Acidalia XVIII

By Amanda D.

Washington DC Wed Sept 12 2:18pm:

Colonel Charles Jordon, the head of the US Army’s USAMRID team charged with containing the Acidalia out break on the west coast sat staring into space as Robert Kelly, representative from the state of Alabama droned on and on with his seemingly never-ending questions. He’d done his to answer these politicians inquiries about the destruction of Reynolds Quarantine and his role in it here in this closed door session of the House Armed Services Committee Acidalia over site board but the constant grandstanding and repetition of the same point ad nauseum had lulled his mind into a sleepy kind of boredom.

The Colonel saw himself as a man besieged. His every decision questioned over and over by those who’s medical training was limited to what they saw in House MD and CSI on the tv. Despite their lack of knowledge, they still queried him as if they’d graduated top of the class from Harvard Medical School. Asking him about vial counts and contagion principles as they tried to make themselves seem on top of the situation to their peers in the chamber.

That was typical of the questioning he endured any time he’d been called to capitol hill; today however it was his response to the catastrophe at Reynolds and his handling of the situation. As he groggily looked up from his notes on the table in front of him he suddenly realized the Congressman had stopped speaking.

“Colonel?” Kelly was asking somewhat impatiently in his thick southern drawl.

Jordon stared at the white haired gentleman with his deeply wrinkle skin and red bulbus nose with broken capillaries blankly trying to recall what he’d been saying to him.

With an internal shrug the Colonel leaned forward into the mic “I’m sorry Congressman, could you repeat the question?”

“I asked you explain why you ordered the firebombing of the facility Colonel. I’d think judging by the seriousness of this situation you’d be paying better attention to our questions sir.” Kelly said indignantly.

With a quiet sigh Jordon replied “My apologies, congressman. As I’ve stated several times already today, and as the records of the conversations I had with Sargent Robertson that you have in front of you all bear out, the situation had grown beyond the abilities of the staff at the facility to contain. With many of the security personnel injured or outright killed in the riot inside Reynolds and the very real possibility of some of the detainee’s escaping I saw no other alternative but to implement the final containment procedure’s as outlined in the Secretary of Defense’ memorandum dated May 17th of this year. The memorandum states that if containment at any facility is in danger of being breached all measures possible to contain that breach must be implemented. I take no pleasure in what happened to those stationed at the facility but in light of our orders I felt we had no other choice but to implement contingency gamma.”

“I am aware of your so-called reasons Colonel. My question is why you thought you had the authority to go around the chain of command, including this committee, and order the contingency implemented on your own. We have these things in place so that those with better, ah, perspective, on the situation can be there to oversee the decisions of those on the ground. By taking that responsibility onto yourself you violated our rules on procedure….”

“I violated your rules?” Jordon interrupted suddenly furious. “Congressman, there was no hope to contain the situation any other way. Not only were the security forces inside the center overwhelmed they were most likely infected. The emergency inside got out of hand so quickly that none of the off duty personnel had the opportunity to get int their containment suits. If by some miracle they’d managed to get all the inmates back into their cells they’d have become detainee’s themselves considering the level of exposure each one was subject too. Put simply again, I saw no other alternative.”

“But the excessive loss of life…”

“Was absolutely necessary Congressman.” Jordon said firmly after once again interrupting Kelly.

The congressman sat looking perturbed at the colonel. He didn’t much like being interrupted every time he spoke and was getting quite close to airing Jordon out over it. Instead, he took a deep breath and counted silently to ten before resuming.

“Colonel, I’d like to take a moment to discuss the staffing shortages that are now woefully apparent at the quarantine center. You are in charge of overseeing staffing for all Acidalia related facilities in the Bay area are you not?” Kelly asked changing tactic.

Jordon was taken aback by the question. He hadn’t anticipated the inquiry going down this road.

“Yes, my staff and I oversee staffing for the labs, hospitals and quarantines that fall under my command.” He replied trying not to sound annoyed.

“Wonderful. Since you oversee them can you tell me Colonel, why were the security forces at both Dillion and Reynolds so woefully understaffed, sir?”

Jordon cleared his throat. “It was the opinion of my staff and the DOD {department of defense} that staffing was adequate at all facilities under my oversight.”

“And who was it that gave the staffing recommendations to the DOD colonel?”

“It was my office.” Jordan told him as he tried to stamp down the rising anger in his chest.

“Your office or you Colonel?”

“It was my judgment that….” He began.

“Your judgement?” Kelly asked with an unmistakable air of sarcasm. It was his turn to do the interrupting now. “Your judgement. Is that the same judgement you used when you released Dr. Greyson and fired Dr. Blue? The same judgement you used when the terrorist Elijah Wolf and her accomplices, who were in your office I’m told, right there in front of you for the capturing, and yet you decided to set them free? Is that the judgment we’re supposed to trust Colonel?”

Jordon’s eye burned a whole through the congressman. He swallowed hard before replying.

“Yes Mr. Kelly.” He began in an even measured tone, trying not to let his examiner see how far under his skin he’d managed to crawl. “Those were serious lapses on my part. I’m sure, sir, if you dig deep enough you can find plenty more. I am after all just human, like yourself. However, as a military man I have only my orders, experience and gut instinct to go by when the pressure is on, and lives are at stake and in this case it was the lives of 5300 infected individuals versus the hundreds of thousands in the area surrounding Reynolds that anyone who might have escaped could infect. Weighed that way I made the decision my orders indicated to be the correct one. You may disagree. You may second guess me, Monday morning quarterback me to you hearts content but you will never get me to tell you I didn’t do my duty to the best of my abilities. As much as it saddens me to have the deaths of all this people on my conscience, and this decision will hang heavy on me for a very long time to come I assure you, it was the only way to keep innocent civilians living in the area surrounding the facility safe from those inside who were infected.”

The chamber fell silent as the Colonel wrapped up his remarks. It seemed like every eye in the place was on Kelly, awaiting he response. The congressman adjusted his mic as he was about to speak when he was interrupted by the committee chairwoman Christina Flaherty of California.

The congresswoman was as well known for her brilliant long red hair as she was for her fiery rhetoric and no nonsense speaking style. Flaherty was well known as an advocate for those infected with the virus and had opposed the president’s policies on quarantine from the start. Her stance and straight talking persona had made her a media darling and much beloved by the public.

This was her first term in the house, having been elected the year before the outbreak, and was one of the youngest members on the committee. She’d risen though the ranks quickly though her grit and toughness along side a bit of luck as several senior male members of the house had fallen victim to then virus and been determined unfit to serve any longer.

“Mr. Kelly,” She began. “As much as we appreciate your deep concern over the colonels decision this verbal jousting isn’t getting us anywhere. I think it may be time to put aside our political grandstanding, especially considering that this is a top secret enquiry and there are no camera’s present and wrap up Colonel Jordon’s testimony so he can get back to heading up the search for the cure for this dreadful virus. I think his time is better spent at Greyson than it is spent here with us.”

“Madam Chairwoman, I believe the Colonel has much more to answer for than just this one…” Kelly started to protest.

“Perhaps Mr. Kelly, but if that’s true wouldn’t that be something for the military to deal with internally?” She asked tersely. “We are here to investigate the incident at Reynolds not to persecute a decorated military officer for our own political gain. The Colonel has given his testimony and I for one are ready to move on to our next witness.”

Kelly turned and stared angrily at chairwoman but said nothing.

“With no more objections being raised, I’d like to thank you for you testimony today Colonel Jordon. I hereby declare these proceedings finished for today. Thank you everyone for your time.” She told the assemblage as she hammered down her gavel.

For the next several minutes the reps mixed among themselves talking about whatever was on their mind. Several came to where Jordon stood and thanked him or congratulated him on his decisive handling of the Reynolds situation. The words of praise sickened Jordon. It was obvious most of those in the chamber we completely out of touch with the reality of the epidemic and the actual cost in human lives associated with it. Yet Jordon stood there and let their words wash over him, nodding, smiling and thanking at the appropriate times. As most high ranking military officers, Jordon understood that playing nice with members of congress was a necessary evil in today’s pollical climate.

As he was turning to leave Rep Kelly came over to him. Taking Jordon by an elbow Kelly pulled him close and whispered “This isn’t over Colonel. She may have saved your ass today but believe me when I’m done with you publicly you’ll wish she’d ever interfered.” The Alabama rep let go and walked away quickly before Jordon could reply.

He sighed to himself thinking “Wonderful. Just what I need, more enemy’s.” He again gathered his things of the table and was about to leave when the Flaherty approached him.

“Congresswoman.” He said nodding at her.

“What did Kelly want?” She asked him without preamble or pleasantries. The two had known each other well in the months since the outbreak and the oversight committee was formed. Jordon had always appreciated her straightforwardness and had come to respect the politician tremendously.

“Just butt hurt sour grapes I guess. Says he’s going to make trouble for me.” He told her with a shrug.

“Did he now?” she asked rhetorically as she watched Kelly walk out the back door of the chamber. “I wouldn’t sweat it Charles.”

“I have far too much going on to worry about the likes of him.” Jordon said.

“Mmmm…yes you do. How’s DR. Ryan’s research coming along?”

“As well as can be expected I guess. He says he has several theories on what the root of the immunity might be but nothing concrete has come out of his lab yet.” Jordon reported. He sighed again. “I have to tell you Christina, I don’t have a lot of faith that he’s ever going to find anything we can use to stop the spread.”

“Let’s hope your wrong there Charles. The world needs him to figure it out.” She said in reply.

“Yes. Him or someone like him.”

“I’ve seen the classified WHO (world health organization) reports on the international spread. No one abroad will back their numbers publicly because they want to pretend we’re the only ones with the problem but it’s not looking good.” She told him.

“As far as we can tell the WHO numbers are accurate, even if the rest of the world refused to acknowledge them. What’s really scary in their projections over the next year. If we don’t figure this out soon it’s going to be too late.” He replied grimly.

She nodded, then decided to change the subject. “Since you’re in town, what are you doing for dinner?”

“I was planning on room service in my hotel room.”

“Why don’t you let me treat you tonight?”

“Hard to say no to an offer like that. Thank you congresswoman.”

“There is much we need to discuss. I’ll send a car by to pick you up at say 7:30?”

“7:30 is fine.” He told her.

“And Charles..”

“Yes?”

“Wear civilian clothes.” She said the turned and walked away.

********
At 7:30 on the dot the phone in his room at the Dupont circle Hotel began to ring. It was the front desk alerting the colonel his car had arrived. If nothing else the congresswoman was prompt. He informed the concierge he would be right down, grabbed his sports coat and headed for the elevators. Outside the in front of the hotel entrance wait a town car with a driver standing by the rear door.

“Mr. Jordon?” He asked.

Charles was taken aback for a moment. How long had it been since anyone other than the friends of the kids when they were young had referred to him as mister? He couldn’t begin to guess. “Yes, that’s me.” He finally answered.

The driver smiled and held the door for him. Jordon climbed in and they were off. He had been expecting that they were headed from a restaurant in DC itself so when the car took the on ramp to route 395 headed south to route 95 he was forced to ask the driver their destination.

“I was told to take you to Quantico, sir.” The driver replied.

“Virginia?”

“Yes sir. We should be there in about forty five minutes to an hour, depending on traffic.”

Charles sat back and made himself comfortable and wondered what Flaherty was up to having him dress in civilian clothes and planning dinner so far away from DC?

“Guess you’ll see when you get there.” He thought as he leaned back in the plush white leather seat and got comfortable.

The better part of an hour later the town car pulled up in front of a posh looking place called Harry O’s. The driver hopped out and opened the door for him as the small crowd standing by the door looked on like he was some kind of movie star.

“The congress woman and her guests are waiting for you.” He was informed.

“Guests?” Jordon asked.

“That’s what I was told sir.” The driver told him.

Jordon nodded at him and headed into the restaurant.

As soon as he walked through the door the concierge at the podium said to him “Colonel Jordon?”

“I am.”

The small very thin man with greased back black hair and matching moustache stepped out from behind the podium and told Jordon, “This way sir.” As he speed walked though the dining room to a separate area in the back. It was as far removed as it could be and still be in the same building.

At the table sat Christina along with a man that Charles could tell just by looking at him was military and another woman with blonde hair and glasses that looked very familiar, but he was unable to place a name to her.

Flaherty stood up as Jordon arrived. He kissed her cheek and she his. She then turned to the others sitting at the table.

“Colonel Charles Jordon meet Marine Colonel Robert Sa’heed the former head of marine base Quantico.” She told Jordon.

Sa’heed stood and the two men shook hands. “Nice to meet the man in charge of the west coast’s acidalia containment team.”

“Thank you Colonel. It’s a pleasure to meet you too.” Jordon replied. “Former CO of Quantico? I hadn’t heard of any change in command there.”

“It’s a very recent change.” Sa’heed replied coyly.

Jordon gave him a questioning look.

“All will be explained Charles.” Christina reassured him. “In the meantime, let me introduce you to Dr. Carla Ryson.”

Jordon blinked. “Carla Ryson? The Carla Ryson?” he stammered confused.

“The one and only.” Carla replied. She remained seated. “I don’t expect you’ll want to shake my hand.”

“Shake your…? Madam you’re lucky I don’t call the police right this minute. Christina what the hell is going on here?” Jordon asked as he backed away from the table.

“Charles, please. There is an explanation for all this. Just please sit down before you cause scene.” Flaherty said gesturing at the fourth chair at the table.

He looked at her uncertainly.

“Please Charles.”

Jordon looked at her uncertainly one more time then walked over and pulled the chair out.

Once he was seated Congresswoman Flaherty spoke again. “I know this isn’t what you were expecting Charles and I apologize for the deception; however, we need you help desperately.”

