“You saw her Samuel,” Rebecca whispered ahead of the rest of the group, “You know what she is.”

“There’s no way we can know for sure.”

“I told you what we saw on the island.”

“Rebecca,” Samuel practically stopped her, “We’re just a couple of miles out from the prison, we made it to Florida, all this way and we actually made it, what’s left of us at least. More than that, you brought my time travel devices back to me. I thought they were lost forever. Now I know you haven’t told me everything that happened on that island, but you made it back from there too. The probability of all this happening, it’s astounding,” Samuel felt himself beginning to ramble, a trait he had lost since he stopped teaching, “So if you’re asking me if we have finally come across someone that is immune and it’s a mute little girl…Its possible, just not probable.”

“What about Atticus?”

“What about him?”

“I’ve been monitoring him since the Lincoln Tunnel, he never turned, and he had direct contact, blood on blood.”

“So now Atticus is immune too.”

“Is it that obscure of a theory?”

Samuel laughed, “No, it isn’t. There’s so few of us left. We might be the one percentile of humanity that is immune to the infection.”

“Whether we’re immune or not, there are bigger things going on here. I can’t believe you let that woman come with us.”

“Karina is sick, she’s not evil.”

“She’s dangerous and she killed your son. I don’t know what your plan for her is but don’t patronize me, Samuel.”

“Fine, I won’t, Rebecca. When we get to the prison I don’t plan on staying very long.”

“Where will you go?”

“Cape Canaveral, for starters.”

Rebecca wasted no time putting two-and-two together, “You’re going to fit a space shuttle with your time travel devices.”

“Only seems right given the circumstances.”

“I won’t get in the way of you trying to fix all this.”

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“One step at a time. Let’s get to the prison.”

Samuel kept leading the group now traveling on foot to the Brevard County Jail. According to Marcus’ directions it was about a mile down the road.

Karina tried her best not to let her mind wander. She knew what could happen if she did, where it would take her. The dark place, so dark she does not truly know what she becomes but can only take the words of others as fact and never go there again. So, Karina tried to keep busy, always with someone, mainly Malcolm, most of the others were afraid of her. It was only through Samuel’s sheer apathy that she was able to stay with the group. Everyone seemed to not care anymore. The times were getting worse and worse. But Karina tried to keep from letting her mind wander.

He was always lurking their beneath the surface. Karina knew only one thing that frightened her every move, she has not seen the last of Hamilton. It didn’t matter how much she tried not to think about him. He was there and he was going to find a way to get back out of her. Any way at all…

‘Hello, sweet heart.’

‘…’

‘Oh, c’mon, it’s no use ignoring me… You are me!’

‘I can’t be you. I hate you.’

‘She speaks.’

‘I don’t know what you are, but you will never take control of me again.’

‘So, you acknowledge my existence but…and please…correct me if I’m wrong…where you draw the line is that we are not the same person?’

‘Maybe I am crazy, but there is no way I could have done all those horrible things you did in Savannah.’

‘Think again, buttercup!’

‘No...’

‘Don’t beat ourselves up.’

‘That’s not funny.’

‘Listen, you can take the wheel for a while to help better digest our new arrangement. Soon you will come to terms with what we are and why you need me, until then I only ask for this…’

‘What?’

‘If you ever need me, all you have to do is say my name.’

‘I’ll never say your name again.’

“We’ll see, sweetheart’

His evil grin echoed away into the darkest stretches of Karina’s mind.

“Did you say something?” Malcolm caught her off guard.

“Huh?”

“I thought I heard you say beware.”

“I don’t think I did.”

Malcolm kept staring at her, as if he still wasn’t convinced. Karina could not get used to this feeling of people not trusting her. But how could they? When she couldn’t even trust herself.