Harlow slept well past the time she should and woke up to find an empty attic and no Remy. She soon found him in the sanctuary with Rogue and Niridia, prepping plates for breakfast and smiling happily along with the others. He apparently fit right in, Rogue telling her that she was definitely pleased with how helpful and kind he was and mentioned something about snatching him before someone else did…if she was interested in the hairier sex that way.
Harlow took him out back to the chickens and showed him how to check for fertilized eggs before feeding the coop and cleaning it out. She then took him on her rounds of passing out clean blankets and towels to each room that had been cobbled together so people at least had a modicum of privacy. Remy sat with her as she saw congregants with ailments that she prescribed medicine to from the nearby pharmacies, bandaged simple wounds, and counseled those whose injuries were more related to the mind. After that, the two went to take stock of their supplies and before they knew it, the second Golden Hour of the day had come. “I can’t thank you enough for having me, Harlow. Being here felt like being with family on the holidays, if I even knew what such a thing was like. The church is safe, fortified, warm, and welcoming. I’m going to report back to the others, and leave a note at the general store within forty-eight hours letting you know what the consensus is.” Remy went to shake Harlow’s hand as the two stood at the door to the outside. “I’m so glad you felt at home while you were here. This is us every day; it’s not performative. Let Vanessa and William know that I am so thankful for the biscuits and that they were delicious. She’ll have to show me how to make them if they decide they want to move in.” Harlow chuckled as she shook Remy’s hand. Remy let his hand linger in hers, a tired smile on his face as he looked at Harlow. He secretly hoped that his group would be just as smitten as he was with St. Andrew’s…and Harlow herself. “I’m sure she will. Until we meet again, mon ami. It was a pleasure spending time with you.” Remy took Harlow’s hand and kissed the top of it gently before he slipped out into the snow. Harlow shut the door and put her back to it, exhaling with a pleased smile as she thought about the last twenty-four hours she had spent with Remy. It had its awkward moments, but overall it was more than enjoyable and made her feel hopeful for the first time in a long while. It was a strange feeling she prayed wouldn’t go away. (*) The next evening brought the funeral for Shane and Robin and their subsequent internment. Harlow allowed others to say something in favor of their fallen friends, a group eulogy that had a few quite teary eyed. Once they were buried, Rogue and Harlow crafted some headstones out of broken stone and stained glass from the front of the church. Hunting further out had brought them a few more deer and a fat hog, leaving them with some decent meat for the time being. Harlow would have gone out, if only to check the general store, but she was so busy with the funeral, she never made it out. So, she waited till the next morning and snuck out right at the start of the Golden Hour to check for his correspondence, but she found nothing. There was only one more chance to check in the forty-eight hour window, but when Harlow got to the general store, she found no note or any sign that Remy had been there at all since they last met. Harlow’s initial reaction was to assume that they’re decision was a no, but then the wheels began turning and she had a sinking feeling that maybe something had happened. “No time to go back and set up a search party; I’ll have to go at it alone,” Harlow was deliberating with herself, “But I don’t know exactly where they are. He did mention a bank and how many banks are in the east end? I can find it. If I head in that direction, I may just run into them. Ok, too many variables. Pick one and move forward.” Harlow grabbed a few more snacks from the shelves, made sure that her weapons were all in place, her chain in one hand and dagger in the other as she left the general store, hood up on her cloak, and went East. (*) Harlow scuttled around in the dark, careful to keep herself out of sight and low to the ground when she could, just in case. She kept her eyes peeled for any people or anything amiss in general, but the streets were empty save for a few rats running in and out of the alleys. The closer she came to the east end, the more that feeling of dread built in her belly. It was that ripple in the energy around her that she felt when something just wasn’t right. Was it a vampire? Or something else? She had just gotten to the crossroads where the buildings started to change and things were far less nice than where she lived at St. Andrews. Harlow knew the area well, but was unsure of any banks, wondering if it was erected after she was last there. There was no current map, no map at all, that could point her in the right direction. She could still feel waves of wild energy in the air, but couldn’t directly pinpoint where it was emanating from. “Ok, which way do I go?” Harlow