“I don’t know how I can possibly help a wanted felon.” He replied looking directly at Carla.

“I told you this wasn’t going to work.” Dr. Ryson said as she started to stand up.

“Doctor, sit down. Charles, please let me finish explaining before you comment.” Flaherty said with a touch of annoyance in her voice.

“Fine but this better be good.” Jordon replied as Carla took her seat.

“These two have been guests of mine for the last several days. I assume you heard about the death of Marine general Angelo King?”

“Yes, it was a car accident, yes? Terrible thing. I met him once several years ago. He was a good man.” Jordon replied.

“it was no accident, Colonel, I assure you.” Sa’heed told him.

“Colonel Sa’heed the rest of this story is yours, care to take Charles through it?” Flaherty asked.

“Assuredly.” Sa’heed replied then to Jordon he said. “As you well know colonel, several weeks ago Dr. Ryson was kidnapped on her way back to the base at Quantico after a day in court.”

“I was told she escaped.” He replied simply.

“Yes. It was presented to the press like that. However, she was kidnapped and taken to a farm in southern Virginia and held there for several days. Her kidnappers were apparently planning to video tape her execution at their hands.”

Jordon looked to his left at Dr. Ryson. “They were going to kill you?’ he questioned. “What for?”

“I assume it was an attempt to make the President look weak and ineffectual, though at the time I had no idea why. Wasn’t until I escaped it all started to make sense.” Carla told him. “You see Colonel for whatever reason the woman they were planning to use to kill me, Gail was her name, changed her mind and took out most of the group that kidnapped me. Only two survived the shootout. One of them I killed with the car I escaped in. The other disappeared in the middle of things. It was his car I wound up taking.”

“Does mystery man have a name?” Charles asked dubiously.

Christina handed him a slip of folded paper she’d just pulled out of her purse. “That’s the cars registration. As you can see the owners name is clearly printed on it.”

Jordon unfolded the registration slip and looked down at it. His eyes opened wide with surprise.

“You can’t be serious.” He said hoping this was all some elaborate joke.

“We are dead serious Colonel.” Sa’heed told him. “The name there is the reason General King is dead and why I’m AWOL from Quantico at the moment. You see Colonel after she escaped the doctor made her way back to Quantico and contacted me. I met her not far from here and after she told me her story, Carla surrendered herself to me. With the information she provided confirmed I knew it was too far above my pay grade to deal with, so I contacted the General. He came to the base to meet with me two days later. After I convinced him of the legitimacy of the doctors story, we devised a plan.

His plan involved him taking a copy of the registration the Secretary of Defense to gage his reaction. It was the Generals idea that Blake had been purposefully sabotaging our military efforts in Canada and against the blockade to make the president look weak. He purposely laid his
head in guillotine in an effort to ferret out this conspiracy we stumbled upon.”

“What conspiracy would that be Colonel Sa’heed?”

“Charles, it was King’s theory that there was a coup attempt in progress and that Davis Carlyle was the head of it.”

“The Chief of Staff and Vice Presidential nominee?”

“The one and only.” Carla responded. “He was there, at the farm house. I saw him in his grey suit. He was overseeing the whole thing.”

“You saw him?” Jordon asked.

“Well, no, not myself but Gail described him, and I stole his car. Sometimes one plus one actually doe add up to two.” She replied defensively.

“How does all this tie in with the generals death?” the Colonel asked Sa’heed.

“After his meeting Defense secretary Blake we spoke on the phone. General King was convinced that Blake was in on it. I’ve known Angelo since we were both in officer training school, his instincts have always been impeccable.” Sa’heed told him.

Jordon nodded.

“The day after his meeting with Blake I received a call from the FBI informing me they would being taking Dr. Ryson into their custody. I requested the notice of transfer number for verification as the doctor had already been kidnapped once. The person on the other end balked at the idea of giving it to me and told me there would be agents there to pick her up at 10am the next morning. At about 4am I was awoken by a call from the generals wife informing me of his “accident”. At that point I knew they were onto us. I woke my family and put them on a pane to my wife’s mothers house in Atlanta. Once they were safely on the way out of town I drove to the base. It was about 8:30 in the morning when I arrived and there were already several vehicles with FBI plates on the at the main gate. The agent in the lead car was arguing with the MP (military police) officer in the gate house, who was denying them access to the base on my orders. When I bypassed the line and drove up to the gate the lead agent informed me that if they weren’t allowed access to the base I’d be arrested for obstruction of justice. Upon hearing this I ordered the MP’s at the guard station to take all seven of the agents in their caravan into custody. Once the agents were secured in the brig, I took Dr. Ryson, and we left the base. We went on the run. I knew the congresswoman was someone that could be trusted. I made contact and she’s been hiding us ever since.” Sa’heed told Jordon.

“That’s quite the story Colonel.” Jordon replied. Then to Flaherty he asked, “So your idea of hiding them is dying the doctors hair and bringing them to a fancy restaurant for dinner?”

“I believe they call it hiding in plain sight, Charles.” She replied sticking the tongue out.

A ghost of a smile crossed his lips before he asked “So, assuming I believe your story, what do you want me to do? You must have something specific in mind Christina.”

“Colonel, you must have noticed how strictly Blake has been restricting direct military access to the president.” Sa’heed said.

“Yes I had to use my direct line to the president not long ago because he kept deflecting me.”

“Yes, I heard about that, several cabinet member were pissed that you were able to bypass Blake like that.” Christina added. “You see, all of this is connected. Why else would they be coming down so hard on you over letting Dr. Greyson go? What were we gaining by holding her? Nothing. If nothing is the answer why are they so intent on crucifying you over it?”

“I don’t know.” He replied honestly.

Flaherty reached her hand across the table and covered Jordon’s. “Charles we need you to contact President Fuller and tell him what’s going on before it’s too late. Will you help us?”

Jordon sat quietly for a moment considering what he’d been told. Weighing the plausibility of what they’d laid out for him. He stared intently into
Christa’s eyes, his friend and sometimes more than just a friend, looking for some evidence she was trying to deceive him before finally answering. “I’ll see what I can do.”

A moments later the concierge reappeared at the table with a worried look on his face. His already pale skin looked even whiter as he leaned in and whispered something in the congress woman’s ear.

Christina pulled back and looked at him. “Are you serious?”

“Yes miss. I’m very sorry.”

“The FBI are here?”

“Yes. They are waiting by the front door. The agent in charge, a Mr. Johanson, said he didn’t want to make a scene and asks that the four of you come out willingly.”

“Well shit.” Flaherty look at her three companions. “Doctor, you need to get out of here. The three of us will go out and surrender but you can’t be caught. You’ll never see the light of day again.” She turned the concierge and asked, “Henry can you see to her safely?”

“Of course, congress woman.” He replied. “Doctor if you will?” He gestured for her to get up.
Carla complied before asking “What am I supposed to do?”

“Go with Henry. We won’t be held long. He will let us know where to find you once we’ve been released from custody.” Christina assured her.
“He’s going to keep me safe?” Carla asked dubiously.

“Trust me doctor there is a lot me to Henry then you realize.”

Henry simply smiled at the compliment. He then again gestured for Carla to follow him. “Please doctor time is of the essence.”
Carla despite her doubts hurried off after him.

Jordon looked at Christina an Sa’heed. “You know they will never buy that she wasn’t with us.” He told the pair.
“Doesn’t matter what they believe, Charles. All that matters is keeping Carla out of their hands.”

“And that guy” he started point in the direction of Henry as the concierge scooted across the dining room. “He going to keep her safe until we’re released?”

“Henry is a former French intelligence agent.” She replied matter of factly.

“Former?” Robert asked.

“Well maybe not as retired as he claims but regardless she will be safe in his hands.” They both looked at her doubtfully. “I trust him. You’ll both have to trust me. Now let’s go before the FBI comes rushing in here.”

The three of them straightened themselves out for a moment then headed for the entrance.

*****************************
Thursday September 13th 6:15am PDT

Robi Goings lay in bed looking up at the white stucco ceiling and listening to Warren breath. She could hardly believe she was back with him. It seemed so much like a dream she was afraid sometimes to close her eyes incase when she woke up she would find herself still in her bed in the back of the infirmary at Reynolds. She turned her head and gazed over at him and smiled. He always made her smile. Never in her previous life had she felt so content with anyone, let alone a man, but here she was falling as hard as one could.

As she watched him sleep she thought back to the scene four days previous when Ellie and company had finally arrived back in San Francisco.

There had been a knock on the door of the condo that that Mr. Harkin had dropped them off at a week previously telling them it was theirs to use as long as they wished. Inside the lavishly furnished place was ever amenity one could ask for, including closets filled with clothes for all four of them, amazingly all in their sizes. Thomas, who’d never worn anything other than the orange jumpsuits Reynolds issue since her transformation was a little bit put out by the selection.

“Of course they got you women’s clothing silly, your female… Duh..” She had told the enhanced new woman with a laugh. Paka and Linda too had been equally baffled as to what to wear.

“You three have been female for months now but this is going to be a whole new experience for all of you. You’re going to need to learn though. If it’s obvious to everyone you have no clue they’ll snatch you up, test you and will ship you right back to somewhere just like where we escaped from.” Robi told them.

“Not me they won’t!” Paka said furiously. “I’m never going back to any place like that again. I’d rather die.”

“Be that as it may, you still need to learn ho to pass off as someone that grew up female.” Robi told the group.

The three of them looked at her miserably but nodded their ascent.

“It’s not as bad as you think.” She laughed.

Thomas lifted a dress u by the hanger and showed it to Robi. “That’s what you think.”

The days following they stayed in the condo and Robi gave them a crash course on matching their clothes and basic makeup application to varying degrees of success. The girls tried their hardest to follow her instruction and by the end of the fourth day there seemed to be a bit of progress.

For Thomas, there was very little hope of her ever truly blending in anywhere. Being over six feet tall and drop dead beautiful with amazing amber colored eyes that looked a cold and hard as the stone they resembled, there was no way she wouldn’t be noticed anywhere she went.

Paka was small enough that she was in misses’ sizes, which didn’t exactly sit well with the former news chief. The new woman was embarrassed to wear anything that wasn’t sweatpants and tee shirt. Even trying to work within those parameters became untenable any time Robi would attempt to doll the outfit up. Eventually she was forced to shrug and hope for the best.

Linda, who was just beginning to show needed maternity clothing. That was an adventure Robi was not anxious to relive but somehow, they managed to get through it. Linda positively glowed. It appeared being pregnant agreed with her now that she was out of quarantine, despite her reluctance to admit it.

Robi made a mental note to make sure Linda got plenty of time with Ellie. The doctor was concerned what would happen to her mental state as the baby grew inside her and the short leader of the sisters had an amazing ability to set people at ease. She fervently hoped the magic would work on the pregnant new woman. The situation she was in was akin to having to carry your rapist’s child to term in Robi’s opinion.

On day five what was left of the Sisters arrived on their door step. Their little group had agreed that on Robi or Linda would answer the door should anyone come to it as they were the most normal looking. As it happened it was Linda that wound up answering, much to Ellie’s confusion.

“Hi. Can I help you?” Linda asked after opening the door and acting completely clueless as to who the group of women standing on the walkway were. Never mind she knew they were waiting for waiting for Robi’s friends to arrive.

“Umm… Is Robi here?” Ellie had asked in utter confusion. She began rechecking the address on the piece of paper she had in her hand.

Linda stood there smiling for a moment before going, “Oh Robi, yes sorry. I don’t know where my brain goes sometimes. You must be her friends.” She smiled at them as she stood in the doorway blocking any chance of entrance.

Ellie smiled back. “Yes that’s us. May we come in?” she asked with a bit of consternation.

“Oh, shit sorry.” Linda laughed. “Yes by all mean. Please come in I’ll get her. She’s upstairs with Thomas I believe.”

Warren asked with a bit of worry in his voice, “Thomas?” but Linda has already walked off down the hall calling for Robi.

Ellie shook her head as she reopened the screen door and ushered Wendy, Nicole, Mia and Sam with Warren and the baby in tow in.

The little band hadn’t made it three steps in when they heard the long-missed voice of Robi squeal “Ellie!!!!” as she ran down the steps.
She hugged the short sandy blond-haired leader of the sisters tight, then looked up and saw Warren standing off to the side.

“Oh my god Warren!!” She broke off from Ellie as quickly as she’d jumped on her and jetted for Warren. The two embraced like the long-lost lovers they were. Holding and kissing, tears flowing from both their eyes.

“Oh my god.” Robi cried. I never thought I’d see you again.” As she clung to Warren.

He appeared to be speechless as he hugged her tight. The whole world disappeared for a few short moments as he held her in his arms.

The other three house residents had gathered in the hallway, Thomas and Paka on the steps and the third, Linda in the hallway behind the group.

After several awkward moments, Thomas coughed. Robi looked up and pulled away from Warren reluctantly, looking embarrassed. “Oh god, I’m so sorry.” She stammered. “Introductions, yes. So sorry.”

Everyone laughed which made Robi’s cheeks turn even more red.

“So, let’s start with my new friends” she said trying to regain her composure. Pointing at Linda she told the group “The amazing red head over there is Linda she escaped with us. The tall gorgeous one on the steps is Thomas and the short little mouse is Paka. Paka, I believe you already know Warren, as for the rest, the short one up front is Ellie. The Tall gorgeous red head is Nicole. The dark-haired beauty there is Dr. Mia Blue. The Big hulk is Wendy, she doesn’t speak and the last two I have no idea who they are.” She giggled as she held Warrens hand.

