“I had once considered ending my life and releasing my power.” # Chapter 12 “I must be coming down with something.” Rose paused her coughing fit to comment, coughed again. Rhett touched her shoulder, a concerned look in his eyes. Rose put her hands back on the wheel, turning past hobby lobby, into the costco lot. Jack and the other's had decided the entire group had to move to the Costco as soon as humanely possible. They'd brought in some badly injured mortals, but Rose didn’t know more than they had been in a gunfight. She parked with the rear of the SUV toward the open front doors. This warehouse was massive, many loading bays, large entrances. *How are we gonna secure that?* The space they’d gain by moving was 3 times what was in Publix, and that didnt include the stock rooms or anything. Rose and Rhett heated several large generators from the SUV, as well as coolers. The idea was to restart the fridge section, running it on generators, and put solar on the roof. Violet was the head of that project, so spent most of her time up there. By the time they finished unloading the car, the sun was scorching. Both their heads were drenched in sweat. “Every year the sun just gets hotter I feel.” Rhett said, smiling as he wiped sweat from his brow. “Yeah it…” Rose began, but was interrupted, quite abruptly, by her own coughing. “Rose, take passenger. We need to get you to Beth.” She did as requested, Rhett started the car back up, and headed to Publix. “Ava, you really sound good.” He said softly, brow furrowed. Rose felt her cheeks get hot, so she pretended to look through the window. *Get it together, girl.* On one hand, she wanted to be noticed, on the other, she didn't wanna be a weak schoolgirl. Not having traffic laws made the trip much shorter than it otherwise would have been. It took Rhett 12 minutes to arrive at the publix front gate. One of the children of Arex opened the gate for him. Rose still felt warm, like a fever, and her throat felt hoarse and scratchy. Rhett took her to Beth Clarke, who was assisting the children of Aevala in the med bay. She was the oldest in the room, in her mid-thirties, so others gave her space to work. But before Beth could say anything, Rose felt herself slipping into unconsciousness, the world spun, and she hit the floor as everything went dark. ___ When she awoke, Rose felt like she had been hit by a bus. Her eyelids were heavy, and she felt pressure behind her eyes. She felt someone stroking her hair, so she rolled over, greeting Rhett with a soft smile. “Hey Ava.” “Rhett. How long was I out?” Rose asked, feeling the roughness in her voice. “5 hours. We moved everyone to Costco a little while ago.” “Goodness.” Rose said, attempting to sit herself up, but giving up after much pain. *If I die from the flu, I'm going to stab someone.* But she realized it made no sense. “Got to go?” Rose asked, seeing Rhett shift in his chair. “I wanted to see you before I go back to bring people here.” “I'm happy you stayed.” She said. He gave her a kiss on the forehead, and left shortly after. Rose had nothing better to do than survey her surroundings, thus she lifted her heavy eyelids and looked around. It looked like they were in a newly cleaned tire center, tires stacked around by the walls. Then Rose spotted a strange girl watching her. She had dyed orange red and purple hair, and wore a tank top and pajama pants. “You two a thing?” She asked. “I wish.” “He likes you, you know. He sat there for like 3 hours.” She smiled at the thought. “I’m Rose.” “Corinne.” “New here?” “Yeah. Arden and I both had gunshots earlier today.” Corinne said, gesturing to the girl in the bed across the room. Corinne herself sat cross-legged on the floor. *What did she do pre fall?* Rose looked around the rest of the med bay, which was at least 3 times the size of a residential living room. Beyond Corinne, Rose could see rows of beds also filled. The Maddox family, the Whitlow Family, Henry Creek, and even Violet Esmeralda. *Did it hit everyone this fast?