by S. S. Segran
Jag rolled a chair to the table so he could collapse onto it, and rested his head heavily in one hand. Ugh . . .
“So do we have any information about the disease?” Tegan asked, leaning against the chair’s high backrest. “Like how it spreads, what the early symptoms are and how infectious it is?”
“We don’t know much, except that it’s extremely contagious,” Marshall answered. “We haven’t got a clue as to how it spreads or how it’s carried.”
“Actually,” Dominique interjected, “I think I do know the symptoms, or at least for the disease that causes aging.”
The gathering gave her their full attention.
“It starts with a cough,” she said, “and then blurred vision that comes and goes. After that, there is weakness and pain in the joints that grow until people who have it can’t move because of the extreme agony and exhaustion. Visual signs of accelerated aging like hair loss, tooth decay, cataracts and failing memory begin appearing between the last two symptoms.”
Jag suddenly saw an image of himself, nearly eighteen, with his skin sagging and his whole body aching, a tooth popping out each time he tried to speak and hair graying before falling out in clumps. He swallowed hard, goosebumps popping all over his skin.
“I’m assuming the CDC’s handling this?” Aari asked.
“They’ve been asked by other countries to aid local efforts, yes,” Marshall said. “Authorities in parts of Europe, Australia and Southeast Asia are scrambling to get to the bottom of this mess.”
Jag slumped back. “So where do we go from here?”
Marshall raised his index and middle fingers. “Our job is two-fold. One, contain the outbreak, whatever it takes. Two, stop the scourge at its source.”
“The disease, you mean?” Aari guessed.
“No. Everything.”
Jag looked at Marshall thoughtfully. “Reyor.”
“Precisely. We’ll need a location first, though, and that’s Colback’s mission.”
The twins went to stand on either side of Marshall. “So where should we begin?” Deverell asked.
The Australian Sentry placed a metal canister on the table. “Here.”
Gareth eyed it. “What’s that?”
“Tissue and blood samples from victims in ’straya.”
“How . . .?”
Zoe smiled, her dark eyes twinkling. Gareth pulled a face. “Fine, don’t tell. So what do we do with this?”
“I have an idea,” Marshall said, “but let me speak with the Elders first.”
The gathering remained respectfully quiet for a few minutes, allowing him to establish a telepathic link. Jag absently reached into his t-shirt and pulled out the two pendants that hung around his neck—a gold crucifix and an amber crystal carved into the pawprint of a wildcat. He gripped both tightly as his mind warped into a wormhole where countless thoughts raced through. He glanced at his friends. All of them had the corners of their mouths pulled down.
Marshall suddenly clapped his hands. “Alright, here’s the plan. We’re going to send the samples Zoe brought to a go-between in Mayo. She’ll meet Magèo’s apprentice halfway between there and Dema-Ki, who’ll then pass the samples to Magèo so he can run some tests and see if he can’t reverse engineer a cure.”
“A go-between?” Tegan repeated.
“Yeah. She’s a Sentry, but her duty is to stay in Yukon and keep in contact with the Elders once in a while. It’s a new thing they implemented just before they sent you home last year.”
“So we’ve got the Australian sample,” Deverell said, stroking his chin. “I says we should get the European one as well and ship both to Magèo.”
“How would we get it?” Kody asked.
“You’ll see. Want to come?”
Kody blinked. “What?”
“To get the European blood and tissue samples. Care to join Gareth and me, mate?”
Kody looked at Marshall for direction. The Sentry smiled understandingly. “We’re not your parents, Kody,” he said. “We’re here to fan the flames of good in this world and back you five up if you need us. Out here, you call the shots for yourselves.”
Jag felt icy fingers tracing down his spine. They’re stepping back and letting us grow into our roles in different ways. We’re going to be getting more responsibilities. That means more will be expected of me. The fingers turned to claws that dug into his lower back, making him shift uneasily in his chair. No. I can’t do this. Tegan’s better suited. She’s cool under pressure. She’s tough. The group would benefit if she led.
