Following the old man’s advice, Aspen took a deep breath and exhaled. The same blue particles of light that had appeared at each newborn’s blessing returned with a fury. They spilled from her mouth and danced in the air around her.
Aspen reached out, palms up, and gathered the light in her hands. She molded and shaped it into a glowing, pulsating sphere. Imagine what you’ve just planned and then ask the question, How does this journey conclude? Felix had instructed her. She asked herself that very question and, as she did, expanded the sphere by pulling her hands apart until it was large enough for her to step inside.
A mild buzzing sounded in her ears as a steady low-level vibration coursed through her body. She watched the scenery change as she was transported to a point in the future. It was like being held underwater for the briefest of moments before popping to the surface for air.
Looking around, she began taking inventory of her new surroundings. She was surprised to see herself sprinting down a long corridor in sleek panther form. The other Myriads followed closely behind her, their human appearance cloaked by their primary animal. She counted—all four were there. The only one missing was Felix’s dark-maned lion.
She was the first to reach the end of the corridor and stopped short, apparently realizing she had led them to a dead end. Nothing but walls and windows. Instead of stopping, the Myriads behind her increased their speed and, one by one, jumped through the plate glass window with a resounding crash. They shifted into birds before they hit the ground and darted off into the sky.
Aspen looked down at the other end of the corridor as an army of security guards approached with Felix in the lead. Intrigued, she noticed immediately that Felix’s cane was absent. A balding man in an expensive-looking suit and tie had Felix at gunpoint. He looked to be the man in charge. She heard him as he barked an ultimatum at Felix: use his powers to apprehend Aspen or die.
“Go!” Felix shouted. “Now!” The words were barely out of his mouth as the man in the suit pulled the trigger. Felix dropped, lifeless, to the cold linoleum.
She watched her panther leap through the window and shift into the same bay-breasted warbler body she had used to journey there. Her eyes returned to the balding man as he kicked Felix’s body out of the way, his expression devoid of compassion, his soul devoid of humanity. Prestwick took a knee beside Felix with tears on his cheeks.
Looked like Felix was the only one who didn’t make it. She was determined to get everyone out alive, especially Felix. After all these years, he deserved to have his freedom restored.
The solution was simple: she’d just have to go back to the drawing board and start over.
* * *
Tora divided the television screen into fourths to monitor Tony, Team One, Team Two, and the soldiers at the same time. Since both teams were now in animal form, she’d have to open the doors remotely. “Skye, on my mark, I want you to open the door for Team One,” she said without taking her eyes from the screen. She checked several cameras in the vicinity to make sure the coast was clear. “Now.”
She watched as Tony and the wolves from Team One stepped into the tunnels. Tony pulled ahead of the wolves and quickly began closing the gap on his way to the soldiers.
“On my mark, open the door for Team Two.” She checked the tunnel cameras in the immediate area. “Now,” she told Skye, looking on as the wolves from Team Two entered the tunnels.
She looked over at Michael and Skye. “Come stand beside me. Michael, you’ll lead Tony with the lights. Skye, you’ll lead Team One. I’ll take Team Two. We want to time it so Tony gets there just a few seconds before the others.”
“Copy that,” Skye said, already swiping through the screens on her watch.
“On it,” Michael said, doing the same.
They all watched in silence as Tony stealthily approached his quarry, his massive paws silent on the tunnel floor. Tora swiped to the screen that controlled the speakers in the tunnels. She still remembered the day her dad had gone back and forth about whether or not to add them. Installing speakers along miles and miles of tunnels was both expensive and labor-intensive. She remembered questioning his decision, wondering if the money might be better spent elsewhere in the sanctuary. She suddenly found herself grateful for his extravagant spending habits on state-of-the-art equipment. The advantage of having this particular sound system, she knew, was that it worked both ways.
She glanced over her shoulder at Hank. “I need you to growl into my watch.”
“That’s a new one,” Hank said, shifting into a formidable-looking grizzly.
She didn’t dare ask Oscar. His eyes were glued to the TV screen. He was too busy watching what would likely be the last moments of the lives of his men.
Tora held out her watch as Hank obliged with a ferocious growl that reverberated through the rock floor under her feet.
Just as she had hoped, the four soldiers stopped dead in their tracks and swung around to confront the phantom bear behind them. Waiting nearby, Tony now had his opening and sprang into action. Instead of killing a soldier as Tora had expected, he galloped down the line, simultaneously knocking the rifles from their gloved hands and tearing at their protective suits with four-inch claws. Tony was smart. He was giving the wolves behind him a fighting chance by disabling all four soldiers. Without weapons or flashlights, the soldiers were easy prey. Their suits compromised, they were now just as susceptible to whatever was in those canisters.
