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The cardinal rounds the corner. His red eyes seem to glisten as he stares at you, and his mouth opens with a long tongue unfolding and licking his bottom lip. You step backward and bump against the kitchen wall, rattling a frying pan hanging from the wall. The cardinal shrieks and sprints toward you, and the other undead clergy join behind him.

Through the archway you speed into the Sanctuary, almost knocking into Mindy.

"Holy crap!" Mindy yells. Her eyes widen and mouth trembles as she takes shaky steps back to the altar. Without hesitation, she pulls around her sidekick submachine gun and lets loose a flurry of bullets. Repeated pops of sound split the air. The cardinal topples over as the shots riddle his legs, which fold under him. The monk collides with the senior zombie and tumbles over. Mindy butt slides over the altar as the remaining three zombies chase you through the Sanctuary.

You spot Uncle Lou near the baptismal basin, rifle already braced on top of it. His gun cracks loudly, and the altar boy's head flips back. You can almost hear Uncle Lou shout "sorry" over the weapon fire.

The two nuns continue to chase you through the Sanctuary. From the front of the Sanctuary, Tom rushes across the old church with a double barrel shotgun in hand. He fires, and you leap to the side, feeling the hot air blow right past your face. Looking back, you see the head of the first nun decimated with half of her brain exposed and still pulsating in short, quick motions. Tom fires again and hits the second zombie nun, blowing her left arm off below the shoulder. Her frail body spins in a circle, spraying blood in a wide arc. She falls and slides ten feet, smearing a thick, dark pattern below her. Tom walks toward the woman, methodically reloading each barrel of the weapon, which is still smoking. As the nun sits up, Tom shoots, completely scalping the woman and sending her to final undead rest.

In the back of the Sanctuary, Mindy leans over the cardinal and altar boy, firing rounds into the now-dead, reanimated corpses, giving them eternal rest. Their bodies twitch and flail, flopping limbs against the stone tiles splashing dark brown blood pools. Mindy backpedals against the altar and discharges the clip from the submachine gun, replacing it with a fresh one while eying the pair of living dead corpses.

You plop into a folding chair and lean on your arms to rest.

"How the hell did they get inside?" Mindy asks, swinging the MP5 back over her shoulder. She steps over to you, arms folded, a nervous bounce to her stance.

"No idea," you say through short breaths, still recovering from the action. By now, all of the survivors have made it to the Sanctuary and stare at the dead, robed zombies. You recount for the group the events leading to this moment and describe the path the undead group walked through the Cathedral.

"Even though the Alcove is not repaired, I doubt five zombies crawled in through such a narrow space," says Mindy.

"And I doubt they came in near the small church in the southern courtyard," Emma states.

"There is an area deeper south we haven't explored much since we got here. I've always wondered what exists there," you say.

You recall the catacombs searched with Emma and wonder if somehow zombies wandered their way up those curved and ancient halls.

"I'll investigate the halls near the Gathering, everyone else get back to work," you say.

"With all due respect, it could be dangerous if more zombies are lurking about," Tom says.