The sound of people shuffling around him brought him back to reality. He watched them, confused. Tegan leaned down and whispered, “Space cadet, where you at?”
“In orbit,” he answered tersely.
“I’ll fill you in. Kody’s leaving with Deverell and Gareth to get the samples we need, Mariah and I are going with Marshall to get some grub and supplies in the nearest town, and you and Aari are staying back to monitor and map disease patterns.”
“What? I didn’t agree to that.”
“Yes, you did. You nodded when you were asked.”
“I did?”
“Man, you are out of it. What’s going on?” She placed the back of her hand against his forehead. “Are you sick or something?”
He brushed her away and got out of the chair. “I’m fine.”
Mariah sidled up to them. “Teegs, the Sentry who’s going to the New Mexico Sanctuary . . . Should we brief him on what to expect?”
“Yes!” Tegan turned to Marshall as he was about to end the call. “Wait!”
While the girls spoke with Victor, Aari popped up beside Jag, his laptop tucked under his left arm and another, taken from the electronics room, in his right. “Let’s get to work.”
The girls left with Marshall once they were done with the call. Jag and Aari took over the table while everyone else dispersed to unpack.
Jag opened his laptop, then looked at the map hanging across from him. He wished he was out getting supplies with the others, because something deep inside told him that the map, with only a handful of pins stuck in it, would soon fill up. And he wasn’t ready to see that. He wasn’t ready to face the reality that the world he knew was slowly, but surely, slipping away.
15
Mariah watched the scenery roll by as the van cruised down a winding road toward the nearest ski town to the Lodge. The beauty of the snowcapped mountains glimmering under the cobalt sky took her breath away. She preferred warm weather but could see why people like Tegan and Kody loved winter.
In the front passenger seat of the van, Tegan quietly drew in a small sketchbook. Mariah leaned forward to catch a glimpse of the work in progress. In the middle of the page was a shaded lion head door-knocker. It was surprisingly detailed for a sketch. She marveled at it for a bit, then sat back. “How long till we’re there, Marshall?” she asked.
“Seven, eight . . . hundred miles,” the Sentry said.
“Wait, what?”
“Jokes, jokes. Just a couple of miles after this bend.”
Mariah caught Marshall grinning in the rearview mirror. She flicked his ear. “Meanie.”
In the distance, the ululating wail of a siren reached their ears, growing with each passing second. The Sentry quickly pulled to the side of the road as an ambulance emerged from the bend ahead and raced past them, and then continued on.
Up ahead, the small ski resort village came into view. It’s so quaint and peaceful, Mariah thought, examining the colorful ornamental lights that decorated the streets and the rustic structures that gave the town its character. Or maybe not . . . What’s going on here?
As they drove along the main street, they saw two ambulances pull away from a lonely house, their sirens blaring. Mariah stuck her fingers in her ears as the vehicles rocketed past the van and retreated from view. “What in the world?”
Tegan gripped her respirator mask; Marshall had grabbed a boxful of those from the Lodge and, as a precaution, handed the
m out to everyone before they left. “Should we put these on?” she asked.
As the Sentry parked the van, he said, “I don’t think there’s a need for it right now, but keep it with you at all times.”
They arrived at a grocery store just as a middle-aged woman inside turned the hanging sign from open to closed, but when she saw them she hastily opened the door. In English that was surprisingly good, she apologized for attempting to close early. “I wanted to visit my husband in the hospital. I haven’t been able to leave the store all day.”
“We’re so sorry to hold you back,” Marshall said.
“It’s alright. A few minutes won’t matter. Besides, my husband is probably enjoying the solitude.”
As they worked through the aisles, Tegan asked, “He’s okay, then? Nothing serious?”
“I hope not,” the woman answered. “It began as a cough. A couple of days later he started to get these terrible aches in his joints and limbs. I thought it was best to get him checked. I was told he’d be fine, but the doctors decided to keep him for observation.” She laughed sheepishly. “I worry so much, my husband sometimes says it’s like he married his mother!”
