“How about…Patient Zero?” Belle said at last.
The others looked inquisitively at her.
“Well, we don’t want anything that’s too close to the actual truth of who she is, and in a world filled with Madness, it seems appropriate. Right?”
“Everyone happy with the name Patient Zero?”
All hands but one went into the air.
“Anyone against?”
Vex was the only one to raise his hand.
Belle tutted and slapped his arm. “You’re only trying to wind me up.”
“Is it working?”
She glared.
“Okay, so Belle, that wins you a place on protective duty of Patient Zero. Who else is in?”
Everyone’s hands rose in the air.
Mary-Anne chuckled. “There’s only one way to make this fair.”
She closed her eyes, spun on the spot, and pointed ahead. When she stopped, she opened her eyes, and Joe’s smiling face met hers.
“Wells, I always like an unlikely pairings,” he said. “I’ll grabs my things.”
The view was beautiful. Caitlin sat beside the floor-to-ceiling glass panels and looked over the shimmering surface of the great lake as birds circled above its surface. Occasionally, they lowered their heads and dived into the water. Small ripples broke at their flight, and seconds later, they breached with the flapping silhouettes of small fish in their beaks
She had no idea what lay on the other side of the lake. The water stretched far into the distance with only the misty sketching of a shore barely visible from the opposite side. She wondered if there were more people there or perhaps another city in dire straits. Perhaps, she mused, even more cities beyond that.
In the last few months, Caitlin’s world had been thrown open. Never before had she thought any of this would be possible, yet there they were. Alicia snored softly behind her on a bed made of nothing more than spare clothing they’d found littering the floors on their way up the great building.
It had once been a store of sorts. Caitlin assumed from the strange hangers and the volume of clothing on the first few floors that this might once have been a place where hundreds of people shopped for their daily garb. The idea seemed ludicrous to a woman who had only ever made her own from the materials she had purchased at the market or worn the hand-me-downs her mother had passed along.
She took a deep breath and drew her knees toward her and cradled them in her arms. The silence became strangely loud in her ears.
The truth was that she’d had hardly had any quiet moments in what seemed like forever—since the governor had sent her out to Mary-Anne’s manor and the whole journey had unraveled. She found it unsettling, now, to sit in the silence of a high-rise with nothing to do but wait and wasn’t sure she liked the feeling much. Once she had stilled, however, she was finally able to release her thoughts and think tactically without the influence of the others. She appreciated their help, but it had been Caitlin’s wheels which had set this all in motion.
“Oh, Kitty-Cat,” she murmured. “I wonder what the rest of the world is thinking now. Are there many more like me? Like the Revolutionaries? Like Dylan...”
With that last one, she caught her breath, aware in that moment that she had lost track of days and that her determination to free the city had meant that she had momentarily left Silver Creek behind. She closed her eyes and rubbed them as she pictured Dylan’s face with a smile, then thought of Sully, of Ash, Alice, Huckle, Ben, Flo, the rest of the Revolutionaries, the guards, and the scouts. If only she could send them a message.
But how?
Caitlin stood and crossed the room, treading carefully over the fallen bodies of the Mad she had cleared from the room to make space for herself and Alicia.
The woman did not stir at her footsteps. Jaxon did, although he lowered his head and watched her walk away when she made a hand command for him to stay.
With fixed determination, she made her way up the next flight of stairs and continued the climb.
When a severely aged and decrepit Mad stirred at her presence, she drew her sword without thinking, hacked his legs, and left him to crawl. He was slow, and his deterioration indicated that it had been closer to decades than years since he had turned. Thankfully, he caused her no farther trouble.
Caitlin struggled with the hatch to the roof at first but managed to break through. She was greeted by a cool rush of air which stung her eyes, and she had no idea how high she now was. The only thing that seemed to matter was the view, the glowing vista of a world she had never imagined.
