Mary Katherine realized it was all a test. Three times she drove near Christopher. Three times she was brought to a crossroads. The first time, she stopped at the stop sign. The second time, she barreled into the little boy. And this was the third. The holy trinity.
Father. Son. Holy Spirit.
Ice. Water. Clouds.
She didn’t know why God needed to test her, but she knew the world was ending, and He didn’t have a lot of soldiers left. She was just one dot of paint on His massive canvas.
And it wasn’t about her, was it?
Mary Katherine wasn’t kept alive for herself. She was kept alive for Christopher. The minute she understood that, the voice went away. The imposter was gone.
And a great comfort fell over her.
She realized that she was living everything she had ever feared. She was pregnant. Shunned. Hunted. Hell had come to Earth. She was in the valley of the shadow of death.
But she feared no evil because the Lord was with her.
The car raced to the crossroads. There was no way out. She either had to hit the deer or let them rip Christopher to pieces. Mary Katherine lowered her head.
“Jesus, I am a sinner. I am vain. I am narcissistic. And my biggest sin was that I have been so afraid of You that I never really loved You until this moment. But I’m not afraid anymore because heaven and hell are not destinations. They are decisions.”
Christopher’s truck ran through the intersection. Her car flew down the street.
“I love You, Jesus,” she said.
Mary Katherine turned the wheel and barreled through the herd of stampeding deer. The car buckled under the weight. Antlers ripped through the windshield and windows. Then, they ripped through her flesh. The car rolled a dozen times before finally landing on four thrashed tires. Mary Katherine looked through the blood running past her eyes at Christopher and his mother racing away. For the moment, they were safe.
Mary Katherine smiled.
“Take care of them, Jesus,” she said.
Before she went unconscious, she could feel Him sitting next to her. His hand as warm as the blood running down her arm. She felt at peace because she would believe in Him for the rest of her life. Not out of fear. But out of love.
Mary Katherine was free.
Chapter 117
Christopher’s mother looked through the rearview mirror as Mary Katherine’s car flipped down the road. The girl had saved them from the deer.
They still had a chance to escape.
She floored the truck. The Mission Street Woods loomed in the distance. She saw doors open and dozens of mailbox people run into the street from the houses. Screaming.
“…Givvve him toooo ussssss…”
She looked in the rearview mirror. The mailbox people began to crest the hill. They were coming from everywhere. Clogging every road like the arteries of a man minutes before a fatal heart attack. There was no street left.
Except one.
Monterey Drive.
For a moment, she remembered turning onto this road with their real estate agent back in September. For the first time, she would have her very own house. She could finally give her little boy a safe home with a good school and good friends. She looked down at Christopher. He was pale as a ghost. Blood pouring from his nose.
“I will never let them take you,” she said.
She looked ahead at the Mission Street Woods as the clouds moved like a cancer across the sky. The fog coming to take back the earth and drown it in floods. The whole world was being replaced by its own shadow. She felt no fear for anything other than her son. She would live for him and die for him and kill for him. She would do anything to keep him alive.
They reached the cul-de-sac. She slammed the brakes and picked up her little boy’s sick body like a rag doll.
We can escape on foot.
There’s still a chance.
Christopher’s mother carried him from the truck. Ambrose jumped out of the flatbed. He helped the sheriff to his feet. The sheriff winced, the wound coming apart in his side. The four stood in the cul-de-sac as the clouds rolled toward them like a battleship. The thickest fog she had ever seen. Cars appeared in the distance, their headlights illuminating the street like a ghostly lantern. Garage doors opened. Mailbox people appeared on the horizon. Their screams traveling down the street like a game of telephone. Running at them full speed. They were surrounded.