Mariah gave her a quick grin, then grabbed some frozen meals. “So what’s with the ambulances?”
The woman fiddled with the end of her graying ponytail as she looked out the window. “You know, I’m really not sure. We’re nearing winter and some of the older people do get sick, but it doesn’t usually warrant this number of paramedics. My husband mentioned that a colleague of his was starting to get coughs and aches, too, like him.” She suddenly gasped, hands clenching her ponytail. “You don’t . . . you don’t think it’s that disease from the news, maybe?”
Mariah looked over the aisles at Marshall, who returned her alarmed stare with a barely perceptible shake of his head. “I doubt it,” he answered pleasantly. “We’re too far away from any densely populated areas. That’s where the disease is right now.”
“But we do get some tourists here now and again,” the woman said, “even though this is just a small town. And they come from all over the world. You just can’t ever know these days. I mean, we’ve seen things I never thought I’d see in my lifetime. Crop failures across the globe, the awful unrests, everything else . . .”
“We’re living in disturbing times, but I’m sure things will settle down eventually.” Marshall gave her a warm smile, then addressed the girls. “Got everything?”
“Yep.” Mariah picked up a few bags of chips and headed to the counter. “Now let’s get a move on so this sweet lady can be on her way.”
* * *
The moment the trio set foot in the Lodge, Aari and Jag yelled for them to hasten upstairs. They bolted up the steps, groceries and supplies in each hand. When they got to the top floor, Mariah’s chest was heaving.
“What’s going on?” Tegan demanded.
“Look at this,” Jag said darkly.
The girls and the Sentry approached the meeting table and looked over the boys’ shoulders at their laptops. Aari fluttered his hand impatiently. “Not the screens. The map. Look at the map.”
Mariah lifted her eyes to the large chart posted on the wall across from them. She raised an unsteady finger at it. “I don’t recall there being that many pins on it before we left.”
“That’s because more cases have been popping up, most of them in Europe,” Aari said. “We’ve been monitoring social media along with the regular news. The outbreak is centered around the U.K., and it looks like Wales is ground zero. See, the green pins are reports of the first disease, the aging one. The red pins are the violent outbreaks.”
“More greens than reds,” Marshall noticed.
“Not for much longer, I don’t think.”
“How many cases have you got on the record?”
“Thirty-five for greens, twelve for the reds.”
Mariah noticed something on the map and paled. She slowly put her groceries down. “Wait a minute . . . Guys, you’ve got pins in North America.”
Jag took in a long breath before acknowledging her statement. “We do, yeah. There are several cases we caught online in and around Atlanta, Chicago, New York and L.A., as well as a few in Toronto and Vancouver in Canada.”
“Why there?”
“I’m guessing it’s due to airports.” He drummed his pen on the tabletop. “Flight hubs. Same thing’s happening in Indonesia, China and Russia. These countries have some of the busiest airports, too.”
“I’d hoped home would’ve remained clear,” Tegan murmured. “At least for a little while longer.”
“In a highly interconnected world?” Marshall sighed. “Not a chance.”
“Hey, Jag,” Aari muttered, frowning at his laptop. “How much time elapsed between the first reported outbreak in Wales and Asia?”
Jag scanned the spreadsheet he had open. “Huh, that’s odd. They came at around the same time.”
“And meanwhile, there was a twelve to fourteen hour lapse between Europe and North America.”
Mariah peered at Jag’s screen, resting her chin on his shoulder. “What does that mean?”
“Normally, you can trace an outbreak to one epicenter,” Aari said, “but if there are simultaneous outbreaks around the world, then it’s not following typical viral outbreak patterns.”
“Meaning?”
“Nature doesn’t scheme. This definitely doesn’t seem natural.”
Tegan crossed her arms. “One thing we know for sure is that Reyor isn’t stupid. Or careless. If it’s this easy to figure out that the outbreak is engineered, then Phoenix must be confident that it can’t be traced back to them. Which means they’re ramping things up.”
