Remnant Saga S1: by Nick Venom (read after txt) 📕

“You have all of your hunting tools?” William Bedford asked. He looked down at Lutz, his apprentice, who had joined him on a week-long hunting trip.

Lutz nodded his head, motioning to the crossbow he carried. On his back was his hunting rifle and a silenced pistol in a hip holster. Both weapons were unloaded as soon as they arrived in their hometown of Taken, a small town with a population of a few hundred.

Bedford smiled, extending his hand out to Lutz. “You’ve done good, Lutz.” He said as he shook Lutz’s remarkably smaller and younger hand. “Your father would be proud.”

Lutz smiled. “Thank you, sir.”

Bedford nodded in acknowledgment. He then quickly dug through his pockets before he turned away, taking out a small gift. He handed the gift to Lutz, who accepted it and stared at it. It was an emerald necklace. Lutz looked up at Bedford, tilting his head. “You’re proposing to me?”

Bedford shook his head violently. “No, that’s for your woman!” He declared.

Lutz grinned, watching as his Mentor, the person who taught him how to hunt and employed him as an apprentice, ranted about how Lutz needed a woman in his life and that he was “absolutely, under no circumstances, proposing” to him. He found it hilarious.

“Sorry, you’re right, sir,” Lutz said, turning away from him. “If I find a woman I like, I’ll give it to her.” He promised her. 

Bedford nodded, shaking his head playfully. “Good luck,” He said before leaving his apprentice behind. Unlike Lutz, Bedford lived on the outskirts of town and only communicated with the citizens of the town whenever he bought food and miscellaneous items from stores and whenever he needed to pick up Lutz. When he didn’t do either, he was at his house, a simple hut, or hunting,

While Bedford headed home, Lutz turned around and headed to his house, where his family waited for him. He walked several blocks, briefly chatting with many of the people he passed, before reaching his house - a two-story yellow brick building. 

He rattled his knuckles on the front door, awaiting a response. Fortunately, the response arrived swiftly as the door flung open, a petite girl jumping out to attack him. Lutz took the attack, embracing his sister. “How were you, Sila?”

“Sad without you,” Sila answered. She was tanned-skin, like Lutz, with large crystal-blue eyes and charcoal hair. She was petite while Lutz was slightly taller than average for his height.

Lutz smiled at his sister’s answer. “Don’t worry, I’m not going anywhere, at least anytime soon.” He told her. “My Mentor has stuff to do for the next month or two, so no more hunting for a while.”

“Are you sure? You said something similar last time.” She said, raising an eyebrow. 

Damn, she’s getting more and more intelligent as time goes on. Soon, she’ll be able to catch me in any lies or even half-truths. Lutz thought to himself. His next hunting trip would be sooner rather than later, but he didn’t want his sister to know that. 

“Uh… How’s Mom?” He asked, swiftly changing the subject. His sister squinted her eyes as if to say, Oh, so you want to go and change the conversation now?

“Okay, she has sharp pains here and there, but nothing too bad. Oh, and a minor headache.” She explained.

Lutz nodded, walking into the house. He dropped Sila off in the living room before heading to a spare room on the first floor where he threw his hunting tools into a locked cage. He tore off his hunting attire and threw on his casual clothes of a green tee-shirt, black joggers, and a pair of sandals. He was tired of wearing uncomfortable clothing and heavy equipment from his trip to the nearby plots of forests. 

He then turned around and left the room, moving to the living room where the stairs to the second floor were. He headed up them, entering his mother’s room. His mother, in her late nineties, laid on her bed. She was staring up at the television positioned over the end of her bed. “Morning, Mom.” He said as he walked in.

His mother turned her head, shooting him a smile. “Morning, honey.”

“How have you been?”

“Boring and tasteless.” She responded.

“Tasteless?” Lutz questioned as he pulled a chair up to his mother’s bed, sitting down with the back of the chair in front of him. “How so?”

His mother smiled. “You need to teach your sister to cook. She’s been feeding me charcoal.” She playfully complained. “It’s okay the first day, but by d-day seven, i-i-i-i-” His mother went into a coughing fit, sometimes caused by her overusing her voice---which meant, in this situation, speaking more than a few words at a time---or sometimes at random.

Lutz jumped out of his chair, grabbing a cough drop nearby and unraveling it. Once his mother stopped coughing, he handed her the cough drop then grabbed a nearby water bottle, unscrewing the top and handing it to her. She took the cough drop, waiting a few moments before taking a sip or two of water, enough to help glide the drops, but not overpower them. 

She turned her head to face Lutz, smiling. “See, what could I do without you.”

“Mom, be careful. I don’t want you to overuse your voice again.” Lutz warned her. 

She waved his worries off. “I’ll be fine.” She said with a smile. Lutz liked it to see a smile on her face, but the worries of her going into another coughing fit remained with him.

