Whispers

"Phill attacked you. You should fight back."

Lance retaliated with a startled shout, "AH....er, sorry about that...."
Phil did not look amused.
"It works?"
"....I'll say it again, just don't point anything at me." Phil disappeared back around the corner.

Lance decided it might be easier to carry the guns if he loaded them, so he sat down, opened up the boxes of ammo, took out a couple of shotgun shells and a rifle round and inserted them into their respective guns. Standing and picking everything up again, Lance realised it hadn't made any difference to what he was carrying, but at least he was prepared.

"Now, where's that preacher?" Lance started heading in the direction he last heard the voice from. After a short time of looking into shops, he noticed the preacher in a shop full of potted plants, kneeling in a very prayerful way.

Lance was starting to get tired of carrying around these guns.

"You still don't have enough guns. Find an RPG if you can."

Making up his mind, Lance rids himself of the rifle and it's ammo. With the shotgun held more comfortably he approaches the preacher.

"Hey, I want to ask you something."
"hmm?" The preacher looks around, "Come, come, put down those weapons and pray, pray for your soul."
"Umm, this isn't a church..."
"There is nature, and where there is nature there is god, so pray to him."
"Look, do you know what's happening?"
"You do not know? It is armageddon. Humanity's soul has become impure and the devil's servants have been sent to claim us. We must repent."
"Err, right, well then, why haven't they been in here to get us?"
"God works in mysterious ways....perhaps HE does not allow them. Or perhaps my piety is enough to hold them back. Ah, I must pray, come, pray, pray with me."

And the preacher hastily bowed his head again, muttering prayers more audibly than before.

"Shoot his brains out."

"Just kidding. Ask if he knows what started this, why this all happened now. And if he knows about something else we can do except pray."

"Go find something to shoot!"

In the back of his mind, a single desire to pull the trigger of the shotgun arose, but was quickly quelled. Catching the attention of the preacher once more, Lance asked, "Isn't there something we can do for ourselves, to help survive?"
"It is god's will if we shall survive. If he believes us worthy of saving, then we shall be saved, so we pray, to show that we have faith in god, and that we shall abide by god's rules if he allows us."
"But, why, why is all this happening, why now?"
"Why the floods in the time of Noah? For god cannot stand to see of man's depravity any longer, it must be cleansed....."

Lance felt thankful for the sudden sound of shouting from the entrance area, for he felt he would be spared a lengthy sermon.

"With any luck there will be something to shoot at."

"Well, let's go ask who they are. And why are they here. And while you're at it, ask if they know what's going on."

"And stop pointing with that gun, carry it more casually, like you knew what you were doing. You're far too easy target at the moment."

"Don't shoot anyone just yet, wait until you infiltrate them. Then kill them all!"

Lance takes a breath, shifts the shotgun across his body, then consciously straightens up, hoping to make himself look tougher. Lance steps out from behind the corner, "What's going on?"

The men turn their heads to look at Lance, the one standing in the middle responded in a firm tone, "We are evacuating survivors to the local military base. Inform everyone here, we'll be leaving in a few minutes. We will also be gathering supplies while we are here, I'm sure none of you object." He motions, and the two men beside him walk off to the stores.
"Uh, do you know what it is we're dealing with?"
"U.N.S.L. Unidentified Non-Substantial Lifeforms. Feel informed? Well tough. Now go gather everyone else in the building."

Not feeling any point in arguing, Lance went back to where the preacher had been praying. Along the way, he caught a quick glance of the two men, and a trolley, filling with tinned food.

Lance found the preacher, exactly where he had left him. "Hey nut job.....Erk, I mean, hey old.....uh, father, hey father."
"Hrm? what is it that keeps you from prayer now, my boy?"
Lance, for once, breathed a sigh of relief that the preacher took three attempts to rouse, "There are some men out the front to evacuate us to a military base."
"Ah, you see? Our prayers have reached, and brought divine providence upon us. I give thanks to god."
"We really should get going."
"Ah, yes, of course, let us not waste what god hath given."

Lance, followed by the preacher, returned to the entrance.

"Ah, the boy returns in good time, still coddling that gun like it means something. So, we have those two, plus your family. Is that everyone?"
Phil responded, "Hmm, I think I remember seeing someone else wandering around just after it happened, no idea where they ended up though."
"We're on a tight schedule, we don't have the time to look over this whole building."

"Forget about him. If you're going to find him, you might as well shoot him."