Miasma (The Redivivus Trilogy Book 3) Read online

  Miasma

  Book Three of the Redivivus Trilogy

  Kirk Withrow

  Copyright 2017 by Kirk Withrow

  mī-ˈaz-mə, n. : from Greek mythology; a contagious power unleashed by an immoral action, capable of chronically afflicting society with plague and catastrophe

  PROLOGUE

  Engineered to be the perfect bio-assassination weapon, the lyssa-niuhi virus, or LNV, mutated into an unstoppable monster once it found its way into the human population. There, it plowed through humanity with reckless abandon, bringing the world to its knees. A brutal chimera of several viruses, LNV transformed its victims into violent, inhuman shells of their former selves who seemed to be stuck in the hinterlands between the worlds of the living and the dead. Those who became infected relentlessly sought out the uninfected with the singular goal of spreading the disease, and in less than two months, mankind couldn’t even beg for mercy.

  Because her work was referenced in the personal notes of LNV’s creator, Dr. Lin San—a neurobiologist living in Brazil—was evacuated to the Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta, GA, in the hope that she might find a way to stop LNV’s spread. General Montes, along with a group of more than fifty soldiers from the Brazilian Special Forces Brigade, was tasked with escorting Dr. San to the United States. When their military transport jet arrived at the international airport in Atlanta, they discovered that the plague had beaten them to their destination. Overrun by the infected, the airport lay in ruins. They were forced to land at a nearby military air reserve base where the situation was only marginally better. The vast majority of the Brazilian soldiers were killed or infected before they ever knew they were under attack. General Montes and his right-hand man, Corporal Rocha, were the only Brazilian soldiers who survived the horrors of the air reserve base. With the help of an American soldier, Sergeant Hector Garza, they got Dr. San safely off the air base. Unfortunately, that was just the beginning of their perilous journey.

  Besieged by the infected and pursued by an unknown shooter, the three soldiers continually risked their lives for the sake of their mission. When Corporal Rocha was mysteriously infected with LNV, Garza was forced to take him out in order to save Dr. San. With the help of a young boy, Anthony, and his dog, a cane corso named Charon, the group finally made it to the CDC where they found a pair of scientists and a small military contingent. Maria Abrams, a CDC research assistant, was working with Dr. Louis Sodecci, a clinical epidemiologist with very little laboratory experience, to try to find a cure for LNV. Tasked with protecting the research team, Lieutenant “L.T.” Weaver commanded a group of only five soldiers—Mother, Judge, Rooster, Stack, and Cujo.

  A continent away in the U.S., Dr. San’s longtime friend, Dr. John Wild, was also blindsided by the pandemic. Having been working in the medical clinic on an isolated Native American reservation, he’d been sheltered from the early stages of the devastating plague tearing his world apart. Although more than four thousand miles away from Lin San at plague’s outset, he found himself face to face with the same monster.

  When John landed his single engine Cessna at the small airport in rural Alabama, he found it deserted except for a lone man lying motionless on the tarmac. He rushed to assist the downed man but was caught off guard when the man suddenly climbed to his feet and began attacking him. Fortunately, an aircraft mechanic named Reams Wilkins intervened when he saw John in distress. After savagely bludgeoning the would-be attacker, he ushered John to safety and explained the situation to the best of his ability.

  At first, Reams’s words fell on disbelieving ears; his sensational story sounded far more like a bad science fiction plot line than a real-life event. When Reams showed him the reality from the hangar’s roof, however, John couldn’t deny the truth behind his words. Concerned for his family’s safety, John convinced Reams to help him find his wife, Rebecca, and daughter, Ava. As they prepared to leave the airport, John received a cell phone call from Dr. Lin San in Brazil. Despite the poor reception, he understood her to say that she possessed information about the plague and was being evacuated to the CDC in Atlanta in order to find a cure. He knew that if anyone was capable of that, it was Dr. Lin San. Wanting retribution against the monster that had ruined their world, John and Reams vowed to head to Atlanta to assist her after they found John’s family.