“They are Dr. Sam Greyson, and the little one is Sara.” Ellie told them. “Nice to meet you all. It’s amazing you made it out. I still don’t have the slightest clue how but I’m so happy for all of you. Your safe with us for as long as you choose to stay.”

Warren looked at the one Robi had called Paka then asked “She knows me? How?”

Paka cleared her throat not really sure how to begin. Seeing her discomfort Thomas reached out for her hand and held it. “It’s ok, you can tell him. We’re here with you.”

Paka smiled. “Well, I guess there’s no other way to say it but to say it so here goes, Warren I was your boss at KTLR tv, Bob Parker. Before…this…” she told him uncertainly.

Warren blinked a couple times. “Bob? My god. What happened to you?”

“Brady happened to me.” Paka replied bitterly.

The members of the sisters all looked at each other uncomprehendingly.

“I’m afraid we don’t know who “Brady’ is.” Elli told them.

“It doesn’t matter now. He’s dead.” Thomas told the group with an unmistakable edge of bitterness in her voice.

“Thomas, is it? “Nicole asked. “Nice to meet you. My names Nicole.” She extended a hand that Thomas took. It only took a moments contact got them to realize they were both enhanced.

“You’ve got abilities too.” Logan said not quite understanding how she knew. “What can you do?”

“Yes, both Wendy and I are. She’s super strong, I mean like really strong. She flipped a police car over all by herself.”

The others looked at Wendy. “That’s impressive.” Paka commented.

“I kind of have the whole package. Strength, speed, agility and I make a heck of a martini.” Nicole said with a smile.

Thomas smiled back. “I’m in the same boat as you, for the most part. Maybe we can compare some time.”

“I’d like that. I’ll show you mine if you show me yours” Nicole joked. The hulk of a new woman tapped Nicole’s shoulder. “Wendy would too.” She quickly added.

Thomas smiled then turned to Ellie. She looked at the small new woman and cocked her head to the side. “You’ve a little something in you too.”

Ellie looked perplexed. “Not me. I’m not super-duper.”

“There’s something there. Like with your red headed friend and the big ol hulk there. I can sense it.”

“Oh, so you’re the one that’s been leaving all those bent steel bars laying around. We’ve been wondering…” Nicole kidded.

“Guess the jig is up.” Ellie joked back with a giggle. Then turning serious she said to the newcomers. “So, you all escaped from Reynolds. I don’t think I’ve ever heard of anyone getting out a quarantine before. The fire there must have been far worse than they reported if you were able to use it to get out.”

The four of the looked at each other uncomfortably, seemingly not sure what to say. Finally, Robi spoke up. “El, we escaped before they blew the place up. We were the only ones to get out before….” She choked and couldn’t go on.

“Reynolds was blown up? Who?” Warren asked as he pulled her in for a close hug. Robi clung to him in return.

“The government. The Army, Airforce, whatever” Paka replied. “I saw a stealth fighter or something climbing away into the cloud cover after the explosion.”

Ellie looked at her uncomprehendingly. “They destroyed the entire complex?” She asked. “How could…. My god all those people!”

“It was as bad as you imagine and worse.” Paka replied. “As for how could they? What happened seems to be standard operating procedure theses days from what I can tell. They don’t care about any of us. They’ll wipe out the entire country to get rid of the infected if they must.”

Ellie couldn’t argue with her assessment and simply nodded.

“Honestly, they are better off being dead.” Linda added. “ Living there wasn’t living and after the riot…Let’s just say that if there had been survivors inside, those in charge would have made what we went through in there seem like a holiday by comparison. Even with Brady and that cunt Stanley dead.”

“Riot?” Sam asked.

Robi tuned to her friends in the Sister’s. “There’s a lot to explain but not now. It’s too fresh.”

Warren squeezed her hand. “It’s ok babe. You’re free now and I’ll never let them take you away from me again.”

She smiled at him, feeling safe in his presence. It was in that moment that she realized she loved him more completely than anyone else shed ever known.

Changing the subject Robi asked, “Is this all that’s left from the warehouse raid?”

“Pretty much. Carol and Vera escaped too but they are..umm…. no longer with us.” Mia told her looking rather uncomfortable with the subject.

“No longer with you? Did they go off on their own somewhere?” Robi asked confused.

“Vera, it seems committed suicide.” Ellie quickly answered. “Carol left us because of….philosophical differences.” She added vaguely.

“Philosophical differences?” Linda asked.

“She didn’t like me being part of the group.” Sam replied simply. “Ellie, Mia and Nicole didn’t want me to leave.”

“Sam is my daughter.” Mia added. “Carol couldn’t live with things the way the way they were and left as soon as we were back in the bay area.”

“We did everything we could to get her to stay , but in the end, it was her choice to leave.” Nicole added. “

“Wait, Vera committed suicide?” Robi asked circling back and slightly astounded at how quickly the statement had been brushed off.

“How? What?” she questioned. While Vera had never been Robi’s favorite person, but she was a long time part of the group, and it surprised her how callously the news of her death was delivered.

“We don’t know for sure what happened.” Nicole said as Ellie was getting ready to speak. “Carol and I found her dead in her motel room. It looked like she might have choked to death on something. It’s hard to say for sure. She’d been dead at least a full day before we found her body.”

“Vera is the one that betrayed us to the army Robi.” Ellie added angrily. “She refused to come clean on her part of the raid on the warehouse. After giving her one last chance to admit her roll in it, and she declined, Wendy and I told her she couldn’t stay with us any longer. We left her behind when we moved on from the motel we’d been staying. Carol went back to find her the next day and she was lying dead on the floor in her room.”

Robi shook her head. “That’s terrible. I wish I’d been there. Maybe I could have done something to help her.” She told them as a tear ran down her cheek.

“She was cold by the time Carol stumbled upon her, there’s nothing you could have done.” Nicole reassured her.

“She a was in cahoots with the army?” Paka asked shaking her head in disgust. “Seems like you got lucky that she did herself like that.”

Nicole shot Paka a stern look. “Maybe you shouldn’t comment on things you’re not familiar with.”

“Lady, after all the shit the government has done to me, I got no love for anyone that works with them. Maybe you should walk a mile or two in our shoes before you judge my reactions.” Paka told her as she poked the tall red head in the chest.

“Paka!” Thomas chastised.

Paka whipped her head around and yelled back. “What?”

“There are Robi’s friends. That’s what. Play nice.” Thomas retorted. “If not for their generosity we’d be wandering the streets in our orange jump suits still.”

“So, I have to kiss their ass now?” she asked angrily.

“No. You don’t have to do anything of the sort.” Ellie interjected. “We’ve all been through a lot at the hands of the government and their various agencies. What we need to do is come together and be allies in order to try to prevent it from happening to anyone else. That’s our mission. We are back to set up a safe haven for those who the government wants to put away into places like Reynolds and the like. We had a fairly successful operation before the army undermined us and shut our operation down. Moving forward, we will need to be far more careful with who we trust. However, I can clearly see the three of you have no love for the Fuller administration and it’s Acidalia policies. So how about we put our hurt, anger and ego’s aside and work together to help those who need us.”

Paka waited for Ellie to finish and sighed. “Fine, I’m an asshole. What can I tell you, being messed with on a daily basis will do that to you.” To Nicole she added. “Sorry, Nicole, is it? You were right, I should keep my opinions to myself when it comes to people I don’t know.”

“No worries Paka. I’m sorry too. Its been a rough few weeks for all of us.”

“See? I told you she has a little something in her. “Thomas told the group looking at Ellie. “Never seen anyone back Paka down like that with just a few words before. I’ve never come across anyone like you before. Of course, all this sensing power is really new to me.”

“How long have you been transformed, Thomas?” Warren asked. “Is it a recent thing?”

“No. I was there with the very first shipment of detainees at Reynolds. I was a cop and got infected right off the bat trying to save and overdose victim. I didn’t want to change my name after my transformation and that put me on the bad side of Brady. He did everything he could to make my life miserable, as well as the lives of everyone around me. Then it was discovered I could heal quickly. That made him even more determined to prove, something. I could never quite figure out what. I eventually got his ass and gave him a firsthand look at what it felt to be transformed by the bug. As satisfying as that moment was, it didn’t save me. After he was out of the picture they turned the place over to the doctor. She took the torture to a whole different level with her constant experimentation.”

“That is so messed up.” Mia said in horror. “I wish I could say I can’t believe they put someone like that in charge, but I’ve seen the depths they are willing to sink to fist hand. My refusal to go along with them is what led to my dismissal from Greyson.”

Thomas nodded then continued, “My abilities started out like Nicole’s, strong and agile, able to heal faster than most but lately things have been evolving. My eyesight and hearing have been come very sensitive lately and now it seems that I can sense power in others like Nicole did in me.”

“I’ve never felt anything like that before today.” Nicole admitted. “But now that you mention it if I concentrate, I can feel a something coming from Ellie, Linda, Wendy and Paka.” She then turned and looked over at Sam and Sara. “The baby too. I feel it strongest from her actually now that I think about it.”

“Yes, Sara is going to be very powerful when she grows up.” Thomas agreed.

“Sara?” Sam asked. “How could you possibly know something like that.”

“I don’t know Sam, I just feel it.” Nicole told her.

“I don’t understand…”

“Neither do I sweetie.” Nicole replied confused.

“Speaking of baby’s” Ellie said. “How is it your pregnant Linda? We’re you carrying when they captured you?”

“Ah, no.” Linda replied in a voice tinged with sadness and anger. She patted the small bump of her tummy. “I got this courtesy of the cow.”

“The cow?”

“The Cow was Dr. Paula Stanley. She was the head of Reynolds, until Thomas killed her at least. She about tortured Paka to death testing her healing abilities. Thomas and I got to undergo artificial insemination at her hands in some cockamamie scheme to see if we could pass on our abilities to our children or some such shit.” The pregnant woman told them.

Mia shook her head in disgust. “You’re pregnant too Thomas?”

“No. Not anymore. My child was the last thing Brady took from me before we got away.” She replied with great sadness. She lifted her top to show the barely visible stab wound scars on her belly. “The fucker got me in the back too, those had Robi really worried. I’m lucky that I heal quickly. Not as quickly as Paka though.”

“Ya but that’s all I got, or I’d have killed the cunt long before you ever got your chance.” Paka replied with obvious anger.

“What the hell kind of place were they running there?” Mia asked disgustedly.

“Hell is a very close description, Mia.” Robi said. “For disrespecting the Cow I got to spend a night in the not so tender mercies of the Major. I don’t even know how to describe what she did to me.” She shivered as she recalled it. “But that’s how it went there. Offend the tyrant and you paid dearly.”

Warren wrapped his arms around her. “I have you babe. No one will ever hurt you again.”

“Ha. Ya right Quinlan. You’re going to protect her? You can’t even protect yourself. Are the feds still after you for Wanda’s murder?” Paka taunted then asked, “How is it by the way you’re not sick after being around all of us by the way?”

“I’m immune.” He told Paka. “I’ve been with the Sister’s since they found me hiding from the authorities in the warehouse next to theirs. The bug doesn’t seem to like me.”

“Immune? I didn’t know that was even possible. The Cow would have loved to get her hands on you.” Thomas said in wonder. “Do you know how? Why?”

“We’ve looked over his physiology and haven’t found anything that stands out as of yet.” Sam said. “Genetic research was my specialty before the outbreak. That’s how all this…”

“That’s enough Sam!” Ellie said cutting her off midsentence.

“Sorry El.”

The escapee’s looked at the two of them for a moment confused by the exchange.

“Genetics? Maybe you can figure out why after months of being the same suddenly I’ve started mutating again then.” Thomas suggested breaking the awkward silence.

“I’d love to look into that actually Thomas, if we ever get the facilities to do it in.”

“We will Sam. Remember we’re fully funded now.” Ellie told them.

“Yes, our mysterious benefactor, Mr. Harkin.” Nicole said dubiously.

“He’s live up to his word so far Nicole.” Ellie argued. “He got them set up here after Robi called, didn’t he? The police have left us alone since I met with him.”

“That doesn't mean he’s on our side El. Or that he has our best interests at heart.”

“Nicole!” Ellie started.

“Alright you two, that’s enough. Each of you in a neutral corner.” Mia said getting between the pair. “Whatever shit you two have going on between you need to get worked out before we even think about our next move.”

*******
And that’s how it went for the next few days. Everyone was getting to know each other.

Thomas and Nicole became fast friends, constantly testing each other’s abilities in the condo’s basement gym.

Ellie and Nicole were still icy with each other, which Robi couldn’t understand at all. Warren had tried to explain what little he knew but he had been away for a while on his misguided mission to infiltrate the Reverends group. Vera was already gone by the time he rejoined.

“I really don’t know what happened to her.” He admitted when she asked.

“What about Carol then?”
“That was a tough situation for the kid.”

“She’s not really a child you know.”

“I know but she acts like one sometimes. Especially lately.” He told her.

Robi nodded. “So, tell me what happened.”

“Carol was pissed when she found out who Sam was.” He told her.

“Who Sam was? Who is Sam then?” She asked confused by his answer.

“Sam” he started but hesitated, unsure how to go on.

“Sam what?”

“It was Sam and a co-worker of hers that invited the bug.” He said not knowing how else to put it.

“She what?” Robi exclaimed loudly.

“Shhh. Keep your voice down.” Warren admonished.

“Keep my voice?” She shot him and angry look. “You’d better spend less time telling me what to do and more time telling why the hell Ellie is harboring the inventor of the god damned bug! What the hell are you people thinking?”

Warren looked at her for a moment swallowing down his anger at her words. After a moment he felt he could speak and said to her, “First off, it wasn’t my call. It’s all on Ellie and Nicole. They wanted the transformation. They are happy with it. Seems like they think of Sam as some kind of savior or something. I don’t really know.”

