The Torn World: The Harvesting Series Book 5

by Melanie Karsak

  “After we lost you, we didn’t know what to do. We went back into town. We’ve been living in the attic of the courthouse all winter. Brighton is a mess, but lately the zombies have been getting really bad. More and more of them showing up. We got stuck just when Zoey and the others showed up today. They saved us,” Brian said.

  “That girl out there,” Brianna said, looking toward the front of the house. “She got bit. They gave her some sort of shot. Is it working?”

  “It looks like it. I’m Layla, by the way,” I said.

  “Brianna, and my brother, Brian,” the girl introduced.

  “We were together at the beginning,” Amelia said. “We got separated in the mist.”

  “I’m sorry, Amelia,” Brian said. “We tried to find you. We just…we couldn’t find Witch Wood again.”

  Amelia nodded.

  I rummaged through the cupboards until I found honey which I mixed into a glass of water, sweetening it as much as I could.

  “Here,” I said, handing it to Amelia. “You need sugar. My grandmother was a medium. She always had to drink something sweet after a session. She used to say it drained the sugar from her.”

  “Thank you,” Amelia said absently, drinking the honey water. She seemed really out of it, the episode exhausting her.

  “What…what’s going on?” Brianna asked then. “Amelia? Are you okay?”

  “I had to help Cricket. Layla, I feel really tired.”

  I nodded. “Drink. I’ll get Chase, and we’ll take you to your room. You need to get some rest,” I said then headed back to the gentlemen’s parlor. Amelia was just a wisp of a thing. Surely Chase could carry her upstairs.

  When I returned, I saw Beatrice checking Cricket’s vitals. Tristan and Vella sat nearby as Chase, Darius, and Madame Knightly watched on.

  I realized then that Chase was totally focused on Cricket. Through the window, however, I spotted Kellimore out in the driveway standing in front of the truck, the hood open.

  I cast a glance at Cricket, whose color had returned to her cheeks, then headed outside.

  “Hey,” I called to Kellimore. “I need your muscles.”

  Kellimore looked around the hood of the truck at me and raised an eyebrow.

  The expression made me smile despite myself.

  “Amelia. Can you carry her upstairs? She’s not feeling well.”

  “Sure,” he said, dropping the hood. “Cricket…is she…” he said, shaking his head. “Spent all winter bickering with her. She’s a master at it. I’d hate for—”

  “She seems like she’s going to be okay.”

  “Then the antidote does work?”

  “I’m not sure. I mean, it looks like maybe, if the person doesn’t actually…”

  “You mean, if they don’t die first,” Kellimore said.

  “That would explain why it didn’t work on Amelia’s mom.”

  “Yeah,” Kellimore said then frowned. “That was awful.”

  I nodded.

  In the kitchen, Amelia sat looking into her glass, her eyes watery. Brianna was holding her hand.

  “Amelia?” I called gently.

  “Yeah?” she asked absently.

  “Kellimore will help you upstairs.”

  “Okay,” she whispered.

  With that, I helped Amelia stand, and we walked slowly to the steps.

  “Cricket?” she asked then, looking back toward the parlor.

  “She’s doing okay now. I think you saved her.”

  Amelia smiled.

  I motioned to Kellimore who gently lifted her.

  “Don’t tell me you have a room on the sixth floor,” Kellimore said.

  “Second floor. By the stairs. Where’s Logan?”

  “In the library helping Beatrice.”

  Moving ahead, I went to Amelia’s room and opened the door. Kellimore lowered her into the bed. I pulled her shoes off.

  “Layla, can you find Zoey?” she asked.

  I nodded. “Need anything else?”

  She shook her head.

  “I’ll come back and check on you,” I told her.

  “Thank you.”

  With that, I nodded to Kellimore, and we headed back into the hallway.

  “I’m going to find Zoey. Thanks for helping.”

  “Sure. You’re welcome to my muscles any time,” Kellimore said.

  “I’ll keep that in mind,” I said with a smile then went upstairs to Zoey’s room.

  “Hey, Layla?” Kellimore called.

