The Countess Lives Twice in the Apocalypse-Chapter 24: Twenty-three

"Rise and shine, sleepyhead."

Clack.

Clack.

Clack.

Jannah let out a quiet groan, her temples throbbing and her body rocking in a inconsistent manner. It was a motion where it was difficult to balance herself in, she could feel her head bobbed in time with the rocking of whatever’s making her move.

She squeezed her eyes shut tightly before she opened them slowly, but the lights in her surrounding blinded her momentarily which made her shut her eyes again.

"We’re almost in Kentucky, sis." Jeriel’s voice had startled her awake, well, more specifically, she was startled awake with what her little sister has said.

"What? But we’re still— ouch, ouch.." Jannah hissed in pain, sitting upright when her sudden movement made her head throb again.

"What the hell?" She murmured, blinking away her remaining drowsiness and looked around, her eyes squint into a glare as she focus her sight ahead of her.

The first thing she saw was Lucienta waving at her and smiling, perfectly balanced on top of her horse, "Good morning, my lady!"

She looked away from the maid and looked around, that’s when she finally noticed that she’s riding on her little sister’s mare and was being embraced tightly yet securely in her sleep.

"What time did we depart?" Jannah grumbled, shifting in her spot and sitting properly, leaning her body against her little sister.

"An hour ago." Jeriel hummed out, tightening her arm around Jannah, "You were knocked out and was sleeping soundly, I didn’t have the heart to wake you up so I had no choice, but to let you ride with me."

"Goodness.. I didn’t even know I fell asleep." Jannah sighed and rubbed her temples, "I swear I only sat on the carriage since Jeremiah and Dreidel switched with Haile."

"Well, yeah, Haile ended up watching the camp for the rest of the morning." Jeriel said with a hushed laugh accompanying her words, "To be honest, Marco only woke me up before we departed. The camp was already cleaned by then and they’re just waiting for me to wake you up."

"Am I not heavy?" Jannah wondered out loud and decided to not respond to her little sister’s words, "I swear I gained a few pounds since I retired."

"Eh.. Not really. Contrary to what you believe, you’re quite lighter than you imagine." Jeriel dismissed her big sister’s worries with a shake of her head and verbal disagreement.

"Whatever." Jannah murmured, leaning her head on Jeriel’s shoulder and glanced around, examining the status of her people.

The carriage is right behind Jeriel, Marco and Lilo are sitting side by side in front of the carriage. When the butler had locked gaze with her, he smiled softly and nodded his head as an act of acknowledgement.

Jannah could only smile back before she looked around once more.

Jeremiah and Haile are riding side by side. Kirie is riding with Haile and is sitting in front of him. Jeremiah must have said something to Kirie because she tried to kick him, only to miss and kick the air instead.

Dreidel, on the other hand, has Marietta with him and he has Jannah’s stallion’s reins on his hand while the other is holding the reins of his own horse.

Aran and Lucienta are riding side by side, chatting quite happily with each other.

Jannah sighed audibly, but Jeriel felt it because they’re literally hugging each other right now, "You good? That was a deep sigh."

"I’m good." Jannah answered slowly and let out a muffled yawn, resting her head on Jeriel’s shoulder before she closed her eyes, "I’ll sleep a bit more."

"I’ll wake you up if I can’t feel my arms anymore." Jeriel promised to no one particular, she felt her sister sigh once more with her breath getting even.

Jeriel could only shake her head and chuckle, "Out like a baby, huh?"

..

..

..

"Sis."

The next time Jannah opened her eyes, she doesn’t feel the rocking motion of Jeriel’s mare anymore.

"Wake up, Jannah."

There’s a hint of worry and urgency in Jeriel’s voice that woke Jannah up from her slumber. She stirred in her sleep, groaning quietly and blinking her remaining drowsiness away.

"Sis."

Jannah blinked rapidly this time, jolting herself awake and looked around.

"What.. Wha..? What?" She asked to no one in particular, her voice slurred and low in a mumble as she sat up.

Only to realize that she is not in Jeriel’s arms anymore, but is laying down in a stiff yet springy bed. The wool is rough to the touch, something a noble wouldn’t lay on.

"Good, you’re awake." Jeriel said with an obvious underlying nervousness in her voice which made Jannah snap her head to look at her.

"What?" Jannah murmured and looked around momentarily to survey her surroundings then looked back at her little sister, "Where are are? Are we at Kentucky right now?"

"Yeah." Jeriel confirmed, she stared at her sister with an unreadable look on her eyes before she walked back and forth in front of the bed. She clenched and unclenched her hands, murmuring something under her breath.

"What’s wrong?" Jannah asked, watching Jeriel continue with her back and forth. She could only furrow her eyebrows in confusion as she follow her little sister’s frantic form with her eyes.

Seeing that her little sister seems like she wouldn’t answer any time soon, Jannah sighed and decided to throw the covers off her body then stood up abruptly.

Her sudden movement caused for the blood in her head to rush down in her body causing for her to stumble forward and lose strength in her legs.

Her vision flashed with white and block spots momentarily, making her world spin.