“Savior? Are they insane?” Robi asked nonplussed.

“No. Least I don’t think so. They are just grateful to her for giving them what they always wanted, I guess.”

“And they chose her over Carol?”

“Yeah, kind of. I wasn’t in the room when the conversation went down so I can’t tell you all the details but I know /carol was furious with the two of them when she left.”

“Jesus.” Robi said shaking her head.

“Ya. I know. It’s super fucked up.”

“You can say that again.”

“Ya. I know. It’s super fucked up.” He said again sticking his tongue out at her.

“Oh, so now you got joke huh, mister funny man?” she said giving him a mock stern look.

He gave her an impish grin. She sighed. “You are so lucky I love you.”

“I am.” He stated still smiling. “Are you going to tell the others?”

“I don’t know. Thomas is levelheaded. She might be relatively ok with it but there’s no way Linda or Paka will be. Paka has already killed two people she hated and that was before we escaped. Since she remembered who she was before, she seems to be more and more angry by the day. I don’t know how she would take the news that she was living under the same roof as the bugs inventor.”

Warren nodded.

“Linda has been through so much. Especially with carrying the baby. I don’t know how she would react. She might try to kill Sam. I know she’s still pissed Thomas got a hold of Stanley before she could.”

“So, we keep it between us and the rest of the Sisters for now?”

“I think that’s the best plan but believe you me, I’ll be having a talk with Ellie in the morning.” Robi informed him.

“Good give her a little bit of hell for me too.” He laughed.

She smiled and slapped him in the chest. “You’re such a goof.”

“And you said you loved me. Don’t think I didn’t catch that.”

“I did, didn’t I.” she said.

“You did.”

“Got any thoughts on that subject then?” she asked hopefully.

“Only that I love you too.” He told her with a smile.

She took his hand in hers and smiled. “Let’s go to bed.”

After making love, she lay there marveling at how things had turned out. She rolled over and pressed her body against his and closed her eyes again and drifted off to sleep.

Three hours later in the condo’s kitchen Nicole was up and making a pot of coffee. She yawned a big wide open mouth kind of yawn as she waited for it to brew. Tired as she was sleep was as elusive as ever these days.

It seemed after they picked Ellie after her meeting with the mysterious Mr. Harkin, that things might be getting better between the two of them. That is until Ellie told her about their new benefactor and his groups goals and their potential part in those plans. The idea of them being funded to do their work as a means to make the government look weak and ineffectual didn’t sit right with Nicole. Much as she tried to understand how Ellie could be ok with such things, she just couldn’t. So once again they argued. Things had gotten so heated at one point she nearly asked her so called best friend what really happened to Vera. Luckily, or maybe not, Mia had stepped in and told them to knock it off.

Nicole sighed heavily. This was not the path she wanted to be on. If things didn’t get resolved soon, she was going to either have to force the issue or leave.

The coffee maker beeped giving her the excuse she was looking for to move her thoughts in a different direction. She grabbed a cup and poured the coffee, inhaling the aroma deeply.

“Coffee, truly the nectar of the gods.” She thought with an internal laugh as she sat at the breakfast bar and took her first sip.

As she drank, she watched the sun coming up though the open window. Back before Acidalia when she was Roger, she used to love to sit out on the tiny balcony of his east facing apartment and watch the sunrise. In a world filled with internal turmoil, it was the one time of the day she felt completely at peace. Watching it now, she was filled with that same peace once again. A smile creased her lips, a rare thing these days.

To add to the stress of the Elli situation was the ugly departure of Carrol. It had been a terrible scene, wrought with emotion. No one had really believed that Carol would leave after being forced to case out the police station Elie was being held in with Sam. They had all underestimated how much hatred Carol held in her heart for the doctor. Despite hopes to the contrary, it became obvious that she was never going to get over it.

Nicole deeply regretted the harsh words from both sides as the look of deep betrayal in Carol’s eyes as she gathered her meager things and stormed out the RV door.

“Hope you’re well kiddo.” She thought raising her cup to the sun as a sort of salute to her lost friend.

“Toasting the sun?” a voice asked from behind. Nicole recognized it was Ellie’s immediately.

“No. Just thinking about Carol and raising my cup to her…I don’t know..good health..good luck..something.” Nicole replied kind of embarrassed to have been caught in the act.

Ellie nodded as she stepped over to the coffee machine and poured herself a cup. “That was a bad scene, her leaving like that.”

“It was.” Nicole agreed.

Ellie stood with her back to the granite counter and leaned back on it. The two new women faced each other silently as they sipped the hot brew. Finally, Ellie asked “What’ on you mind Nikki? I can see the wheels turning.”

“I don’t want to get into it, El. Just want to sit here and watch the sun come up with my coffee.”

“Yeah, you never want to get into it.” Ellie replied roughly. “Yet you sit there and judge me and accuse me with your eyes. I can see it every time you look my way. Why not just get it off your chest?”

Ellie…” Nicole started.

“Don’t Ellie me!” She growled. “Ask your fucking question Roger. Or are you still too big of a coward to ask me to my face?”

Nicole stood up at the sound of her dead name being thrown out like that.

“Fine you want me to ask then here goes. What really happen to Vera, Ellijah? You and Wendy stayed behind to tell her to go away and then Carol and I find her dead. So. tell me the truth about what happened. Cause I don’t believe that it was an accident or suicide.” Nicole shouted.

“You know what happened!” Elie shouted back. “She betrayed us! I did what I felt was a reasonable response and had Wendy make sure she never betrayed anyone again!”

“So, you killed her. No, you didn’t have the guts to do it yourself you had Wendy do it for you. And you accuse me of being a coward.” Nicole replied in disgust.

Ellie stared the tall redhead, seething before replying. “She’s the reason we lost the warehouse. The reason that Robi was captured and imprisoned. She betrayed us all so yes, I made sure she paid the ultimate price for what she did to us. Wendy understood it perfectly fine. Why can’t you?”

“Because she was one of us. Much of a pain in the ass as she was, she was our friend. She fucking loved you for fucks sake.”

“She stopped being one of us the minute she started working for Jordon. She became one of them and got what she deserved in my opinion.” Ellie shouted.

“Wait, what’s this?” Warren asked.

The two women turned to see that they’d drawn quite a crowd at the kitchen doorway. Warren, Robi, Thomas and Sam all stood there dumbfounded.

“Fuck.” Nicole said to no one in particular. “Sorry if we woke you.”

“Ellie did you really have Vera killed?” Warren asked ignoring Nicole.

“Yes Warren.” She replied still angry. “I was so hurt and angry by what she did to us. Not just this pitiful group we have left but all of us, the ones in quarantine now too. You especially Robi. You paid a far bigger price for her betrayal than any of us with your time in the horrid place.”

“Oh no. Don’t you even try to justify this with what happened to me!” Robi replied angrily. “Whatever choice you made was all on you El had nothing to do with me. And even if it did have something to do with me it’s not what I would have wanted you to do in my name.”

“Robi…” Ellie began but the tears running down her face choked the rest off. She looked around at the group. Some were her oldest friends; some were new ones. They all held the same look in their eyes. It suddenly came all came crashing down on Ellie, how badly she’d fucked up.

“I..I…I was just so angry.” She cried. “Fuck! What have I done?”
 
 
Wendy, who was apparently late to the party pushed everyone aside and grabbed Ellie up in a protective hug. She glared at the others as she held their crying leader.

“What are you looking at? “Nicole said defensively. “You’re in the same boat as she is. Killer.”

Wendy let go of Ellie and spread her arms out at her sides and waved Nicole over.

“Fight? You want to fight?” The tall red head asked indignantly. “What’s that going to prove? Other than you can’t lay a hand on me if I don’t want you too?

Wendy stepped closer.

“We’re not doing this Wendy.” Nicole told her and turned away.

Wendy put a hand on Nicole shoulder, spinning her back around as she lined up a monster of a sucker punch that never landed thanks to Thomas’ intervention.

“The lady said no.” She said forcefully as she got nose to nose with the silent giant. “Whatever issue you have with her for making Ellie tell the truth is your problem. Not hers or the rest of ours. Now back off.”

Wendy's eyes burned with anger as she glared at Logan.

“Wendy. Enough.” Ellie told her. “What good is a fight going to do? It won’t bring Vera back. It won’t erase what we did.”

Wendy gestured at Ellie and at herself then made a heart gesture with her hands.

“I love you too sweetie, but we did this. It’s up to them to decide what they want to do with us. We made a terrible mistake.”

Wendy shook her head no.

“Yes.” Ellie told her. Then to the others she said, “I don’t know what else to say.”

“Maybe we should all retire to separate rooms and process this before we say anymore.” Sam suggested.

“Excellent idea Sam.” Nicole replied. “I’m going to go work out and try and relieve some of this tension.”

“I’ll got with you.” Thomas said as she followed Nicole out of the room.

The rest of the group stood awkwardly around the kitchen unsure what to say as Ellie sobbed. None felt like they could offer her any solace except Wendy who stood next to the diminutive leader with a hand on her shoulder.

“I’m so sorry.” She blubbered to no one in particular.

Eventually everyone but Wendy drifted away leaving Ellie alone with her regrets.

**************************
Thomas, who’d swung into her room to change clothes before meeting Nicole in the basement, walked into the sound of metal plates crashing on the padded floor of the gymnasium.

“That bar bell will never mess with you again that’s for sure.” She joked.

“Fuck you, Thomas. I’m not in the mood for company right now.” Nicole said angrily.

“Who said I was here for you?” She asked. “I spend months locked up and half sedated. I need a workout as badly as you. Probably worse.”

“Whatever.” Nicole replied as she picked the fully stacked bar up and pressed it above her head before dropping it to the floor.”

“You’re going to crack the concrete if you keep dropping six hundred pounds on it like that.” Logan prodded.
“It was seven hundred.”

“Oh well excuse me. Seven hundred pounds then.” She said sticking her tongue out.

Nicole shook her head and tried to suppress a grin.

“I saw that.” Thomas teased.

“Saw what?”

“I saw that little bit of a grin.”

“You’re imagining things.”

“Nope I saw it. It was right there.” Thomas leaned in and kissed Nicole's lips. The red heads eyes widened in surprise, but she didn’t pull back. Instead, she wrapped her arms around the former Reynolds inmates’ neck and pulled her in closer.

After a moment they pulled back from each other. They leaned their foreheads against one another’s, eyes locked.

“Been a long time since I kissed anyone.” Thomas admitted.

“Doesn’t seem like you’ve forgotten how.” Nicole replied with a smile. “Of course, your welcome to try again. If you feel like you need the practice.”

“Oh ya?” Thomas asked with a wide grin on her face.

“Yep.” Was the reply with an equally large grin.

Logan pressed her lips to Nicole's again as the pair embraced. The kissing lasted much longer this time. The pairs hands began to explore each other bodies, roving here there and everywhere. Finally, breathlessly Nicole suggested they move to her bedroom.

Thomas smiled. “Lead the way beautiful. But I have to warn you it’s been a real long time.”

“That’s ok. We can practice a whole bunch of times until you remember how.” She replied with a wicked grin plastered to her face as she took Thomas’ hand and led her down the short hallway.

***********************
A couple hours later the lay in each other’s arms, sated.

“That as lovely.” Nicole said as she spooned her newfound lover. “See, you weren’t that out of practice.”

“I’ve never experienced anything like that.” Thomas admitted dreamily.

“Little bit different from how it felt before huh?”

“A lot.” She replied honestly.

“I supposed being in locked up in that hell hole didn’t exactly leave you yearning.”

“Ya, no. Was pretty much the last thing on my mind.”

“I wish that Dr. Stanley person was still alive so I could punch her in the face for what she put you through.”

“She got hers in the end.” Thomas said simply.

“Yes, I suppose she did, didn’t she.”

“Can I ask you something?” Thomas asked changing the subject.

“Ask away.”

“I get the friction between you and Ellie over this Vera person. Can you tell me what went on with her. I really want to understand.”

Nicole sighed deeply. “Vera was the biggest pain in the ass I’ve ever had to deal with. She was selfish, scheming and manipulative, but she was one of us from almost the beginning. We found her hiding not far from where we had our warehouse set up. They had been transporting her to Dillon Quarantine when some group attacked the bus they were on. They killed one of the doctors that created the virus and set the rest of them free.”

Thomas nodded.

“So fast forward a few weeks and she joined. She was devoted to El, like the rest of us. She resented my closeness with Ellie. You see me and El were the best of friend before any of this happened. We had our trans desires in common which got us in the same group but there was just something there. We were inseparable. She caught Acidalia first and then took care of me after I agreed for her to infect me. It was like a dream come true for the two of us.”

“So you wanted this?” Thomas asked.

“I did. I have never been so happy in my life since I changed. I was very manly. Thick arms and legs, square jaw, heavy beard and a very deep voice. I couldn’t have passed in a lightless room.” She laughed at her own little joke.

Thomas smiled.

“Anyway.” Nicole said getting back to the subject. “It got to the point with Vera that if I said black, she’d say white, if you get my meaning.”
“
Liked to argue with you a lot huh?”

“Yep. Especially when it came to Ellie or Carol.” Nicole sighed. “Anyway, she went out with a group of ours that got caught by the police, after being specifically told not to go by me. At some point someone realized she was affiliated with us and blackmailed her into bringing Mia to us, to act as a spy for them or whatever. Eventually they got whatever info they needed or wanted, and they raided us. Wendy and I got captured creating a distraction so Ellie and the rest could get away. Ellie eventually got us, and Sam released from the lab they were holding us in. After that we decided to get out of town. On our journey we kind of took over this abandoned motel for a few days. When we were getting ready to leave and meet up with Warren and some woman he’d been travelling with El and Wendy stayed behind and, well you know the story from there.”

