"Don't worry about it, these uniforms are damn warm and we've got an emergency blanket in our day packs."
Dave nodded. "Okay then. Let's get ourselves to sleep as quickly as possible then."
* * *
Dave and Josh slept through the night as they were in the routine of doing. Trevor and Holden spent their night sleeping on some newly opened stretchers that were placed outside the hut. The hut was only a small one and there wasn't enough room to open up all the stretchers inside. Regardless, everyone had a decent sleep and they woke surprised by how refreshed they felt. Dave and Josh didn't need to prepare for a long journey and after a quick breakfast the four made their way down the southern road. Soon they reached the bridge and spent a moment resting.
Trevor gestured down the river. "You can see the church from here."
Dave shook his head. "Incredible. I should have noted it when I was here to get water."
"Me too," said Josh. "I guess I was focused on anything else."
"Well," said Trevor, "we'll be there soon, so let's give the priest a visit."
Dave looked back the way they had come. "This bothers me. How is it that the dead don't cross this river?"
Trevor shrugged. "I can't say that I ever thought of it."
Dave looked at Trevor. "And that's the sort of reaction that bothers me even more."
"There's a path that follows the river," said Trevor pointing up the river. "Let's get moving."
Dave looked at Josh and they nodded to each other. With Holden and Trevor in the lead, Dave and Josh followed up behind them.
As they crunched along the dirt path leading to the church, Dave noticed that the church was a very small one that probably only had token value. Due to its scenic position on the riverside Dave suspected that the church was probably mostly used for having small, open-air weddings. It was too cramped to contain a decent sized congregation.
They had reached the tiny fence surrounding the church when Trevor detoured towards the church's back. In the yard space between the church and the river was an old man with greyed hair wearing the familiar black clothing and white clerical collar of a priest. The priest was busily moving what appeared to be bottles of water around on a table.
"Hello, Father Stephen," called out Trevor.
The priest crossed himself and turned to Trevor. "Hello, my son. You have quite the crowd today."
"Just passing through," said Trevor. "You've met Holden before, but this is Dave and Josh. They are staying at the supermarket across the river." As Trevor spoke he pointed at Dave, Josh and the direction of the supermarket in turn.
The priest nodded in a friendly manner. "And a good day to you all. It must be dangerous living across the river."
Dave spoke up. "Actually we've managed to build up some walls using various abandoned vehicles. That seems to successful keep annoying guests away."
"It didn't stop us from visiting," joked Trevor.
"Compared to the usual," said Josh, "you are definitely not annoying."
Trevor nodded at Josh before turning back to the priest. "Like I said we're just passing by on our way back to base. I won't keep you from whatever you're doing."
The priest turned toward the table with the bottles of water on it. "You're referring to this?" gestured the priest.
"I don't mean to pry," said Trevor. "You don't have to say anything."
The priest seemed open enough. "Oh, I have nothing to hide. I was just blessing this water."
Trevor looked confused. "Are you expecting to hold a lot of services in the near future?"
"Nothing like that. I bless the water and pour it into the river."
Trevor turned to look back at Dave who shrugged back. "Sorry, I'm not following you."
"This church is upstream from the bridge. By pouring blessed water into the river it becomes a barrier to block evil."
"I'm really not following you at all," said Trevor rubbing the back of his head.
"Sorry to interrupt," said Dave, "but are you saying that by pouring holy water into the river that you're stopping the dead from crossing the bridge. Earlier we were discussing how it was odd that the dead didn't try crossing the bridge."
"I don't really like that term 'dead'," said the priest. "They are more precisely the fallen."
"Don't they need to die to become this 'fallen'?" asked Dave.
"Oh no," said the priest energetically. "Like any cult, it's strength derives from the beliefs of its participants. It's just that when you are being killed then it's much easier to believe in death."
Dave stopped speaking, the look of confusion clearly on his face.
Trevor frowned at Dave and turned back to the priest. "Anyway, we're not here purely to swap greetings. We had an ulterior purpose."
"Sounds ominous," chuckled the priest.
"Actually it's quite dull. Would you happen to know Latin?" asked Trevor.
"Not only do I know Latin, but I was rather famous for how fluent I was. I use to be able to spin all number of humorous ditties back in the day when I was a young student."
"That's good to know," said Trevor who turned to Dave.
When Trevor had redirected the conversation, Dave had pulled out a digital camera from his day pack and had turned it on.
Dave leaned on the church fence and turned the back of the camera to the priest. "Could you confirm if this is actually Latin?"
The jovial priest leaned forward to look at an enlarged section of the disc of light. The priest suddenly turned pale. "Yes. Ah. Yes. That is Latin."
"Do you want me to zoom into a different part of the text?" asked Dave confused by the priest's reaction.
"No, that's perfectly fine," said the priest backing away from the fence. "Can I ask where you got that picture?"
Dave turned the camera around to look at the image. "We took this last night. Whenever we shot and injured one of the dead a disc of light would appear. This light would appear while the dead was healing itself.