She looked north and over the lake, now able to make out the foggy shapes of buildings and skyscrapers not dissimilar to The Broken City’s. East and south, she could see the city merge into farmland and destroyed villages. A great river wound into the distance.
To the west, she looked at a familiar sight.
“Trees, trees. As far as the eyes can see,” she half-sung in a voice that reminded her of her mother.
Though she could not see Silver Creek beyond the towering foliage, she knew it was out there somewhere. She watched a gull fly overhead and aim for the forest, moving at a speed that she envied.
If only she could travel fast enough to visit Dylan for a minute or two. If only she had the speed of a—
Caitlin’s eyes widened as the answer which had been staring her in the face the whole time crystallized.
She ran downstairs, leapt over the Mad which clawed at her passing figure, and made her way back to Alicia.
When she entered the room, the woman was gone and only the bundle of clothing remained where she had been asleep.
“Alicia?” she whispered in disbelief. “Shit. Alicia!”
A commotion on the stairs caught her attention. She turned and saw Mary-Anne, Joe, and Belle enter the room.
“Kitty-Cat? Is everything okay?” Belle asked. “Where is she?”
Before Caitlin could answer, Alicia called from the upper stairwell. “I’m here. Don’t worry. I’ll be down in a second.”
“What are you doing? You gave me a heart attack,” Caitlin called back.
“What do you think I’m doing? I’m hardly going to pee in the same room I’ll sleep in.” There was a brief pause before Alicia spoke to someone else. “And you can fuck off, too.”
“Who is she talkings to?” Joe asked.
“Only this pissing Mad whom Caitlin apparently couldn’t be bothered to finish off. Some protection you guys are.”
Caitlin looked at Belle as if to say, ‘would you do the honors?’ Suddenly, there came the sound of a heavy object hitting flesh.
“It’s all right. I’ve got it.”
Caitlin, Belle, and Joe laughed. Mary-Anne rolled her eyes.
“She’s got a point. We leave her with you for one minute and the whole thing falls apart. Maybe I should remain permanently at her side?” The vampire grinned.
“Oh no, sweet fangs,” Caitlin said, smiling. “I’ve got another mission for you. And it might take a fair percentage of your energy.”
Chapter Eleven
Silver Creek, Silver Creek Forest, Old Ontario
The town bells rang for some time before the townsfolk arrived in the square.
To Dylan’s surprise, the first person was also one of the oldest, a man he recognized from countless years of passing the market stall in which he traded old world trinkets he had scavenged throughout his life. The man now waited patiently to see what the commotion was about.
The guards and the Revolutionaries rounded up other inhabitants. Families huddled together, afraid of what news the bell might toll for Silver Creek. They seemed hesitant to breathe fresh air after being trapped indoors by the curfew designed to keep them all safe.
After a few more people emerged into the square and the crowd began to thicken as others joined them, more confident knowing that there was safety in numbers.
And, besides, they had nothing to fear from Dylan. His was a face that most knew well and they bel
ieved in his decisions and understood the need for the measures in place due to the Madness.
Dylan waited until the guards and the Revolutionaries returned before clearing his throat and sweeping a hand to demand silence. He greeted them all and mentioned the sad tidings that the season had brought. Calmly, he spoke of the ongoing struggle against the Madness and the desperate situation. But he also spoke with a confidence he’d never experienced before, one which reminded him of his sister and warmed his heart.
“Silver Creek is, and will always be, a community and a sanctuary from the Madness.” Dylan drew a deep breath. “But now, that sanctuary must remain in our hearts. We must take courage and make a stand against the horror that plagues this world. Already, the Madness has instilled fear in our hearts for far too long. Many of you here have seen it, encountered it, and heard it. Too many here may be even carriers in denial, afraid to confess in the hope that the marks will simply disappear. There is no shame in that. But the danger is very real, and it is because of these incidences that myself and the council have discussed options at length and have arrived at a new decision.”
The gathered crowd seemed to all hold their breath at once. The air almost crackled with tension and curiosity.