Thomas nodded. “So, when she called you Roger…”

“That was my name before.”

Thomas nodded.

“Your infection was accidental?” Nicole asked changing the subject.

“Yes. I never had any desire to be anything more than a husband and father. I got infected with the virus at the very beginning. I didn’t even have a chance to think about anything before they stuck me on a bus and dropped us at Reynolds. I was one of the first incarcerated there.”

“You kept your name, though. I’m sure I know anyone else that has done that.”

“I never had any desire to be anyone but who I’d been, so yes, I kept my name. That actually became the reason Brady singled me out.”

“Brady? There’s that name again. Who was he exactly?”

“Major Brady was a psycho that they decided to put in charge of the facility. He took my refusal to change my name personally and did everything in his power to make me regret it. I think he wanted to break me and honestly, he came damn close at one point. Then I discovered my enhancements and not long after he did too. That’s when things got really bad. They started to experiment on me to test the limits of my abilities and endurance, I guess. Personally, I can tell you he enjoyed watching Stanley and her staff torture me. That went on for a while until someone screwed up and missed my dose of the sedative, they’d give me to keep me docile during these sessions. I laid there quietly and waited until I had my opportunity. I killed the two nurses that were in the room with me and beat him to a bloody pulp before infecting him with my blood.”

“Oh honey.” Nicole said and hugged Thomas tight.

Thomas hugged her back. “I never thought I’d get out of the place. After I attacked Brady, Stanley took over as director. She was worse than he ever was in some respects. She’s the one that impregnated me and Linda. There were several other with our abilities that she inseminated but we were the only ones that managed to survive the escape attempt.”

“But you’re not pregnant anymore.”

“No. Brady killed my baby when he stabbed me before Paka got her hands on him.” She said with an edge of sadness. “I never wanted to have a baby but once it as put in me, I don’t have the words. I’m sorry.” Tears began to roll down her cheeks. “I haven’t really thought about all this. Not taken any time to mourn the loss.”

“I understand hun. Let it out. I’m here for you.” Nicole comforted as she held her close as the tears fell.

After a bit the emotional storm passed. Thomas looked at her newfound lover, “Thank you for that sweetheart.”

“No need to thank me.” Nicole told her as she gave her another tight hug. “Going to be ok now?”

“Yeah, I think so. Who knows.” Thomas replied with an internal shrug.

“It’s going to take a long time to get over what they put you through there. Don’t run from it when those times come. Letting it out is the fastest way to get past it.”

The long brown-haired woman nodded and kissed Nicole's cheek. “You’re an amazing person Nikki.”

She smiled. “You’re not so bad yourself Tommy.” She laughed and stuck out her tongue.

Laughing she replied, “No one has called me Tommy since fourth grade.”

“Really? Not even your wife?”

“Nope. I’ve always preferred Thomas over any of the abbreviations of my name.”

Nicole nodded. “Well, if you’re going to call me Nikki, and I don’t mind a bit if you do, I’m going to call you Tommi but with an I instead of a Y. Make is sound a bit more feminine.”

She smiled. “More feminine. Since all this happened, I’ve been sort of fighting against anything that put me in femme.”

“Brady kind of made you have to stick to you guns with that though. He’s gone now. You can embrace this new life if you want now, worry free. Not like you need it, but I won’t let anyone ever do that to you again.”

“My protector huh?” Thomas replied with an impish grin.

“That’s me.” Nicole replied while flexing the bicep on her free arm.

“Very impressive. I feel safer already.” Thomas laughed.

Nicole squeezed her again then lay her head on her shoulder. The pair lay there in each other’s arms for a while not speaking.
After a while Nicole spoke again. “Have you tried to contact your family?”

Thomas nodded. “I tried calling my wife’s cell as soon as we got settled here and it didn’t work anymore.”

“Cell service is spotty at best these days.”

“Yeah. I tried my in-laws too and their numbers been disconnected according to the recording.”

“Have you tried going to their house?”

Thomas shrugged. “No car.”

“I can solve that one for you. Do you want to go see if they are still there?”

“Now?”

“Well, we should probably shower get dressed first. If they are there it’s going to be shocking enough seeing you like you are now without you showing up naked and stinking of sex.” Nicole told her sticking her tongue out at the end.

“Ya? Don’t think they’d appreciate seeing my bare ass?” Thomas asked as she slipped out of bed and stood up showing it off.

“It is a fine ass” Nicole said admiringly. “But I mean they’re your in-laws. You know them better than me. Are they that liberal?”

Thomas laughed. “Ah, no.”

“Shower then?”

‘I’ll race ya.”

The pair raced naked down the hallway to the shower adjoining the gym. Thomas who had a head start arrived first and slammed the door shut and locked it with a laugh. Nicole stood outside the door banging on it as she laughed for her new friend to let her in when she heard a voice behind her.

“Nikki? Can we talk?”

She turned to see Ellie standing behind her looking miserable. The tall red head sighed.

“El now is not a good time. I know you feel terrible, and I’d love to tell you everything is going to be ok but right now I don’t know if it will ever be ok again.” Nicole told her honestly.

Ellie nodded.

“It doesn’t mean that I don’t still love you babe. I just need some time, ok?”

“I understand. We need to discuss what we’re going to next though. Things are crowded enough here as is and I just got a call from Mr. Harkin telling me we should expect our military support to arrive in the next couple days.”

“I can’t deal with that right now sweetie. Between Vera and Harkin, I just can’t do it. I think we are headed down a very dark path with all of this.”

“I don’t trust Harkin either but for now we need the money his people are supplying so we can get back to our mission. And just because we take his money doesn’t mean we are obligated to follow his directives, no matter what he may believe.”

“You want to just take his cash and run?” Nicole asked mentally chastising herself for being drawn in to this conversation.

“No not run but take as much as we can and do what we like with it til he cuts us off.”

“That might not be long.”

“No but until they do we can try and do some good with it.”

“Ok. Then what do you want to then?”

“We need to find a facility that will support what we had at the warehouse but on a larger scale. Cleaner on too. Mia and Sam have a few ideas on places that might work. We’re going to go look in a while, I was kind of hoping you’d come along.”

“I’m going to take Thomas to her in-law’s place to see if she can get a lead on where her family went. She’s in the shower now.”

“She is huh? And why are you naked?” Ellie asked with a smirk.

“Umm. Would you believe it’s a new way to work out? Allows the body to cool more naturally?”

“Ahh, no.” she laughed.

“Then I have no comment.” Nicole said with a grin.

Ellie shook her head. “Well at least you won’t hurt her any.”

Nicole shrugged and stuck her tongue out. “A lady does not tell.”

Ellie nodded and was about to reply when Thomas merged from the bathroom wrapped in a towel. She looked at Nicole and said, “I thought you were going to join me.”

“You locked the door, dopey.”

“Yeah, I did didn’t I?” Thomas replied with a smile.

“I kind of ambushed her too.” Ellie said.

Thomas turned and looked. “Oh, shit Ellie. I’m sorry, I didn’t see you there.” Her cheeks began to redden.

“You look so cute when you’re embarrassed.” Nicole teased.

Thomas took a moment to compose herself then flipped them both the bird. Nicole and Elie burst into laughter. Thomas turned and began to walk away as the two cackled.

Nicole started to walk into the bathroom still chuckling then noticed something missing.

“Hey where are all the towels?” She called up the hallway to Thomas.

“If you’d have joined me, you’d know.” She taunted with a laugh as she stepped into her room and closed the door behind her.

“Oi.” Nicole said as she headed for the linen closet. Ellie just stood there shaking her head.

*************************
Three hours later the pair of them pulled up in front of the house Thomas’ in laws had lived in.

“Looks deserted to me babe.” Nicole said as she pulled the car over the curb.

Thomas studied the house with its front door left partly open. The first-floor front windows were mostly broken. There seemed to be an old mattress hanging out of the one the second story bedroom ones. The grass was nearly knee high in the front yard, obviously had not been mowed in weeks. Yvonne’s father had been meticulous about his lawn care and never would have let it get so long.
“
Yep. Not looking too good.” Thomas replied distractedly.

Nicole undid her seatbelt.

“What are you doing?” Thomas asked.

“We’re here. Might as well go in and take a look around. Might be some kind of hint as to where they went.” She told her passenger.

Thomas smiled. “I appreciate that, but I think I’d rather going in alone.”

Nicole nodded as she reached out and gave Thomas’ hand a squeeze. “I understand. I’ll just wait out here by the car. Holler if you need me.”

“I will.”

Thomas grabbed the handle and opened the car door. Stepping out into the brightly lit day her enhanced senses were immediately assaulted by the smell of decaying garbage.

“Guess trash collection isn’t a priority these days.” She thought as she walked across the sidewalk and up the front steps.
Stuck to the front door was a yellow sticker that she hadn’t noticed from the street with a virus symbol and the ward quarantine across it. The word sent a shiver up her spine. She reached out and pushed the door open.

“Hello? Anyone home?” She yelled out hopeful of an answer but of course, received none.

The house smelled of trash, rotted meat and vegetables. There was dirt everywhere all over the floor. A soft breeze blew the tattered curtains causing the shadows to shift. What was left of the furniture was trashed, ripped and torn. In the center of the living room floor was a large round burn that looked like someone had tried to build a campfire.

Thomas let out a long sigh. She hadn’t really believed anyone would still be here but seeing the condition of the house really made the disappointment hit home. A tear leaked down her cheek as she surveyed the place. She wiped it away as she walked into the kitchen. The smell of rotting food was nearly overwhelming to her more sensitive nose.

The rest of the room resembled the state of the living room with broken furniture and filthy green tile floors. The kitchen table had been pushed up against the back door, almost as if someone had been trying to barricade it. She closed the long dead refrigerator door as she walked by, cutting the smell by half. It was still half covered with magnets; the rest were scattered around it on the floor.

She took a moment to look them over. Most were silly souvenir types; Yvonne’s mother had been something of a collector. The memories a few of them invoked drew more tears from her eyes as memories of vacations with her family came flooding back. Towards the bottom was one with a picture of the girls on it.

She reached down and picked it up, studying the smiling faces of her two young children. That pushed her over the emotional edge. She slid down to the floor and cried as she held the magnet in her hands. While imprisoned at Reynolds she could never let herself be seen crying, or any emotion really, but here alone in the dirty deserted kitchen her tears flowed.

As she mourned her life lost, Thomas clutched the magnet to her chest. Cradling it like it was the girls themselves.

After a while she heard the shuffling of feet and looked up to see Nicole standing in the kitchen entrance way. The tall red head had an embarrassed look on her face.

“Sorry sweetie. You were just taking so long I started to get worried. Then I noticed the cop’s casing the place so figured I should come in and see what was going on.”

“It’s ok Nikki.” Thomas told her as she wipes the tear away with the back of her hand and got back to her feet. “Just go lost in the memories.”
“
No clues as to where they went?”

“Only the quarantine sticker on the door. Someone must have been infected and they took them away.”

Nicole nodded. “Happens a lot these days unfortunately. I’m sorry Tommi. Wish I could do something for you.”

“You brought me here. That’s all the help I could ever need.” She kissed Nicole’s cheek.

She smiled. “Now what?”

“Obviously no one has been here for a while, but I just want to check Yvonne’s old bedroom upstairs. I found a picture of the girls.” She showed Nicole the magnet.

“Beautiful.” Nicole said as she looked it over.

“There was always a picture of their mother on my father in laws nightstand. I just want to go see if it’s still there before we get out of here.”

“Ok but you need to be quick. We can’t have the cops catching us in here. Would mean quarantine for both of us.”

“Again.”

“Yes, for you again. For me, after hearing your stories, I have no interest in getting any first had experience.”

“I can’t say I blame you there. I’ll just be a minute.” Thomas told her as she dashed up the stairs.

The second floor was in no better shape than the first. It may have even been in even worse. The bedrooms had been pillaged. There were what looked to be large cum stains on the bare mattress with a used rubber sitting next to it. The toilet in the master bath was smashed. There was a large dark stain in front of what was left of the bowl that looked uncomfortably like blood.

Next to the listing bed frame was a pile of broken furniture and shelving. She began to dig through it, tossing pieces of broken wood here and there. After maybe half a minute she found it, the glass of the frame was broken but the photo itself was still intact.

The picture of Yvonne that had been taken at the airport the day they were headed off for their honeymoon. It had always been on of Thomas’ favorites of her, with her hair up in a bun, wearing a gorgeous blue knee length dress and a brilliant smile plastered to her face. The sight of it nearly brought the water works back but realizing time was limited managed to hold them back this time.

She snatched it up and pulled it free of the broken frame, the stuffed the picture in the front pocked of her pants before heading to the closet in the back of the room. She reached up and pulled the shelf that ran across the top of it free from its moorings. Looking quickly over her shoulder to make sure Nicole wasn’t there watching pushed on a specific spot on the wall. A little door popped open revealing a safe.

Thomas quickly ran through the combination, marveling at how quickly she was able to recall the numbers. She yanked the door open revealing a pile of rubber band bound one-hundred-dollar bills and a dark wooden box containing a silver 9mm pistol. She grabbed the stash out of there. Stopping only to check the load on the gun, she stuffed it in the back of waist band of her pants. It had been a very long time since she felt the comforting weight of a gun pressed against the small of her back. She pulled her top down to cover the weapon the hurried back down the stairs.

“Find what you were looking for?” Nicole asked upon seeing Thomas coming down the steps.

“I did. And I found this too.” She replied holding up the wad of cash.

Nicole got wide eyed. “Holy shit! Where did you find that?”

