“A feral shifter tried to kill someone at the other end of the airport. We need to leave. Right now,” the mother answered.
“Does this mean we aren’t visiting Grandma?”
The pair were carried away by the herd of humans surging toward the emergency exits. Nico clasped my hand in his and pushed through. He turned to the others. “Follow me. Come on.”
Nico pushed through the crowd, angling for a side door everyone seemed to overlook. We needed to get out of there before anyone asked for our IDs. Even the fakes Donatello got us had us listed as shifters. None of us wanted the trouble that might come with that information.
Once we were out in the fresh air, I took a steadying breath before letting Nico pull me toward the parking lot. The rental van was right where we’d left it, and we all piled in and collapsed in exhaustion. We hadn’t sprinted or had to do anything difficult, but I felt like I’d just finished a marathon or an Ironman tournament. I was exhausted and shaking. Bouncingback and forth across time zones was bad enough but having to deal with this was more than I could take.
Through the windshield, I could see people pouring out of the airport, running in all directions and sprinting toward the parking lot. I put my hand on Nico’s leg. “We need to get out of here because this is gonna get bad. We need to get out before all these cars start trying to leave.”
Nico nodded. “Right.” He started the van and put it in gear. “Someone find a news station or something. What the hell is going on?”
“Uh… it’s not good,” Sebastian said. I turned to see him looking at the screen of his phone. His brow was furrowed, and a look of worry painted his features.
He turned the volume up so we could hear what was being reported. “...over thirteen new reports have come in over the last couple of hours. We have reports coming in from Beijing, Moscow, Tokyo, Rio de Janeiro, Mexico City, and Toronto, along with the American cities we’ve mentioned.” The reporter’s voice was breathless with anxiety and fear. I remember hearing the same thing when I was a little girl watching the news during Nine-Eleven. I’d thought that had been scary to see. Now, as an adult, knowing what kind of fallout there would be? It only made this worse. The reporter continued. “Several states have already activated their National Guard regiments, and we’re being told the president is considering full martial law. Diane, what have you heard from the CDC or DHS?”
A female voice broke in as Nico pulled onto the highway. “Yes, Jim, my contacts say the CDC has no explanation for the incredible spread of this virus or bacteria. They are still researching it, along with the world-renowned Monroe Group scientists and labs. I’ve had reports of protests erupting across the globe. More than two dozen such demonstrations are happening, and here in the U.S., anti-shifter sentiment is at anall-time high. Leaders of the group Humans First have issued a very stern statement calling for the wholesale annihilation of all shifters to ensure human safety.”
The male reporter broke back in. “Diane? You’re saying there are groups calling for… for… genocide? Is that what I’m hearing? That can’t be right.”
“Unfortunately, it is, Jim. That is one of the more fringe groups out there, but tempers and fears are running hot. We do have opposing comments from the ACLU, Shifters of America, and the Human Shifter Alliance, releasing a joint statement saying this disease is beyond the control of the victims. They go on to say that until the crisis is fully understood, shifters, in general, should not be targeted or blamed for something they are not able to help. Carriers and sufferers of other diseases are not ostracized or vilified the way the shifter population has been.”
Sebastian shook his head. “I can’t believe this is happening. It’s getting worse every day.”
“I know,” Nico said. “They’re really starting to ramp up their operation. I don’t like this.”
Sebastian changed video feeds, and when the next voice echoed out of Sebastian’s phone, my wolf growled in anger: Viola with her honeyed tongue. “Yes, I’ve been in contact with England. The king, as well as the prime minister. I’ve spoken with the presidents of all the major countries. We also have delegates assisting smaller countries and republics as well. We understand this is a massive and dangerous problem, and the wealth of a country should not determine the level of response they get.
“We have teams of scientists working around the clock to discover how and where this disease originated. We are working with the World Health Organization to organize containment.”
“Miss Monroe, there have been many who think the tactics the governments of the world are using are akin to theconcentration camps the Nazis used during the last World War. What do you say to those detractors who say the shifter population should not capitulate to being rounded up like animals?”
“Well, Harold, I know what they are saying, and I applaud the organizations in this world who strive to protect human rights and to create a harmonious and level playing field for all races, sexes, and species. What I would tell them is that, in any situation, the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few. Most diseases can’t turn into an animal with massive claw-tipped paws or a giant, winged fire-breathing dragon. Is Ebola terrifying? Of course. But can it run you down in the street and sink its teeth into you? No.”
“This fucking bitch,” Felipe hissed under his breath.
Viola continued spouting nonsense. “We’ve come to the conclusion that the disease vector is only shifters. The way it seems to be… for want of a better word, blossoming across the globe leads us to believe it is airborne. This is definitely the worst-case scenario. It means that any shifter at any time could be afflicted and become feral.”
“She’s full of shit,” I said, digging my nails into the upholstery to ease some of my rage.
Nico didn’t say a word as he drove. Sebastian continued flipping through broadcast feeds, YouTube videos, podcast clips, and eyewitness accounts of shifters going feral. The drive home was surreal. Traffic was worse than usual. Most people acted as though they had no need or obligation to follow the rule of law. They sped through red lights, passed on shoulders, and drove well above the speed limit. I watched out the window as people lined up at gas stations and grocery stores. One small market had a big hand-painted sign that read SOLD OUT on its window.
I turned to Nico. “Do we have enough supplies in the pack lands?” Seeing that there had already been a run on stores mademe nervous. Who cared if we didn’t get rounded up if we starved to death?
Nico shrugged. “We’ve always got a good bit of stuff laid by. We’ll see if Luis or anyone bought more while we were gone when we get home.”
Usually, Nico’s answers or plans filled me with confidence. This time it didn’t. I could tell he wasn’t sure about the supply level we had. The creek ran through the property, so water wasn’t a problem. Food? Medicine? Who knew?
Before we got back to Clearidge, Sebastian found another interview with Viola. “You guys will want to hear this,” he said as he turned the volume up.
“The spread is rapid,” Viola said. “We know it’s only going to get worse. I am calling on all government agencies around the world to enter into a state of emergency. These are untested waters, but all avenues of containment must be not only considered but fully implemented. All registered shifters must turn themselves into the nearest facility within the next forty-eight hours. We already have the full approval of the presidents of The United States, and Mexico, along with the Prime Minister of Canada. The announcements will go out within the hour. I’m calling on the presidents, royal families, and prime ministers of all other countries to follow suit. It is our belief that this is the only way to quell this outbreak and keep as many people safe as possible.”
“This is part of the plan,” Nico said. “She’s desperate to get us all in these facilities, and then we’ll get wiped out. They’ll make it look like maybe some feral shifters turned on their own, or maybe they all went feral and had to be culled, but it’ll be something. I fucking know it. Her end game is the end of all shifters or to destroy our population so completely that we’ll die out in two or three generations.”
His words hung, dark and foreboding, in the air. There was a distinct feel of truth to the words, though. This was what the royals wanted. They wanted all shifters dead. It would be the culmination of what Viola’s ancestors started all those centuries ago. The complete and total end to not only Edemas’s bloodline but all shifter bloodlines. Wolf, bear, panther, dragon, and everything else in between. It was almost too much to contemplate. Millions of lives. Hell, we were almost a third of the total population—it would be more like billions dead.
The last miles to home were uneventful. Sebastian finally turned his phone off, telling us he was tired of listening to the world end. The guard shack was a bustle of people. The usual one guard had been increased to five—one inside the small guard building, three spread out in front of the fence, and another on the inside of the gate to open it.