crossed her arms over themselves, “I need some direction.” She could just eenie meenie miney pick one, but it would take far too long to search the entirety of the east end by herself and the Golden Hour was passing. A lightbulb went off in her head, “When in doubt, use the manual.” Harlow pulled her little leather book from her pocket and skimmed through the pages in the faint waning light of the hour. “Ah, the map sigil. I knew this might come in handy at some point.” Harlow found what she was looking for and began drawing the sigil in the snow with her foot. When it was completed, as best as it could be, she pierced her finger with the copper marker in her book and let it drip over the snow. “Show me the way now.” Harlow whispered over the sigil before it began to glow red and the soft down lifted up from the ground in a tiny cyclone before it settled again, an arrow in its wake pointing down Tiller Street. “Tiller Street it is then.” Harlow followed the arrow. She went down that specific road for some time before the little cyclone caught up with her and pointed her to the right down Stanton Road. The arrow led her like this for some time, deeper into an area of the city that had been devastated by fire. It didn’t look like it was the safest place to be, but the arrow continued to guide her further. A huge building now loomed in front of her, mostly untouched by the flames that had clearly ripped through the area. Even in the dark, she could see that it said Booker’s Bank and Savings on the front. And on the ground in front of her was a crimson stain in the freshly fallen snow. A trail of blood was smeared across the white powder as it led up to the front of the bank building and in various other directions that disappeared into the night. Her gut had been right. Harlow was just about to rush into the building when she heard shouting and the front door opened up, a man around her age running out with a bucket. He started to pour whatever was in it over the snow where the blood had stained it and was working his way closer to Harlow when he finally saw her. He dropped the bucket and drew a revolver from his hip with a shout, “Don’t move, cunt.” Harlow froze, not wanting to get shot, and held her hands up, still holding her weapons. “These bullets are tipped in silver and etched with a cross. You won’t make it past the threshold.” The man threatened her. Harlow could now smell what was in the bucket, a pungent acidic scent that permeated the immediate area. “Ammonia to break up the blood and offend the nose. Keep them at bay.” She uttered when she should have been defending herself. “Right. I bet you can’t stand it.” The man retorted. “It’s unpleasant, but I’m not vampire. I came here looking for Remy.” The mention of his name from her mouth made the man start to lower his weapon. “Remy? He didn’t mention having company coming.” The man eyed her warily, raising his gun again. “It’s a spontaneous visit. What’s going on though? Whose blood is this?” Harlow was more concerned with injuries that may have been incurred. “ A few folks. But if you say you know Remy…” The man backed up to the door, his gun still aimed at her heart, “Then you’ll have to prove it.” He cracked open the door and called out to someone within earshot that there was a woman there to see R emy. The door slipped closed and he came forward again, keeping a better eye on Harlow. “I promise you I’m a friend. Is there any way that I can help?” Harlow tried to make this man see that she wasn’t a threat. “You can help by staying out here. I’m not letting you in there and getting everyone killed.” The man snarled, shaking the gun at her. Harlow was just going to rebut when the door to the bank opened again and Remy came barreling down the walkway, hollering for the man to lower his weapon. “Put your weapon away, Oscar. This is Harlow.” Remy stood between the two before he grabbed Harlow roughly by the collar and pulled her into a shaky hug. He had blood all over his hands and smeared on his face, a deep cut over the bridge of his nose. But there was no way that he made all that blood in the snow. “She didn’t mention her name, mate!” Oscar defended himself out of embarrassment. “Maybe it was because she was scared considering you were shaking your gun at her.” Remy scolded him before turning to Harlow, “And what are you even doing here?” “I—I kept going back to the general store, waiting for your note, but you ran out of time. I got worried, had a bad feeling, and came looking for you. What happened? Why are you covered in blood?” “We got ambushed right before our supply run. Crazed New Borns came out of nowhere, killed two men and injured a third. They got away with the bodies and we were able to get Adrianna inside before there was too much blood spilled. Sent Oscar out here to pour ammonia over it to break it up and mask the scent.” Remy explained, rubbing blood from his face with the back of his forearm. “Is Adrianna alright?” Harlow was thinking ahead. “Got her in the throat. We tried to stitch her up, but none of us are really good at first-aid. I did the best I could, but she’s still bleeding