* She’d only been unwell for a day. Arden sat up a short time later, gesturing to Corinne. Corinne gestured back. “Rose, Arden, Arden, Rose.” “Pleased to meet you.” Arden said. “Same to you.” Rose replied. “I’m deaf, good at lip reading, but mostly talk in signs.” Arden informed, nodding to Corinne. “I tend to translate, but she does well on her own.” “It would be nice if we could somehow set up pagers.” “Shit,” Corinne said, “That’s a great idea.” They would have to ask Violet when she recovered. “So, Corinne, Arden, what did you guys do before the fall?” Jack walked in, Charlie close behind. “I uhh,” Corinne said, looking down sheepishly. “I acquired information for the DCIA, via some violent methods.” Jack nodded, Corinne gestured to Arden and she answered. “Assassin for the DCIA. Killed whoever needed it for the organization. Occasional political figured outside or inside the country, drug dealers and gun dealers all around.” Jack nodded to her as well, “You’re deaf?” Corinne responded, “Yep. Sounds good doesnt she.” “Oh hey Beth.” Charlie said to Beth, walking in with a clipboard and a pen, with bite marks and a broken pocket clip. “How many sick so far?” Jack asked her. “22 today, 4 or 5 yesterday.” Beth sighed, “Whatever this is, it's aggressive.” *Very aggressive.* Rose thought. ___ Rhett passed by the forges the day after Rose fell ill. It was early in the morning, 6am or so. The new forges were double that in the Publix. They were able to keep 20 running at once, heat pumped out the back windows. They were in the back stockroom, so noise and heat were minimal. “Good morning Ava.” Rhett said, gently waking her. “Good morning.” She croaked. The poor thing was drenched in sweat, struggling to open and close her eyes. He stroked her hair. “How do I look?” Rose asked with a hoarse voice. “Horrible.” Rhett winced, “That came out very wrong.” Rose smiled, “You think?” Before Rhett could get out a wonderfully witty reply, a scream sounded from across the room. “Rowan Baby…” *Gods that's Jessie Whitlow.* Her son Rowan was only 11 years old, to be 12 the next week. Rhett ran over, but Jack bolted in at the same time, and the two wiped out. A black cat bounded and jumped over them. After recovering, Jack and Rhett found the cat sitting on top of Rowan’s chest. The boy himself was covered in blood, slashed open. The disturbing part was the placement of the knife. It was driven at a slight angle, through the back of the throat. *If anyone is watching, have mercy on us all.* “Charlie, speak with Mrs Whitlow.” The cat said to Charlie as she walked in the room. She saw the reason why, and immediately took her out of the room. “Raven?” Rhett asked, breaking the silence. He felt more numb now then he had witnessed Rose kill John Fouts. “Why are you a cat.” “Long story.” The cat, Raven, answered, flatly. She put a black paw on the dead kid’s temple. “He’s still warm. Aint been dead more than half an hour.” “That's puts time of death between like 5:15 and 5:30.” Jack said, “Did anyone here see anything?” Raven shook her head. Rhett gave it some thought, but ultimately dismissed it. “I woke up maybe 20 minutes ago, but was at the forges till now. They were just setting up.” The discussion was interrupted from a gargling, raspy breathing sound. Raven yelped, hissing, Jack stood. The former Whitlow boy was staring at them with unblinking, cloudy, crazed eyes. A humbling picture of the new world. *No peace, even in death.* Rhett took a knife of his own, and plunged it into the temple of the corpse. Silence befell them again. Rhett had doubts any of them would be able to get used to that. The random undead they slaughtered were different from a boy they knew. He had life ahead of him, a loving family, the possibility of a normal life after. Jack covered the boy with a spare sheet, and the two of them took Rowan out back. Rhett went to an outdoor maintenance closet, pulling out two shovels. They dug in silence for a time. “Whoever did this was clever. I hate to give them that, but it is the truth.” Jack said, sweat pouring from both of them. Rhett nodded. “He avoided the brain stem, and the cerebellum.” “Not an expert job. That wouldn't be too hard to do with any anatomy class.” In total the guys spent 3 hours digging through the hard Georgia clay. *Even when soaked that shit is hard.* Jack made an announcement at breakfast, after the boy was laid to rest. He stood on a chair, Charlie, Cat Raven and Jessie Whitlow sat at his table. “Hey guys. 3 or 4 hours ago, Rowan Whitlow was murdered. Rhett and I buried him, but we have determined cause of death. It happened around 5:20 this morning, so if anyone has any information come forward to Hunter, Rhett, Charlie, Raven, Nova, or me. Dismissed.” Rhett walked past the food court to the repurposed tire center. He had a spare sandwich from breakfast, pepperoni and aged cheese. The best Stacy Baker had to offer. Rose was sound asleep. *She looks peaceful. Even with the choppy blonde hair.* He left the food at the table to her left side, noticing Arden and Corinne were gone. They’d only been members of the group for a couple days, but were already popular. He found them shortly at the forges. “Hey Rhett.” Wade Dawson of Koryph greeted cheerfully. “We just figured out something new.” “Oh?” Rhett asked, raising an eyebrow. Before anyone said anything further, he felt a strong anger, then humor, joy, and sadness. Then the feeling entirely disappeared. Corinne was the first to speak. “Its interesting, but makes me want to kill myself.” “Wait, wait, wait. That was your doing?” Rhett asked, trying to keep his jaw off the floor. Corinne removed an earing and handed it to Wade. “Sure was.” Wade began. “You remember when we figured out mortals could use ring blades right?” “Sure do.” “Well, this earring was made from Adamant, by a child of Veluna. When Corinne put it in, she was able to do this shit. It is very interesting.” “Wow. Have you found out any other ways, or just the earring.” “Theories. Its possible it was due to the ring being through the body.” “So anyone with piercings could have godly powers.” Corinne said. “But Wade said earlier, what i felt was amplified echo from using the power. I wanted to go find a gun and swallow some lead.” “Lord.” “Yeah. We’d experiment, but we’d need children of Aevala on standby, and a lot of mortal volunteers.” “Makes sense. They are tending the sick, after all.” Rhett nodded. “Anyone talked to Jack yet?” “I’ll let him know.” Raven’s voice said from behind. Rhett turned to see her, still a cat, but with a cigarette. Rhett did a double take. *The fuck?* “Raven. You're still a cat, smoking a cigarette.” “Habit.” She said, dropping the cigarette. “Crush that for me, please.” She turned, flicking her tail to the side. *What the hell is up with that girl.* Rhett went back to the med bay, Rose still asleep. Gods, I could do for a nap.* “Beth, you mind if I steal a cot?” Beth pulled her new, now dented, steel pen from her mouth, “Go for it.” He obliged. --- Rhett awoke some time later to a scream. He jolted upright, then hopped off the cot. The scream came from Rose. She still lay in her bed, but cowered from old Greg Maddox, or what used to be him. His face was full of blood, which dribbled from his chin like a too-full glass of water. His wife lurched from behind him, intestines and other innards spilling out from torn skin at her stomach. Rhett threw a knife into the skull of Greg, then pulled his Glock and shot Flora in her face. Nova burst in at the sound of Rose’s scream, hovering and surveying the room. Seconds later, Hunter and Alaina rushed in, clothes disheveled and faces flushed. Hunter wiped lipstick from his neck, Alaina pulling on a tee shirt. Rose ran and hugged Rhett, planting a kiss on his lips. “Jessie Whitlow was murdered.” Nova said with little inflection. *Oh hell.* Nova was right, Rhett helped Rose stand up, and they walked to see exactly what Nova did. This murder was slightly different, knife handle lodged vertically inside Jessie’s head. The blade itself was up through the roof of her mouth, handle resting on the lower jaw. *At least she won’t return.* “No!” Cody Whitlow shouted. “She can't be…” Raven held him back, now in human form. He struggled, but eventually gave up. “I just. I can’t. Not anymore.” And he ended it. Brain matter coating the drop ceiling. Cody’s corpse collapsed onto the floor. *Here I find myself understanding him. If I lost Rose…* Rose started to cry, so he took her arm. They left the room, her face buried in his chest. They sat down, his shirt starting to soak through with tears and blood. [[13 Serial]]