“He’s a scientist and he’s been trying to get the word out. There isn’t going to be any confrontation. He’ll likely kiss my feet in gratitude.”
Hank didn’t respond, but she could see the skepticism in his eyes.
“Look, I’ll never doubt your paranoia again. You were right about the wolves from the first moment. But this guy…he’s a scientist. These are my people and we don’t…” This morning’s violence reared up in her head, and she choked the words and the images down. She wasn’t going to think about that yet. Maybe not ever.
“Shifters aren’t generally violent, Cecilia. Not more than normal people, except maybe at puberty. But this stuff in the water and the quarantine…” He shook his head. “We’re all going a little crazy.”
She believed him. Which made it all the more important for her to talk to this guy and put an end to the madness.
“Dr. Oltheten will have our answers. I’m sure of it.” And that’s what she needed. The security of one scientist talking to another about measurable data. It was the world she knew, and it didn’t include people changing into werewolves and trying to drag her out of her hotel room. Data didn’t spurt blood or get disemboweled right in front of her.
Science was sane, and she desperately needed some sanity right then because she was still shaking. It helped that Hank was right here beside her. His presence was the only thing that was keeping her from running screaming to the nearest airport. She didn’t want to leave him. She wanted to stay by his side and really work on their relationship. But she couldn’t do that in the middle of all this Detroit Flu chaos.
“The hospital is safer,” Hank began.
“The answers aren’t there. If they were, I’d have already found them. I need to talk to a scientist who knows about shifters. That’s Dr. Oltheten.” He would help her make sense of this. He would put everything into a data-driven box, and together they’d solve the problem of the Detroit Flu. Then all this madness would end, people would stop trying to abduct her, and she could focus on being with Hank.
That was her plan, and nothing was going to stop her from executing it.