  John and Reams quickly became an inseparable team as they journeyed across the plague-ridden land. When they made it to John’s house, they discovered the ruined body of John’s wife, Rebecca, amidst a gruesome scene of carnage. Despite his overwhelming grief, John clung to the smallest glimmer of hope that his daughter, Ava, had somehow evaded the brutality of this new world.

  For weeks, John and Reams scoured the area in search of Ava, all the while bearing witness to civilization’s demise. In addition to the revenants, or revs, spawned by the pandemic, they encountered some of the most depraved individuals humanity had to offer. Without societal constraints or the rule of law to keep them in check, such degenerates flourished. In a testament to the human spirit’s duality, John and Reams also came upon good, decent people—something that continually reminded them that mankind was worth fighting for. Two such individuals, Ethan and Kate, joined their cause.

  Standing outside his house, John stared at the distant sea of revs and contemplated what had become of the world. Despite weeks of unsuccessful searching, he refused to abandon hope that Ava was alive. If she was, he wanted a safer place for her to live even if he couldn’t find her. A safer world meant a cure, and that meant helping Lin San. John made the most difficult choice he’d ever made when he decided it was time to suspend his search for Ava. The following morning, he and his group ventured into the uncertain perils waiting along the road to Atlanta.

  Not long after their departure, they had their first real brush with danger while scavenging for fuel at an abandoned gas station. Catching them off guard, two black-clad figures took John and Reams hostage. Something about the captors looked familiar to Ethan, and he realized they were the same people he’d seen attempting to save a stranded woman outside Birmingham at the start of the outbreak. Based on that, he knew they were dangerous, but he also sensed they were decent people. Taking a chance, he succeeded in defusing the tense situation without bloodshed.

  Although reluctant to offer much detail about themselves or their destination, John needed to find out if their captors had come across anyone matching Ava’s description. His heart broke for what felt like the millionth time when they told him they hadn’t. Knowing his team could use all the help they could get, John took a chance of his own and decided to trust the two strangers. Although the pair had their own matters to attend to first, they were intrigued by the prospect of a cure and agreed to find John and the others in Atlanta.

  Along the way, John’s group encountered two individuals who defied the rules of the new world order. Those rules dictated that everyone who wasn’t infected was a target for those who were. The first to challenge this paradigm was Reverend Ezzard Mack, a preacher who helped John, Reams, Kate, and Ethan escape a large horde by giving them access to an abandoned tunnel that ran beneath his church. Somehow, Ezzard was able to move through the infected unharmed, as though he were one of them. Later, John’s group encountered a person they nicknamed the Pied Piper due to the fact that he appeared to be leading a horde of revs when they first spotted him. Unlike Ezzard, who appeared as healthy as any uninfected person, the Pied Piper didn’t look much better the revs trailing behind him. Through their investigation of the strange man, they learned that his decayed appearance was a side effect of homebrewed narcotics that he and his companions abused. Unfortunately, this information didn’t come
without a cost, as Ethan was killed in a shootout with the junkies.

  Having made it so far, they pressed on despite their grief over losing their friend. When they felt like giving up, they encountered an enigmatic old man who seemed almost oblivious to humanity’s collapse. He advised them on the dangers Atlanta posed, and suggested a route to follow should they decide to continue their journey into the city. Much to their surprise, the route delivered them to the CDC without further incident.

  When they arrived at the CDC compound, John’s reunion with Lin was bittersweet. His wife was dead, and while he held out hope that Ava was alive, he had no idea if he would ever see her again.

  Roughly 150 miles away, Ava was contemplating the same question about her father. Stranded atop a boulder surrounded by a sea of revs, she stared at her father in the distance. She watched in frustration, powerless to reach him despite his proximity. She couldn’t help but think that was as close as she’d ever get to him again.

  Never give up.

  The words her father had spoken to her many times before flashed through her mind, as if trying to rout the despair clawing at her soul like the infected’s reaching hands. Soon after, a daring plan sprang to life in her mind. Having spent more than a month alone in the post-LNV world, Ava had become adept at going unnoticed by the infected. After masking her scent with that of a decaying raccoon, she climbed down from the boulder. Wraithlike, she moved through the forest, causing no more disturbance than a gentle breeze. She kept her eyes trained on her father’s silhouette in the distance, fearing he would disappear if she lost sight of him. With all of her attention focused on her father, she didn’t see the dry branch that snapped loudly underfoot. The closest of the infected whipped their malevolent heads in her direction.

  Ava’s chance to reunite with her father faded before her eyes. Forced to flee from the infected, she would’ve been overrun were it not for a young girl named Annalee who came to her aid. Together with Lydia, the woman who’d been looking after Annalee, the three finally made it to Ava’s house. Ava was relieved to find that it had been her father she’d seen at the house, but heartbroken when she read the letter he left that indicated he’d left for Atlanta. Even at the young age of eleven, she thought she understood his decision. What hurt the most was the knowledge that he didn’t know whether she was alive or dead.

  Tired of watching the plague tear families apart, Lydia vowed to help Ava reunite with her father. In addition, she couldn’t pass up the chance to exact even the smallest retribution for what LNV had done to her husband, Lonnie. The following day, they, too, set out for Atlanta.

  Compared to the sparser concentrations they’d encountered in the rural areas, the city was crawling with the infected. Atlanta’s pre-LNV population density meant that the roads were choked with revs, rendering passage to the CDC virtually impossible. Lydia, Ava, and Annalee were quickly surrounded by hordes of infected closing in from all sides. As Lydia prepared to lay down her life for the two girls she’d fought so hard to protect, a blur of activity erupted in the midst of the encroaching horde.

  Kicking up a fine red mist that spewed chunks of flesh and bone like hail, the twin death storms steadily approached Lydia and the girls. When the two figures finally punched through the swarm, the three females couldn’t decide which was more terrifying: the revs or the two human buzz saws who’d just carved swaths of death right through them.

  Like a protective mother, Lydia shouted for the girls to get behind her as the blood-soaked figures approached. Upon hearing Ava’s name, the larger of the two figures brightened considerably. Rushing forward, he pulled off his balaclava and knelt before the cowering girls.

  Speaking rapidly, he asked, “One of you is named Ava? Ava Wild?”

  The three females stared at the imposing man in confusion. None of them knew how or why this man whom they’d never met knew Ava’s full name. Ever brave, Ava stepped forward.

  “My name is Benjamin Plant, and this is Ann. She prefers to be called Animal,” the man said with a soft smile. Ava thought her heart might explode when he told her that he’d recently met a man who’d been searching for a young girl named Ava, and that they were on their way to meet up with him.

  Fighting tooth and nail, Lydia and the girls joined Plant and Animal as they made there way to the CDC. Once they were safely behind the compound’s walls, reunions and reintroductions abounded. After what seemed like a lifetime, Ava was finally back in her father’s arms, and it felt as though her harrowing journey had finally ended. None of them knew how far from the end they truly were.

  1

  Snarls echoed ominously down the dark hall outside the makeshift surgery suite, making it seems as though a horde approached from every direction. The faint shadows cast by the lanterns spaced along the corridor only accentuated that impression. A rancid stench, like a butcher’s shop that had been without electricity for weeks, filled the air. It could be smelled throughout the entire wing of the building, and as such, most people avoided the hall at all costs. Dr. Lin San didn’t have that luxury.

  “Scalpel,” she said, sounding more like a trained surgeon than a scientist.

  The cool skin gave way under the finely honed surgical steel edge. The tissue felt doughy under her hands, more like a lump of clay than anything human. Lacking skin’s normal elasticity, the incision’s edges didn’t pull apart as the blade sliced through effortlessly. A trail of dark fluid appeared in the blade’s wake, spilling out without any urgency whatsoever. To Lin, it seemed more like leaking than anything she’d call bleeding. The restrained rev’s incessant growling and struggling rounded out the entire macabre experience.

  Although she’d never incised healthy human flesh before, she imagined it would be a more two-sided affair—the patient’s tissue providing subtle tactile feedback to remind her of the delicate nature of the business at hand and letting her know they were in this together. As it was, she was no surgeon, and this was no regular patient. She felt no such camaraderie with the thing strapped to the table before her. In fact, she hated it, and she knew it wanted to kill her. Nothing she’d seen made her think the infected retained any capacity for emotions such as hate. Instead, she believed their motivation was purely instinctual rather than anything they could understand or recognize. At least, she hoped that was the case.

  “Forceps. Can you retract here, please?” Dr. San said.

  Her assistant, Maria Abrams, handed her the instrument and did as she asked. They’d performed this procedure enough times that it was becoming routine.

  When Dr. San had first considered how to cure LNV, she’d been so focused on the best way to approach the daunting task that she hadn’t thought much about how such a treatment could actually be tested. That is, she hadn’t considered the inherent danger of being close enough to administer treatment to the infected. And she’d certainly never envisioned herself being the one with the syringe in hand.

  Seeing Dr. Banks in the holding cell had served as a reality check for Lin. He’d been a seasoned professional when dealing with the nastiest pathogens mankind had ever faced, yet there he was, looking little better than the average rev on the street. If his knowledge and experience hadn’t kept him safe, what chance would she have?

  When the first revs had been brought in for Dr. San’s team to use as test subjects, one of the soldiers had half-jokingly commented that they should muzzle the damned monsters.

  “That’s not a bad idea, but I’m not sure we have a foolproof way to do that,” she’d replied.

  The thought of the revs with masks strapped over their lower faces like Hannibal Lector was quite appealing, albeit disturbing. Unfortunately, they had no such contraptions at their disposal. Maria had told Lin that Dr. Banks and his team kept thick burlap bags over the revs’ heads, removing the coverings only when absolutely necessary. They’d all felt better not having to look at the snarling faces of the infected monsters they worked with, but it’d led to a definite false sense of security.

>   “Whenever the bags were off, everyone was as careful as they could be. As soon as they were replaced, it was as though the entire room breathed a huge sigh of relief—like we were all safe because we no longer had to stare into the face of danger. What a crock of shit,” Maria had said. Her eyes grew moist and her lower lip trembled slightly before she continued. “One of the damned things bit Dr. Banks right through the burlap bag.”

  Dr. San shuddered at the thought of the scientist being attacked by the rev he’d believed to be harmless. It was clear that no matter how cautious you were when dealing with the infected, there was always risk.

  “Perhaps surgery is the answer,” Dr. San said after a pause.

  Maria gasped. “What are you saying? We should sew their mouths shut or something? The moans and snarls are bad enough as it is. The thought of that sound escaping through mouths stitched shut is even more horrifying. Besides, I think they would just pull and pull until the sutures tore right through their lips.”

  The scene that flashed through Lin’s mind was indeed horrifying, but that wasn’t her plan.

  “I agree, Maria. But I was thinking more of trying to minimize the danger of an accidental bite by defanging the snake, so to speak. Dr. Banks is proof that trying your best to be careful only goes so far. It’s impossible to prevent every bite if you repeatedly put yourself in harm’s way.”

  It was well established that the primary mode of LNV transmission was a bite from one of the infected. In general, biting required teeth; without teeth to puncture the skin, the danger posed by a bite dropped dramatically. Dr. San had heard multiple stories of someone being bitten by an elderly, toothless rev with no more consequence than a nasty bruise. In addition, Dr. Banks’s team had shown that LNV was present in high concentrations in the saliva, which Dr. San assumed to be a result of the genes hijacked from the rabies virus. Taking both of these facts into account, Dr. San came up with a concept she thought of as a sort of surgical muzzle.