Four wolves sprinted in, scooped up the rifles with their teeth, and darted out of sight before the soldiers knew what hit them. They were now cast in total darkness. Since all video cameras in the tunnels were equipped with infrared, Tora and the rest of Alpha Genesis had a clear view of the soldiers. She waited to see what their next move would be as Tony crouched nearby, his striped tail flicking from side to side.
“Weapon’s gone, and my suit’s torn.” The tallest of the four soldiers ripped off his helmet and facemask and threw them to the ground.
“Mine, too.”
“Same here.”
“Anyone hurt?”
“Can’t see shit, Sarge, but I think we’re all okay.”
“Anyone missing their canister?”
Each soldier frantically reached behind his back to feel for the canister attached to his backpack. Tora heard a collective sigh of relief as they realized all of the canisters were accounted for.
“How do we know the canisters weren’t compromised, along with our suits?” the tall one asked with a note of panic.
“’Cuz we’d all be dead right now, dummy,” someone else answered.
“Roll call,” their sergeant barked.
Each soldier called out in alphabetical order.
“Grubbs.”
“Lattimore,” the tall one said.
“Steiner here, sir.”
“Anyone’s suit not torn?” The sergeant was greeted with silence. “I’m calling HQ to tell them we’ve been compromised. They’ll have to send another team.” He removed his yellow gloves and tapped a button on his headset. “Falcon 866 has been compromised. Retreating now to the entry point. Request pickup.” He waited, listening. “No casualties, sir. We’ve been disarmed and our suits have been compromised…Yes, all canisters are still intact, sir…Proceed with the mission? But our suits…Yes, sir. Copy that. Over.” He tapped the button on his headset to disconnect the call. “Mission’s still a go,” he told his men.
Lattimore sighed. “But that means—”
“We’re dead men walking,” Steiner finished, shaking his head in disbelief. “Come on, Sarge, this is crazy.” He shoved his helmet under one arm and held it like a basketball. “We won’t even make it to the nest before one of those freaks takes us out. We’ll all die for nothin’.”
“We have our orders, Steiner.”
“Lattimore’s got a kid at home, Sarge. And I got one on the way,” Steiner pleaded. “Never thought I’d die before he was born. Shit. My wife’s gonna kill me.”
“I can’t believe this.” Grubbs set his hands on his hips and began pacing in small circles. “I’m going to die a virgin.”
Everyone suddenly grew quiet. They all stared in Grubbs’s direction.
“You’re twenty-two years old, man. What the hell have you been doing all this time?”
“Saving myself.”
“If you were saving yourself for Jesus, then today’s your lucky day.”
Lattimore and Steiner had a good long laugh at Grubbs’s expense.
“Nice.” Grubbs ran a hand through his hair. “Thanks for your support, guys. Really appreciate it.”
Tora couldn’t help but smile. This was the opportunity Aspen had said would present itself. She just prayed Tony and the wolves were on the same page.
She watched Tony shift into human form and raise his hands in surrender. He stepped closer to the four blinded soldiers and glanced up at the video camera. Hoping she was making the right decision, she followed his lead and switched on the tunnel lights.
* * *
The old man hadn’t instructed Aspen on how to return to the time she had left. He’d assured her she would know what to do and had simply advised her to follow her instincts. He was right. Instinct took over as she exhaled once again. Breathing the blue light directly into her palms this time, she had already molded it into a sphere by the time she was finished exhaling. But instead of expanding it and stepping inside, she simply let it go as she thought about returning to Felix in the bathroom. Before she knew it, she was standing with the old man once again, as if not a second had elapsed.
Cane in hand, he blinked once, twice, studying her. “Did you leave and return already?” he asked, clearly perplexed.
She nodded. “What’s with the cane? You don’t need it to walk.”
“My father left me this cane. All the men in my family have carried it for generations. It’s the only possession the government allowed me to keep.”
Her cop instincts kicked in. She smelled an omission. “What aren’t you telling me?”
Felix raised an eyebrow. “You’re very astute for such a young Myriad.” He rubbed the cane’s golden horse head handle. “I’ll tell you in a moment. But first, I need to hear the results of your time jump.”
“Everyone made it but you.” As she described the man who’d shot him, Felix’s expression remained unchanged.
“That’s Vickers. He runs the show here.”
“You don’t look surprised,” she said.
