Andalon looked on in concern.

The others joined me in angrily glaring at Dr. Marteneiss. Her voice was gravel and salt. “Vernon told me he was gonna to do this,” she continued. “I begged him not to, but my little brother’s always been an obdurate son-of-a-bitch.”

Jonan leaned forward, eyebrows peaking. “Seriously, Dr. Marteneiss,” he said, “what the fuck?”

Sitting down, Heggy averted her eyes and shrugged. “What else could I have done?”

“You could have spoken up,” Ani said.

Heggy slammed her hand on the table. “I did speak up, dammit!” She shook her head and sighed. “I’m sorry, it’s just… it’s been eating away at me.”

“Why didn’t you tell us?” Ani asked.

I wanted to say the same thing, but the hypocrisy of criticizing Heggy for keeping secrets when I was doing the same would have just been too much for me to bear.

“And, please, Dr. Marteneiss,” Ani continued, “don’t say that it’s because you thought you could keep it under wraps.” She shook her head. “Secrets always come out in the end.”

Heggy bit her lip. “My brother came to me in confidence, and shared classified intel with me. It’d be against the law for me to share it.”

Ani glowered at the older woman. “You’re seriously being a stickler for the law right now? When there are zombies out there!?” Ani pointed at the wall.

Heggy stood up and pushed in her chair. “What do you want me to do, Dr. Lokanok? Do you want me to just give up, wave goodbye to civilization and embrace the great big free-for-all—like the rioters?”

“No,” Ani said.

Brand muttered in dismay: “Hot dog…”

Jonan shook his head and sighed. “Well, we’re boned,” he said. He furrowed his brow in anger. “You do realize that if news of this gets out, there will be a riot, and all of us will die.” He circled his finger around the room, passing each of us.

“This is a grave situation,” Suisei said, “and I see no good solution to it.” He looked at Heggy. “I do not assume the military will react kindly if we confront them about this.”

Dr. Marteneiss let out a bitter chuckle. “You got that damn right, they won’t.”

“Any attempt to free the captives or inform the public about what has transpired will likely trigger a riot,” Suisei continued, “as Dr. Derric suggested. Worse, given the events with the, uh… knights,” he added, “it is quite likely that Vernon will take drastic measures. He might be accelerating his timetable.” Dr. Horosha shook his head. “This does not bode well…”

“We can’t just sit back and do nothing!” I said.

I wanted to mention that we’d have a lot more to worry about than mere rioting if the armies of Hell besieged the hospital, but I held my tongue. I did not want to make the others think I’d completely lost my marbles.

Andalon nodded vigorously at that.

“If we don’t get the captives out of there,” I continued, “I have no doubt the experiments will continue—“

“—And then something else will go wrong,” Ani interjected, “and there will be zombies everywhere, and if, by some miracle anyone manages to survive, they’ll probably riot about the injustice of it all, just because.” She threw her arms up.

Beneath the table, Jonan quivered his thigh. “For what it’s worth,” he said, “by now, the captives’ infections have likely progressed to the point where they won’t remember having been abducted. For that matter, it won’t be long before people won’t remember they were ever missing in the first place.”

“So,” Heggy said, “what are you suggesting, Dr. Derric?”

Jonan pointed at me. “According to our spirit detective over there, there are zombies in General Labs. These need to be neutralized before they make more people into zombies. Likewise, the captives need to be freed, if only to get them away from the zombies that will cause them to turn into more fucking zombies.”

“That would still reveal the military’s wrongdoing for all to see,” Suisei said.

“And then everything goes to hell, regardless,” Brand muttered.

“Maybe they could move the captives somewhere else?” Heggy suggested. “That would save face.”

“There is a 99.99% chance that that would go horribly, horribly wrong,” Jonan said.

“So what do we do?” Ani asked.