and may not survive the night.” Remy started to walk towards the bank, Harlow right behind him as he led her inside and to a fairly clean room where candles were lit and a woman lay amidst them, others at her side. “Can I take a look?” Harlow knelt down next to an elderly woman who was sitting next to who she assumed to be Adrianna. “At this point I’d let the devil take care of her if it helped.” The woman croaked, moving out of the way to let Harlow take a look. Sure enough, her neck had been bitten, the flesh torn and jagged, blood running down the skin and staining her blouse and the blanket she lay on. She had been stitched up, but the stitches weren’t even and the sutures not tight where they should be. “These aren’t bad, but they’re not tight enough. I need scissors or a sharp knife if you have it. Any fishing twine? Needle, saltwater, clean rags or blankets, and a couple sets of extra hands.” Harlow instructed to the group that had gathered. They just stood there in stunned silence before Remy snapped them out of their stupor and they got to work. In a short time, Harlow had the supplies she needed as well as Remy and Oscar’s hands. She cleaned away the dried blood as best she could before having the two men pinch the neck wound closed as she clipped the old sutures, and threaded the needle for the new one. Frequent blood cleaning and readjustment of hands was necessary, but in less than the time it took Remy to do the initial work, Harlow had stitched up the woman’s neck and stopped the blood from flowing. Another good cleaning freed Adrianna’s skin of most of the blood and she was covered in a fresh blanket to rest. “Thank all for you. Poor thing definitely wasn’t going to make it to see tomorrow with such a bad bite as that. You did a fine job.” The elderly woman thanked Harlow, giving her a hug and a slight pat on the back. “Thank you. I’ve had lots of practice over the years. Just need to keep an eye on that and make sure infection doesn’t set in. We have some penicillin back at St. Andrews if we need it.” Harlow assured her that she would do whatever she could for Adrianna. “I thought you might be Harlow. Don’t know who else you could be just showing up like you did. I’m Vanessa.” The old woman held her hand out for Harlow to shake. “I had a feeling,” A smile spread across Harlow’s lips, “I’ve never had shortbreads like the ones you made and I almost didn’t share them because of how good they were.” “Well, if we can ever make it out of this hell hole, I’ll show ya’ how to make ‘em.” Vanessa grunted, casting a sideways look at Remy. “I hear you, Vanessa. Things have gotten bad and today was definitely the worst. I never made it to the general store to leave your note because we had a roof collapse while I was away with you and all this snow poured in, burying all our supplies. I’ve been cleaning it up and forgot that we were low on food and were set to do a run anyway and I was going to leave it for you then, but—” Remy held his hands out to convey the insanity. He looked like he hadn’t slept and was definitely agitated. “You don’t have to worry about this anymore. If we have to, we leave at dawn with a small group, pick up a carriage from the church and come back for Adrianna and the others. They’re safe inside the cart and that makes the journey safer even after it’s not.” Harlow already had a plan to get them out of there. “What do we do for the night, then? We got no food, most of us haven’t eaten in a few days and before that, it was all going rotten. It’s fucking cold and I got to take a piss, but I don’t want my knob to freeze and fall off.” Oscar complained, taking a seat on an old barrel. “I’ve got some food,” Harlow pulled out a couple candy bars and bags of crisps from her bag, “As far as the cold goes, let’s try and get a fire going; we all stay huddled around it until morning. I can’t help you with the piss, though, mate. Maybe just poke it out a bit and squat so it ain’t dangling in the wind? But don’t dip it in the snow because that would defeat the purpose.” Everyone laughed at her helpful advice, even Oscar who waddled off to take care of his business. “You’re good at keeping morale high.” Remy whispered in her ear as he got up and walked off to gather anything wood that would burn. Harlow rose and followed, “I’m just good at thinking on my feet. When you’ve had to scavenge and grift your whole life, you get good at that sort of stuff. Plus, I don’t like people to worry.” “Well, if they didn’t want to already follow you, they will now. I think they are tiring of my grouchy disposition.” Remy grunted, his arms piled high with wooden debris. Harlow mimicked him with the wood and remarked, “When was the last time you slept? Ate? Maybe that’s why you’re so grouchy.” Remy sighed as he dropped the wood in a safe space to light a fire, “Not really since I left you—er, St. Andrews. Haven’t eaten much since then either. Too much work, not enough hands; too many mouths, not enough food.” Even if they didn’t want to come with her back to St. Andrews, after this, she would have made them. Their living conditions had become too dangerous, food too