“Yes and no," Vick said. "I think it’s possible she recovered from the initial infection and has some kind of immunity. She managed to stay out of the crowds and not be attacked. Then she was isolated up there in the library for three years.”
Lucy mulled that over. "Would that mean that the people who turned into monsters because they were attacked are different from the ones who came back because they died of natural causes?"
"I honestly don't know," Vick said, "but it’s an excellent question. If you piece together Hettie's story, it does sound like she contracted the illness and survived."
“And Dead Sam in the park?" Lucky asked. "Do you have an explanation for him or for the fact that his body managed to expel a 9 millimeter slug?”
Vick shook her head. “None whatsoever.”
“How about the Corps of Undead Engineers?”
"No," Vick said. “No explanation for them either, but their behavior intrigues me. They're organized into a coordinated effort to prevent saltwater from pouring into the city."
Lucy brought the legs of her chair back down on the floor and looked at Vick. "Unless you're worried about their blood pressure,” she said, “I don’t get what saltwater has to do with anything."
"Okay,” Vick said, “you already think I'm crazier than Hettie, so here goes. Salt is used in a lot of magic rituals."
"You're right," Lucy agreed. "I do think you're crazier than Hettie, but go on."
"Do you know what a curandera is?" Vick asked.
Lucy shook her head. "Unless it's a spice, no."
Vick laughed again. "The spice would be coriander," she said. "A curandera is a Mexican woman who practices healing techniques believed to have been passed down from the ancient cultures, including the Mayan.”
Lucy arched an eyebrow. "May I just point out that the Mayans totally blew the call on the whole 2012 thing?"
“Says the woman sitting in the cellar of a fortified beach cottage in the aftermath of an unknown plague . . . with a crazy librarian in the study cataloging books and talking to her dead husband on a disconnected phone . . . and a child sleeping upstairs who may have drowned and come back to life after a trip to the 'safe place,'” Vick deadpanned.
It was Lucy's turn to laugh. "Well, okay,” she said. “When you spin it that way, I’ll give the Mayans a pass. So, how did we get a Mexican witch doctor lady in this mix."
"I traveled a great deal for my work," Vick said. "In between rehearsals there was often free time to explore. I met a curandera in Texas when I played with the San Antonio symphony. We became friends and she told me a great deal about her beliefs and their origin. I've always had an interest in that kind of thing. I attended college on a full music scholarship, but for a while I really considered majoring in history and anthropology."
Lucy shook her head. "You have any other major revelations about yourself that I haven’t heard about yet?" she asked.
Vick thought for a minute, and then said, "I used to knit?"
"Well, at least we'll have socks and scarves," Lucy said. "Now, if I'm following your train of thought here, you think the dead are trying to prevent saltwater from flooding the city because it's a threat to them? And they know this how?"
"Again,” Vick said, "I don't have an explanation for that, but their reaction to water and what I witnessed from the top floor of the library makes it as good a theory as any."
Lucy held up her hand. "Okay. Let me see if I have all the major puzzle pieces here," she said, ticking off the next words one finger at a time. "Water. Cup. Gateway. Salt."
"Or," Vick said, holding up her own hand, "how about these words? Purification. Vessel. Transformation. Agent."
They shared a silent moment, and then Lucy said, "Resurrection."
"Resurrection," Vick agreed.
Spring 2016: The Cabin
Outside the cabin, the warming winds of spring blew through the trees. It was late, well past midnight, when Lucy and Vick finished the story. Abbott had listened to the second half of their long narration in silence, moving only to refill his pipe and light the tobacco with a sliver of wood.
When he did speak, he said gently, with a touch of affection coloring his words, "Hettie seems much better now than what you’ve described.”
"She is," Vick said. "Taking care of Beth gave her a purpose beyond her books. The two of them bonded instantly."
He puffed at his pipe, creating a little cloud of fragrant smoke. "You believe that is because they both survived the illness that caused this plague?" he asked. "Because they have both been resurrected?"
Neither Vick nor Lucy answered him immediately. Finally Vick broke the lengthening silence. "That's what Lucy and I believed that night when we were talking in the basement," she said.
Abbott looked at her appraisingly. "That was what you believed then,” he said. “But that’s only the beginning of the next part of your story, isn’t it?"
Vick nodded. "The barest of beginnings," she said. "What we didn't realize then was that the resurrection was being controlled; that the entire plague had been orchestrated."
"And I am assuming that it was as a consequence of that knowledge that you were ultimately driven from your home in Maine and forced to go on the run,” he said.
"Yes," Vick said, “it was."
"Because you discovered the source of this plague?" he asked.
"We discovered its conductor," she said. "My husband. Maurice Eidson."
To be continued . . .
About The Fermata Post-Apocalyptic
Survival Series
The Fermata Series is a collection of novellas
by Juliette Harper, the author
of The Lockwood Legacy novels,
the Selby Jensen Paranormal Mysteries,
the Study Club Mysteries,
and the Before Series short-story romances.
Want to know more about author Juliette Harper
and all of her projects?
Visit Juliette Harper’s home on the web
at www.julietteharper.com
Other books by Juliette Harper:
The Fermata Series
Fermata: The Winter
The Lockwood Legacy
Langston’s Daughters
Baxter’s Draw
Alice’s Portrait
Selby Jensen Paranormal Mysteries
Descendants of the Rose
The Study Club Mysteries
You Can’t Get Blood Out of Shag Carpet
The Before Series
Before Marriage
Fermata: The Spring
A Post-Apocalyptic Survival Series
By Juliette Harper
Copyright © 2015, Juliette Harper.
Skye House Publishing
License Notes
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Fermata: The Spring: A Post-Apocalyptic Survival Series (The Fermata Series: Four Post-Apocalyptic Novellas Book 2) Page 5