Jenny Plague-Bringer

Chapter Twenty-Seven



Jenny woke feeling stiff, sick to her stomach, and full of cramps. She lay in a hospital bed under dim lights. Someone had replaced her clothes with a thin hospital gown and pasted small circular sensors all over her arms and chest. She could feel them on her neck and face, too, but when she reached up to touch them, she discovered her hands were chained to the bed. So were her ankles. The steel chains were thin but heavy, and allowed only the smallest movements—she couldn’t even scratch her nose if she needed to do that. Naturally, her nose started itching immediately.

She was alone in a cube-shaped cell with clear walls, a clear ceiling, and no furniture. The larger room outside her cell was a concrete bay that looked like the hangar for a small airplane. Dark windows looked down on her from high on one wall.

Jenny recognized it immediately as one of the laboratories at the underground complex in the Harz mountains. For a long, strange minute, she wondered whether she’d somehow traveled back in time...or maybe all her different lives were really happening at once, in some way, and she could move between them.

Then she saw the bank of digital monitors lined up outside a clear wall of her cell, remotely reading the sensors all over her body, spitting out moving graphs of her heartbeat, breathing, blood pressure, brain waves, and other metrics she couldn’t identify, all her inner biological activities displayed and tracked, and probably recorded. They must have gathered their data remotely from the sensors glued all over her body.

This definitely was not the 1930’s, but she was back in the same place. They’d all been captured by the unavoidable man Mariella had seen in Seth’s future, whom Jenny believed would turn out to be the Nazi officer Kranzler, the seer who could reach in and find people’s memories, Mariella’s opposite.

Jenny immediately began to worry about Seth, and about Mariella, too. Where were they?

She looked up at the clear roof of her cube, where a pair of fan units each connected to a ventilation duct that reached away to the laboratory ceiling high above, keeping Jenny’s air separate from everyone else in the underground complex.

Between the fan units, which were located on opposite ends of the cube, a small black dome watched her.

“Hey, I’m up!” Jenny shouted at the camera that had to be inside the dome. “Anybody want to take these chains off?” She waved her hands as much as the restraints allowed.

She looked out through the transparent wall of her cube, toward the steel doors that led out of the lab. Fifteen or twenty minutes passed before one of them opened.

The man who entered bore some resemblance to Kranzler—dark red hair tinged with gray, a broad and stocky build, flat nose, feral green eyes. He wore a dark blue military uniform with a starched white shirt and black tie, and he was followed by three guards in biohazard facemasks and body armor. The guards wore black from their helmets to their boots, with no flag or any other decoration.

This incarnation of Kranzler stepped up to the monitor bank just outside the wall, ignoring her and looking at the machines for a moment. He looked like some kind of Star Wars villain, she thought, with the masked stormtroopers standing in a razor-straight row behind him.

“Jennifer Morton,” he eventually said, still looking at the EEG machine. “We’ve been looking for you.”

“Who are you? And where are we?” Jenny asked, although she was certain she knew the answers to both questions.

“I am the one who finally caught you.” He looked up at her, smiling. “You make for dangerous prey, Jennifer. I hope you’ll forgive our use of tranquilizers.”

“Where are Seth and Mariella?”

“Safe. Secure. No need to worry about them.”

“I want to see Seth. And you can take these chains off me, I’m not going to attack you.”

“I’m supposed to take your word for that? I’ve studied the Fallen Oak outbreak, Jenny. I’ve seen what you do to those who get in your way. And, you may not believe me, but I respect it, I truly do. Because the world is shaped by one thing, Jennifer: force.”

“The Force?” Jenny asked, still thinking how the guards looked like stormtroopers.

“Force!” He slammed a large fist into the clear wall. “You have it inside you, but force must be used intelligently. It must have purpose and direction. I can provide that.”

“I don’t need purpose or direction,” she told him. “I need to scratch my nose.”

“Nobody’s ever died of an itchy nostril.”

“How long are you going to keep me in this bed?”

“As long as we wish. We have to keep our technicians and medical staff safe from you, don’t we?”

“Why are we here?”