scarce and now destroyed. If she hadn’t run into Remy at the general store, they all might have died out here. “I’ll start the fire, you eat this.” Harlow handed Remy a Cadbury Flake before taking her lighter out of her pocket. “Harlow, you don’t have to baby me.” Remy huffed, reluctantly taking the candy bar. “No, I shouldn’t have to baby you, there’s a difference. I know you want the others to survive, but how well do you think that will go if you aren’t around.” Harlow scolded him before she turned around to face the bonfire she was erecting. Discreetly, she traced a mark on her hand, mumbling some words inaudibly before she rubbed her hands together, licked her palm and whispered “Ignis nox”, her fingertip igniting like a match. With a quick breath from her lips, the fire danced forward and caught the dry parts of the wood, instantly crackling to life. “You’re damn good at this survival stuff.” Remy spoke around the chocolate in his mouth. “Don’t make me repeat myself. This sort of stuff was and is daily life for me.” Harlow squatted down on the ground. A tinkling of hollow bells signaled a horned creature that slipped from the darker parts of the building and came stumbling over to Harlow, followed by another much smaller one. Two goats were now bleating at her for food before she had even had a chance to be introduced. “The big one is Poppy and the smaller one is Antoinette. Poppy was pregnant when we found her and had two kids, but one didn’t make it. Antoinette is my little love.” Remy chuckled as Antoinette came and butted her tiny head against his leg. “They are seriously the sweetest thing I’ve seen in a long while. The chickens aren’t as loving as this, at least not during this time of year. We have six hens and a rooster. We usually keep them separated, but we wanted the possibility of more hens this year, meaning more eggs.” Harlow chatted with Remy as she took out a bag of crisps, opened them, and fed a few to the goats. “Eggs and milk are very good staples. I’m sorry that I don’t currently have any other supplies to offer besides the milk.” Remy apologized, huddling in close to Harlow and the goats. Others were starting to gather now, bringing blankets and coats to the fire. Vanessa was putting extra layers on Adrianna before she took hands with an elderly gentleman and they too took a seat by the fire. “Supplies are no matter. We had a good hunt yesterday and have plenty to share for the time being. You may be down two but you’ve still got some strong people. I assume Adrianna is a fighter alongside you and Oscar?” Harlow was trying to figure out the dynamic. “Yes. It was me, Oscar, Adrianna, and Ottis. Ottis was carried off tonight along with Cameron who was one of our elderly. That just leaves me, Oscar, Vanessa, William, Adrianna if she lives, Miss Sarah over there, her father Peter, and our youngest, Carl. Our numbers are dwindling again.” Remy counted everyone off and then cast his eyes to the fire in discouragement. “We’re going to figure out a way to stop that from happening here on out. I say that you let me take Sarah, Carl, and Peter to the church in the morning, you and Oscar can stay behind with the others. I can turn around with the cart and be back here to get the rest well before the Golden Hour. If I have to, I’ll bring someone back with me so I’m not alone.” Harlow was already calculating what they were doing from here on out. “You can’t be the only fighter in the group; that’s not safe. Makes more sense for me or Oscar to go and you stay here.” Remy started to argue. “But they know me. We can give Carl a gun and I’ll have his back. Sarah is young too and her father seems like he’s fit. If we go at the right time, it won’t matter.” Harlow had already made a decision. “Fine. Might as well let them know now that you’re getting them up at the crack of dawn to leave. I’ll stay behind, but I won’t like it. I may send you with a gun too.” Remy clearly didn’t like what she had to say. “Remy, I made it all the way down here alone without a problem. I know there will be more of us this time, but I’ll probably just sneak them through the Labyrinth.” Harlow knew she had it handled. “The what? What maze?” Remy scoffed, huddling closer to Harlow. She sighed, “The sewers, mate. Vampires hate it because of the smell. We use it a lot when we can. There’s almost a straight shot from here to the church. Only a few turns and we are there. I’ll be fine.” Harlow assured him with a nudge to the shoulder. He settled in that she would indeed be fine before the two decided to announce to the others what they had planned. The rest of the night was spent on snacks and snoring in front of the fire, but Harlow stayed awake, periodically checking on Adrianna. She had no idea that Remy too still hadn’t slept a wink and was keeping an eye on her the whole time. He was so thankful that she showed up when she did but wasn’t sure how to express his gratitude. He would find a way somehow, however.
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E.M. MoonStories from the World Wide Weird Archives
December 2021
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