Save our souls. We tried to save theirs!

This takes place a few weeks after Jamie's first change, with the outbreak in full swing.

"Are you sure we have to go? Is it even safe?" Ellie Sinclair chewed her thumbnail as she looked at her best friend Penny Walford. "Th-they did block all roads to Bay Cove..."

"Yes, I am, no, it likely isn't, and yes, they did." Penny, a severe young woman with black hair that would not have looked out of place as a librarian, grabbed her rather mousy friend's shoulders and looked into her eyes reassuringly - at least she hoped that was what her expression conveyed. "But we owe it to the poor people there! Their salvation rests on us, only we can save them! You know what the elder said - Satan himself walks the earth in Bay Cove!"

"And... and you think we c-can fight him?" Ellie didn't seem to be sure the two young women would be able to take on the Dark Lord armed with nothing but their belief in the Almighty. "We're not even ordained or anything! And the elder also said that no one was to go to Bay Cove."

"Yes, because he worries about us, and everyone at the church!" Staring at her friend imploringly, Penny tried to convey her fervent desire to help the poor people stuck in the city on the west coast. "But... could you really live with yourself letting all of these poor people fall to damnation if you know we could save at least some of them?"

"No, I guess... No. I couldn't." Still clearly apprehensive about going, Ellie nevertheless looked at Penny with newfound determination. "You're right. We have to go. Even if we're afraid. Especially if we're afraid."

The pair had gotten up at the break of dawn, donned their modest black dresses that went down to their ankles and hit the road in Penny's banged up Fiat 500, carrying with them nothing but a stack of pamphlets, two bibles and some foot and water. They had gone proselytizing multiple times before, once even as part of a mission trip to Europe, but this was the first time they did so knowing that actual evil powers awaited them at the end of their journey. But Penny did her best to bolster their faith as they drove westwards - both knew it was the best defence against what was to come.

Once they got to a distance of 50 miles to Bay Cove, Ellie, who had taken over driving the second half of their journey, began looking for a way to get around the road blocks the government had set up. They knew that all major roads and highways were closed down, but maybe they could find a small dirt road that had been overlooked. While they didn't find exactly that, they did find a small road in a tiny little village that lead to the beach of Bay Cove. Maybe it was the working of a higher power, maybe it was fate, but they both took it as a sign from above that their path was a righteous one.

Of course, Penny's car was by no means equipped to drive on the beach, so they had to leave it at the small packed-dirt parking lot the road led to and walk the last one and a half miles on foot, carrying their supplies with them. Trudging through the warm sand, they couldn't help but wonder how normal the city looked; or at least the part they could already see. No screams, no hellfire, not even a hint of sulfur in the air. Not that they'd expected something so on-the-nose, but it was still rather bewildering to have no sign of the Prince of Darknesses presence on earth.

"It... it looks so... pretty." Ellie finally voiced her apprehensions as they reached the boardwalk. Despite the lockdown the government had mandated, the beach was full of sunbathing men and women in the most scandalous bathing attire. "Like, I don't know, like any other beach city."

"That's what the Devil wants you to think!" Penny spat, redfaced and sweating after carrying their water and food through one and a half miles of sand. "Everything's nice, everything's normal, and before you know it, your soul is burning in hell with the likes of whores and adulterers."

"I-I know, it's just--oh my God."

"Wha--?"

Penny followed Ellie's outstretched finger towards a small beachside café, but that wasn't what had her friend had been pointing at, scandalized beyond belief. No, it was the pair of women barely hiding behind one of the potted trees, one of them standing, the other kneeling. Right in front of her friend. And her head was... bobbing back and forth?! The standing woman, a platinum blonde, had one hand dug into her lover's auburn hair, the other had pulled one of her massive, heaving tits out of her swimming suit and was pulling and tweaking her fat nipple.

"That... how dare they... that's..." Ellie began, and Penny finished for her with a voice full of fire and brimstone.

"Perverted! And in broad daylight, too!" Now, Penny's face was red for an entirely different reason. "The Devil really has his claws in this town!"

"Sh-should we... say something?"

"To them? I wouldn't think so. Not while they're doing that. I want no part in that." Setting her chin, Penny began pulling her friend towards one of the streets leading away from the beach. "But we will be talking to them."

It was obvious, though, that Penny had less... juicy targets in mind for now. Dragging Ellie by the arm, they crossed the street and closed in on the first house. It looked normal enough, but as they had learned within their first minutes in Bay Cove, first looks could be deceiving. To their luck - and considerable relief - though, a perfectly normal, if voluptuous, woman in her late thirties or early forties in a light sweater and apron opened the door, her hair tied in a loose ponytail that fell over one shoulder.

"Oh my, oh my, who do we have here?" With a warm, motherly smile, the woman put her hand against one cheek and tilted her head sideways. "Two beautiful young women on my door step?"

"Uh, yes... ma'am..." Flustered, Penny forgot her well-practiced greeting. This was the first time they'd been received with a compliment instead of indifference or curses!

"Oh, you can call me Linda!" The woman's smile went from warm to dazzling. "Would you like to come in? I just baked cookies. They're still warm!"

"Ooh, can we really?" Ellie's giddy expression quickly was replaced by a wince as Penny stepped on her foot lightly. "I mean... Of course, we'd love to, ma'a--Linda. If you wouldn't mind talking about our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ while we, uhm, partake in your baking?"

"Of course not! My, I'd love to talk with you... really long and hard..."

"Uh, I'm sorry, I didn't quite catch that last part?" Penny was still a little weirded out by the uncommonly friendly greeting.

"Hm? Oh, nothing, dearie. I just said I'm looking forward to... talking with you."

While Linda was talking a little weird, she seemed friendly enough, and Penny and Ellie followed her into the elegantly fournished house. Linda's wide, childbirthing swayed left and right in front of them as the lady of the house led them into the living room.

"Now, why don't you two take a seat on the couch and I'll get the cookies." Giving the other two women one of her warm smiles, Linda sauntered away towards the kitchen. "And afterwards, we can... talk..."

Plopping down on the couch, Penny took a deep breath and gave Ellie a look that she hoped was reassuring.

"Alright. We've done this a million times before. We tell her about God's word, do our best to make her repent, and if we're successful, that's another soul saved."

"I know, it's just..." Ellie looked at her friend and chewed her thumbnail. "Do you think maybe we're in over our head? I don't know, the taint in this city is almost... palpable..."

"It's going to be fine. Our faith--"

"Well, girls, here is my first batch of cookies. I hope you like them..." Linda had returned with almost preternatural silence and set down a plate of cookies and three glasses of juice down on the coffee table. "I made sure to put on extra... frosting."