Revenants Series (Book 2): Remnants

by Elisabeth, Lee

  “Amen,” Carrie whispers.

  I rub my hand over my face, frustrated. “What should we do in the meantime?”

  “We’ve got to find a way to keep what we have here safe,” Howard says. “I believe…”

  Suddenly, Lana appears from behind the house, breathless from running. “Howard! Aiden! Alicia’s been bit!”

  We jump off the porch and run toward the garden behind the house. A small group of people are huddled close; we shove through them to find Alicia laying on the ground, holding her shoulder. Blood stains her pale fingers. She’s crying. There’s no sign of the thing that bit her.

  “Where’s the Germ?” Aiden asks frantically.

  Lana points to the rumpled corpse lying on the ground nearby. I can tell from the head wound that it won’t be getting up again. A newcomer to the farm…I think his name is Kale…yells as a second Germ appears from the tree line. It lumbers toward us, slowly. I pull out my knife and run toward it. I duck under its outstretched arms and begin stabbing it until it falls lifelessly to the ground. I stop to catch my breath, thinking the worst is over, until five more Germs appear. We begin fighting off the hungry mob.

  By the time the last Germ falls, we’ve lost two of our own, and I’m kneeling on the ground, trying to calm my breathing. I’m crying, but not because I’m scared…although I’m plenty frightened.

  Aiden crouches beside me. “You okay?” he asks.

  I look up at him. “One of them got me,” I whisper.

  He looks at the fresh blood staining the fabric of my shirt. “Alright,” he says quietly, grabbing my hand. “It’s alright. Let’s…”

  A loud gunshot startles us. I jerk my head around just in time to see Alicia’s body fall lifelessly to the hard ground. Lana screams and runs to her sister. Howard shoves the gun back into his waistband.

  “You killed her?” I ask incredulously.

  “She was already dead,” he says coldly.

  He motions for Gus and Larry to take Lana back to the house. As her cries of anguish fade, Howard walks toward Aiden and me.

  “Whatever you do, hide your stomach,” Aiden whispers.

  I nod and lean forward, pretending to be winded from the fight.

  “You okay, Alli?” Howard asks, although I know he couldn’t care less about my well-being. “You don’t look so good.”

  I nod. “I’m fine. Just trying to catch my breath.”

  He runs a hand over his chin. I can hear the calloused skin of his fingers brushing against the coarse hair of his beard. “Thought I saw some blood,” he says, eyeing me.

  I look down at my shirt. “Yeah. One of the Germs was a gusher,” I say. “He must have been a fresh one.”

  Howard stands there for a minute but decides not to press the issue. I breathe a sigh of relief when he finally turns and walks away. Carrie dutifully follows him back to the house. I turn to look at Aiden. A deep line of worry cuts through the smooth skin of his forehead.

  “Do you think he believed me?” I ask him.

  He shakes his head. “No, but he didn’t shoot you, so I’ll take it.” He helps me to my feet. “Let’s get you cleaned up.”

  I think about the gash in my stomach. I can tell by how bad it hurts that it’s nasty. A small ripple of fear makes its way through my body. What if the first time was a fluke? What if I get sick this time? What if I die? What if Howard finds out I’ve been bit and decides to put a bullet in my head just to be on the safe side? I swallow the bile working its way up my throat. I’ll worry about those things if or when they happen. For now, I have enough to worry about.

  Like making sure no one finds out I’m immune to the virus killing all of us.

  July 18, 2019

  I lift my shirt and look at what’s left of the bite. There’s only a little line of pink and the blue-purple tinge of a bruise surrounding the wound now; I can barely make out the teeth marks that once marred my skin. I’ve tried imagining what Howard might do if he found out I could survive a direct attack, but each scenario is frightening.

  But still…the way he looks at me lately…could he already know?

  Did he figure it out all on his own?

  Aiden bends down and places a tender kiss on my head. “You look really pretty today,” he says.

  I smile at him as he lowers himself beside me. “Thanks.”

  “What’s on your mind?” he asks.

  I shrug. I don’t know how to say what I’m thinking without sounding paranoid, so I just say it. “I feel like Howard’s been looking at me weird the past few days.” I touch the bite on my stomach. “Ever since I got bit.”

  Aiden picks a piece of imaginary lint off his shirt. “I’m sure it’s nothing.”

  I shake my head. “I don’t know, Aiden. I don’t trust him.”

  “I’m sure there’s another explanat…”

  Just then the front door bursts open. Aiden and I look up from our seat on the porch, startled by the unexpected noise. Howard is standing in the doorway, arms crossed. “It’s been 72 hours, Aiden,” he says evenly.

  Aiden doesn’t look at me.

  Or maybe he can’t.

  “I don’t understand, Aiden,” I say, although I understand perfectly.

  “Don’t play dumb, Alli,” Howard says. “Time to show me the bite.”

  My heart drops into my stomach. I feel like someone walked up and sucker punched me in the gut. “How…how could you do this to me?” I ask Aiden. He still refuses to meet my eyes. “Why tell me to hide it, if you were just going to tell him?”

  The color drains from his face. I can see the guilt dulling his bright blue eyes when he finally looks at me. “I had to, Alli,” he says. “He was going to kill you. I had to tell him you were immune.”

  “I can’t believe…”

  “Show me,” Howard interrupts. “Now.”

  I lift my shirt slowly. Scared. Angry. Howard gasps when he sees my wound; my healing wound. “How?” he asks in wonder.

  I try to swallow, but my throat is dry. “I’m not sure,” I answer truthfully.

  “Maybe it’s a miracle?” Howard says so quietly that I don’t know if he’s talking to me or himself. “Maybe Yahweh is finally showing us the way out of the desert.”

  “I think Allyson is a divine vessel,” Aiden says.

  My head snaps up, studying him, perplexed by this unexpected show of spirituality. In the time I’ve know him, I haven’t heard him talk about his religious beliefs, so I just assumed he had none. Did I assume wrong?

  “Is that right?” Howard asks. His eyes narrow. “Have you seen something, Aiden?”

  Aiden nods. “I had a vision the other night. After prayer circle.” He looks at me, then back at Howard. “I saw Allyson standing in the middle of a barren field, surrounded by Easter Lilies,” he says.

  “Easter lilies?” Howard asks.

  Aiden nods. “They’re a symbol of new life…new beginnings.”

  I’m starting to get nervous. They’re talking about me like I’m not in the room.

  “That was a dream, Aiden,” I remind him. “You can’t read too much into it.”

  Aiden gives me a look of warning.

  Now I’m getting very nervous.

  Howard hasn’t moved. Finally, he says, “You’ve given me a lot to think about, Aiden,” and leaves the porch as quickly as he appeared.

  July 20, 2019

  He’s decided to breed me.

  That’s his big, smart plan.

  Breed the cure.

  We could create an entirely Germ-immune race, but first he wants to see if any of the other women at the farm are immune as well, so Howard schedules a special prayer circle in the middle of the afternoon. Prayer circles are always mandatory, but they usually occur at night, just before bed.

  This one came with a warning…miss it and you’ll be cast out.

  “Aiden, what’s going on?” I ask him when I report to area just outside the house.

  He looks sick. “Howard wants to test the w
omen,” he says, quietly.

  “Test us for what?” I ask.

  “To see if they’re immune…and to make sure what happened to you wasn’t just a fluke,” he says, confirming my fears.

  “How is he going to test us?” I wrap my arms around myself, suddenly afraid. “It’s not like we have a medical lab here.”

  “No. We have something worse,” he says, blanching.

  “Worse?” I shake my head. “I don’t understand.”

  He shushes me as Carrie approaches. She serves everyone tea. Within minutes, I feel more relaxed, like nothing matters, and maybe it doesn’t. I see fireflies the size of small birds lighting up the night. They’re beautiful shades of yellow and white. Every now and then one of them waves at me. I frown; are they waving hello or goodbye? There’s a cricket in my ear. He’s singing to me…a song that sounds like an old Nina Simone tune I used to like. Or maybe it’s Billie Holiday.

  I can’t seem to place it.

  After the last “amen” the other women and I are forced to hold our hands out in front of us; one by one, our wrists are bound together by plastic zip ties. I’m looking around, confused. We’re standing at the door to the basement, but I don’t remember walking inside. I don’t remember why my wrists are tied. I feel certain someone must have explained it to us, but I can’t recall.

  We follow a man down the dark stairwell. I’ve always wondered what the basement held in its shadows, but I never came down here. Miss Ada said no. She said we couldn’t come to the basement.

  Ever.

  So why are we here now?

  I smell it before I see it.

  No. This isn’t right. My heart goes wild, filled with fear it doesn’t fully comprehend. How did a Germ get into the house?

  Why is it still alive?

  The fog in my head begins to clear. The shadows of the basement lift, and I notice little details I had missed before; cobwebs hanging from the painted ceiling, the creak of the wood floors under our feet, the steel cages in the far corner of the basement. There’s a bed set up in one of the cages…as if the Germ pacing the small space might need it for a nap. The adjoining cage is empty.

  For now.

  “Wha…how is that thing down here?” I ask. I dig my feet in, trying to push back against the man prodding me to keep moving forward. “No! No!”

  “Alli, hush,” the man whispers into my hair.

  It’s Aiden. Aiden is the man prodding me to move forward. A deep sense of betrayal washes through me. “Why are you doing this?”

  “I have to, Alli,” he whispers. “We know you’ll live through this. In the meantime, I’ll try to figure out a way to get us out of here. You’ve got to trust me.”

  “Because that’s worked out so well for me,” I retort.

  He pulls me to him. I can feel his strong body resting against my back. His lips are at my ears. “I’m so sorry, Alli. I did what I thought I had to do to protect you,” he whispers. “I had no idea Howard would do something like this.”

  I pull away from him, angry.

  Some of the other women finally notice the basement’s occupant and scream. Howard walks up to me and grabs my arm, pulling me away from Aiden and toward the cage. “Stick your arm up to its mouth,” he orders.

  “What? No,” I say, shaking my head.

  The girl behind me starts to cry. It’s Lana.

  “Yes,” he says. “I want to make sure what happened the last time wasn’t a coincidence.”

  “It wasn’t Howard. It wasn’t the first…”

  He slaps me across the face. Hard. “You’re going to learn I’m not your equal, Allyson.” His eyes soften, “Now, be a good girl and hold out your arm. I want to see it for myself.”

  “Aiden! Make them stop! This is insane!”

  Aiden stares straight ahead, refusing to meet my eyes.

  “You’re all crazy!” I scream.

  Howard motions to a man standing to the side. Without a word, he grabs my wrist and yanks me the rest of the way to the cage. The Germ reaches through the bars. It’s hungry. I try to resist, but the man is stronger than I am, and I can’t stop what’s inevitably going to happen to me. I wince as its teeth sink into my flesh. I barely notice the pain peeking out from behind the fear and treachery; a minute later, they pry my arm from the Germ and ready the next girl for the slaughter.

  The man holding my wrist tosses me into the second cage. I fall to the ground, unable to brace myself with my wrists bound together. I wince. I don’t know which pain is worse…the bite or the place where my shoulder crashed to the cement.

  A man pushes Lana closer to the cage. Closer to the Germ’s gnashing teeth. She’s screaming, but I can’t process it. I can’t believe this is happening. The Germ latches onto her pale arm. She’s nearly hysterical at this point. Another man hits the Germ hard enough on the head to dislodge it from Lana’s arm, but not hard enough to kill it. The next girl is brought forward. The systematic torture continues until the last girl is bitten and thrown into the steel cage with the rest of us, like a discarded toy.

  “What are you going to do to us now?” I ask Howard.

  “You’ll be quarantined for 72 hours. If you heal, we’ll let you out. If you don’t, well…” Howard trails off, shrugging like it’s no big deal…like he didn’t just sentence a group of innocent women to death.

  July 19, 2019

  The girl beside me is crying.

  I think her name is Sadie...or, it could be Sarah; I’m having trouble remembering her name, but it doesn’t matter. She’ll be dead soon, and her name will perish with her. I’ve heard the same feverish tears coming from the wounded in the shelter just before they died. The bodies of seven other women are piled up in the corner. I look at the crowbar lying on the floor beside me. At first, I didn’t understand why they tossed it in the cage with us, but after the first death, I was thankful to have it. With every death, a new monster is born. And with every new monster, a new battle.

  I glance down at my soiled shirt. It used to be pink, with white dots; I found it in a small boutique we raided a few weeks ago. It’s my favorite…was. Now, it’s smudged with dirt and blood. My blood. Blood from the others. I need a bath. I look at the gauze and tape covering my bite. At least they’ve been coming down once a day to feed me and change my bandages.

  The Germ paces the small cage beside me, frustrated that I’m so close yet still so far away. I can still feel its jaws locked on my arm, its teeth pressing into my skin. The memory sends a shiver through my body.

  “I couldn’t believe it when I found it down here.”

  I look up to find Howard standing at the foot of the basement stairs, staring at the Germ.

  “He was Miss Ada’s son,” he continues. “His picture is all over the house like some kind of shrine.” He shrugs. “Don’t know his name, though.”

  “Why did they keep him down here?” I ask.

  He walks closer to the cages. “You’ve never been a parent, have you?” he asks.

  “No.”

  “Parents have a hard time letting go of their children…no matter how old they are when they die,” he says, indicating the advanced age of the Germ pacing the cage. Even in its badly deteriorated state, I can tell he was in his forties or fifties when he turned.

  “We need to kill it,” I say. “It’s the humane thing to do.”

  Howard shakes his head. “I’m going to hang onto it for a while…might prove to be useful farther down the line.” He turns to leave. “I’ll be back later with dinner. Looks like I’ll only need to bring one plate this time,” he says over his shoulder.

  I look at the girl beside me…Sadie or Sarah. She’s dead, and I’m finally alone.

  The Germ reaches through the cage, trying to get me. I shrink away from its touch, but I don’t take my eyes off the young girl. The Germ in the cage beside me is the least of my worries…I’m about to have another one in the cage with me.

  July 22, 2019

  It’s been 72 hours.


  All the other women are dead.

  I’m alive, but I’ve decided that’s more a curse than a blessing.

  Howard opens the door to the cage and motions for me to come out. I don’t move from my spot in the corner. The Germ paces in its cage beside me. It’s the only company I’ve had for nearly twelve hours. I think. It’s felt like twelve hours; I suppose it could have been longer or shorter, but either way, the result is the same. I feel like I’m losing my grip on my sanity.

  “Come on, Alli. I won’t hurt you,” Howard says, prompting me to come to him.

  “Again,” I say, correcting him. “You won’t hurt me again.”

  He gives me a disapproving look, but quickly replaces it with a smile. “You’re the only one left, Alli. You’ve been chosen.”

  A tear rolls down my cheek. “Chosen for what?” I ask, afraid of the answer.

  “To rebuild,” he says. “You’ll be mine, and together we will rebuild what’s been lost.”

  I shake my head. “Aiden won’t allow that.”

  “Aiden doesn’t have a say in the matter,” he says cryptically.

  That gets my attention. I sit up. “Where is he?” I ask. “What have you done to him?”

  Howard runs a hand through his hair. “Aiden wasn’t falling in line as nicely as I had hoped he would. He had to be…cut loose, yeah?”

  I begin to weep as the reality of his words sink in. “You’re a monster!”

  Anger flashes in his eyes. “No. The monster is in the cage beside you, and if you don’t obey me, I’ll turn him loose on you.” He lowers his voice. “I’m your husband, Alli,” he says coming into the cage. He yanks me to my feet. I’m too weak to fight him. He holds me against him so tightly I can barely breathe. “You’ll learn to like it,” he whispers into my ear.

  I cry into his shirt because I can’t move. It smells like the cologne my ancient history professor used to wear.

  I didn’t like him, either.