“This is crazy!” Mariah exclaimed. “It’s spreading so quickly! Where are the authorities? What are the governments doing? Where’s the CDC?”
Marshall put a hand on her arm. “I’m sure we’ll hear from them soon. But we know that at the heart of this madness is a darkness that only the five of you may be able to defeat. We need to make sure you’re prepared to deal with things out here. You’ll soon have your work cut out for you.”
Mariah’s eyes flicked toward him, her mouth firmly shut.
Jag chewed on his pen. “We’ll stay on top of this and keep monitoring everything.”
“Great,” the Sentry said as he headed to the kitchen. “But we can’t work on empty stomachs. Domi, Benny and I will prepare dinner.”
Mariah, still fixed on the green and red pins on the map, felt a bit lightheaded from apprehension. “I think I’m going to call Mom and chat for a while, see how she’s doing. I’ll catch you guys in a bit.”
* * *
“Yes, Momma, we’re fine.” Mariah closed her bedroom door and put her phone on speaker on the bedside table. She changed out of her clothes and into her pajamas even though it was still early in the evening.
Mrs. Ashton sounded relieved. “Oh. Okay. Good.”
Mariah smiled to herself. “I miss you.”
“Even my nagging and my one-hundred-and-one questions?”
“Well . . .”
“Shush, I don’t want to hear an answer to that.” Mrs. Ashton chuckled. “I miss you too, baby. It’s been really quiet around here. I don’t get to hear you go on and on and on about your books or TV shows anymore.”
Mariah sat on the floor by her bed, her smile ebbing. “I hope you’re not spending too much time alone, Momma. You know you’ve got a giant support system in Great Falls.”
“Don’t you worry about me.” Mrs. Aston cleared her throat. “So, you’re in Europe now, huh? Are you eating well? How was Dema-Ki? How did your training go?”
Mariah fiddled with the hem of her pajama pants. “Yes; yes; it was beautiful as always; and it went well.”
There was a brief pause. “You’re not as chatty as you usually are with me, Mariah. Is something wrong?”
“No . . . no, nothing’s wrong. Just really want to hear your voice.”
“Then maybe
for this call, I’ll do the talking and you can listen. Next call, we switch it.”
“Deal.”
Mariah rested her head against the bed and listened to her mother as she recounted stories from work or within her circle of friends. The comfort of her mother’s voice put her entirely at ease and lifted her spirits. Occasionally Mrs. Ashton would interrupt herself to murmur much-needed tender words to her daughter before continuing to regale Mariah with her entertaining anecdotes.
Mariah lost track of time until someone knocked on her door. “One second, Momma. Come in!”
The door opened and Aari poked his head inside. “Dinner’s ready.”
“Okay. Be out in a bit.”
He chucked little pieces of crumpled paper at her. “No. Now.”
“Ugh, you’re annoying.”
“I know.”
“Hi, Aari!” her mother called loudly.
Aari beamed at the sound of her voice. “Hi, Mrs. A! Sorry to interrupt your call. I thought Mariah was done.”
“No worries, sweetie. You guys go and enjoy your dinner. Mariah, thank you for calling. Talk soon, baby?”
Mariah half-smiled. “Yes, hopefully.”
“Tell everyone I said hello, okay? Be good! I love you!”
“I love you too, Momma.”
“Love you too, Mrs. A!” Aari hollered.
Mariah picked up the pieces of paper littered around her and threw them back at him. He ducked out the door. Sweeping her phone off the nightstand, she hit the end call button and tromped after him, feeling the heaviness that had settled within her pushed away for the moment.
16
Tony Cross sat alone in the spacious conference room located inside the administrative building for the New Mexico Sanctuary, a subterranean enclave located adjacent to a mining operation run by one of Phoenix Corporation’s subsidiaries. He watched the holographic image before him, nervously tapping a pen on the long mahogany table. The figure, well over six feet tall, stared back from under the gold hood of a knee-length black coat. Or at least, Tony guessed that the figure was staring back; the hood cast a shadow over most of the face.