“To protect the United States against all enemies...foreign and domestic.” He smiled. “You’re a threat to security, Jennifer. We can’t just have someone like you running wild, leaving hundreds of dead people in your wake simply because you don’t like them.”

“That’s not what happened! I don’t want to hurt anybody.”

“I’ve seen many photographs that say otherwise.”

“They were attacking me...and I’ve changed since then.”

He gave a cold laugh. “Changed how? Found Jesus? Born again? Or maybe those Mormon kids with the bicycles knocked on your door and changed your life? I’d like to hear the tale.”

“You couldn’t begin to understand it.”

“I’m sure it’s all very convoluted and dramatic. But I’m not so much interested in what you’ve done, Jennifer, as where you’re going now. You can work with us. I’m prepared to offer you that.”

“Doing what?” she asked.

“Serving your country.”

“Serving you. I know you, Kranzler. You’re a monster. I don’t know how you climbed so high in this lifetime, in this world. I guess cockroaches know how to survive in any environment.”

She could tell he hadn’t heard anything after the world Kranzler. He looked stunned for a moment, then shook his head as if to clear it.

“You must work with us,” Ward said. “Let us test you. Let us examine how your ability works. Your power could reach its full potential with my help.”

“I don’t want to reach my full potential. I don’t want to use the pox ever again.”

“Your choice is to accept your place and work with us, or to stay locked up in this cell for the rest of your life. All we want now is to test and learn. We’ll table any discussion of national defense applications until you’re comfortable talking about that. Do we have a deal?” He folded his arms and watched her face.

“I can’t do any testing now, anyway,” Jenny said. “With all these whirli-gizmos attached to me, I’m sure you’ve noticed I’m slightly pregnant. I can’t use the pox, it’s not safe for the baby.”

“You’re only half-term. We can’t wait months to begin testing.”

“Then I suggest you don’t go around kidnapping pregnant women.”

“Everything I do is for the greater good,” Ward told her. “When you see that, you will join us.”

“Whose idea of the greater good? Yours?”

“You will cooperate with us, Jennifer.” His eyes seemed to grow dark as he stared at her. “You will submit to testing when I order it.”

“I’m sorry, General, but like I said, my hands are tied.” Jenny raised her cuffed hands.

He glared at her, then shook his head as he turned away. The guards followed him out and slammed the steel door behind them.

Jenny looked around the concrete lab. They hadn’t bothered to provide her with anything to read or a TV, but she had plenty of past-life memories to watch. This place crawled with them. She wondered if she was in the exact same lab where they’d tested her so many times. She looked around at the concrete floor, but she didn’t see any bloodstains.


Juliana felt a wave of relief as she stepped into the lab. No animals today, just more beige machines full of dials and knobs. They hadn’t made her touch any more animals since the goats, and she hoped they’d decided not to do that anymore, after seeing how much it upset her. She didn’t mind letting them monitor her and swab samples from the gory lesions she summoned to the surface of her body, and photograph her naked as Dr. Wichtmann kept insisting, but she had resolved not to kill any more animals no matter how much they pressured her. They would have to adjust their testing to that. Maybe they already had.

She stood near the exam table and looked up at the windows high above. They’d dimmed the lighting on the observation deck, so the windows looked like black mirrors. She had no idea whether anyone was watching her.

A few minutes passed, and she grew more and more uneasy. By now, the biologists and doctors should have been here in their gas masks and elbow-length rubber gloves, poking and prodding at her. The room felt unusually cold today, too, and she shivered in her light dress and folded her arms in around herself.

A steel door opened, and two uniformed S.S. men in black gas masks entered, rolling a surgical gurney. A man was strapped to it with wide leather belts, his mouth bound with a cloth gag. He lunged his shoulders and hips uselessly, grunting and screaming against his gag. It was hard to tell his age, because his face and head had been carelessly shaved with a straight razor, leaving them cross-hatched with cuts and scrapes. He was stripped to his stained underwear, and deep lash marks were carved all over his body. It was clear he’d been tortured, and starved as well, his ribs jutting out through his skin.

The S.S. men rolled him to the center of the room, then turned and marched toward the door without a word to her.

