring Gary 's question. “He will not let you go. I can easily stop his beating heart and be rid of him.” "We are prisoners, if you kill him, they will kill us,” I told her.

"If only the revenge was not going to be so sweet, I could be rid of you now. What do you propose?" Eliza asked.

This was surreal, I was talking tactics with Eliza. "Can you make him answer questions?" I asked her.

"All men have a way of answering truthfully when I threaten to rend their genitalia from their body and make them eat it. Only once did I have to completely follow through. He died choking.” She actually let out a small laugh at the remembrance of the event.

"Easter,” I said. “You need to answer me truthfully, do you understand?" He nodded jerkily. “Eliza is not one for idle threats.” He gulped once. I took that as an affirmation of my words. “What is really going on here?"

"God…" he began. Justin/Eliza grabbed Easter's manhood in what I could only imagine was a vise-like grip by the way he reacted. “I was…" he labored to speak. “I am a chemist and … and…" I think Eliza was squeezing harder just for the sheer cruelty of it. “And an electronics hobbyist.” "But yet you’re a janitor at a middle school?" Gary asked disbelievingly.

"I… I… I got burned out.” He vomited from the pain.

"He lies,” Eliza said coldly. “I would like to crush his reproductive organs now.”

"Wait,” Easter said, trying to yell but not having enough breath to do so.

"Eliza, could you please ease up so that he can talk?”

"I will do so, but for the last time Michael, if he lies again, I will crush what I hold in my hand and you will have to do what you can to honor your promise of our final meeting.” "Fair enough,” I told her.

Easter bent forward slightly as Eliza let up somewhat.

"This is it Easter, you tell the truth like a man or die as a eunuch,” I cautioned him.

"I like to be around children,” he said. “I'm disgusted with myself. I've never done anything but I wanted to,” he cried.

"So you set something up with the Bowdoin brothers,” I said, linking the pieces.

He looked up at me wondering how I got that information. His head bowed as he answered, “I couldn’t go through with it. And by the time Talisker got there with his men they had gone too far. I did not want them to harm the boy.” "Why take them alive?" Gary asked, “Didn’t you risk them exposing you?"

"They did not know who they worked for. I had contracted them to do this before the zombies came. It was all set up through chat rooms and dummy email accounts.” "How long did they have that boy?" I asked with disgust.

"Weeks at least, perhaps as long as two months,” he dispensed.

"Sweet Jesus,” Gary choked, covering his mouth in fear that he might make an involuntary discharge.

"I did not know that they had gone through with it,” Easter said in defense. “Not until right before I sent Talisker to get them.” "Well that makes you a friggen saint doesn’t it?" I yelled at him.

Talisker pretty much crashed through the door. “What is going on?" he said, drawing his gun. I had a suspicion that he might start firing first and wait for the answers later.

"Tell him to stop, Easter,” I said.

I watched as the squirrelly man started to weigh his chances. Apparently so did Eliza as she redoubled her efforts on his what now must be considered his mushy privates at this point.

"Put the gun down, Talisker,” he wheezed. Talisker did without as much as a beat of hesitation.

"You're going to want a seat for this,” I said as I pushed him the chair I had originally been sitting in.

Easter spent a moment to retell the sordid depraved tale. Talisker looked like he was the one getting nut punched.

"But what of the trial, the bleeding eyes, the visions of God?" Talisker asked, not believing that the savior that walked among them was a devil dressed in black.

"Hallucinogens, the power of suggestion and Anistreplase,” Easter said breathlessly.

"The pious tests?" Talisker asked, grasping for straws.

"Taser leads in my gloves. Please make her stop,” Easter begged me.

"What of the zombies not attacking you? There has to be some truth in there somewhere?"

"Certain sound oscillations seem to have an effect on the undead. I discovered it quite by accident.” "Now that's some information we could use,” I said excitedly.

The screaming that pierced the room next was inhuman, maybe even inhumane if it wasn't being uttered by the creature known as Easter. Eliza had crushed his testicles. It would be hours, maybe days before he was in a state of mind that could help us with the sound machine he had mentioned .

I will never know how Easter said what he said as he writhed in agony. But the words or at least the vast majority of the message is transcribed below.

" Is animus has haud inherent macula salvifico unus vos have largior super is, ut libri of revelations civitas, vos have haud vindicatum in is animus quod mos relinquish totus vox prurigo. "