I decided to volunteer my idea, only to regret it before the offer was even complete. “Actually, there was this idea I had, but…” I sighed and shook my head. “It was stupid. Really, really stupid…”

Jonan clapped his hands together. “Just what the doctor ordered. C’mon, let ‘er rip.”

“Well,” I let my shoulders fall, “we could ask the time-traveling knights to help,” I said. “Maybe we can get them to help.”

Sensing a disturbance in the Heggy, I turned to see Dr. Marteneiss glowering at me with that ‘what the hell did you just say?’ look of hers on her face. I then turned back to Jonan, to continue with my horribly, horribly stupid idea. “I mean, you have access to the security cameras, right? You could keep an eye out, and let them know when the way is clear.”

Ani closed her eyes and shook her head, like there was something she was trying to unsee. “Wait… you mean like a heist movie?”

I thought about that for a second.

“Yeah,” I said, “I guess so.”

Heggy got up. “Alright, I’ve had enough. This is not a serious conversation, and I will have no part in it.” Groaning, she put her hand on her PPE visor. “You want to know the truth, Ani?” she said, glancing back at Dr. Lokanok. “The truth is that there was no right answer. Sure, I could’ve told you earlier, but… what difference would it have made? Whether you learned it then or learned it now, you’d still be just as demoralized and powerless. Really, the only difference is that not tellin’ you would have left you with less of a burden.”

Heggy plopped down into her seat and quietly groaned. “Also, that’s another reason why I didn’t tell y’all about it.” She looked Ani in the eyes, and then me. “As soon as you two found out, it’d be a safe bet your good intentions would lead you to do somethin’ stupid, and, if there’s one thing I’ve learned, it’s that stupid is the enemy.” She nodded resolutely. “I don’t know if I can stop zombies from overunnin’ WeElMed, but I certainly can do my part to keep stupidity from doin’ the same. You can do whatever you want, so long as it’s by the book, and it doesn’t make things worse.”

Heggy looked around the room. “Any questions?”

“Let me just say, that was really impressive,” Jonan added.

Heggy rolled her eyes. “I don’t want sycophants, Dr. Derric, I want useful subordinates.” She lightly slapped her gloved hand on the tabletop. “So, go out there and be useful.”

She glared at Ani, Jonan, and me one last time.

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“And don’t do anythin’ stupid, y’hear?”

It should go without saying that Dr. Marteneiss would be very disappointed with what happened next.

— — —

The meeting adjourned. I left the room with a lot of thoughts in my head, particularly the angry pangolin.

Pangolin-Alon was still angrily clawing at the bars of his cage on my Main Menu’s watery floors. While my root consciousness had been piloting my body during the meeting, I’d kept the window to the outside world open, letting Alon see the feed coming in from my body’s eyes and ears. I wanted him to see for himself what was going on, and what I was trying to do. My hope was to show him that I was trying to make things right.

I wasn’t his enemy.

Unfortunately, this had not gone as planned. Instead of appreciating that I was trying to avenge him and right Vernon’s wrongs, Alon hunkered down on the fact that I wasn’t relaying his words to everyone else, particularly Ani.

Honestly, I should have expected that.

“Beast’s teeth,” he yelled, “you’re a wimp!” He thrashed his tail behind him. “I called you a pussy, and you just take it, and you don’t do anything about it. You let Dr. Marteneiss walk all over you. It’s pathetic! No wonder Ani got soft; she learned it from you!”

He crossed his arms and huffed.

“That’s… that’s very hurtful, you know!” I said.

“Yeah!” Andalon said, nodding her head in agreement.

“Pussy!”

Stomping my foot, I turned around, dismissing Alon’s consciousness with a wave of my hand. I didn’t need to look to know that the cage and the pangolin were dematerializing behind me. They disappeared in seconds.

A wisp of light flew up past my head and entered one of the soul crystals in the disarticulated formation hovering—slowly spinning—overhead. Alon was back in his soul crystal. I figured I’d deal with him later.