“Wait! What’s happening?” Juliana asked.

They ignored her and hurried out, locking the door behind them, leaving her alone with the tortured man squirming on the gurney. His head flopped toward her, his eyes wide, and he made some desperate pleading sounds against his gag.

“Please hurry.” Dr. Wichtmann’s voice sounded over the intercom.

“Hurry? What do you expect me to do?” Juliana asked.

“You know what we expect you do,” Wichtmann replied.

“You want me to infect him?”

“Death is preferred.”

“I can’t do that!”

“Do not fear, Juliana.” Kranzler’s deeper voice spoke now. “This man is a convicted criminal. He will die whether you are the instrument or not.”

“He is?” Juliana looked at the suffering man. “What was his crime?”

“Treason.”

Juliana had been hoping to hear he was a raper of women and a murderer of children. “What kind of treason?”

“I cannot disclose that. Rest assured, he is the lowest sort of mongrel, barely a man at all,” Kranzler said.

“We are on a schedule,” Wichtmann’s voice added.

Juliana shook her head, backing away. “I can’t.”

“You can,” Kranzler said. “We are in a war, Juliana, of civilization against barbarians. In a war, you must kill.”

“I’m not at war with anyone,” Juliana said. “And I’m not German, so if you guys are planning a war, that’s your problem. You have to get this man a doctor right now!”

“You do not give orders in my lab!” Wichtmann snapped. “Apply the touch.”

“No!” Juliana folded her arms and walked to the door. “Let me go. Let me go home. I want to return to America, right now. I’m not staying here and doing this.”

There was a muffled conversation, as though someone had covered the microphone, and then Dr. Wichtmann spoke in a resigned voice: “Testing is concluded for today. You may return to your quarters.”

“I don’t want to return to my quarters, I want to get Sebastian and leave this place. And that’s all I’m going to do.”

“Juliana, please relax yourself,” Kranzler said. “We cannot make transportation arrangements immediately. If you still wish to leave in the morning, we will happily put both of you on a train.”

Juliana took a deep breath and tried to calm down, but the bleeding, screaming man wasn’t going to allow that. His face and voice would echo in her mind for the rest of her life.

“Fine. Thank you,” Juliana said. “We’ll be happy to take a train in the morning. Now, please, somebody help this person!”

“The medical staff will enter when you leave,” Dr. Wichtmann said. “No one wishes to be exposed to your condition.”

“I’m going, I’m going, just send them down.” Juliana stepped out through the door, past a couple of armed S.S. guards, and hurried along the corridor toward the dormitory. The guards trailed her at a distance until she reached her hall.

She spent the rest of her afternoon sitting on her bed, knees to her chin, and shaking.

Eventually, Mia came home from her own testing, and she hurried over when she saw the horrified look on Juliana’s face.

“What’s wrong?” Mia asked, taking one of Juliana’s gloved hands. “What happened? Tell me.”

“They wanted me to kill somebody,” Juliana whispered.

“Are you serious?”

“He was strapped to a table. Everyone acted like it was no big deal, like I wasn’t even supposed to care about killing some helpless person.”

“Why would they think that?”

“Because I’m a monster.” Juliana laid her head on her knees. “Just a monster who can’t touch anyone. Death in a white dress.” Juliana pulled her hand away from Mia’s. “You shouldn’t touch me.”

“You’re not a monster.” Mia rubbed her arm through her sleeve. “You’re the only sane person here. I’m so glad you came, Juliana. I felt like I was losing my mind.”

“I’m not glad,” Juliana said. “I mean, I’m glad I met you, but this place is just...scary. I told them I wanted to leave. They said they’d put us on a train in the morning.”

“Oh, no!” Mia’s face broke down, and she covered it with both hands. “You’re going to leave? You’re leaving me here?”

“You can come with us. To America, if you like.”

“I can’t!” Mia was already crying. “Juliana, my father sold me to them. They’ll go back and punish my family if I leave.”

Juliana’s shoulders sagged. She didn’t know what to do now, and she wondered how the people running the base would react.

She found out a few hours later, when Alise stopped by their room just before dinner, while Juliana and Mia were quietly reading.