  I stopped at the top of the third floor landing and looked back down at him. “Yeah?”

  “Can you read everyone’s mind?”

  I smiled. “No. I’m a medium. I can only hear the dead. Why?”

  Kellimore smiled. “No reason.”

  “Thanks again.”

  “Sure. Always happy to help you,” he said then turned and headed back down stairs.

  I stood and watched him go. I hadn’t even realized I was doing so until Ariel appeared on the stairs in front of me.

  “How is Cricket?” she asked. I realized then that Ariel looked pale. Was she sick?

  “She’s doing okay.”

  Ariel smiled then followed my gaze.

  “He is cute,” she said then smiled at me. “Well, I’m going to check on Cricket. And I’m going to see if they have anything to eat with banana in it. All day long I was craving dried banana chips. Weird. I don’t even like bananas,” she said then headed downstairs.

  Blushing, I turned and went in search of Zoey.

  CHAPTER 32: LAYLA

  ONCE CRICKET WAS STABILIZED, they moved her into the library where Logan and the others had set up a makeshift medical station. At Madame Knightly’s suggestion, someone had to stand guard just in case.

  It was just coming to the close of my shift on watch, sometime around midnight, when Cricket opened her eyes.

  Tristan was asleep in a chair nearby, and I’d sent Vella upstairs to rest about an hour before.

  Keeping me company, however, was the tiny brown dog Zoey told me Cricket had saved.

  “Tristan?” Cricket called softly.

  “He’s asleep,” I said, setting my sword aside. I rose and stood beside her. “How are you feeling?”

  “Like someone hit me on the side of the head with a shovel.”

  “I bet.”

  “Everything’s real hazy,” she said, looking down at her arm. “What happened, exactly?”

  “You were bit,” I replied. “At least, that’s what they told me.”

  “Bit,” she said, then looked down at her arm. “I remember. So why am I still alive?”

  “Doctor Gustav’s injection.”

  “Then it worked. What about Amelia’s mother?”

  “No good.”

  “Oh,” Cricket said softly.

  “Amelia helped you come back.”

  “The High Priestess,” Cricket said absently.

  “Sorry?”

  “Just something from Vella’s tarot. The High Priestess will stand between the worlds using her magic,” Cricket said sleepily.

  I nodded as I thought on her words. “Oh,” I said, reaching down to pick up the nervous bundle of canine. “Here’s someone who’s been worried about you.”

  Cricket cracked her eyes open. “Hey, Frankie.”

  The little dog wagged his tail.

  “Frenchie’s girls gave him a bath. And his stomach is full.”

  Cricket smiled. “Little guy,” she said, reaching out to pat his head with her good arm. She looked up at me. “Layla, I think we’re going to make it out of this. I had a dream. It was real fuzzy, but I saw this place, a little town sitting beside a lake. We were all there, even some new people. It was a good place. And we were safe. There was a river too. And I saw you at this small little cabin in the woods. Layla, we’re going to make it.”

  “I hope so,” I told her. “But for now, you need to rest. You’re making history. First woman to survive a zombie bite.”

  “I
guess so. New history now, right?”

  “All new.”

  “You’re the historian. You taking notes?”

  I smiled at her. “Sure.”

  The little dog curled up at Cricket’s feet. He sighed contentedly.

  “Get some sleep. Will is coming in soon. And Tristan is here.”

  “Thanks, Layla,” Cricket whispered.

  “Get some rest.”

  She smiled then drifted back to sleep.

  I glanced over at Tristan. He was sitting in the most awkward position, his neck at a weird angle, but he was at her side. His dedication moved me, and made a lump of guilt gnaw at my stomach.

  Okay, so if Jamie wasn’t at Claddagh-Basel, where was he? And if the cure didn’t work on those who’d already turned, did it even matter?

  Maybe it was time to just accept he was gone.

  But if I did, wasn’t that giving up?

  “Layla?” Will whispered.

  I smiled at him. “She just woke up, spoke a little. She’s okay. She’s normal.”

  “Well,” Will said with a sigh. “At least we know it works if you get it before you turn. Sad about Amelia’s mom. About broke my heart.”

