The choir loft. She scurried up the second flight of stairs. The old wood groaned and protested under her weight. In the loft she found two overturned pews, a broken bench, and remnants of a pipe organ. She needed a weapon, anything. The bench was too heavy. She grasped one of the remaining pipes — it was firmly set.

His steps thudded against the entryway below.

Courtney pressed behind the open door. As she did, her eyes found something she could use as a club leaning against the back of one pew: an old crucifix, the cross snapped with one arm missing. It was at least two feet long.

“Courtneeeey. C’mon…we can have other babies.” He was halfway up the stairs. “This one will feed the earth…we can be together…”

On cue, another contraction captured all her strength. She pressed a hand into her mouth and bit down, drawing blood — a warm, metallic taste in her mouth.

He stepped out of the stairwell with his face turned away from the door. The side of his shirt was dark and heavy with blood. He favored his right foot — a sprained ankle — as he moved to the front of the loft.

“Where are you?” he growled, surveying the sanctuary from above.

The contraction evaporated. Courtney swallowed her breath and summoned all her remaining strength. She crept a few steps from her hiding place, snatched the crucifix, held it aloft like a bat, and rushed toward Zach before he could turn around. His head cocked slightly, but jerked downward as the wooden artifact splintered across the back of his skull. With a howl of pain, he lurched forward, nearly tumbling from the railing. The knife fell from his hand and clattered to the floor below. Blinded with the ache in her womb and sheer terror of the moment, Courtney charged again with the remnants of her weapon, using it as a lance. The wood caught him in the small of the back, and he toppled over, landing in the sanctuary below with a wet thud.

She tossed the broken crucifix to the floor and caught herself on the railing. Another contraction rose from her belly. They were coming quicker now. She peeked over the edge at Zach’s body, broken against the scattered pews, arms splayed at awkward angles. She swallowed her breath and slid to the floor with her back pressed against the railing.