Jeriel gasped audibly and tried to catch her, but she was quick in her feet to gather her balance and compose herself. Jannah did grab her little sister’s hands out of instinct though.

"I’m good, but are you?" Jannah asked about what’s bothering her again, "Why are so shaken up?"

The corner of Jeriel’s lips twitched and trembled, her eyes looked so scared and looked down on their intertwined hands— she inhaled sharply and squeezed her big sister’s hands, trying to reassure herself.

"What?" Jannah encouraged her softly, "Tell me. What’s wrong? Did something happen on our way here?"

"Yeah.." Jeriel whimpered out, head hanging low as she spoke in a soft and flat voice, "There’s no people here.. I don’t know.. It’s.. It’s hard to explain, something must have happened and.."

Jannah couldn’t hear what she said because her voice turned down into a quiet whisper. She frowned, eyebrows furrowed deeply as she squeezed her little sister’s hands once more before she let go.

"Where’s Lucienta? Marco?" She asked slowly, not wanting to startle her.

"Outsi—"

"Lady Jeriel, we found one person, but he is currently unconscious— oh! My lady!"

Jeriel was supposed to answer Jannah’s question, but she couldn’t finish what she was saying because the door had burst open and made the sisters jump in their spot. Lucienta rushed inside and was saying something when she saw Jannah standing by the foot of the bed.

The gloomy and serious look on her face vanished for a moment and beamed brightly towards the head of the house, "We were so worried that you weren’t waking up when we tried to wake you up, my lady!"

The head maid came strutting to Jannah’s spot and grabbed her wrist, "There’s no time to waste though! I have to show you something!"

Everything happened so fast that Jannah experienced a whiplash. Lucienta dragged her out of the room which was on the second floor of an unknown household— well, that’s what she could tell by the furniture they passed by.

She got dragged out of the house, she was about to stop Lucienta from bringing her somewhere, but she stopped when she smelled something familiar in the air.

The smell was similar to a smithy, like raw iron and earth mixed together. Somehow, the smell gets more sickly sweet the longer she inhales it so to block it, she raised a hand to her face and covered her nose.

She smelled it first before she could see it.

Now that she’s paying more attention to her surroundings, she could see that the walls, poles, signs, and dirt path are all covered in blood. Some were already drying and some are still glistening, meaning that it’s kind of fresh.

"Marco! I bought the Countess!" Lucienta’s voice had brought Jannah back from her inner turmoil.

She snapped her eyes at the front, catching Marco’s worried gaze in an instant. Then, she looked away from him, glancing past him where she saw Dreidel, Jeremiah, and Haile crowding behind the old butler.

"My lady, I cannot say that it is a good morning, but good morning." The butler tried to lighten up the mood when they reached him with a joke, "I didn’t want to spring this on you the moment you wake up, but we found one survivor at the smith shop." 𝘧𝘳𝘦ℯ𝓌𝘦𝒷𝘯𝑜𝑣𝘦𝓁.𝒸𝘰𝓂

Survivor? Jannah wondered in the back of her mind. She nodded her head towards Marco to let him know that she’s listening.

Seeing her reaction, the butler closed his eyes briefly before he stepped aside, revealing a tied up man against a wooden pole infront of the supposedly mail house of the town.

Her eyes widened at the sight of the beaten up man— no, she would be wrong if she said he was beaten up! The man is—

"We found him unconscious with this letter in his hand, my lady." Marco informed her as he hand her a bloodied envelope, "It was terrifying at first, but Dreidel told us that the man is infected."

Jannah took the envelope. It’s sealed, crumpled, and stained with dry blood, but that’s not what worried her.

"Dreidel, did you say that he’s infected?" Jannah asked the knight which causes him to stand up from his crouching position and straighten his posture, nodding his head to affirm what she said.

"Yes, Countess." Dreidel confirmed with certainty, "I checked his pulse and body. Jeremiah and I saw a few bite marks of a human in his ribs, thighs, and stomach—"

"So, he’s still alive?" Jannah had cut off the knight, pushing him aside weakly to get closer to the body.

"Yes, my lady." Dreidel answered.

Observing the unconscious man, her eyes squinted into a light glare as she deliberately went to her knees to inspect his body closely.

She raised the man’s pants, eyeing the said bite marks on his skin then she moved to his bloodied and torn shirt, raising it to see the bite marks there. The skin under the sleeve of his clothing are torn, but it can easily be identified as a wound inflicted by a fellow human.

She pursed her lips, wondering how painful it is for the man to survive such ordeal.

However, with that thought in mind, her body grew rigid and tense as she abruptly stood up from her crouching position. This alarmed her people and made them stand straight in their spot.

"You said that you found him in a smith shop.. What about the other people?" Jannah turned in her heels to look at Lucienta and Marco.

Her question made them silent.

"No one is going to answer me?" Jannah snapped, not liking the direction of the conversation is heading.

"There’s no one else, my lady." Haile said and bravely met the heated gaze of the Countess, "The town was empty when we arrived, only this man was who we found after searching every nook and cranny."

".. Empty?" Jannah mumbled, dread filling her entire being as the hair on the back of her neck stood up.

An empty and bloody town— just what happened in Kentucky before they arrived?