  “Mine too.”

  “All right. I’ve got the watch now,” he said then looked down at Cricket. “A shame,” he added, smiling down on her.

  “What is?”

  “That she’s taken. She’s beautiful.”

  I chuckled.

  “‘Night, Will.”

  “‘Night, Layla.”

  I went upstairs, stopping to make a few checks.

  Elle had been sleeping most of the day. I slipped into her room, stopping to check her for fever. Thankfully, she was all right. She didn’t even stir, just kept on snoring loudly. I passed Frenchie’s room. There I found her, Kira, and Susan snuggled up tight next to one another.

  Sighing, I headed to my own room. Pulling off my boots and setting my shashka aside, I sat down at the side of the bed and pulled out my engagement ring, looking at it under the light of the full moon. I set it on my bedside table and laid down, looking at the ring. Jamie and I had been stupid to think that there was any future in front of us. The world didn’t work like that anymore.

  But then I remembered Cricket’s dream.

  In her dream, she’d seen Hamletville.

  CHAPTER 33: LAYLA

  IT MUST HAVE BEEN JUST BEFORE DAWN when someone shook my shoulder very lightly.

  “Layla?” someone whispered. “Layla?”

  I sat up and reached for my shashka before I even opened my eyes only to find Amelia standing at my bedside.

  “Amelia? Everything okay?”

  “Don’t get up,” she said then sat down at the side of my bed. “Thank you for earlier. Your grandmother was a medium?”

  “Yes,” I said groggily, pulling myself up. “I inherited the gift from her.”

  “Layla, I want to go check on my mother. I want to see if there is any change. What I did for Cricket was hard. I never did anything so hard in my life. My powers seem to be…growing. You saw what happened that day outside the store.”

  “Well, yes and no. It was like…well, like magic.”

  “Zoey says that maybe I’m a Jedi.” She smiled then sighed. “I want to try one more time. I…I can’t stand the thought of leaving my mother like that. She was a good person. Maybe the medicine didn’t work, but maybe I can try like I did with Cricket.”

  “What did Madame Knightly say?”

  “I…I didn’t tell her.”

  “Logan?”

  “Him either. After what happened yesterday, it feels foolish to go back out. Brian and Brianna said there are so many more zombies. But I need to try. Just once more. I was hoping you’d help me.”

  “I’ll take you. We’ll go quick and quiet. Sun is almost up.”

  Amelia smiled. “I’ll let you get ready. Meet you outside?”

  “Don’t suppose there is a back way we can slip out?”

  “Not unless you’re a cat.”

  “I guess that’s a no.”

  Amelia nodded, rose, and then left.

  Maybe it was a fool’s errand, maybe it was putting ourselves in harm’s way for nothing, but the truth was, I wanted to try again as much as she did. I’d give it one last chance. For Jamie.

  CHAPTER 34: LAYLA

  WHEN I GOT DOWNSTAIRS, I wasn’t surprised to see that Zoey was waiting along with Amelia.

  “Can’t shake me,” Zoey said. “I got up to see if Amelia was feeling okay, and I found her dressed. So...”

  I nodded. “It’s okay. More guns are always good.”

  “Don’t know how much help I am. I screwed up like some stupid bimbo in a horror movie yesterday and nearly got Cricket killed.”

  “Nearly, but not,” Amelia said. “Ready?”

  I nodded.

  “Need to push the truck to the gate if we want to get out of here with any subterfuge,” Zoey said then slipped into the driver’s seat and put the truck into neutral. Amelia and I pushed as Zoey steered the truck down the driveway to the gate. Good thing it was a downhill slope.

  Once Amelia got the gate opened, Zoey started the vehicle. Amelia closed the gate, casting the enchantment on the property once more, then we both climbed in. Once more, the mist seemed to envelope the place.

  “I’m never going to get used to that,” Zoey said.

  Amelia nodded but didn’t say anything.

  Zoey guided the truck down the misty road toward town. The early morning air was cool and smelled of the woods. I could just catch the scents of pine and new ferns.

  We drove quietly into town, taking the turns slowly, watching for the undead.