Regardless of what we did to deal with the rapidly snowballing situation playing out in General Labs, I had my own mission to worry about: I needed to talk to the knights ASAP. The military might spirit them away at any moment.

“Genneth, wait…”

Stopping, I turned around to find Ani and Jonan standing behind me.

“C’mon,” Jonan said, “this way.”

Jonan waved Ani and I down a corridor and led us to a niche in front of a pair of restrooms. He seemed atypically paranoid, surveying his surroundings like a deer in the woods.

“What’s he doin’?” Andalon asked.

Maybe he’s looking for security cameras? I thought-said.

“So,” Jonan said, “you know that stupid idea of yours? The heist?”

“I don’t like where this is going,” I said.

“I say let’s do it,” he said.

I sighed. “Even if we could do it, you and Suisei were right. Once people find out what’s been going on, there’s gonna be a riot.”

“Jonan’s not so sure,” Ani said, anxiously biting her lip.

“Why not?”

“Think about it,” Jonan said. He crossed his arms. “They’ve already taken dozens of people, yet nobody’s been rioting about that, now, have they?”

“I only found out when I realized Dad wasn’t in his room,” Ani said.

“So?” I asked.

Andalon watched us with interest.

“I should have made a bigger stink about this back during the meeting,” Jonan continued, “but I didn’t put two and two together until just now. Is it likely that there will be, perhaps, a modest amount of rioting?” He nodded. “Probably. But… do we really need to worry about that?”

“Uh… yes?” I asked.

“Think about it, Doc. Who’s gonna riot? The healthcare workers? We’re fucking exhausted! The patients? Half of them don’t even remember the loved one they’ve lost! That’s why there hasn’t been any mass outrage. They’re like goldfish now; they remember only the last few minutes, if that.”

“Actually,” Ani said, “goldfish can have very good memories.”

“The point is,” Jonan said, “the times for riots have already come and gone. Either the victims’ families aren’t aware that anything’s happened, or they can’t remember enough to be upset about it! These people are at death’s door, for crying out loud! They can hardly even walk!”

Ani exhaled sharply. “Right now, protecting the matter printers and maintaining production of the mycophage are what matter. I’m going to administer extra doses to the first batch of test subjects.” She looked down, distraught. “Some of them have been… regressing.” She exhaled again, coughing softly. “I want to make sure that the test subjects aren’t deteriorating because of a sub-therapeutic dose.” Ani looked me in the eyes. “If what my father said was true, our priority should be on stopping these experiments before the hospital gets overrun by zombies.” Ani shook her head. “Everything is teetering on the edge.”

“My idea was off-the-cuff,” I said. “Even if we could get the knights to help, what difference would it make? They’d be outmatched and outgunned.”

Jonan grinned. “I knew you’d say that,” he said. “But, don’t worry, I’ve got a fix for it.”

“Now this I have to hear,” I said.

“The transformees’ magic powers currently include psychokinesis and communion with the dead,” Jonan said, “right?—along with whatever abilities they have that you haven’t yet told us about.”

“Yes,” I said—not liking where this was going, “but—”

“—The transformees don’t belong in the hospital,” Jonan said. “They belong on the front lines.”

“What?” Ani asked. She turned to him, genuinely surprised.

“They’re transforming into dragons, right?” Jonan asked me.

“Wyrms,” I said, correcting him. “A kind of dragon, though not a capital-D dragon.”

Jonan crossed his arms and clicked his tongue. “Let me guess, you’re one of those ‘that’s not a dragon, that’s a wyvern’ types?”

“Jonan,” Ani said, with a cough, “this isn’t the time for—”

Jonan looked his girlfriend in the eyes. “No, Ani, I have a point to make.” He pointed at me. “The CMTs haven’t been managing this properly. When fate hands you an army of magical fungus dragons amidst a zombie apocalypse, you use the dragons against the zombies.”

I stammered, flustered beyond belief. “Even if that wasn’t nuts, the transformees are our patients!”

“So are the knights!” Jonan countered.