“How are you two today?” Alise asked. “Anything exciting happen?”

They both shook their heads.

“You look so cute today,” Alise told Mia. “New make-up? Or did you change your hair?”

“Same old everything,” Mia told her.

“Well, you look beautiful. Listen, I need to speak with Juliana in private for a minute. Want to go on to the dining room, and we’ll see you there?”

“I suppose I could...” Mia rose slowly from her bed, but she looked uncertain. “Are you going to be all right, Juliana?”

“I’m fine,” Juliana nodded her head, though she didn’t feel fine at all. She felt repulsive and evil. “See you at dinner.”

Mia trudged out of the room, clearly not wanting to leave Juliana alone with Alise. Alise closed the door behind her, then turned her gray eyes on Juliana, who still sat on the bed.

“Let’s talk, Juliana.” Alise sauntered towards her, then pulled out the chair from Juliana’s writing desk and sat just a few feet away. “You can be honest with me. Are you unhappy here?”

“They wanted me to kill someone today.”

“Oh, he was only a common criminal,” Alise said. “You have to understand, Juliana, that with your touch being so...medical, they have to test the effects on people. Why not criminals? It’s not like we’ll ever run out of them, unfortunately, and the Reich has already sentenced them to death. So their death should at least have value, shouldn’t it? Add something to the knowledge of humanity? Like how your power works. That’s worth the life of a man already sentenced to die, isn’t it?”

“I’m not going to kill anyone for them. You can tell them I said that when you report back.”

“Juliana, I’m here because I’m worried about you.”

“I doubt that,” Juliana said.

Alise glanced at the door, as if concerned someone might be spying on them. Then she leaned closer and whispered, “I want to show you something. About me and my power. But you must promise to keep it secret. Will you?”

“If you want.” Juliana shrugged.

“This might seem strange, but be calm and watch.” Alise took in a deep, slow breath, filling her lungs all the way, her gray eyes fixed on Juliana’s face. When she exhaled, she breathed out a cloud of what looked like tiny, pink, fluffy flower petals. Juliana flinched as they landed all over her face, neck, and arms...but then she felt much, much better.

The delicate little petals melted into her skin like sugar cubes in hot tea. A few of the pink flakes drifted into Juliana’s gaping mouth and landed on her tongue. They reminded her of cotton candy from the fair, and every sweet thing she’d ever tasted.

Juliana sighed and relaxed. The world had a beautiful golden glow now, radiating from Alise, the girl she loved with all her heart, even if she hadn’t realized it until just now.

“You’re so sweet to come see me,” Juliana said. “You’re so...perfect.”

“I know. Are you happy now?”

“I am happy when you’re near me.”

“And you trust me, don’t you? You know that anything I ask you to do is for the good?”

“Of course.” Juliana beamed. At that moment, she would have jumped off a cliff in the desert if she knew it would make Alise happy. Her heart had never felt so alive and so vulnerable. “You’re a good friend, Alise. I want us to stay friends.”

“Why wouldn’t we?” Alise look puzzled.

“Weren’t you mad at me when you got here? You were mad about...something.” Juliana couldn’t remember. All she could think about was Alise, beautiful, fascinating Alise. “Let me think...”

“I know what it was. You said some silly thing earlier, to Dr. Wichtmann. You said you wanted to quit the research, leave the base, and go back to America. That’s not true, is it?” Alise looked as if she were about to tear up and start crying, just like Mia had. “Oh, no, I can’t lose a friend like you. Promise me you’ll never leave me, Juliana.”

“I wouldn’t leave you.” Juliana’s heart ached sweetly, just knowing that Alise felt the same way about her. “I couldn’t leave you, Alise. I...I think I might love you.”

“I love you, too, Juliana.” Alise stood and winked. “Let’s go have dinner. I’m glad we could talk things over. I’ll walk you to your lab tests in the morning, if you like.”

“I’d like it very much.” Juliana beamed at her as they left her room, toward the small dining room where the test subjects had been segregated ever since Juliana’s arrival.

It had never been easy for Juliana to make friends, so she couldn’t believe her luck, having a friend like Alise who lived just down the hall.