Ad Remedium

By Nicole Banks

You can’t destroy what you do not understand—for we are the cure.
Sol’s been locked in a system that left her people broken and hungry, while the pockets of others only got fatter.
It came as no surprise when the powers that be poisoned their waters, thinking they could snuff their kind out of existence without consequence. Little did they know it would only breed a different type of hunger among Sol and her people.

**NOTE FROM THE AUTHOR: Ad Remedium is a novella originally part of the Black Hearts anthology.**

• Language: English
• Publisher: Nicole Banks
• Release date: May 21, 2019
• ISBN: 9780463433027

Nicole Banks

Nicole Banks graduated with a Bachelor’s in forensic psychology from John Jay College. She was born and raised in New York. She loves writing, music and dancing. Shattered started as a school assignment for one of her free writing college courses and it has morphed into so much more. She is currently working on Volume 2 of the Shattered Series. Nicole's book won the 2012 Professional Publications Facebook Writing Contest.

Book preview

Sienna brewed the last batch of her special tea for the night. She looked at her watch. None of the clocks that ran on electricity worked anymore. She couldn’t remember the last time she’d been able to stay ahead of the bills. Whatever extra money she had went to a school fund for her granddaughter, Sol.

Her watch read 3:13 a.m.—just like the rest of the clocks in the apartment. Lately, whenever she checked the time, it was always in some three-one-three variation. It wasn’t lost on her what the Universe was trying to tell her.

Something was coming.

Sienna shivered as a cold draft wafted around her. She looked behind her, half-expecting her granddaughter to be standing there, but there was no one. She held her breath, waiting for the faint sound she knew she’d hear.

Grams? Help me.

There it was, Sol’s voice. Every night for the past five nights she’d called out for Sienna in her sleep. Only Sol never spoke the words out loud. She was calling her from her dream state.

Sienna wiped her hands on the kitchen towel and grabbed a flashlight so she could make her way through the house without bumping into anything. She opened Sol’s door, shining the light in her room, and something moved in the corner. Sienna quickly flashed the light in the corner but nothing was there. She cursed under her breath and spoke a prayer her own grandmother taught her to ward off evil spirits.

She passed the flashlight again through the room, not surprised to see Onyx passed out on the bed next to Sol. He was always in her house. Sienna would have been worried about her teenage granddaughter in bed with a boy, but those two hadn’t realized what they were to each other yet.

As far back as she could remember Sol always left her bedroom window open. Onyx would sneak in to sleep on the floor, until either Sol told him to come up or he went on his own. He’d sleep over the covers, and Sol would always curl up into him underneath the covers, unless she was sick, then they both slept on top of the covers—like she was now.

Sol had the blanket kicked off of her even though the apartment was an icebox. This was the second time she’d been down with what the doctors thought was the flu, but something didn’t feel right to Sienna. Sol was getting sick too often and too severely for this not to be something else.

Sienna watched as Onyx turned toward Sol, wrapping her tight in his arms. She shook her head and laughed lightly. Onyx was always the only one who never got sick when he was around her—come to think of it, Sienna couldn’t remember a time when Onyx was ever sick.

Sol? She heard Onyx say her name as clear as if he spoken it out loud, but she never saw him move his lips.

This is new.

Sienna never heard Onyx before when he would spend the night. That boy never dreamed—she made sure of it. His subconscious was not kind to him when his defenses were down.

Sienna caught movement to her right again. She moved the flashlight only to gasp as a black mist with red eyes stood in front of her. It grabbed her face and Sienna started to shake. She didn’t have time to say the prayer that would ward off whatever was holding on to her. Images of the world burning flashed before her eyes until there was nothing left. Sienna held her breath. She’d dreamed this before, only now the images were clearer.

She stood in a graveyard. The earth underneath the headstones should have been untouched, but they weren’t. The earth had been disrupted—like whatever was buried refused to stay that way. She could hear the heavy breathing and the screams, but she still couldn’t see where they were coming from.

The terrain shifted to the land she grew up on as a child, but instead of the lush greens of the grass and the trees, only darkness and blood remained. Bodies littered the grounds. Some were already decaying, while others seemed to be up and moving toward something. Sienna moved with them, eager to see what was kept from her every time she had this dream.