“Yes,” I replied, “but they know how to kill people—and they’re prepared to do it. You can’t foist that responsibility onto ordinary people! It’s a disaster waiting to happen!” I was indignant. “Do you want the military to declare open season on our patients?!”

Scoffing, Jonan rolled his eyes at me. “Your loss, then. Good luck making it there on your own with just the knights. Unless one of them is secretly a wizard or something, we’re boned.”

“Jonan!” Ani hissed.

He sighed. “Fine.”

“What is it?” I asked.

“With or without transformees to back you up, Jonan can guide you there,” Ani said.

“What?”

Jonan grinned. “I have access to all the security cameras in the hallways on the way to GL’s back entrance. I can keep you from being detected by guiding you around the worst of it.”

“But there are soldiers on patrol there,” I said. “And they have guns!”

Granted, the powers I had were arguably even better than guns, but I wasn’t exactly keen on outing myself to my colleagues right this second. The plan Jonan was proposing was complicated enough without me arming them with reasons to doubt me.

“This is true,” Jonan said. “But, you know what else those soldiers have? Raging cases of the Green Death!”

Ani nodded. “If the crusaders really are time-travelers, then they’ve only just been infected by coming to this time and place. All of Vernon’s men are infected, just like everybody else. The difference is, while Trenton’s soldiers are rapidly deteriorating, those knights still have thier minds and bodies in order. That’ll give us an advantage.”

“And that’s why it’s so important we act quickly,” Jonan added. “The crusaders’ good health is not going to last for much longer! We need to act before we lose that advantage.”

“When you say we, you mean me, don’t you?” I asked.

Jonan nodded. I’d caught him red-handed, he didn’t care in the slightest. “Ani tells me you’re something of a history buff, right?”

“Yeah, you can say that,” I said.

“Great!” he said, clapping his hands together. “And, not only that, you also work with people on a regular basis, so, you should have no trouble buttering up the time travelers and getting them to contribute their healthy bodies and martial know-how to our very much desperate cause.”

Before I could protest, Jonan pulled out his console, scanned it over my suit and then began to tap through menu after menu at a furious pace.

He took three steps toward the restroom and then held his console close and spoke into it in a soft voice.

“Testing,” he said. “Testing testing testing.”

I could hear his voice through the speakers in my hazmat suit.

“Can you hear that?” he asked, looking at me from over his shoulders.

“Yes.”

Jonan turned around and stepped back toward us. “Great,” he said. “This means I can talk to you through the radio in your suit. I’ll give you the lay of the land, and you’ll relay that information to the knights. All you need to do is get into the lab, and let the people go. Best of all, you won’t need to worry about the knights going zombie on you; they’re not far long enough for that.”

“What if there are already some zombies mucking about the hospital?” Ani asked.

“If that’s the case,” Jonan said, “we better pray for a repeat of the miracle that happened in the lobby. Otherwise, you can kiss the world goodbye—though, you should probably have already done that by now.”

“You can’t really expect this to work,” I said.

“Push comes to shove,” Jonan replied, “we can use the knights as patsies; blame them for the violence on them. I mean, considering they’ll be fully decked out in Crusader gear, it should be easy to get people to believe they did it because they’re nuts.”

Ani and I glared at him.

“What will Ani do?” I asked.

“Create a distraction,” she said.

I sighed. “I have a bad feeling about this. Possibly even a very bad one.”

Nodding, Jonan waved his hand in a dismissive gesture. “Yes, because it’s a horrible idea, but all the alternatives are even worse, so, off we go!” Jonan thrust his arm to the side, and looked at me expectantly.

“What is it?” I asked.

“Off we go!” he said, flicking his hands. “Time’s a-wastin! March! March!”

And so, I marched, with Andalon walking beside me. “What’s goin’ on, Mr. Genneth?” she asked. She looked up at me in confusion.

“Things are getting messier,” I muttered.

And, gee whiz, wasn’t that the truth!