The Extinction Trials(46)

Alister opened his mouth to speak, but Cara held up a hand. “There’s something else. I believe I may have witnessed The Change. I might know what it is.”





Chapter Thirty-Six





On the deck, Cara paced, as if organizing her thoughts. “I was working the late shift at the hospital when trauma cases started pouring in. Massive wounds. Lacerations. Broken bones. They were robotic accidents—and that’s how we classified them initially.”

A gust of wind blew across the deck of the boat, tugging at her hair.

“By the end of my shift, we were calling them what they were: robotic attacks. It was… carnage like I’d never seen, even in old movies.”

Cara rubbed her temple. “There was a pattern to it: the victims were all wearing uniforms. Police and fire personnel were hit the hardest.”

The words were like gut punches for Owen. “Just like me and my team at the Oasis Park building—the robots singled out first responders,” he said.

“Seems that way. They also attacked political leaders and essential workers.”

“They wanted chaos,” Owen said. “They wanted a world in which the masses would panic.”

Cara nodded. “And they did. By morning, the ER was full. The OR was full. And so was every bed we had. We were requesting tents to triage the cases coming in. There was also a shift in case type. At some point that morning, the trauma cases decreased. There just weren’t that many more uniformed and critical workers who weren’t in the hospital—or who hadn’t gone into hiding. It was weird. Doctors and nurses were refusing to wear scrubs or coats. Can’t say I blamed them. But none of the nurse bots ever turned. I never figured out why, but I was glad for that.”

“Maybe whoever hacked the other robots considered nurses off-limits,” Maya said. “As if the hospitals were a safe zone. A line the terror group wouldn’t cross.”

“It seemed that way,” Cara agreed. “The next day, the cases were different. People were confused. Many were simply brought in by neighbors who didn’t know what to do with them. At first, we thought it was simply some mass psychological phenomenon—as if the shock of what had happened was getting to people. They couldn’t remember their names or even where they lived. Some had headaches. Nose bleeds.”

Cara’s gaze drifted to Maya. “Looking back, I think they probably had what you have.”

“And what happened to them?” Maya asked, her voice steady.

“About one in ten died within two days. There was nothing we could do. We tried everything. And I mean everything. It didn’t matter. It was like a bomb went off in their brains. It was scary. And it was spreading. The entire staff started getting sick. People I had worked with for years were talking to me, and the next thing I knew, they were confused, then they couldn’t even tell me who they were—or who I was.”

Cara swallowed. “It felt like some bizarre dream. It felt like the entire world was slipping away. The hospital was sort of… under attack by the pathogen—and it was a pathogen, it spread through the building like a storm moving through.”

She plopped down on the couch, as if recounting the story was draining the energy from her. “I was scared. I remember going to the on-call room because I was so tired. The headache started then. A low pressure that built steadily. Pain meds did nothing.”

She inhaled sharply. “It was the moment I had expected my whole life—what I had dreaded. I was certain that the shard in my brain was shifting and finally taking my life. But it wasn’t the shard. It was the virus.”

“The Genesis Virus,” Maya said. “Or GV. That’s what Parrish called it.”

“Yes,” Cara said. “I remember lying down in the on-call room and activating my band. There was a news report that called the pathogen the Genesis Virus. It was everywhere—worldwide. Containment wasn’t an option. I closed my eyes. And the next time I opened them, I was in that chamber in Station 17.”

She turned to Maya. “The thing is, since I woke up, I haven’t had the headaches. And my memory seems fine.”

“Which means The Extinction Trials cured you,” Maya said. “And if they did, they can cure me.”

“Yes,” Cara said. “Which seals it for me. We have to get to that Escape Hatch location. You’re getting worse, aren’t you, Maya?”

She nodded slowly.

“Let’s hope they have a record of what they did to me. It may be your only chance.”





Chapter Thirty-Seven





Hearing Cara’s story gave Maya a sense of hope that there was a cure for what had happened to her, that in unraveling the answer to The Extinction Trials, she might find what she needed as well.

Alister’s gruff voice interrupted her thought process. “Fine. The Escape Hatch it is. After all, I’m always agreeable, as you all know.”

“And does that mean,” Cara said, “you’ll also be sharing what happened to you before the station?”

Alister snorted. “Of course, I love sharing. This whole thing is right up my alley.”

Maya thought he was waiting for someone to argue with him, but the group was silent. The only sound was the rumbling of the massive outboard motors, the crashing of the waves on the ship’s bow, and the sound of the breeze blowing through the open deck. Perhaps they were all getting to know each other well enough to know where the fault lines were between them, those places where words set off friction.