  “It’s quiet,” Amelia said.

  “If I say ‘it’s too quiet’ then all hell will break loose. It’s a given. So, let me just say ‘yep’,” Zoey replied.

  I frowned as I looked out the window. Brighton had a lot of meandering undead. So, where were they now? Too quiet indeed.

  “Did you talk to B and B?” Zoey asked.

  “Just a little. I was kinda out of it,” Amelia said.

  “I talked to them last night after you went to sleep.”

  “Are they…are they angry at us?” Amelia asked, her voice quivering.

  “No. They were feeling guilty too, thought they lost us in the woods. I had to try to explain what was going on at Witch Wood. They were…unconvinced.”

  “I’m so glad they made it. It’s lucky you were there.”

  “You? Believe in dumb luck?”

  Amelia smiled.

  “They had it hard,” Zoey said. “Did you notice? They were so thin.”

  “Yeah,” Amelia said with a sigh.

  As I listened to their conversation, I looked out the window. The sense of responsibility and guilt in their voices echoed the feelings in my heart. Keeping people alive wasn’t easy. At least now, with a cure, we might be able to survive.

  Zoey pulled the truck into Amelia’s driveway.

  We sat there for a moment.

  “It might not be any better,” I warned Amelia.

  “I know,” she said.

  “And possibly worse.”

  “I just have to see one last time. Then, I can let it go.”

  I nodded, squeezed her hand, and then we slid out of the truck.

  Zoey was carrying a pistol in one hand and a baseball bat in the other. I pulled my blade, and we headed toward the house.

  Amelia gently laid her hand on the oak tree then we headed inside.

  When we got to the porch, I smelled an odd scent lingering in the air.

  “Is that cigarette smoke?” Zoey whispered.

  “Stay back,” I told the girls.

  Zoey held the screen door while I slowly opened the door. The scent of cigarette smoke wafted from the house. I looked back at Amelia who looked like she wanted to spring past me, but I shook my head.

  I stepped in slowly. The house was dark. The sliding glass door to the back wa
s open. Moving carefully, trying to not make any sound as I crossed the floor, I approached the back patio. All my senses were on edge.

  “Come,” a raspy voice called in my mind.

  “Caroline?”

  “Come.”

  Moving carefully, I stepped outside. She was still sitting in the chair where we’d left her yesterday, but her restraints were undone. She held a cigarette. A long ash hung on it, the ember burning between her fingers, but she didn’t seem to feel it.

  “Caroline?”

  She looked up at me.

  I gasped. Her face was still pale but now mottled by dark veins. Her eyes were completely bloodshot save the small blue irises.

  “Can you hear me?”

  “Yes.”

  “Can you speak?”

  “No.”

  “Layla?” Amelia called.

  “No. Don’t let her see.”

  “Let her come. She can help you. Maybe she can heal you.”

  “No.”

  Before I could intervene either way, Zoey and Amelia appeared behind me.

  “Mom?” Amelia whispered.

  “Stay back.”

  “She says to stay back.”

  “Mom?” Amelia said, looking closely at her mother.

  “She can’t speak,” I told them. “What do you see, Amelia?”

  Amelia shook her head. “Nothing. I don’t see anything.”

  “What do you mean?” Zoey asked.

  “There’s just…nothing.”

  “Caroline? How are you? Can you tell me? How are you?”

  “Not dead. Not alive. Not like before,” she said, staring off into the distance.

  “Do you have a heartbeat?” I asked.

  “Not that I can feel.”

  “Breath?”

  She looked at the cigarette. “No.”

  I shook my head.

  Amelia sat down in a chair nearby just staring at her mother.

  “There is no time. Everything just blurs. I’m trapped inside a corpse. Please shoot me.”

  “How can I do that with Amelia here?”

  “Mercy. Please give me mercy. It didn’t work. I am nothing. No one. I am a ghost inside a carcass. End it.”

  I looked at Amelia.

  “What is it? What did she say?”

  “She asked for mercy.”

  Amelia stared at her mother. “Mom?”

  The woman turned and looked at her.