The Extinction Trials(90)

When she woke, she was lying on the bottom bunk in an on-call room. The hospital administrator was towering over her along with another man with short hair and a ribbed sweater.

“Sorry to wake you, Cara,” her boss said.

Cara rubbed a hand across her face and threw her legs over the side of the bed. “I need to get back to work—”

He placed a hand on her shoulder. “Easy there. This man needs to speak with you first. His name is Parrish, and you’re going to want to hear what he has to say.”

With that, the hospital administrator exited the room.

Cara studied Parrish. He looked like military to her. His voice was firm and efficient, like a man reading from a script on a deadline.

“I’ll cut to the chase, Dr. Allen. The government needs your help.”

“Help with what?”

“What we’re facing is a war the likes of which we have never encountered before. One where every piece of technology can turn against us. Where one moment we feel fine and the next we can’t even remember who we are. It’s a war we are losing.”

“I’ve noticed.”

“You can help turn it around.”

“Me?”

“You’re in the right place at the right time, and you have the right skills.”

“I don’t follow.”

“Are you familiar with ARC Technologies?”

“Of course. Their software runs the medical records in the hospital.”

“They do more than that.”

“Such as?” Cara asked.

“ARC is organizing a trial to find a solution to whatever this scientific terror group is trying to do. Specifically, they’re going to develop a cohort that can survive this virus and whatever else our enemy is planning.”

“I don’t see how I fit in.”

“There’s a scientist who knows what the cure to this virus is. Her name is Dr. Maya Young. She was unknowingly working on the project until we recruited her.” Parrish took a deep breath. “The problem is, they discovered that she was working for us. They’ve infected her with the virus.”

“Which means she’s forgotten her research.”

“Exactly.”

“I still don’t see how I fit in.”

“We’re placing Dr. Young in ARC’s program. It’s called The Extinction Trials. What we’re looking for is a physician to place in her cohort, someone who can help keep her alive in case she needs help. We’re hoping ARC can restore her memories. When they do, we need you to get her to us.”

“How would I do that?”

Parrish reached into his pocket. “The other reason we’re recruiting you is because you’re in this hospital, right now, in the same place as Dr. Young. We need to implant this device in your leg. There’s an operating room already prepped and waiting.”

“What is that device?”

“It’s a homing beacon. Your mission is very simple, Dr. Allen: keep Maya Young alive, help her recover her memories, and when you do, activate the beacon. We’ll come and find you, and we’ll take it from there.”

“How do I activate it?”

“It’ll be in your right leg. You press and hold for twelve seconds.”

“And what if we don’t find a cure for her? What if she never remembers?”

“Then they probably win the war. And the world will be theirs. I don’t know what that world will be like, but I think there will be a lot less of us, and I would bet that their control of the ones left will be near absolute. That’s what this war is about ultimately: who controls the world.”





Cara had drifted off to sleep when the door opened. She sat up, feeling groggy and stiff.

Darius Aldridge stood over her, seeming to wait for her to regain her senses.

“It’s the mesh,” he said. “It causes some systemic inflammation when it’s integrating.”

“Wonderful,” Cara muttered.

Darius softly closed the door. “We’ve been looking for you for a very long time, Dr. Allen.”

“Really?”

“We know you’re an Alliance agent. A fairly recent recruit. We found your name in some files we recovered during the war.”

“What do you want?”

“A simple act. One thing that can help end a war.”

Cara stared at him.

“I’m assuming they gave you a way to contact The Alliance.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“You can lie now, but it won’t matter soon. Soon, the mesh will be part of you. We’ll have access to your memories, and we’ll learn the truth. But… it would be better if you told us. That would be an act of support for The Union, the kind of act that might better your situation here.”

“You’re holding me in a cage. How does that situation improve?”

“The world is a cage, Dr. Allen. We’re just making it a safer cage.”





Chapter Sixty-Eight





Maya felt a tingling on her forearm, like a bug crawling under her skin. She looked down, but there was nothing there.

She placed a finger just below her palm, and words faded into her skin, black letters that read: