by Kate L. Mary
The scientist outside the girl’s room went in and I waited with my breath held to find out what was going on, but he was out again in no time and the girl wasn’t with him, so I had no way of knowing.
Being behind the window made me feel like a lab rat, and it cut me off from everything in a way I’d never experienced before. I’d been in prison, in the DC colony, but it hadn’t been like this. That place was a hellhole, a city of scum who lived in filth and behaved like they were animals, not human beings. Here everything was pristine and white and sterile, but there were no sounds other than the ones I made. I could lie on my bed with my eyes closed, holding my breath, and discover what utter silence actually sounded like. It was shocking in its intensity. The way it seemed to cover me, coating my body and making me heavy. I’d been here for less than a day, but already the lack of sound and human interaction threatened to drive me mad.
I tried to distract myself by thinking about Patty, but that just made me ache. She was dead and it was my fault for getting wrapped up in all this, for not taking care of her the way I should have. So instead I thought about Meg and tried to allow the knowledge that she was at least safe calm me. No matter what happened to me, no matter what kind of horrible death I was facing, Meg was at least someplace where Jackson couldn’t find her. She was with her family and hopefully working on a plan to rescue us, but even if she didn’t make it in time, even if I died before she managed to get here, she would be okay. That was enough for the time being. It had to be.
Seven
Meg
The day of revelations seemed never-ending. Angus would share stories about things he’d seen through the window of his cell or been told by Jane, Glitter’s mother, and my family would fill him in on little details about the last twenty years. Mom wept when she learned that Dad was immune and had hidden it from her, but no matter how many times she asked the others why he’d felt he had to do it, no one had a good answer. It was entirely possible that there wasn’t one, but either way, he was the only one who could answer any real questions about his motivations.
Jada stayed with us in the backyard but remained separate from the group. She acted like she was waiting for something, and even though we were all anxious to learn how we were going to get into the CDC, no one asked any questions. Probably the only thing that could have distracted us from the impatience of being filled in on the plan was learning what the last twenty years had been like for Angus. And his stories seemed to be endless.
It was late afternoon by the time Bonnie poked her head out the backdoor. The gnarled side of her face was turned in our direction and she had to twist her head so she could see us out of her remaining eye. “They’re here.”
Jada, who sat on the grass at my side, nodded. “Thanks. We’ll be right there.”
“Who’s here?” I asked, voicing the question I was certain was on everyone else’s mind as well.
“Hopefully our allies. We’ll have to see.” The blonde woman barely glanced my way as she hauled herself to her feet, her gaze too focused on Angus. “Are you ready for this?”
My uncle grunted as he dragged himself up off the ground. He had a cigarette between his lips and a scowl on his face, but he nodded to Jada. When he looked the rest of us over, sucking the toxins from the cigarette into his lungs in the process, his expression was unreadable.
He plucked the cigarette out of his mouth and blew the smoke out. “This ain’t gonna make much sense at first,” he began to no one in particular, “but you just gotta trust me. We got a plan.”
Jim had crossed the lawn to join Jada and together they started walking, but they didn’t go into the house. They went around it, heading to the front yard instead. Charlie and I walked side by side with the rest of the group, and when she caught my eye I shrugged at the silent questions in hers.
On her other side stood Luke. He glanced my way, but I still couldn’t look him in the eye. I felt betrayed. Of everyone here, I felt like he’d lied to me the most. Why I wasn’t sure, but I couldn’t shake the feeling that he’d found out something major and had kept it from me for no reason. At least no good reason.
We rounded the house and I stopped dead in my tracks at the sight in front of me. Of everyone I’d expected to find waiting for us, these people would have been on the bottom of my list, and I could tell by the confused expressions on my family’s faces that they were feeling the same way.
The people in front of us wore robes constructed of thick, red material that made me sweat just looking at them. They didn’t open in the front like normal robes, in fact they were unlike any robe I had ever seen before. The neckline was wide, open to below the chest and giving us all a glimpse of the bronze pendants they wore around their necks. A swath of excess material at the back of the robe formed a hood, and the sleeves were long and fitted, the hem going all the way to the ground and so heavy that it barely moved in the wind.
While most of the people standing in front of us had their hoods down, allowing us to see their faces, the woman leading the pack had hers pulled forward so much that it shadowed her face, making it nearly impossible to discern her features. Not that I needed to see her to know who she was. Everyone in New Atlanta knew the High Priestess of The Church, my family especially.
For some reason she had a fairly large group of followers with her, but even more baffling than her entourage were the two zombies standing at the back of the group. The creatures’ arms had been cut off and they had collars around their necks, as well as square metal cages fitted over their heads that were made of thick steel bars that crisscrossed on every side and had been welded together, making it impossible for them to bite anyone
“Priestess,” Jada said, stepping out in front of the rest of us.
The High Priestess lowered her hood dramatically when she stepped forward, either so she could look us over or so we could get a good look at her. It wasn’t the first time I’d seen her, but her appearance was no less shocking now than it had been every other time. Her blonde hair was pale enough that it looked almost silver, especially in the sun, and her eyebrows and lashes were the same shade, giving her eyes a hairless look that brought a lizard to mind. Or the freaky hybrid zombie Donaghy had fought only a few nights ago. The High Priestess had strikingly pale blue eyes, so light that they seemed nearly as colorless as her hair, and her skin was the purest ivory I’d ever seen. It gave off the impression that she’d never set foot outside in her life, and I found myself holding my breath, waiting to see if she would burst into flames now that she was exposed to the sun’s rays. She did not.
“I am here at your request,” she said, nodding to Jada but not giving away if she was curious, annoyed, or thrilled about being summoned here.
“Yes.” Jada glanced back at us before saying, “We have someone with us that you might be interested in meeting.”
The High Priestess’s nearly invisible eyebrows lifted, but she didn’t smile. “I highly doubt that anyone who chooses to degrade their bodies in the way that you have—” She looked pointedly at Jada’s tattooed neck. “—would be of any interest to me. I am a prophet, sent here by God to pave the way for the Savior. I am pure. I do not mix with the likes of you.”
To her credit, Jada didn’t even blink at the insult. She did, however, turn and nod to Angus.
My uncle, who was still smoking, walked forward with a swagger in his step that should have looked out of place on a man who’d just been released after nearly twenty years of captivity, but instead fit every story I’d ever heard about him perfectly. When he stopped in front of the High Priestess he had a smirk on his face that brought to mind how many times I’d heard my mom or dad mention what an asshole he could be. He hadn’t shaved today, and the growth on his face made him look scraggily and worn next to the woman in front of him. Despite the fact that I despised her and everything she stood for, I couldn’t help thinking that standing next to him, she did look pure.
The High Priestess looked him over and for the first tim
e a small smile formed on her lips. “This man?” She shook her head. “I have no interest in this man.”
Angus sucked in a mouthful of smoke, holding it in his lungs longer than necessary and then purposefully blowing it in her face. The High Priestess frowned and two of her followers stepped forward. They were tall men who looked silly in their red robes, their muscles making it seem like they were playing a child’s game when they should be out guarding the city.
“See here,” Angus said, his smirk growing, “that’s where you’re wrong.”
The High Priestess must have seen something in his expression that interested her, because she lifted her hand to stop her men from moving forward. “Go on.”
My uncle grinned as he took another drag on his cigarette, seeming to draw the moment out as if was a game. When he finally spoke again, smoke came out with the words. “I’m Angus James, and from what I hear, you’ve been waitin’ for me to come back.”
Silence followed his revelation as everyone from The Church tried to absorb this information and my family waited with baited breath to find out what was going to happen.
Angus alone seemed unaffected by the moment. He simply smoked and stared at the woman in front of him like he was trying to size her up, or possibly trying to figure out just how insane she was. He inhaled slowly, pulling smoke into his lungs, and then drew it out even more dramatically when he exhaled. He scratched his arm, pulling his sleeve up to reveal the tattoos on his bicep, faded from time and age, and grinned like he knew the woman in front of him was going to be disappointed.
“You are not,” the High Priestess finally said.
Her gaze moved past Angus to the rest of us, and when she took in the group behind him, doubt flickered in her translucent eyes. She knew us, had stalked us for years. She’d stood outside our building holding up signs that told everyone how special the James family was, how they had holy blood and that Axl would one day take his place at his brother’s side. She was fully aware that standing in front of her were some of the few people in the settlement who actually knew what Angus James had looked like.
My uncle stuck the cigarette between his lips so he could pull his shirt over his head. When he tossed it aside, no one was watching to see where it landed. We were all too focused on his chest and arms.
He was more muscular than I’d expected considering his years in a cell, but it shouldn’t have been a surprise. He’d already told us that he’d spent a lot of time exercising, even after he’d given up hope of escape, just in case he ever managed to get his hands on Star. But it wasn’t his muscles that drew our attention; it was the scars that dotted his arms and chest. There were dozens of them. Crescent in shape, they were jagged the way only teeth marks could be. Some were dark and stood out against his pale skin while others were small and shiny and red, and others were so faded from time that we wouldn’t have been able to see them if it weren’t for the sun shining down on us now, but there was no mistaking what they were. Human teeth left very distinct marks behind.
“Like I said—” The cigarette between my uncle’s lips bobbed when he spoke. “—I’m Angus fuckin’ James.”
One of the followers stepped forward. “Mother.”
Sabine was several years older than me, but our school had been small thanks to the decimated human race and even if she hadn’t treated me like I was something special, I would have known who she was. Everyone did. Not only was she the daughter of the High Priestess, but Sabine had been the first person to ever receive the vaccine after the CDC released it.
“This cannot be him,” she said.
The way she spit out the last word made Angus laugh.
“Shit. I heard you was puttin’ me on a pedestal, but I didn’t believe it.” My uncle waved to the people behind him. “Shoulda talked to somebody who knew me. If you had, they woulda told you what an asshole I was.”
