by Leyton, Bisi
Phobia
(A Wisteria Novel)
By
Bisi Leyton
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, organizations or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
By Bisi Leyton
Copyright© 2013 Bisi Leyton
Cover Art by Olivia Smith http://aivilo0.deviantart.com/
No part of this book may be used or reproduced electronically or in print without written permission, except in the case of brief quotations embodied for reviews.
Titles by Bisi Leyton
Wisteria (Wisteria Series #1)
Myopia (Wisteria Series #2)
Paranoia (Wisteria Short Story #2 .1 )
Aporia (Wisteria Series #3)
Criteria (Wisteria Short Story #3 .1 )
Phobia (Wisteria Series #4)
Dedication
In your honor, I will do my best
I will be a great daughter, sister and wife
I will cherish your memory in all I do with my life
I will be the success you trained me to be
I will, I will, I will achieve my destiny
Because you have given me much more than I need
Daddy, my heart,
I will love you and miss you forever
Glossary of Terms
Beadle pins: An artifact giving that gives humans the ability to generate a purple pulse that frees people who have been renewed. Humans can only use it a few times a year.
Biel Core: A Black orb used by the Family, to generate power and heat.
Biter: A human infected with Nero’s Disease. Biters are extremely violent and only eat the flesh of healthy humans, also called the infected, fleshers and flesh eaters.
Bean Vine: The wisteria plant, also called Strangle Weed by the Family.
Blue light: See Pulse
Bridewell: The prisons underneath Jarthan castle
Burnfruit: A brown fruit indigenous to the Family’s realm.
Cantus: Artifact that cause paralysis among members of the Family and humans.
Cohort: Small unit of the Family, traveling together.
The Cure: Euphemism for killing an infected biter.
D’cara: An insult in the dialect.
Dark Glass: Substance of which thresholds are made.
Den: Houses or accommodations used by the Family while on Earth
The Deep: A shadow realm in which nothing solid exists.
The Dialect: The language spoken by the Family.
Dord: An artifact used to read and decipher different languages of the Family Realm.
Draug: Famila who are seemingly infected with Nero and have become violent and cannibalistic.
Drones: Members of the family who have been renewed by Dy’obeths.
Dy’obeth: A race of powerful supernatural beings believed to exist in the Family’s legends.
Elders: See Seven Elders.
Eminent: Title given to the Famila by the Thayns.
Emissary: Envoy or aide to a Sen
Empiric: A Famila trained to conduct special investigations.
Famila: A member of the Family’s race.
Far Eye: Artifact use to communicate by the Family
Faycard: Device used by the Family to renew humans. It looks like a playing card. The faycard was a powerful focal point of the energy used by a Famila, also be used for playing simple tricks on children and Terrans.
Flesh Eaters: Another term for biter.
Flesher: Another term for biter.
Haro Caste: The lowest caste in the Family and the lowest. They work with the Thayns.
Intended: A person to whom another Famila has been pledged.
Imprimatur: A ninth metal artifact that allows humans to travel through to the Family’s realms.
Jade Ocean: A green ocean near the Family’s home.
Jaga: A racial slur used by some Famila to insult humans. It is even more offensive than the term Terran.
Journeying: To travel between realms via the thresholds.
Lead empiric: One of the five chief empirics in the Family.
Leviathan: A giant sea dragon that lives in the Jade Ocean
Liege: The master or mistress of a Thayn. A Famila who renewed a Thayn is her liege.
Matula: Famila insult.
Moin-moin: Steamed bean pudding
Mongrel: A derogatory term for a person who is part Famila and part human.
Mordin: The third highest caste of the Family.
Mosroc: A deep emotional and mental bond between two people in the Family.
Nero Disease: A sickness that causes humans to turn into biters, also called Nero plague, the madness, Nero illness.
Obsidian Coral: Red coral used by the Family that enables them to journey through thresholds without dying, as thresholds are very dangerous and will rip any traveler apart.
Obsidian Crystal: Synthetic obsidian coral, deadly if used to travel through thresholds
Overland: A hovering vehicle used by the Family.
Peeka: Nickname for girl. Often suggests some attraction.
Perfection: The process of transforming Famila into Dy’obeths and for regenerating injured or weakened Dy’obeth.
Pillar: A clan within the Family. There are seven Pillars in the Family. Each Pillar has four castes.
Piron Net: An artifact used by the Family to conceal their dens on Earth from humans.
Prax: Virus created by First Pillar to stop Dy’obeths.
Prime: The first child and heir of a Sen.
Pulse: A blue light that emanates for the family. The blue light has many uses including: converting of humans to Thayns, healing the injured Family, healing humans.
Pulse disrupter: Metallic artifact band worn by Famila guards on their right knuckles. It is used to increase the strength of a sentinel’s pulse almost ten times.
Qwaynide: An insult in the Family Dialect.
Raltour: Dy’obeth incantation
Rabja: A battle to death between Dy’obeths over the right to a mate. The winner gets the right to marry the mate in question. Rajas’ are more often fought between males, but on rare occasions females can battle for a male.
Reaper: An undead member of the Family brought back to life by magic. They hunt down and murder members of their bloodline and can only be destroyed by fire.
Regeneration: A period of long rest during which Famila heal themselves.
Renewal: The process of turning humans to Thayns.
Shana (singular and plural): Tattoo-like dots on some Famila.
Sen: A chief and head of a Family Pillar.
Sen-Dra: The spouse of a Sen.
Sen-Filla: The daughter of a Sen.
Sen-Son: The son of a Sen.
The Seven Elders: The heads of the seven Pillars of the Family also referred to as the Seven or Elders.
Skrell: A two headed snake.
Sleepwalker: What some humans call Thayns.
Terra: The Famila word for Earth.
Terran: What the Family calls humans. It means Dirt people.
Thayn: A human who has been turned into a devoted follower of the Family by being renewed, also called Sleepwalkers.
Threshold: A Gateway used by the Family to travel between realms.
Wahr-chart: First Pillar artifact used to locate loved ones.
Prologue
Nero
Almost six years ago, the Nero virus spread out across the Earth. The disease infected over
eighty percent of the population, transforming humans into violent, angry, bloodthirsty flesh eaters. The infected had only one desire to hunt and feed on the few healthy humans.
Soon after the biters came, everything went to hell and the society crumbled. Education, health care and security were distant memories. Fresh water and laughter became luxuries as what was left of humanity fought to find a place to hunker down and wait out the madness.
A few safe havens and secure cities sprang up, no one can tell how many there are or where they are. There’s hope for the day when people will take back control of the world from the infected, but the hope is fading fast.
However, the Family, a race from another dimension and immune to Nero, takes pleasure in seeing the human world fall. After all, to them, humans are rats to be enslaved or slaughtered.
This is the continuing story of young Wisteria Kuti and her test of survival….
Chapter One
I’m a good person. I can count a hundred others who deserve to die, but not me.
Woolmer, Earth Realm
Eighteen-year-old Wisteria Kuti still couldn’t believe she’d travelled all the way from the Southeast of England to the West Coast of the United States and back. It wasn’t like, she could jump on a plane and in a few hours be in America. Things changed when the Nero Virus infected over eight percent of the world’s population. The infected became crazy and obsessed with one thing, hunting and eating the survivors. Telephones, the Internet and entertainment became a distant memory. It all became about survival…at least for the humans.
A supernatural race existed from another dimension that called themselves the Family. They were stronger than humans, moved faster and were immune to the virus. These beings were also able to control the infected people and humans with their blue light or pulse. Above all, the Family hated humans and wanted nothing more than to turn them all into mindless slaves—all but one—Bach.
He’d been different. When would he return? Would he ever come back? She shook the thought of him away.
She needed to be alert as another troublesome moment in her hectic life unfolded before her. She stood watching her stepfather, Major Elliot Coles, in front of a roundabout full of overgrown weeds in Woolmer, as he dealt with a problem.
Woolmer was a village a few miles from Norton. Norton was the town located just outside the Isle of Smythe, Wisteria’s home.
Coles glared down at the ex- mayor of the Isle of Smythe, Sir Charles Davenport.
“Come on, Elliot, you’re not serious.” The Fifty-eight year-old Charles nervously laughed as he smoothed his silvery brown comb over. “No one on Smythe is going to believe I stole a truckload of supplies then ran off with my girlfriend and daughter.”
“They will,” Coles replied.
Wisteria chewed nervously on her lower lip and clutched her wakizashi sword while scanning the small group of soldiers who’d accompanied Charles and his two ladies.
The ladies were Hailey Davenport, his eighteen-year-old daughter and Lexie Hindle, his twenty-three year-old girlfriend.
“Please, Major, don’t leave us out here to die,” Hailey cried as tears poured from her ocean blue eyes and down her perfect face.
Wisteria was dumbfounded by what Coles proposed, but this wasn’t the time for questioning him. Her focus needed to be on security, and she did her job by monitoring the sides of the street. Being this far away from the security of the Isle of Smythe unnerved her. Their small group could easily be sitting ducks, should a swarm of biters appear.
Coles assured her earlier that the trackers and soldiers cleared most of the biters from the town and as long as they were back before sundown, they’d be fine. Still, she’d rather be safe than sorry. As she stood waiting, she thought about marauders. Those people didn’t live in Smythe and they’d kill them without any hesitation for weapons or supplies.
She’d never encountered them when she’d been a tracker, however, a lot of the soldiers who went further a field had gotten into a few skirmishes lately.
Wisteria hadn’t seen any of it. Five weeks ago, she’d been pulled off the patrols after a flesher bit her. She’d been treated with a blood serum and a blood transfusion from her dead daughter, Oleander. The treatment worked and she recovered.
Now the scientists on Smythe searched for a way to replicate the cure, so far, it hadn’t worked.
However, she now found it hard to concentrate or read. She experienced dizzy spells with bouts of tiredness and sometimes for no reason at all her words were becoming slurred and she’d pass out—because of these ailments, Close stopped her from being a tracker.
“The residents of the island trust me because I’m one of them. They’ll never trust an outsider, no matter how long you’ve been here.” Charles defended himself. “Without me, you would be able control those people, especially when they learn you sent me to my death. Someone will stab you in the back.”
“You’re right. The locals might be hard to lead at first, but I’ll leave that to Milton to handle,” said Coles. “You remember her; your ex-wife, the one you left for Miss Teen Britain here.” he nodded at Lexie. “When I informed her about what we were doing, she was positively thrilled to spread the word you’ve been planning to leave the island for a better life in New Birmingham City. She assured me everyone on the island will hear about it.”
“But that’s a lie,” Charles shouted.
“Like the lie about how I was the one responsible for evicting people from the island or three winters ago, when we almost ran out of food because your incompetent friend who was in charge of rations, had no clue about how to protect the food from rats. You blamed that on me, so we’re both liars. I can live with that,” Coles answered with an expressionless face. “Can you?”
“That was—different—” Charles stammered.
“I get it, you were creating political capital.” Coles shrugged. “Me too. Nothing personal.”
“Elliot, you’re a good person not a killer. Don’t do this.” Charles grabbed Coles’ arms.
“You’re wrong. I’m not a good guy. Honestly, only the truly conceited ever consider themselves good.” Coles shoved the man back. “I don’t lie about what I am. I’m a son of a—”
“You’re a father too.” Charles pointed at Wisteria. “You want her to see this?”
Hailey burst into tears and rushed toward Wisteria. “Help me.”
“Hailey, it’s going to be fine.” Wisteria stepped back toward the hood of the beat up SUV Coles recently gave to her.
“Your dad wants to murder me. Please talk to him and make him understand this is wrong.” Hailey trembled as she took hold of Wisteria’s jacket. “I’m a kid, I don’t deserve to die. I’m a good person. I can count a hundred others on Smythe who deserve to die, but not me
“Hailey get back to your father.” Sergeant Piers Baxter called from behind. The twenty-something year-old soldier shook his rifle at Hailey. “Now.” He’d never open fire because he hadn’t attached the silencer. If Piers fired his gun, the sound of the shot would attract biters from miles around.
However, Hailey spent so little time outside Smythe, she probably wasn’t aware of that.
“Piers, please put the gun down.” Wisteria still didn’t like him terrorizing the girl anymore than she liked Coles doing it. “Hailey will do what you say. Right Hailey?”
Shivering, Hailey nodded.
Piers squeezed his eyes into slits. “Fine, but because you asked, Wisteria.” He lowered the weapon.
“Why is he doing this?” Hailey muttered as she moved away.
Wisteria again chewed on her lower lip recalling where he’d gotten his idea.
Three days ago, she walked in on Coles and her mother talking about how Charles wanted to hold another freedom run because he thought the outside was safe enough. The last freedom run almost cost Wisteria her life and killed a teenager called Melissa Abner. When Coles refused, Charles and some of the residents started pressuring him to change his mind. Col
es had commented on how Isle of Smythe would be much safer if Charles wasn’t in charge since he didn’t have a clue about how to keep the island secure.
Her mother suggested Coles overthrow Charles. Coles couldn’t do it. The locals, who grew most of the food, were loyal to Charles. Coles admitted to Wisteria how he or her mother weren’t able to take any action when Hailey, Karen Else, Yvette Bruno and Billy Saunders attacked Wisteria years ago. If things had been different, Coles assured Wisteria, those girls would’ve paid for what they did.
Lara remarked most of them did pay in an odd way because Karen died, Yvette got her brain fried when renewed by the Family and Billy was kicked off the island. The only person left was their leader, Hailey.
Wisteria had joked he frame Charles for trying to rob them or something and that would make the residents hate him.
Lightheartedly, he dismissed the idea. Then at 3:30am that morning, he woke Wisteria up and dove her to Woolmer with a small contingent of soldiers. He took her to the Woolmer roundabout, where she found Charles, Hailey and Lexie alongside a small lorry filled with provisions.
“Wisteria, we’ve had our differences, but your friendship has always been important to me.” Hailey wiped her bloodshot eyes.
“Friendship?” Wisteria sparked. “You’ve made my life a living hell.”
“We were messing around.”
“You’re not that dumb.”
“Listen, we’ll be friends from now on. That’s what you’ve always wanted.”
“What I want is you out of my life,” but Wisteria wasn’t a murderer and wouldn’t stand by as her stepfather left them out here to die.
“Steven would kill you, literally, when he learns what you’re doing.”
Hailey’s mention of their mutual ex-boyfriend did little to make Wisteria feel better. “If I had my way, Steven would be here too. Then, you both could find an abandoned mall or whatever and start your own little messed up colony.”