“My father-in-law had a safe in the bedroom. This was his emergency stash. Whatever happened here, he didn’t leave willingly.”

Nicole nodded. “Well unless there’s anything else we need in here I suggest we vamoose. The cops drove by again while you were up there.”

“I’m good. Let’s go.”

They walked out of the front door and down the steps just as the cruiser Nicole has seen pulled to a stop blocking their car in.

“Fuck.” Nicole muttered then to Thomas she said, “Let me deal with them.”

“Be my guest.” Thomas told her as she began to regret taking the gun.

“Hello officer. Is there something I can do for you?” Nicole asked stepping in front of Thomas.

“You can tell me what you were doing in there for starters. We don’t take kindly to looters around here.” The tall muscular black skinned officer told the pair.

Nicole looked back over her shoulder at the house and then back to the officer asking “Looting? What could we possibly be looting? Do you see the condition of the place?”

“I don’t need any smart answers from you. I want to see some ID.”

“Well fuck.”: Nicole thought and turned to look at Thomas.

The former detainee gave her a shrug.

“Would you believe I left it at home in my purse?” she asked him hoping for the best.

“No. I would believe looking at the two of you that your infected though which means you belong in quarantine.” He drew his gun. “Come stand by my car, hands on the roof. Now!”

“Officer, please..” Nicole started to say.

“Do as I tell you now or I will shoot!” He ordered.

Thomas sniffed loudly. She could smell the fear wafting of the cop like the stink of rancid garbage. Before Nicole could move Thomas stepped out from behind her. In three amazing quick steps she was standing behind the cop with an arm around his neck and his gun hand pointing straight up in the air.

She spoke calmly into his ear as she held him. “We’re not her to cause trouble. My family lived here before then house was abandoned. We we’re just leaving. Please let us just go. We promise to never come back.”

The officer struggled to free himself unable to understand how this woman, despite her size, could so easily hold him despite his best efforts to break her grip. Thomas silently thanked god that he was patrolling alone.

Nicole’s eyes widened in horror. “Tommi! Let him go!”

“As soon as he’s willing to be reasonable.” She replied. Then to the officer she said, “What do you think? Testosterone levels calmed down enough that I can let you go and we can talk?”

He nodded.

“Good. Here’s how this is going to go then. When I let you go your going to put your gun away. If you try anything with it, I will break both your arms before you get a shot off. Nod if you understand.”

The helpless cop nodded.

“Good boy.” She kissed his cheek then slowly let up the pressure on his body.

The red-faced officer did as he was instructed and holstered his gun.

“Excellent. Now my friend and I are going to leave and go back to where we came from, and you will never have to see either of us again. That ok with you?” Thomas asked.

He nodded

“Get out of here. If I ever see either of you again, I’ll shoot first and ask questions later. Do you understand?” He growled.

“Fair enough.” Thomas said simply. “Nicole, shall we?”

The tall red head shook her head and sighed. “Yup I think that would be the best idea.” To the cop she said, “I did try to be nice about this.”

“Just get the fuck out of here change my mind.” He said threateningly.

“Have a nice day officer.” Thomas said smiling as she climbed in.

They drove down the road a couple miles in silence. Finally, after a bit Nicole said, “You could have gotten us both killed back there you know.”

“He was going to shoot us if I didn’t act.” Logan told her.

“You don’t know that.”

“I do. I could smell his fear and I could see the muscles in his finger flexing and releasing. We weren’t going t make it two stepped before he started firing. So, I acted.”

“You could smell his fear?” Nicole asked incredulously.

“I could.” Tommi replied tapping the side of her nose.

Nicole glanced over and smiled. “What do you smell on me then?”

Thomas bushed. “I smell that your kind of turned on”

Nicole’s cheeks turned a deeper red than her hair. She shook her head. “I will never doubt that cute nose of yours again.”

The pair laughed and drove on.

*******************

San Francisco:

The building was everything Harkin had promised and more. Ellie, Mia, Sam and Robi, accompanied by the ever-present Wendy stood in the small foyer looking around in wonder at was quite likely to be the new operating center for the Sisters mission. It was well beyond what they expected and far superior to the old warehouse they’d originally operated out of.

“How?” Mia asked still unable to comprehend.

“Mr. Harkin did say his people had deep pockets and connections.” Ellie replied marveling.

“This place is enormous. How are we ever going to be incognito here?” Sam asked. “There’s no way we won’t have the cops or the army on us within five minutes of opening.”

“El, Sam’s right. This is crazy.” Robi chimed in.

The building had once been used to construct airliners. The interior floors space was close to an acre. Despite not being used in sometime, it was amazingly clean. The white tile floors were dusty but not grimy. The grey two story high walls looked freshly painted, even the windows were relatively clean.

“I know were set back from the road a bit, but people are going to notice us here.” Robi continued.

“Harkin claimed we’d be safe back here.” Ellie replied. “It’s not like the days before the virus when the rest of buildings around us are full of people all day long. I think I saw maybe a half dozen floating around on our way through the industrial park.”

“Only takes one.” Mia retorted.

“So does that mean we’re going to look this gift horse in the mouth and tell him no?” Ellie asked obviously beginning to become annoyed.
Sam looked around again. “We can set up partitions. Separate those in the process of transforming over there by the back. We can set up at least forty beds easily. Over in the other corner can be testing. Those offices above the floor can be for research and blood testing. I think it can work if we can keep the authorities out.”

“Mr. Harkin claimed we’d be safe here.” Ellie repeated.

“You’re our leader El. The decision is ultimately yours.” Robi told her.

Ellie sighed internally. She wished Nicole was here very badly to bounce ideas off of. She knew she was always better at making decision when her best friend was around. She took one last look around the massive space.

“I’ll call Mr. Harkin and let him know we’ll be taking it.” She told them.

*****************
Harkin:

“Yes sir Mr. Carlyle. They are going to take it. I told her to get a list of supplies they need together and send it over to me.” Harkin said into his phone while holding his hand over his other ear to try and eliminate the noise of sirens outside his car.

“Tremendous.” Davis replied. “That facility has been empty for ages. It will suit them well until we’re ready to eliminate them.”
“Yes sir. It will lul them in to complacency nicely.”

“What about the reverend?”

“What about him sir? Last I knew you wanted him on the playing field a while longer.” Harkin replied confused.

“Is he aware of the Sisters return yet?”

“No sir. I haven’t been in contact with him since I left for Wyoming.”

“Excellent. Keep him in the dark a while longer. I want them to get their operation set up before we send him after them. Maybe two weeks. See how quickly they get settled over there.”

“Sure thing Mr. Carlyle.” Harkin hollered over the noise.

“Where the hell are you?” Carlyle asked annoyed with the loud crashing in the back ground.

“Boston sir. I just met with Senator Edwards people. There is a fire in the building across the street.”

“How did the meeting go?” Carlyle asked.

“It took some persuading, but they are on board now.” Harkins replied.

“How much?”

“One point five million. After the deeds done we’re to donate it to his running mates campaign. That Mark Wilson guy.”

“I know who Edwards running mate is. Wilson understands the plan?”

“He says he does. The election should easily go in your favor sir.”

“If we need one.”

“Yes sir. How are the confirmation hearings going?”

“They will be voting by weeks end. The donations have all been made. Shouldn’t be a problem. Even Edwards is on board.”

“Good to know. Congrats Mr. Vice President.”

“Thank you Harkin.”

“If there’s nothing else. I need to get to the airport. I have a flight back to the coast in a couple hours.”

“No, I think that covers everything for now. I’ll be in touch after the confirmation.”

“I will talk to you at the end of the week then.” Harkin told him as he hung up.

He took a minute to rub his burning eyes. He hated coast to coast travel, especially when it was twice in the same day. Boston was one of his least favorite cites to drive in with it’s odd traffic patterns and one way street. That added his already sour mood. It had taken a lot more effort to convince the senators people to betray their boss than he’d let on and he was dead tired now.

“You can sleep on the flight.” He thought as absently rubbed his bruised knuckles.

As he pulled into traffic he took one last look across the street at the burning building that contained the Edwards campaign headquarters then drove off.

*************************
Carol:

She stuck her head out of the small window that led to the basement she’d been staying in since her split with Ellie and the rest of the Sisters and looked both ways up and down the alley way. It seemed clear so wiggled the rest of the way out and onto the pavement. The day was clear and cloudless, a perfect early September day. It was only the smell of garbage rotting in the dumpsters that lined the small alley way detracted from the gloriousness of the day.

Turning to her left the young girl headed out of the ally for the streets beyond. Living as a street kid was a new experience for her but one she was learning to adapt too. She had already learned what streets in the city to avoid and what ones were the best for pan handling.

One of the other kids she met a few days ago, another girl named Maria, had given her a crash course in which booths were the easiest to steal food from at the Castro St. farmers market and what the quickest escape routes were if the cops or the shop keepers noticed you. These were the essentials to survival for underaged homeless kids in the city. That and having a safe place to sleep.

So far she had all that covered but she missed the comfort and security being with the Sisters had given her. That though brought the coal of resentment that constantly burned in her chest roaring to life. She still couldn’t believe Elie and Nicole had chosen Sam Greyson over her. She had been so sure that when push came to shove they’d side with her over the virus’ creator but that hadn’t been the case.
They’d said things like your choice, and can’t you just try, when she finally told them she couldn’t stay any longer. How those words had hurt her and still did. How could they not understand that the virus Sam created had destroyed her life. It had changed her from a grown man with a promising career into a prepubescent young girl with no options in her life.

Yet they hadn’t. She understood that they were grateful for their transformations and that they saw Sam as some kind of savior. However, they didn’t seem to have any sympathy for the fact that she hadn’t wanted to become what she now was and how she hated Sam for it. And now she was on her own.

The light at the busy intersection began to flash that it was safe to cross. On the other side of the block Maria waved to her as she crossed the street. Carol and the short dark curly haired Hispanic girl had become fast friends. Maria had introduced Carol to several of the others in her little street gang of kids. Their ages ranged between Reggie who was only eight to Tina who as the eldest and their defacto leader at age fifteen. Together their group of ten worked in tandem on whatever the day presented them for ways to survive. The only time they separated was at night when they all scurried off to whatever hidey hole they used to sleep in.

“Hey guys.” Carol said in greeting as she caught up with the rest of them.

“Hey cutie!” Maria replied as she gave Carol a big hug.

“Hey Bitch.” Carol replied with a smile as she returned the hug.

“Omg! Get a room you two will you?” Mike, the tall for his age dark haired twelve year old said rolling his eyes.

“What’s the matter Mikey? Jealous?” Maria teased as she put her arm around Carol’s shoulder and puller her in close as she laughed.

“He totally is.” Kara the heavyset blond ten year old chimed in. “He was telling me yesterday how bad he loves you Carol.” She them proceeded to stick her tongue out at Mike who was turning red.

The whole group fell into giggles and laughter as Mike tried to deny it.

After they’d calmed down some Rebecca another twelve year old with long blonde curls said “I’m starving. Where’s breakfast coming from today?”

“We already checked the dumpster behind the supermarket but there was nothing we could eat inside.” Reggie said.

“Oh, is that what that smell is.” Tina teased. She had become something of a surrogate mom to him as he was too young to take care of himself. Reggie scowled and swatted at the group leader causing another burst of laughter from the rest.

“Looks like it’s the farmers market again then unless anyone has any money.” Tina said to the rest. They all shook their heads or turned out their pockets to show the lack of funds.

“Kinda what I figured.” She said. “Off to the veggie stand it is then.”

The farmers market was buzzing with activity as venders set up the stations and early rising customers milled around viewing their wares. It wasn’t, however, busy enough for the kids to mingle into the crowds they would at later hour. Already several of the shop keepers had warned them off.

“Should we come back later?” Carol asked. “Might have better luck.”

“Naa we’re fine.” Tina told her. “We just need to find the right sucker like that guy over there.” She pointed t a fruit stand up ahead and off to the left. The owner ha his back completely turned to his bins with his head buried in the back of a large SUV full of boxes in the cargo area.

“Looks like a perfect mark to me.” Mike chimed in.

“Maybe.” Tina replied watching the large bulky man as he pulled at on of the boxed in the truck.

“We should go now before he gets whatever he’s looking for and turns back around.” Maria said.

“I don’t know.” Tina replied. She watched the scene intently. Something about it didn’t feel right but she couldn’t quite place what it was.

“Well, I’m starving.” Kara complained again. “If you’re all to scared I’ll do it.”

“Kara, wait.” Tina said but the husky girl pushed her way forward.

“Kara!” She said again a little more sternly but was ignored a second time. “Shit. Mike, keep a look out for cops. Maria and Carol come with me. We’ll distract him if he turns around.”

The three girls set off after the head strong blonde who was just reaching the preoccupied owners stand. He still seemed to be struggling to move the boxes inside the SUV as Kara reached out and grabbed at a bag of apples sitting on the outer edge of the stall.

Just as her hand landed on it another head popped up from behind the make shift counter.

“Hey! What the hell do you think your doing?” The giant red bearded man yelled as he reached over and grabbed Kara by the wrist. “Police!” he called out as he held her.

From off to the left a pair of cops appeared like magic and started running towards the stand.

“Shit!” Tina muttered then yelled. “Everyone! Scramble!”

Scramble was their code word for getting into everyone way the best the kids could. The cops turned to see the other nine of them all darting toward other stands and grabbing whatever they could.

“Hey! You kids!” one of the yelled.

Carol, Maria and Tina all darted in the direction of Kara hoping to free her. Tina grabbed her friend by the other arm and tried to pull her free of the shop owners grip while Carol and Maria did their best to slow the second cop down while Mike came up from the rear.
As hoped the commotion began to lure a small crowd all eager to see what was going on. The kids tried to use it to their advantage by push and shoving the on lookers.

