Page 99 of Malachi
I watched the Reverend roll his eyes in annoyance. The pistol moved, quick as lightning, and a shot rang out through the room before my brain could process what had happened. At my side, Elder Taylor collapsed like a puppet with his strings cut, falling to the floor as blood spilled from his lifeless body, pooling onto the floor from the wound in his head.
It was a fatal shot.
He’d killed him.
For daring to speak up in the middle of this shit show.
“What the fuck!” Ollie exclaimed, turning towards the now dead man’s body with eyes wide with shock.
“Are you ready to be honest now?” The Reverend roared at Levi. He stood slowly, squaring his shoulders and coming to full height as he took in the Reverend’s face, all sharp features and eyes crazed with evil. The man was completely unhinged. And looking around the room, no one seemed surprised. That made things a million times worse.
“We got together to talk,” Levi stated with no small amount of caution. My eyes flitted around to the men standing around us. It didn’t look like any of them were packing heat, so to speak, but I couldn’t be sure.
“Why did you not meet at one of your homes?” Father interjected. It surprised me that Reverend Jacob was allowing him to step up and step in like that, especially when Elder Taylor had fared so much worse than Father seemed to be.
“Make it make sense, Leviticus,” Reverend Jacob doubled down.
“Fine, if you want the truth, I was talking with my brothers about this,” Levi spat, gesturing around the room to the gathered Elders.
“What do you mean?” the Reverend sneered.
“This. The Elders. All of you,” Levi answered firmly.
“What about us? What about this?” the Reverend pushed.
“You made your point incredibly clear the other night, Reverend. Burning Gideon’s boat was a bold move, but one I agree with. It scared them. And I needed to meet up with my brothers. I needed time to figure out if they were all with us, or if they were just scared puppies, cowering with their tails between their legs in fear.” Levi’s words shocked me, and at the same time gave me hope. If he was almost convincing me, he was likely convincing them.
“Why would it matter? If they are with us for their own reasons or falling in line out of fear, it matters not, one way or another,” the Reverend scoffed.
“But it does. Don’t you see?” Levi asked, driving his point home. He was brilliant. “You don’t need scared peons, Reverend. You have plenty of those already. Just look around. What you really need are soldiers. Soldiers who believe in the cause, just as I do.”
The room grew quiet, the Elders around us looking disgruntled and offended at Levi’s words. But more importantly, the Reverend was genuinely considering Levi’s words.
“With people like me on your side fighting for your cause, we will be unstoppable. Don’t you see?” Levi pushed further. He should be a goddamn politician, with his slippery speech and turn of phrase.
“You’d better not be lying, boy,” Father growled, stepping up, placing himself almost between the Reverend and Levi. It surprised me that the Reverend chosenotto deck him for stepping in on the situation.
“Does it look like I’m lying, Father? Honestly. You have known us boys our entire lives. You are our father. You know when we are lying. I have helped these boys fall in line time and time again. You’ve used me to do that very thing, how often? Countless times over the years, wouldn’t you say?” Levi was edging into dangerous territory, pushing not just the Reverend but also Father at this point.
“I can always tell when you’re lying. Then again, you’ve gotten better at it over the years,” Father scoffed derisively.
“So what do you say, Titus? Is he lying? Or can we trust him?” The Reverend asked, his head nodding over at father as he spoke.
“I still don’t understand why you had to all meet out in the middle of nowhere to conduct such conversations,” Father spat, eyeing Levi suspiciously.
“Well, that’s a fairly simple explanation,” Levi shrugged.
“If it was so easy, why lie in the first place? Why put us through this whole song and dance?” Reverend Jacob pressed.
“Look around,” Levi began, gesturing to the room full of Elders. “This looks to be almost double the amount of men gathered, in my limited experience, with the upper echelon of the Elders. I didn’t want to give anything away that I wasn’t supposed to. For all I knew, this was another kind of test.”
I had no idea if the Reverend bought his explanation. It felt like a long shot to me, but at this point, what choice did we have?
“Father, Levi is telling the truth,” I said firmly. On the outside, I was calm and collected. Internally, I was a complete mess, worrying if speaking up was the right choice or not, as both Reverend Jacob and Father turned their gaze and their attention to me.
“And why should I believe you? Malachi…” Father sighed. “My second eldest son and greatest disappointment.” He stalked his way away from Levi over to me, clicking his tongue in a sound of utter disappointment. His words stung, but he’d hurt me far worse before.
“Because I’m being honest, Father. I have not lied to you for many years.” It was the truth… or at least mostly, at any rate.
