A Torment of Savages (The Reanimation Files Book 4) by A. J. Locke Page B

he began. “One of them came from a baby that died at three days old, the other two were just a day old at the time of death.”
    “How old are the bones?” I asked. “How long have those babies been dead?”
    “Varying amounts of time,” he replied. “The three-day-old baby died approximately ninety years ago. One of the other two died a hundred and twenty years ago, and the last one is the oldest and died a hundred and forty-two years ago.”
    “Wow,” I said, my mind reeling. So there’s no way they were Leena’s children.
    “The babies were related. The longest dead appears to be the uncle of the second longest dead, and one dead for ninety years is a cousin. Likely second or third.”
    “Interesting.” I was frowning slightly as I mulled this over.
    “That’s about all I can tell you. Does it help with your investigation?”
    “It does, thanks a lot, Dr. Lane.”
    “Glad I can be of service, hope everything works out positively.”
    “Me too.” We hung up and I called Tielle.
    “Hey, is Leena up for questioning yet?”
    “She is,” Tielle replied. “I was going to call you shortly and let you know.”
    “Great, I’ll head over to the hospital this morning.” I had to remember to talk to her in the capacity Tielle thought I was going to talk to her and not just grill her about the dead bodies and what she may know about the location of dead warlocks.
    “Any more strange occurrences happen?” I asked.
    “Reports have been coming in an almost steady stream. More of the same; piles of dead animals, scorched earth. We have tons of questions that we can’t really answer because the assumption is this is a paranormal issue. So panic is rising.”
    “Damn. The PTF officers who were affected, how are they doing?”
    “Last I heard, still unconscious. But they are at the same hospital that Leena is in, so when you go see her you can check in on them. You’ve been given clearance to all of them.”
    “Okay, will do. Anything else you want me to work on today?”
    “Keep logging any of these blights that you come across. I’m not sure what other measures to take to be honest. I’ve had other people go out and try to collect energy from these dead spots, but the same thing you experienced happens to them as well—the runes disintegrate.”
    “I’ll admit, it’s not comforting hearing that you don’t know what to do.”
    “I have a team looking into any information that could be helpful. I’m doing all I can, but there just isn’t a lot of knowledge to go by.”
    “Which makes it even scarier. It’s unknown. We don’t know what to anticipate.”
    “Exactly. For now, stay focused on Leena, and if any of the PTF officers are conscious, talk to them and see what they say. I’ll check in with you if I uncover anything useful.”
    “Sounds like a plan. By the way, what of backlash from the article?”
    Tielle sighed. “Calls have been coming in from various news and media outlets. I’ve assembled a small team to handle it. There is definitely a stir about what the article revealed, but the blight is putting something of a damper on it.”
    “I hate to say that’s good but…”
    “If you’re approached by anyone, don’t give them any comment.”
    “I won’t.” We hung up and I tried not to be too glum by the time Micah returned. About ten minutes later, he came in holding a bag from the diner nearby, but when he saw the look on my face, his smile changed to a look of worry.
    “Hey, what’s wrong?”
    “Just got off the phone with Tielle,” I replied, taking the bag from him. I might be glum, but I was still hungry. While I unpacked breakfast and fixed us plates of eggs, bacon, and pancakes, I told him about my conversation with Tielle.
    “It’s spreading like a plague,” Micah said.
    “Yeah, seems so.”
    “And Kyo doesn’t know more than he’s told you?”
    I had told Micah what Kyo told me about what was going on. “I think he told me all he knew, but when I see him