“I’m not. His grandfather’s the one who gave me the name.”
She thought about Prestwick. Having only heard him from the confines of Felix’s pocket, she finally had a face for the voice. “Prestwick held your hand at the end. He looked upset.”
Felix nodded. “Prestwick has been with me for years. Always respectful. He works for the SEA, but he’s a good man.”
She remembered Vickers’s voice as he ordered Felix to use his powers on her. More than a little curious, she asked, “What are your gifts?”
He sighed and cast his eyes to the floor. “I release a light that incapacitates. It renders an individual unconscious—a coma of sorts.” He hung his head. “Stasis, if you will.”
It took Aspen a few moments to grasp the full weight of his confession.
* * *
Tora held her breath as she watched the screen.
“I’m unarmed,” Tony said, lifting his hands higher.
The soldiers took a collective step back. “Don’t come any closer,” their sergeant warned.
Tony heeded the warning. “Heard what HQ is asking you to do. Wanted to offer you an alternative.”
“What…kill and eat us now?” Grubbs asked with a look of stark terror.
“We don’t want to kill you. And we definitely don’t want to eat you.” Tony grimaced.
“What then?” their sergeant barked. “What the hell could you possibly offer us?”
“A chance to live out your lives,” Tony answered. “The chance to see your families again.” He looked at Steiner. “The chance to be there when your son comes into the world.”
Steiner shook his head. “He’s trying to trick us, Sarge.”
“If I was going to kill you, I’d have done it already.” Tony lowered his hands. “I was a cop on the surface. A good cop. I was one of you.”
“You were never one of us,” Steiner spat.
“I was. Still am,” Tony insisted. “We’re not much different than you. We have families, too—people we care about, humans included. As a cop, I would’ve laid my life down for a human without giving it a second thought.”
The soldiers exchanged glances and shifted uncomfortably.
“You’re free to go,” Tony said. “We’ll light the tunnels to guide you back to the surface. You’ll have safe passage the whole way through. You have my word on that.” He turned to walk away.
“We can’t go back,” the sergeant called out after him.
Tony turned. “Why not?”
“These things are on a timer,” he said, pointing to the canister on his back. “They’re going off, whether we want them to or not.”
“Then take your packs off. I’ll lead you to a safe zone.”
“The canisters are sewn into the packs. Each pack is secured to the back of the suit. Removing our suits will only trigger the canisters to release sooner.”
Grubbs drew back. “How come you didn’t tell us that, Sarge?”
“HQ didn’t tell me till after we’d already geared up. Didn’t think it’d be an issue because the suits were supposed to protect us.” Sarge held up his shredded sleeve and looked at Tony. “You the one who did this?”
Tony nodded.
“What the hell are you?” Lattimore asked, poking his fingers through the long gashes on his own sleeve.
“A tiger.”
“Cool!” Grubbs’s boyish smile caught Tora off guard. “That’s what I’d wanna be.”
Sarge slapped Grubbs on the back of his head. Hard.
“Sorry, Sarge. Just sayin’ if I was one of them, that’s the animal I’d have chosen.”
“How much time do we have?” Tony asked.
Sarge pushed up his bulky suit sleeve to check his watch. “Thirty-eight minutes.”
Tora addressed Tony through the earbud, “Ask him what’s in the canister.” She suspected they were carrying a nerve agent of some kind.
“What are we up against?” Tony asked.
“Z-23—a nerve agent with a hundred percent lethality in under one minute. SEA created it. There’s no antidote.” Sarge hesitated. “They’ll send a team of four soldiers every two hours until they receive confirmation that the mission was a success.”
Tora squeezed her eyes shut and shuddered at the SEA’s callousness. For a moment, she actually considered leaving the soldiers there to die. But then she remembered Aspen’s words: We need to lead by example and show those soldiers we’re not the monsters the government is saying we are.
Ready to do what needed to be done, she opened her eyes and looked at the screen. “Get those soldiers here as fast as you can. I think we can save them.” It was a long shot, but it just might work. She owed it to Aspen to try. She’d have to worry about the other teams of soldiers later, if she somehow managed to navigate her way through this crisis. One crisis at a time.
Tony studied the soldiers’ bulky suits. “Can you guys run in those things?”
“Yeah. Why?”
“Tora has a plan.”
“Who’s Tora?”
“The doctor who’s going to save your helpless human asses so Grubbs here won’t have to die a virgin.”
“See? Even the Shroud thinks you’re a freak, Grubbs.”
“Thanks for pointing that out, Steiner.”