The High Priestess sucked in a deep breath, seemingly trying to gather herself. “This is unexpected, but nothing we can’t deal with.”
She waved to the people at her back without looking over her shoulder just like my uncle had only a moment before. The followers at the front of the group moved aside, making room for two men who were standing at the back. The ones who were in charge of the zombies. They came forward, pulling the chained creatures with them, and as they moved the red robed followers began to chant.
“They are dead, they will not live; they are shades, they will not arise; to that end you have visited them with destruction and wiped out all remembrance of them. They are dead, they will not live…”
“Fuck,” my uncle muttered under his breath as the chant went on and on.
The High Priestess kept her eyes on him as the zombies were pulled forward. She didn’t join in the chant with her followers, whose voices had grown louder. They echoed through the settlement, bouncing off the surrounding houses until the words made even less sense than they had when they’d first started. It made the hair on my arms stand up.
When the men had pulled the zombies to the High Priestess’s side, she raised her hand and the chanting died down. Her pale eyes were focused on Angus, her gaze intense and calculating, and even creepier than the chanting had been.
She once again raised her pale eyebrows at my uncle and said, “Kill them.”
“You talkin’ to me?” Angus asked, chuckling again.
“I am.” She nodded to the zombies, who thrashed in their cages like they were desperate to get free. “If you are Angus James, then you should be able to kill them.”
“Sure.” Angus stepped forward and pulled out a knife. “Just take them bars off and I’ll be done with it.”
The High Priestess raised her hand as if the simple gesture should stop anyone from moving. “You will say the words and they will die.”
Angus let out a loud, barking laugh. “You gotta be shittin’ me. Look lady, you wanna put a statue of me in town and kneel in front of it, be my guest. But I’m gonna let you in on a little secret, I ain’t a god. Hell, I’m ‘bout as far from it as a person can be.” He shoved the knife back into its sheath.
“So you cannot kill the zombies?” the woman asked.
Angus grinned. “Now, I didn’t say that.”
The High Priestess nodded, but her expression didn’t change. “Go on.”
“If you agree to help us, and if I can get into the CDC, I’ll be able to take care of the dead once and for all.”
“What?” Mom said from behind me.
Angus didn’t look back, not when other people threw questions at him or when murmurs started moving through the crowd of fanatics in front of us. He kept his gaze on the High Priestess, waiting for her to give some indication that she’d finally accepted the truth of who he was.
“You know I’m him,” Angus said when the woman still hadn’t spoken. He waved to the scars on his body, then to the ones in the crook of his arms that matched Glitter’s. “They’ve had me this whole time, up there in the CDC. They got my brother now and they’re doin’ stuff that will make the zombies you got here seem like kittens. We gotta save my brother, and then we gotta stop the CDC once and for all. And I know how.”
“How?” the High Priestess finally asked.
“See, there was a woman. A woman who was evil, who is now burning in hell, probably waitin’ for me to join her, but who did somethin’ right in the end. She was a lot like me, which is probably why I loved her. I always was a good for nothin’ too, but when push came to shove I chose to do right, and so did she.” He sucked in a deep breath like he was trying to control his emotions, and when he spoke again his voice was loud but there was a slight waver to it as well. “Before she died, she told me there was a failsafe. A bacteria deep in the CDC that would eat away at the brains of the dead, killin’ ‘em once and for all. If I can get back into the CDC, I can get it.”
The High Priestess’s icy exterior cracked a little as Angus talked, and I could see the conflict in her eyes. I knew why she was hesitating. If she chos
e to accept what he said she’d be admitting that she’d been wrong. For years she’d been preaching that Angus James had died twenty years ago, but that one day he would be resurrected from the dead. She’d look like a liar. But she had to know that this plan, this bacteria that Angus had mentioned, was possibly the only way to bring about the rest of her prophecy: that Angus James would destroy the zombies once and for all.
We all seemed to be holding our breath, waiting for her to make a decision. Deep in my chest my heart thudded from the possibilities of what my uncle was saying. There was a way to stop the zombies, to wipe them out so we could return to the way things had been before. To stop Jackson and his father from destroying things even more than they already had. All of this could end.
So suddenly that it came with no warning, the High Priestess turned and faced her followers, lifting her arms above her head. “The prophecy will soon be fulfilled. Angus James is back, not from a literal death, but from a different kind. From the death of the soul. This man—” She waved to Angus without looking at him. “—has saved his soul by choosing what is good and pure. He will go back into the CDC, he will rip the walls down, and he will release a savage death on the zombies who have held us captive for more than twenty years.” She spun back to face Angus, sweeping her arms forward in the process. “Behold, your savior.”
Behind her, every one of her followers dropped their knees at the same time and bowed their heads as the chant once again began to rise up, this time quieter, making it easier to discern the words. And as they spoke a chill ran down my spine, because I realized that if we succeeded the words would end up being more prophetic than I ever could have guessed.