Carol slipped between two older women and stuck her foot out between then just as the first cop was racing to rejoin his partner and tripping him. She smiled as he went sprawling but the pair of ladies grabbed her before she could run off.

“Over here officer!” One of the called out as the cop clamored to his feet. “We have this one!”

The cop turned to look at who was calling out for him. Maria ran and bumped him hard as she went passed. The cop was too big for her to effect however and he grabbed her by the collar dragging her down to the ground.

“Fuck!” Carol thought as she watched her new best friend land hard on the floor and the cop pounce on her. She pulled and tugged and jerked trying t free herself from the old woman’s grip until finally she was free. The rest of the kids had scattered, and she knew she should too, but she just couldn’t leave Maria, so she did the dumbest thing possible and tried to push the cop off her friend.

The large man in blue barely even moved as she impacted his side. Carol however bounced off him and landed hard on the floor butt first. The impact jarred her spine so hard it made her teeth clack together.

As she rolled on the floor trying to figure out how to get back up another cop rolled her onto her belly and kneels on her.

“You’re under arrest kid. Don’t make it worse by trying to resist. You’re already in enough trouble for assaulting a police officer.’ He told her as he pulled both her arms back and slipped handcuffs over her wrists.

*******************
Harkin hadn’t been on the ground for twenty minutes when his phone buzzed in his pocket. He rolled his eyes expecting it be Davis Carlyle with another errand for him to run. Even though the clock at the airport read only three hours later his east coast departure time his body felt ever second of the six hour flight he’d just endured.

Grimacing he looked at the phone and was quite surprised to see it wasn’t his boss calling. He didn’t recognize the number but since it was a Bay area code he figured what the hell.

“This is Harkin.” He answered.

“Yes…umm Mr. Harkin this Carol Menendez. Ellie Wolf gave me this number.” The stuttering voice on the other end said.

Harkin sighed. “Yes Carol what can I do for you?”

“I…I’ve been arrested. I..I can’t stay here. They’ll find out who I am and send me to quarantine.” She whispered.

Harkin shook his head and silently cursed himself for answering. “Have you called Ellie?” He asked hopefully.

“I can’t. I’m not with her anymore.” The silence on the other end made her quickly add “But Ellie told me if I ever got into trouble to call this number and ask for you. She said she’d vouch for me.”

Harkin grimaced. “What the fuck is she thinking?” he thought to himself. Then to Carol he said, “Ok. Where are you?”

“I’m at the Bayview police station. My friend Maria is here with me. You need to get us both out.”

“I do huh?” he asked in a voice brimming with sarcasm.

“I…I mean could you please get her out too? She’s really nice. My best friend these days. I just don’t want to see her sent to a home of juvenile detention or..”

“Ok kid I get the picture. Is there and officer there with you?”

“She over by the desk.”

“Could you put her on the phone then?” he asked impatiently.

“Oh…ya…one sec let me get her.”
A
moment later and strong female voice said, “This is SGT. Patterson.”

Harkin cleared his throat. “Yes sergeant, my name is Kevin Harkin. I’m with the NSA. It seems you’ve arrested my niece Carol and her friend Maria. I’m at the airport right now getting my bags. I was wondering if you could be so kind as keep them safe for an hour until I can come pick them up?”

“I’m going to need a lot more than a voice on the telephone for that to happen sir.”

“Of course. Are you near a computer terminal?”

“I am.”

“Great. My badge number is 68322149. You should be able to access my profile at the agency though the interjurisdictional portal on your computer. That will give you my photo s when I come there you’ll know it’s me.” He told her in his most placating voice.

“Please hold.” Was all she said back to him.

In the background he could hear the clacking of computer keys an her exclaiming “Oh Jesus!”

“Mr. Harkin?”

“Yes Sergeant?”

“I’m sorry sir. We had no idea who she was.”

“Perfectly understandable. Kids these days right?”

“Yes. I will keep them up here in the office until you can get here.”

“Great.” He said with tremendous satisfaction in his voice. He hated cops and any chance he got to turn the tables on them made him happy. “Hey if they’re hungry and chance you could order them a pizza or something? I’ll take care of the bill when I get there.”

“Not to worry Mr. Harkin we’ll make sure they are taken care of.” She replied earnestly.

“Excellent. Then I will see you in about an hour.” He said as he hung up.

*************
2hours later:

“I can’t believe how you talked to those cops.” Maria said with great admiration in her voice from the back seat of Harkins blue Chevy Tahoe.

“Yeah they were like trembling in their shoes when you came in.” Carol laughed giddily. She was sitting up front in the passengers seat.

Harkin just smiled at their praise in an attempt to hide the mild annoyance he was feeling. He marvels a bit at Carols behavior. He had done a little bit of research on her while he waited for his luggage at the carousel. Harkin was well aware she was actually in her early thirty’s, but you’d never know it from the way she was acting.

“Guess if you spend enough time looking like and being treated like a kid you start acting like one.” He thought to himself.

“So where are we going?” Carol asked as she gazed out the window at the highway flying by. Harkin was many things, but a slow driver was not one of them.

“San Bernardino.”

“Why there?” Maria asked with an edge of concern in her voice. She’d know Carol for only a little more than a week and while she liked her very much, her instinct’s from living on the streets for the last two years had left her generally mistrustful of any adult she came in contact with.

“I have a place for you guys to stay up there. Another group of my people that will give you a place to stay and bed.”

“Why would they do that?” Carol asked growing equally concerned with the answer.

“Cause they ae my people. You don’t need to worry no one is going to do anything to you. You don’t want to go back with Ms. Wolf and
company, or you’d have called her already, so I’m taking you somewhere safe. A place you might be useful too.”

“Useful how?” the young Acidalia victim asked.

“There are a lot more groups we support than jut your Sister’s kid. This is another and I think you and your friend will fit in well with them. Might even help you get back at the ones who abandoned you.” Harkin just left that last sentence hanging. There was no need to explain any further. He could see Carol understood his meaning and liked the idea.

*******************
6pm KTLR News:

Good Evening San Francisco, our top story this hour is the unexpected advance of Russian Troops into Poland and Belarus. The apparent invasion started in the early morning hours local time with what appears to be nuclear air burst in the skies above the Belarus capital city Minsk. Not long after satellites detected the explosion a second one was recorded over the Polish capital of Warsaw.

NATO experts were able to back track the missiles trajectory to a base inside the Russian federation. These attacks were quickly followed by the movement of thousands of Russian ground troops over the Belarusian boarder and massive wave of air traffic heading towards Poland.
At this hour the Russian military seem to be moving effortlessly though both countries as NATO allies as well as the Polish and Belarusian militaries were caught flatfooted and have yet to assemble any meaningful resistance to the advance.

NATO commander General Zeta Bakara and UN Secretary General Mosbard issued a joint statement condemning the action by the Russian President as an act of war and demanded the withdrawal of all troops to back behind established boarders.

A spokesperson for Russian President Zielinski replied to the demands by simply stating. “It is time for Mother Russia to reclaim what is hers and for the USSR to rise again. These are just the first steps in reclaiming Russian land. Any foreign governments seeking to interfere with the reclaiming of our territory will be dealt with in a similar manor of Warsaw and Minsk.

When asked for comment Press secretary Enrich told reporters, “We are currently watching the situation in eastern Europe very closely but since our so-called allies have chosen turned their backs on the United States with their illegal blockade and quarantine, we have no pans of involving ourselves in foreign affairs at this time.”

Many in the international community have taken the Fuller administrations statement as giving carte blanch to the Russians and expressed outrage at the United States unwillingness to stand with the rest of their European allies against this act of aggression.

Stay tuned to this station for further developments as the situation evolves.

In other news the confirmation hearings for Vice presidential Nominee Davis Carlyle wrapped up today with a unanimous recommendation for confirmation. A full senate vote expected on Friday. The full senate is expected to go along the committee’s recommendations when they convene for the vote.

Mr. Carlyle was seen shaking hands with republican leaders in the senate before leaving the Capital this afternoon.

President Fuller told the press today that he was very pleased to see the bipartisan support for his nominee and expected to be present at the swearing in ceremony for his new VP on Monday.

In other national news today the chief of police in New York city has issued a plea that anyone in the city that has seen the homeless woman that attacked police two weeks ago that now are calling patient zero, to contact their local precinct immediately. The woman, identified by authorities as former well known actor Ronald McTavish, who is believed to be Acidalia positive escaped custody in battery park during a sweep by officers to collect the homeless for testing. It is believed she might still be somewhere in that area. Anyone coming in contact with this woman is advised to stay as far away as possible and call police immediately.

In other national news Senator Edwards today expressed his sincere condolences to the families of his staff members that were killed in the fire at his Boston campaign headquarters late yesterday afternoon. While no official cause of the fire has been released sources within the city’s fire department have speculated that it was cause by defective wiring in the attic of the old building on Boston’s State St. The fire spread rapidly though the nearly one hundred-year-old building resulting in the death of four campaign volunteers, who were unable to escape the blaze and whose names are still being withheld pending notification of next of kin.

As the international blockade of all American ports enters its sixth week the federal emergency management agency released a dismal report today on the state of the countries supply lines. With grocery store shelves becoming more and more empty due to diminishing supplies of not only basic food stuffs but fuel to deliver stock to even the largest chains the agency has predicted the country can only survive on current reserves for five more months if the blockade is not lift or defeated.

When asked for comment on the report President Fuller had this to say. “We will not be defeated by this illegal international action. Five months is a long time and we are confident that we will have the situation resolved long before that deadline arrives. Already there is progress in that direction with our far more amicable peace treaty with our great neighbors to the north we will be signing on Saturday. After that it my
administrations intention to focus all our resources on dismantling the blockade by whatever means necessary.

*******************
Sochi Siberia, Russia 8:30pm UTC:

Sasha Ivanov ran down the deserted alley way continually looking over her shoulder. The not-too-distant sound of dogs barking let her know her pursuers had not given up the chase. It was only her speed and agility that had kept her from being captured already. Every time she thought she’d lost them and stopped to rest the barking would begin again.

It had been this way for her for weeks now. The Russian government had don it’s best to cover up the Acidalia infection that was quietly spreading across the county like a simmering wildfire, by simply killing anyone found to be infected. It was a typically Russian way of doing thing, simple and effective.

That practice however, changed when they learned of the physical enhancements the virus produced in a small percentage of those infected. That discovery led the president to change course from simply changing policy on executing virus victim to ordering every infected person to be collected, tested and then, if not enhanced, executed, if you were lucky. If you weren’t s lucky and were enhanced, you became a lab rat.

As with most countries outside of the US, the Acidalia infection rate was a closely guarded secret in Russia. The world’s nations had used their united front against the US as a way to placate their populations and assure them that the virus wasn’t going to be arriving insider their boarders. Sadly, for the rest of the world’s leaders the virus had other plans.

While world leaders railed against the American government’s handling of the virus and called for the total blockade of the country, they harassed and imprisoned their own people in much the same fashion as the Americans. Most leaders saw the epidemic as an opportunity to punish the Americans and grind whatever axes they had with the current or past administrations policies. Some of the most ardent voices for containment came from land locked places that didn’t even have Navy’s to send vessels out of to help enforce the UN’s declaration.

While in early June the President railed against possibility of the virus ever making it to Russia’s borders on State TV, Sasha had been at home in his bedroom lying on the hard wooden floor in a coma as the virus did its work, making lie of his statements.
She awaked on June 10th, confused and in a body that felt completely alien. He first memory of consciousness was an all-consuming hunger. It burned inside of her, compelling her to her feet. She staggered out of the bedroom, feeling weak as a kitten and down the hall to the kitchen where she ripped open every cabinet and stuffed the food within into her mouth, stopping only long enough to swallow.

After devouring everything edible she had in her small apartment, confused and still starving she did the one thing she never should have done; she went outside.

One of her neighbors saw the newly transformed girl half crazed with hunger in the hallway leaving her apartment. She was only half dressed in ill-fitting filthy men’s sized clothes, wasted to the point where every rib could easily be seen and called the police thinking she was a junkie.

She’d made it about half a city bock when an officer stopped her and in her confused, dazed state, she told him what had actually happened.

The constabulary, with all that had happened in America had been alerted to the effects of the virus and very specifically informed how to handle any one infected. Instead of the help she was so desperately pleading for she was shown the business end of his 443 grach.

It was in that moment she realized something more than a change of sex had happened to her. She watched though the fingers of her outstretched hand in curious fascination as his finger slowly squeezed the trigger. It was as if he was stuck in molasses the way he moved so sluggishly. She felt as if she could watch him for hours before it was pulled back far enough to send the bullet flying out of the muzzle at her. At first, she thought it was terror dragging the moment out in her mind but as it stretched on and on, she came to realize it was really happening.

Without really thinking about it she reached out and pulled the gun from his hand and held it a moment examining the weapon. The trigger was still half compressed as she held it in her hand. It was then that she noticed the officers trigger finger hanging in the air, mere centimeters away from the rest of his hand but detached for sure. Tiny drops of blood and little fragments of bone hung in the air next to it.

In the next moment time snapped back, and the world began to move again at its normal pace. The finger flew by her face. The officer screamed. Blood flew in every direction from the stump on his hand. She pushed herself back quickly to avoid the gore, moving ten meters in less than a second. Before she knew it happened, she was a quarter of the block away from the ghastly scene. She looked on in uncomprehending horror for a moment then dropped the gun like it was infected with disease and ran.

