The thought made him sick to his stomach. If only he could do something to help the poor bastards. Both those who’d been caught here by the Remnants, and the Remnants themselves.
Unfortunately, the disease that had created him and the rest of the Scraps, had also created the Remnants. And to his knowledge, there was nothing to be done to cure them.
Larger and faster than the humans of old, the Rems were also highly intelligent. As in IQs that made Stephen Hawking appear average. There was no telling what the Remnants would have been capable of achieving if not for one serious drawback to their disease ... it left them with a rare form of anemia and a vitamin deficiency that caused them to crave raw, fresh meat to such an extent that they’d eat any live protein source they could lay their hands on.
Even other people.
Which unfortunately caused a rare brain disease related to Kuru that resulted in tremors and a neurodegeneration that would ultimately kill them. Sadly, they would all eventually die in miserable agony with something none of them had wanted to contract.
Thanks, Drabs.
The gray bastards had left the once great human race with barely anything that was recognizable.
Disgusted, he headed back to his men.
The moment he reached them and transformed, Mia grabbed his arm with a panic he understood all too well. She’d lost her younger sister and father to a Remnant attack, and had only escaped because her father had sacrificed himself so that she and a small group could launch a helicopter out of their nest. Her sister had been snatched right out of the seat beside her as they launched, and her last sight of her family had been the Remnants tearing them apart.
To this day, she had nightmares from it.
“Did they scratch you?”
Josiah shook his head. “I’m not infected.”
“You sure?”
“We’ll know by morning. If I start to eat one of you, shoot me.”
Unamused, she grimaced at him. “Believe me, it’ll be my pleasure, Commander.”
“Just remember to tie my shoelaces when you bury me.”
Mia rolled her eyes at their old zombie joke. Which wasn’t too far from the truth. If only the Remnants were zombies. At least then they’d be stupid.
And slow.
But even once the neurodegeneration kicked in, the Rems could live for years with their genius level IQ, and their superior strength and reflexes that would rival Olympic athletes. That was what made them so lethal. Like Josiah and his Scraps, they wanted to reclaim the earth, too, and they were the ones making problems for the rest of them, as they kept going up against the Drabs directly and threatening their authority.
Only if the Remnants took it over, they’d use the rest of them as a food source, since the Scrap uncontaminated flesh was what they needed to prolong their lives and stave-off the eventual madness that came with it.
Their own flesh didn’t have the same nutrients in it. Apparently, whatever had caused the mutation to them had also destroyed whatever it was they needed to ingest. That little nugget only existed in the flesh of the Scraps and Drabs.
Lucky them.
So, like the Drabs, the Remnants captured as many of the Scraps as they could in an effort to use them for experiments to see if they could find a cure for their own disease.
And when they couldn’t find that gold nugget of happiness, they ate them.
If the Remnants could score a Relic—humans with pure, untainted DNA—then it was a stellar day indeed. Relics were the holy grail of all creatures. About as rare as finding a unicorn in a pink tutu, dancing on the third Sunday of the sixth month during the light of a full moon.
No one had seen or heard of one in decades. They were thought to have all died out long ago.
Sighing, Josiah glanced around his gathered team. “Sorry, guys. The risk is too high now. Between the Drabs and the Rems ... we need to cut our losses and get back to base.”
With a reluctant sigh, Mia and the others nodded. “Understood, Commander.”
They might understand, but it didn’t make it right. They’d lost an entire team today. No one liked that.
Least of all him.
And it was the last thing they could afford. They needed every member they had, if they were to survive this.
Josiah turned back toward the base at the same time a loud explosion rocked the ground under their feet.
They all stumbled from the force of the impact.
Lobo sucked his breath in as he saw the destruction that lit up the night sky around them with a bright purple and yellow hue. It was an ominous glow that continued to burn and twinkle. That would bring the Drabs down on all of them. “I hate the Rems almost as much as the Drabs.”
Josiah could understand that. But they were all on the same side. “Don’t, Lobo. They’re hurting. Just like us.”
More so, in fact. Unlike them, the Rems lived with a death sentence.
“Yeah, but we need to be pulling together, not fighting each other. We’re human, too. Not food.”
Not to them. And Josiah could understand that, too. Remnants didn’t have their magic or psychic abilities. So, they viewed the Scraps as Drab knock-offs.
Something they hated them for. Something they held against them, as the Scraps had something the Remnants didn’t. A benefit that the Rems would give anything to possess—just like there were Scraps who begrudged the Rems their superior strength and intelligence. And since they couldn’t have it or weren’t blessed with it from birth, the alternative was to hold it against them and begrudge them every breath they took over it.
It’s not fair! Why you and not me!
The rallying cry of humanity.
“The more things change, the more they stay the same.”
They turned to stare at Josiah.
“It’s an old human saying.” He sighed. “At any rate, head to base. Take separate routes and watch your backs.”
He for one, intended to guard his.
By the time Josiah reached the base, he was completely defeated. The last thing he wanted was to face the rest of their people and tell them what had happened.
That their team had been eaten by Remnants.
Honestly? He wished the Remnants had eaten him and spared him this confrontation.
At least that was his thought until they entered the main hall and found a small group gathered there, waiting for them.
Dread filled him. Ah, God, what now?
It had to be bad for Angie to be here with her daughter. She never did that. Not unless it was something catastrophic, and they were trying to calm the masses.
He slowed his approach even more as he caught sight of a tall, lean man in their midst he didn’t recognize.
What the...?
They never got visitors. Or anyone else.
Ah, shit. This was going to be apocalyptic. Maybe he should take a minute to find some Kevlar.
Or a grenade.
“Josiah! We’ve been trying to reach all of you.”
His gut tightened even more at Angie’s excited tone. He narrowed his gaze. “Why?”
The man stepped forward and extended his hand. “I’m Dr. Leon Waters, Commander… the head research physician for the Phoenix colony.” He said that as if it should mean something to him.