The terrain shifted once more. This time she was back in her neighborhood. It was dark and there was a thick fog, making it impossible to see anything.

Ad Remedium.

A voice whispered around her and the fog started to clear. The image was hard to make out at first, but when it finally registered in her head, Sienna gasped.

There was a man in a white robe standing over two bodies. Sienna couldn’t see his face as it was covered in a bloodied white mask. She looked down at the two bodies and stumbled when she realized the one on top was feeding off of the body on the bottom. Sienna tried to run, but she couldn’t get her feet to move.

Once the person on top stopped feeding, it slowly stood up. Sienna knew who it was before she turned around and she wept openly. My Sol.

Sol turned around and moved faster than Sienna thought was possible for a human. Sol grabbed on to her face, her eyes were blood red and there was blood on her mouth.

What have you become, Sol? Sienna’s voice shook not from fear but from sadness.

What they turned me into. Sol’s voice wasn’t her own.

Sienna started to hear shouting in the distance and the terrain shifted again. She was back in her granddaughter’s bedroom. Her eyes fought to focus on what was in front of her.

Grams? Grams, can you hear me?

That was the Sol she knew—she’d know her baby’s voice anywhere. Sienna let out a gasp, her eyes finally focusing on what was in front of her.

Sol stood in front of her, grabbing on to her face. Sienna wanted to let out a sigh of relief, but she couldn’t because the black mist with the red eyes stood directly behind Sol, its arms wrapping itself around her before completely disappearing inside of her.

**Attention signal**

We interrupt this broadcast to bring you an Emergency Action Notification. All broadcast stations and cable systems shall transmit this Emergency Action Notification at the request of the White House to participate in the Emergency Alert System. The President of the United States will appear shortly over the Emergency Broadcast System to deliver important precautions and instructions. During this emergency, most stations will remain on the air to provide news and information to the public in assigned areas. This is WNBC. We will continue to serve the New York City Metropolitan Area. If you are not in this local area, you should tune to stations providing news and information for your local area. You are listening to the Emergency Alert System serving the New York City Metropolitan Area. Do not use your telephone. The telephone lines should be kept open for emergency use. The Emergency Alert System has been activated.

**Attention signal**

This is a National Emergency. The Center for Disease Control has issued a Viral Outbreak Warning in various states. State and local officials have reported cases of high fever, nausea, death, and even cannibalism. Please seek shelter now and stay indoors until further notice.

**Attention signal**

Present day

Year four A.Z. (After Zombie)

Carson’s breathing was labored as he hunkered down behind the dumpster in the back of an alley. He tried to get his breathing under control, not wanting to draw any attention in his direction. It was bad enough he was bleeding out on his side; he didn’t need to alert anyone who wasn’t part of his team to his whereabouts with his breathing.

Carson checked his radio transmitter, not surprised to find it shot to shit. He tossed the thing behind him and checked the wound on his side. He flinched when he applied pressure. He had to bite the inside of his cheek to keep from groaning out loud.

This mission went from shithole to FUBAR in a matter of minutes. What should have been a fact-finding trip to see if there were any signs of life left out here after the NZAMBI virus was unleashed turned into him and his team being ambushed—by what, he wasn’t sure.

They didn’t look or move like the zombies he’d encountered when the virus first leaked. They damn sure didn’t move or look like civilians either. They’d been strategic in their attack on his team, like they’d been waiting for them to show up.

Carson heard the light sounds of footsteps heading in his direction, and he cursed under his breath. He pressed himself farther up against the dumpster and checked his weapon.

Great.

He didn’t have enough ammo to shoot his way out of here, and the only other option was to climb the fire escape above his head. But the way his wound was beginning to throb, he knew he wouldn’t be able to climb up that thing fast enough to not be seen or caught.

He held his breath as the footsteps got closer. He prayed it was one of his team members.

The footsteps abruptly stopped. He raised his head slightly above the dumpster to see what was standing at the head of the alley. It was a lone female wearing shorts, a tank top, and combat boots. She had long black hair that sat up high in a ponytail cascading down her back and a red bandana covering the lower half of her face. Her eyes were closed, but her head was tilted up like she was waiting for something.

Her gaze snapped toward the dumpster, and he ducked down out of her line of sight. Come out, come out, wherever you are. She started walking toward the dumpster. "I followed your