“Please don’t tell us you’ll kill them?” a woman shouted from the front, practically shaking as she tried to hold back tears. “My love. He’s still in there, I know it.”
Dylan looked sidelong at Huckle and remembered the suggestion he had offered.
“No. I wouldn’t dare kill any of our own unless there was no other option. And in here I have an alternate option.”
As if on cue, Stump limped up and handed him Helena’s book. Dylan held it for them to see as if it were a newborn he presented to the crowd.
“This,” Dylan said simply, “is another option. It is a book which details the thoughts of a woman seeking a cure for what ravages this land. This gave us an elixir to slow down the spread of the Madness and describes a journey this woman has faced alone.”
A murmur rippled through the crowd. When a woman coughed, a few turned sharply and gave her more room. They stared at her as if afraid she would suddenly turn Mad.
“It’s a tickle in my throat. Calm down,” she said and rolled her eyes. “Are you telling us that a magical book will lead us to salvation? I mean, come on. We’ve already seen any number of ancient religious texts, and this is now the new flavor of the apocalypse? Do you really expect us to believe this?”
To Dylan’s surprise, it was Stump who answered. His words were slow and measured and his voice low and barely audible. “You’re damn right you best believe it. You’ve seen first-hand what this elixir has done for those suffering from the Mad. I watched the governor prolong his own life for weeks. You may not believe everything this book says, but you’d best believe that it is the first window of hope that anyone might have had to destroy this damn thing in decades.”
The woman opened her mouth, then closed it again. She coughed, and the circle around her widened. “Oh, come on. It’s only a cough. Look.”
In a frantic display of her own type of madness, she spun and tugged at items of clothing to show nothing but clear skin and virtually revealed her naked body in the process.
“Satisfied?”
Alice elbowed Ash to draw his attention away from the woman.
“Enough of that,” Dylan called and elicited quiet once more. “This is the choice we now face, and I will give you each an option.”
The crowd’s eyes widened in shock as he outlined what had been agreed to by the council. As soon as the present discussion was over, Dylan and whoever chose to accompany him would head out through the front gate of Silver Creek, lock and barricade it behind them, and keep the Mad penned up until such a time as they could return with a cure. Anyone who wished to stay behind would be provided with protection in the form of weapons but would otherwise have to fend for themselves.
This drew a mixed reaction from the townsfolk. A few cried out in alarm and immediately protested the absurdity of the idea. Many turned to their loved ones and began to discuss the implications, sometimes arguing over what they would do as a family. Others simply nodded and accepted this as the next move.
As he cast his gaze over the crowd and watched, a knot formed in his stomach. He hated to do this to his people, but he knew in his heart that it was the best choice for Silver Creek.
He closed his eyes and remembered Mother Wendy’s words: ‘Silver Creek has never been about the town. It has been about the community. If we leave home, we leave as one, and home will follow.’
Okay, Dylan. Time to bring it home.
Dylan cleared his throat, and the conversation trickled to a stop.
“I know this isn’t an easy decision for you all. It’s definitely not an easy decision for us, either.” He swept his arms to the side of the platform where Huckle, Flo, Ben, Mother Wendy, Jamie, and Mabel now stood. The old woman had returned to her usual glassy-eyed demeanor. “But we are family. We may not be blood relatives, but as long as we have each other, we are Silver Creek.”
The Revolutionaries from Ashdale Pond joined him on stage, then. They gathered tightly together and smiled. Even Mabel, who had no idea at that point what was going on, smiled and waved as though she were a minor celebrity.
“Silver Creek was built from a community. We could have been anywhere, even residents of far-off towns or cities, or born and raised in New Leaf—” Dylan paused as the remaining Revolutionaries gathered around the crowd clapped and cheered.
“We could have been from Ashdale Pond.”
Here, Jamie and Christy clapped, cheered, and elbowed Stump who half-assed his own celebration. Mabel joined in excitedly and whispered into Jamie’s ear, “What are we clapping for?”
Dylan continued. “We could have been from anywhere in the world, but we’re here. Together. We don’t need these walls or houses to shelter from the rain. A time of change is here, and we can tackle this as the community I know Silver Creek to be.” He paused and looked reverently around the town. “We will come back. I know it in my heart that we will. But now, we must take the interests of everyone into our own hands and go where hope will follow.”
A wave of nods swept the crowd. He felt a weight lift off his shoulders. He looked at Sully beside him, the man to whom—he had only now realized—he apportioned the burden of blame for the first Mad attack. His oldest friend, who wouldn’t harm a fly under any circumstance, had made a mistake, one that could be forgiven.
He slid an arm around his friend’s waist and squeezed.
Sully smiled, and his face lit up as silent words were exchanged.
“So, now I ask,” Dylan called out. “Who’s with us?”
The crowd cheered.
“I said, who’s with us!”
The cheer grew in volume. Although one or two still hesitated and kept their heads lowered, the majority roared and clapped and cheered. They hugged each other, kissed friends and family and, in an event never seen before in Silver Creek’s history, they climbed onto Governor Trisk’s old platform one by one and embraced the town’s new leader.
Dylan laughed, then he cried and felt lighter than he ever had before at the realization that Silver Creek truly was not simply the town but the people who lived there.
The Broken City, Old Ontario
When Caitlin and Mary-Anne were confident that Belle and Joe had their guard duties under control, they took a minor detour before heading back to the library.
“You and your vistas,” Mary-Anne muttered snidely behind the cloth that covered her face. “If you spent more time focused on helping the city than staring off into the sunset, maybe we’d have actually helped a few people by now.”
The Revolutionary scoffed. “Oh, I’m sorry. How many towns have you already led to liberation? Let me think...erm… Oh, that’s right. Zero.”
They smiled at one another as the great body of water came into sight behind the buildings that crowded the cit
y’s edge. Caitlin ran ahead with Jaxon beside her. The vampire soon caught up, and their feet sank a little in the strange mud and sand combination that shored the lake.
“You really believed in me back then,” Caitlin said, staring across the water.
Her companion shrugged and nodded.
“Why?”
“You know why, Kitty-Cat,” she said. “You managed to survive a horde of zombs with almost no training as you wept for your friend. Even a heartless being like me could see that there’s a strength in you that you don’t even see yourself. Even now.”
Mary-Anne picked up a rock and sent it skimming across the water. It skipped four or five times and sank in a display of ripples.
“Woah. What was that?” Caitlin’s mouth fell open.
“What? You’ve never skipped rocks before?”
“Does this look like the face of someone who has seen anyone in their life ever skip a rock?” She picked one up. “How do you do it?”
“Well, firstly, you pick a flat one that’s round.” Mary-Anne smacked the rock out of her hand. “Like this, see? Then you make sure the flat side hits the water as you throw and give it some spin. Give it a try.”
Caitlin weighed the stone in her hand, tossed it gently into the air a couple of times, then drew her hand back and let it fly. The rock arced far over the water and landed with a large splash on the first bounce.
“Shit,” she muttered.
“Yes, you are.”
Caitlin looked accusingly at her own hand. “But I did as you said.”
“You can’t be good at everything, Kitty-Cat.” Mary-Anne smirked. “Here.” She handed her another rock. “Try this one. Sometimes, all it takes is a bit of practice.”
Caitlin threw that rock, then a third and a fourth. Each time, the stone hurtled away and landed with a singular splash in the water.
“Oh, forget it!” She threw her hands in the air, picked up a rock much larger than the others, and tossed it crossly. The water splashed high into the air and sprinkled them both with icy droplets. Jaxon jumped and shook the water off his fur.
The City Revolts: Age Of Madness - A Kurtherian Gambit Series (The Caitlin Chronicles Book 4) Page 9