She thought she’d gotten away but the relatively new sensation of cell phone video became her undoing as dozens of people captured the scene on their phones for the whole world to see. It was that moment that she realized her old life was over in more ways than she had understood earlier that day. Within hours her face was plastered all over Russian tv and the government accused her of being a western spy and terrorist infiltrator, offering tens of thousands of rubbles for her capture. And captured she was, the first time of many to follow.

The endless testing, she endured during her times of incarceration, which always ended with escape, gave her a better understanding of her abilities. The time shifting, as she came to call it, wasn’t control of time as much as her perception of it. For short periods her mind and senses would speed up to the point that the world around her seemed to be all but standing still, while still flowing normally for everyone else. Her movements to someone watching would be a blur. Added to that was her Olympic level agility and impressive physical strength, making her quite formidable when she chose to be.

She’d been poked and prodded and tested by many state doctors and scientists, all trying to understand how the virus gave her these abilities. If one had figured any of it out, she didn’t know because she never stayed long enough to allow deeper examination.
Taking a left turn out of the ally bought her to one of the city’s main public squares. It was a beautiful cobble stone square surrounded by 19th century buildings all containing a variety of street level shops and a small farmer market in the center that was currently closed.

She quietly thanked the gods for the warmth of the early September evening which brought crowds of people out to enjoy it. Winter came early to this part of the world and summer was as fleeting as butterflies’ wings, as the sonnet says.
She dove headlong into the throng of shoppers and music lover listening to various street performers, hoping to lose herself among them. She eventually found a group of young people who looked to be around her physical age standing near the entrance of a posh looking café. As she slipped her way into their crowd as she watched the head of the alleyway she’d emerged from. After several minutes a contingent of eight uniformed city and state police emerged.

She froze in terror at the sight of them. Not only did they have canines to follow her scent, but they’d brought a group of three human hounds as well. Four of the state security people held them on the customary short metallic leashes that attached to thick leather collars laced with wires for delivering shocks for punishment around their necks. The hounds were all dressed in black jumpsuits with thick black body armor over it to protect them. Their faces were covered with masks made of similar material to the body suit that showed only their dull eyes and mouths.

One of the many discoveries the state had stumbled upon from studying enhanced Acidalia victims was that a small number could sense the presence of others victims with abilities. They labeled these unfortunate souls, hounds. They were beaten, tortured and in many cases lobotomized until they were little more than the animals they were named after.

They were the ultimate weapon in the governments hunt for the enhanced. Once a hound got your “scent” there was no escaping them, ever. Luckily, for Sasha, their range was limited to just a few meters. To make them even more fearsome, the hounds also possessed various other virus induced physical attributes, but it was their abilities to track that the state valued most.

“Shit.” Was all she could think as she backed her way out of the group of young people she was hiding in. She searched the area desperately looking for an exit from the square. A little ways off to her left was the closest she could see. Sasha ducked her head as worked her way through the crowd trying to put as much distance as she could between herself and her pursuers.

One of the biggest draw backs of her time shift abilities was it was useless in large crowds unless of course she wanted to be surrounded by dead bodies once she came out of it. Anyone she touched while moving at blur speed would be torn apart. Sasha needed room to make the most of the limited time she was able to use it

From behind she heard on of the hound’s howl. It was a horrible guttural sound. Much as she tried to resist the urge, she turned to look in the direction of the sound. As result she was treated to the spectacle of some other poor soul in the crowd being tackled and pinned to the ground by the hound and its “trainer” as the handlers were called.

She let out a small sigh with relief. As bad as she felt for whoever they’d discovered she was glad it wasn’t her.

She turned her back to the scene and pushed her away along towards the square’s exit. The crowd drawn by the disturbance began to thin in front of her. After a few seconds there was enough space between people that she could chance a time shift. With a quick prayer to the gods on her lips she shifted. In less than fifteen seconds she traveled two kilometers before the slip ran out.

“Now we wait.” She thought.

Before she could finish her route home, she had to be sure the hounds hadn’t caught her, that would be disastrous. The slight framed fair skinned girl with ruby lips with matching nails and a short black-haired bob pulled the hood of her thin black hoodie over her head and sat on the cool stone steps of a nearby building to see if she had been marked. She decided to give them thirty minutes to catch up if they could. After that she was safe to finally return home.

Her deep ocean blue eyes continuously scanned the area for any hint of pursuit. The sounds of the city reached her small elvish ears, but it was not at its usual volume. Despite the crowd in the square the city was becoming more empty by the day, regardless of what lies the state fed the media.

After thirty minutes she decided it might be safe to move on. She readjusted the hood of her dark colored light jacket and began the cautious, meandering journey home.

The large, rusted metal door of the red brick building squealed loudly as she pushed it open. She cursed its racket. It was after ten pm and the children would be asleep. Sasha dreaded waking them, but the door needed to be loud enough the be heard in case the state showed up unannounced. Every single booby-trap they had in place was just in case.

As she turned to push it closed, she heard the familiar deep voice of Gregor Chekov.

“You’re late and your alone. This can’t be good.” He said in his thick St. Petersburg accent. “What happened this time?”

“It wasn’t my fault.” Sasha began to explain to the dark curly haired Russian bear.

He stroked he long bushy black beard and nodded. “Of course not. It’s never your fault.”

She shot him a hot look full of anger and resentment. “There was no one there when I arrived. It was a set up. Not five minutes after I arrived,
they surrounded the place. I had to time slip twice to escape.” She explained.

“Who surrounded the place?”

“Who do you think? State security backed up by local police. I barely escaped.”

“Yes, you mentioned, but here you are safe and sound. Always it’s the same with you.” He said as he turned away in disgust.

She stepped after him and grabbed his big muscular arm. “Gregor, they had hounds.”

“Hounds?” He asked suddenly very concerned. “Are you sure they didn’t track you?”

“I waited a half hour after I escaped the square for them before I returned.”

“If they are actively using hounds in public, it may be time to move our operation elsewhere.” He said with deep concern in his voice as he looked around at the mass of cots arranged about the floor.

“Where can we bring them?” She asked.

“I have no idea, Sasha. Like you, I’m winging it.” He replied with obvious annoyance.

They were both part of an underground network that worked to keep those the government would seek to capture or eliminate safe.

Currently in the dilapidated apartment building they resided in housed forty young girls, all victims of the virus. Alongside of them there were ten new women living there. They were allowed to stay as long as they helped with the young ones. Not that Gregor would throw them out if they refused but no one needed to tell them that. The most miraculous of all was the fact that the housed six immune men, including Gregor himself. They were truly the rarest of treasures and the ones the government coveted the most. Sasha shuddered to think what would be done to them if they were ever captured.

“We need to do something though, quickly. They knew enough about us to bait you into the open.” He said still rubbing his beard.

Sasha mission, how presumptive that word sounded to her ears, was supposed to be a simple meet up with one of the people from another affiliated group and bring back two children. The call was bogus. The callers were the ones that set up the ambush she’d escaped.
“If they can contact us once, they can certainly do it again.” She said speaking the obvious truth.

“We must have a spy in our midst.” The burly man eyes scanned the room full of cots again.

“Why would anyone here want us closed down? It would be against their own best interests.” Sash asked.

“It may be against their own long-term interests but that doesn’t always coincide with the short term.” He replied. “Once the sun comes up, I will contact Leonov and get the children evacuated to another safe house. We cannot take a chance of them being captured.”

She nodded. “And what of the adults?”

He sighed. “They made it to us on their own. They will have to make it to their next safe haven on their own too. One of them may have betrayed us. We can’t take the chance.”

“We?” she asked. “Or you?”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean am I in your evacuation plans or should I start finding a new hiding spot tonight?"

“Sasha, I cannot even say that I’m going with the children never mind who else may go. That’s up to Leonov. Can’t you just once think about the fate of others over yourself?” he growled at her.

“The way I see it their fate is in better hands with me tagging along than without. No one else can do what I can.” She replied with equal anger.

“Yes, always about you.” He said shaking his head. “Maybe it is best you find a new place tonight.”

Her relationship with Gregor had always been tenuous. In the weeks since they were pushed together by fate, they’d constantly rubbed each other wrong. No that wasn’t true, it was her ways that rubbed him wrong.

Gregor would die to protect the children under his care, he’d nearly met his end defending them on at least two occasions since their union.
Sasha on the other hand found this place to simply be the most convenient safe haven she’d found to date. Sure, she was willing to help out with the kids and risk her safety by running supply mission and the occasional picks up like tonight’s was supposed to be. However, that willingness did not extend to being captured again or killed. It was that unwillingness to fully commit to their mission that left a and taste in Gregor’s mouth.

“Fine if that’s the way you want it, I’ll collect my stuff and be gone in twenty minutes.”

He moved out of her way and extended and arm out in the direction of her room. She flashed him an angry smile and stepped off in that direction. She didn’t make it more than three steps when a loud crash came from behind her.

She turned to look just in time to see the heavy metal door she’d enter through bulge out in the middle.
“Shit! Gregor, we have company!” She yelled.

“You led them to us you little bitch!” He screamed and grabbed her by the throat. “I should kill you before they make it through that door!”
Sasha was half choked by the giant hands before she knew what was going on. Like always in these instances the time slip kicked in automatically. The pressure on her throat stayed but with Gregor all but immobilized by her perception she was able to slip from his grip and take 3 steps back before time resumed.

The big man howled in pain as his fingers broke from contact with her body during blurring. She looked at him sympathetically but now was not the time for apologies.

The others, alerted by the loud crashing on the door joined the two of them. They all looked at the big man’s disfigured hands.

“Greg..” Simon the slim light-haired immune started to say.

“There’s no time to worry about him right now!” Sasha yelled. “Get the kids. Get them out of here!”
Simon stood there still staring at Gregor’s hands.

“Simon!” Get them out of here!” She ordered a second time.

Then she turned to the other five enhanced. “We need to buy them time. Lena, Tanya and you stay here with me! Wanda and Brenda, you go with them and make sure they’re safe. Take Gregor with you. He needs med…” She was cut off mid-sentence by the sound of a loud explosion as the door finally gave way.

Through the smoking ruin of the door frame, what seemed like a hundred armed security personnel burst the entrance. Soon as they were clear the group opened fire. The handful of them standing near Gregor, including the big man himself went down like puppets with their strings cut in an instant.

The time slip Gregor had induced left Sasha feeling drained as always, but she had no choice but to push herself. She drew in a deep breath and shifted.

Suddenly the noise and chaos stopped. She looked at the bullets hanging in midair and swiped at as many as she could, burning her hand and deflecting their trajectories as she moved in the direction of the attackers. Touching as many of the armed invaders as she could on the way by, she felt her power disrupting their bodies but there were just too many of them for her to deal with in a single slip.
With her power all be exhausted she ran at the four hounds the invaders brought with them, putting them all out of their misery at once before stumbling and skidding across the floor as time resumed its normal flow.

Blood and gore rained down on the floor as attacker after attacker suddenly exploded from the perception of those not already dead. The handful of enhanced and immune survivors attacked the stunned soldiers. The three enhanced women that were left took over where Sasha left off, pummeling and bashing their assailants without mercy.

From the other end of the room another explosion rang through the place, shaking the buildings foundation. An instant later as dust rained down from the suddenly off kilter ceiling above, more soldiers appeared and began picking the survivors off.

Sasha who was all but forgotten about lay on the floor watching in horror as her comrades were cut down like so much wheat in a field. The shrill sound of children screaming filled her ears. She tried to get up. Willing her body to move, trying with all her might to activate her power one more time. Desperate to save someone, anyone, but it was not meant to be. She was too tired. Gregor’s attack had wasted needless energy she just could no summon again.

Deciding there was no other option she ceased struggling and lay still. She closed her eyes and played dead as the soldiers finished off the last of the building inhabitants. The silence was worse for her than the screams.

As she lay there listening to the troops congratulating themselves on a job well done her pain and anger grew. Minutes passed like hours as their attackers checked each body for signs of life. Sasha’s helpless rage was reaching its boiling point as she heard single shots ring out finishing off those still alive.

In the back of her mind, she could feel the tingle that preceded a time slip return. She lay still, fighting it as hard as she could. Letting it build as her anger grew. The new woman had never felt it like this before. She felt as if she was going to explode when a soldier leaned down and touched her. As his finger touched her arm, she let go and time slipped.

*******
Sometime later:

She lay on the cold ground, drenched and shivering. Her eyes at first refusing to open as the sound of rushing water filled her ears. It was a lovely sound, natural, she wanted to just lay there forever and listen.

Over the next few minutes the rest of her senses began to come alive. Finally, she as able to open her eyes.

At first, she was confused because it seemed as if the world had turned white. After a moment the cold on her left cheek finally registered in conjunction with what her eyes were seeing.

“Snow?” She though in confusion. She shifted her gaze upward and say a bright blue cloudless sky. She shook her head and looked again.
“Morning?” she questioned.

The chill was finally starting to register, With tremendous effort she pushed her torso up into a sitting position. Never since awakening from her Acidalia coma has she felt so wasted. She had to hang her head between her legs for a minute catching her breath before she could finally raise it and look around. She was surrounded by trees. The ground was covered with snow. Behind her an ice crusted river raged.

“Where the hell am I?”

With tremendous effort she staggered to her feet. Her legs shook as she turned in a circle looking for anything that would give her a hint as to where she was. Far off in the distance she could see what looked like trails of smoke rising just before the horizon. She wasn’t sure but she
believed she could make up the shape of roof tops under the trails’

With the cold really starting to set in on her body she set of in the direction of the rising sun and hoped the village, if indeed that’s what was there, was close enough for her to make it. She hugged herself tightly and began to trudge thought the snow.

************
Confirmed cases: 120,342,866

Actual cases: 162,241,357

End part XVIII

Thank you as always for taking the time to read my little tale. Please remember to leave a comment.