Epilogue

   Although they couldn’t account for the other cultists members, Officer Davis McIntyre and K.J. were very aware when they had entered under the sanctity of the veil. Under the veil, the sanity of the mountain felt as though it had been restored.

   It offered them a sense of relief – knowing they had survived their visit to hell, but it was bittersweet as they knew everyone on the mountain outside the veil would be dying a horrible death.

   No one would believe the truth they had to share. Only the sleaziest tabloids would report on the attack of the zombies on Mt. Kass and even the most gullible person would roll their eyes at it.

   For the moment, at least, neither K.J. nor McIntyre cared about that. They were overwhelmed with the inertia of survival. They were merely happy to be have fought the mountain and lived.

   An army approached them. In their arms, they carried a familiar face. It was the same woman Officer McIntyre had met at the checkpoint, the same woman that he and K.J. both heard on the intercom. The soldiers wore an armor of a dulled green. They were the opposing side, they both assumed. Their presence seemed faded and dulled, like an old photograph or a hazy memory. 

   Regardless, Officer McIntyre readied his shotgun, fearful they might be able to cross over to the veil. Instead, a soldier walked forward, carrying the girl. The woman was only vaguely attentive as the soldier steered her forward. She obliged, walking beyond the veil and meeting eyes with Officer McIntyre and K.J.

   Her clothes were soaked. The ground was dry on their current plane of existence, however.

   Melissa stared at both of them; her appearance showed exasperation and exhaustion. Her body was bloody and bruised but she had survived as well. They’d either begin their descend once morning came or keep firing off flares to see if a helicopter would chance it.

   On the other side of the veil, the rain came down and flooded the mountain. Would there be any bodies to be found at all? Or would the mountain keep them?

   Melissa looked fondly at the mountainside, at all the hills and at all the forestry. If she would only step forward, she would once again see beyond that, of the hellhole swept beneath.

   She turned her back to it and toward the young girl and grizzly middle-aged man; they survived Mt. Kass.