“... Okay, I’ll… I’ll go and make your favorite meal for you.”

His mother brightened up with a larger smile. “Yes!” She demanded.

Lutz smiled, nodding his head. “As you say, my Queen.” He said, dramatically bowing his head. He raised his head, grinning. 

His mother smiled at his performance. “Thank you, my King.” 

Lutz nodded his head before leaving the room. He headed to make his mother’s favorite meal, carne asada - a dish from his mother’s hometown in Mexico.

As he headed down the stairs, he noticed Sila’s eyes glued to the television, her jaw slightly unhinged. Lutz furrowed his brows, turning his attention to the television. A frantic male news anchor shouted into the camera.

“-is under quarantine! Everybody within the town of Taken is ordered to stay inside your homes and keep all doors and windows locked. Do not open the door no matter what and please quarantine anybody in your family who has been infected! Downtown Taken has already been quarantined by the Taken Police, but for the citizens living in the suburbs and the outskirts of the town, stay home and do not leave.

Symptoms of Infected are blood-red eyes, runny nose, dislocated joints, cracking and peeling skins, and being overly aggressive. Any Infected poses a danger to your safety, so please stay inside and do not let anybody in! I repeat, do not let anybody in as long as they have one of those symptoms, even if it’s only allergies. Quarantine is being enforced.” The news anchor jumped up from his chair and shot out of frame with the cameraman turning the camera to face the anchor. However, the camera feed was quickly cut off before anything could happen.

Lutz turned away from the television, noticing Sila confused and slightly afraid. “We’ll be fine, go and lock all of the windows.” He told her.

Sila nodded, running off to complete his task. Lutz, meanwhile, headed back into his room, unlocking the cage holding his weapons and brandishing the silenced pistol and crossbow. He moved back into the living room, peering out of one of the windows facing the street. It was devoid of life, eerily quiet.

“What’s happening?” Sila asked, taking less time than Lutz had imagined.

“Nothing… go and check on Mom. Tell her that we’ll be in quarantine for some time.”

“Quarantine?”

Lutz nodded. “Don’t know why, but we are. Now, go!” He told her. She nodded, running to alert their mother, who, by this time, would’ve already known everything if she watched the news. Even so, Lutz wanted Sila to go and calm her down, in case her coughing fits came back.

Quarantine? For what infection… and why? He thought as he stared outside. He loaded the pistol without looking at the gun. I guess we’re going to live like this for a while. In quarantine.

TBC…

“When will it end?” Lutz’s mother asked. 

Lutz shrugged his shoulders. “According to the news, it shouldn’t be long. Everything should be over soon.” He reassured her. She nodded her head as an acknowledgment of his words. 

“Okay,” She muttered.

Lutz nodded his head, satisfied with her answer. He glanced at Sila who sat in the chair beside their mother. She watched the television with great ferocity, not budging a muscle. On the television was a different news anchor, this one a female.

“-reported, the order to quarantine has been reinforced by the government, which announced that it will be sending scientists and doctors to Taken to deal with the virus spreading around the town. There are no concrete explanations behind how the virus originated, but it is contagious and potent, so please stay six feet from any Infected.” The anchor said before turning to her right. The camera panned over to a different male anchor at another table.

The anchor sat up straight as the camera panned to him. “In two days, the government resources will provide a barrier to keep in the Infected. This barrier will span the entire circumference of the town. Its use is to keep the Infected in, however, anybody found not Infected by the government scientists will be released. Anybody infected will be forced to remain.” The anchor stood up from his chair as a green screen appeared behind him. The green screen morphed into a statistics board that displayed the current statistics of reported Infected and non-Infected.

“Fortunately, most of the cases reported are fresh and, as a result, can be cured when the scientists arrive. Even so, the virus is still a new one and can easily evolve and/or develop new changes within Infected people, be it physically or mentally. I warn you to stay clear of any Infected, even if they are your family or friends. With what little information we have now, we can’t be sure if the infection is fatal or not. That is all for today, this is Houston Bronks of Taken News, we’ll see you tomorrow.” The news feed cut off for a few seconds as it reverted into the drama that had been playing before the news interrupted it. 

“What now?” Sila asked.

Lutz glanced at her before he looked towards his mother. His mother wore a saddened expression. “We’ll be fine, Mom.” He said in an attempt to reassure her.

She looked at him, her expression changing on a dime. “No, you’re right. Everything will b-b-b-b-” She was interrupted by another coughing fit. Lutz and Sila stood on standby, waiting until she was done before they handed a cough drop and a half-drunk water bottle. 

“I’ll go get your medicine, it’s almost noon already.” He told his mother once she recovered. He then turned to face Sila. “Keep watch, call me immediately