Chapter 38: Deadly Tomorrow

IRIS POV

The evacuation list makes my stomach turn.

Four hundred twelve names. That's it. Four hundred twelve real residents out of Ravenshollow's supposed population of three thousand. The rest are Blackthorne employees, genetic test subjects, corporate security masquerading as shopkeepers and teachers and neighbors.

Luna Pierce's name sits at the top of my real residents list. I draw a line through it. She's refused evacuation three times now, choosing to stay sealed in the medical center with Maya while the world burns around them.

"Detective Vale." Sheriff Morrison jogs up, his face gray with exhaustion. "Military perimeter is established. General Vance wants to brief you in the command tent."

I look past him at Main Street. Armored vehicles block every intersection. Soldiers in hazmat gear patrol with weapons drawn. Above us, helicopters circle like carrion birds. Beyond the perimeter, news vans cluster as close as they dare, satellite dishes pointed at our small apocalypse.

Six hours. That's what the orders say. Six hours to contain the outbreak or they "sterilize" the town. Military-speak for burning Ravenshollow to ash with everyone still inside.

"Tell Vance I'm coming." I fold the evacuation list into my jacket. "And Morrison? Get your family on the next transport out."

His jaw tightens. "My wife won't leave without her sister."

"Is her sister on the real residents list?"

Silence answers me.

"Then she's Blackthorne personnel. She knew what she was part of." I hate how cold I sound. Hate that I've become the person making these calculations. "Get your wife out. That's an order."

Morrison walks away without responding.

The command tent sits in the high school parking lot, surrounded by military vehicles and armed personnel. Inside, maps cover every surface. Thermal imaging shows the medical center glowing red—Maya's crystallization putting off enough heat to register on satellites.

General Patricia Vance stands at the center table, her silver hair pulled back tight, her uniform crisp despite the chaos. She's sixty, maybe, with the kind of face that's seen too much death to be shocked by more.

"Detective Vale." She doesn't offer to shake hands. "I've read your reports. Pharmaceutical conspiracy, genetic experiments, seventeen dead before this outbreak began." She taps the medical center on the map. "Now we have forty-seven crystallized patients, six containment breaches, and Patient Zero glowing like a goddamn beacon. Tell me why I shouldn't level this town right now."

"Because four hundred twelve innocent people live here. They didn't know—"

"Everyone always claims they didn't know." Vance pulls up footage on her tablet. "1987. Millbrook, Pennsylvania. Carrier-6. My daughter was visiting her college roommate. Twenty-two years old. She died choking on her own crystallized blood in a quarantine tent because we waited too long to act." She looks up, and her eyes are chips of ice. "I won't make that mistake twice."

My mouth goes dry. "How many did you kill in Millbrook?"

"All of them. Every single resident. Because by the time we understood the transmission vectors, it was too late for containment." She closes the tablet. "This time, I'm being proactive."

"You're talking about murdering four hundred people."

"I'm talking about preventing forty thousand deaths. Four hundred thousand. Four million." She leans forward. "The crystallized patients in Burlington? They're exhibiting coordinated behavior. Moving as a unit. We have reports they're heading here, to Patient Zero. If they reach her and she's as contagious as CDC estimates, this becomes a global pandemic."

Through the tent opening, I see Mayor Stone's house. Red and blue lights flash—crime scene tape surrounds the property now. He uploaded his evidence three hours ago and put a bullet through his skull before his wife could stop him.

"Stone's leak is already causing damage." Vance pulls up news feeds. Stock markets crashing. Pharmaceutical companies hemorrhaging value. Protests outside government buildings. "Blackthorne's supply chains are collapsing. Every patient dependent on their treatments is facing immediate shortage."

"How immediate?"

"Seventy-two hours before critical medications run out. Two hundred three thousand patients worldwide. Four thousand seven hundred children." She closes the feeds. "Stone killed them all when he hit upload."

The weight of it settles on my shoulders. Stone trying to expose the truth, accidentally creating a medical crisis that will kill thousands. Helen trying to save people, creating monsters. Phoenix trying to stop his mother, dying before he could complete the cure. Every good intention paving this road to hell.

"Sarah Martinez is synthesizing a counter-agent." I pull out my phone, showing Vance the messages from Luna. "Using fetal antibodies and Maya's marrow. She thinks she can reverse early-stage crystallization."

"She 'thinks'." Vance's voice drips skepticism. "And how many will die while she thinks? How many will transform into superhuman carriers who spread this further?"

"I don't know. But I know that burning four hundred innocent people alive won't solve anything."

"It'll solve the immediate threat." Vance returns to her maps. "I have authorization to deploy incendiary devices at 0600 hours if containment fails. That's six hours, Detective. Six hours to convince me there's a better option."

My phone buzzes. Luna.

Maya agreed to extraction. Sarah starting in 10 minutes. It's going to kill her, Iris.

I stare at the message. Maya choosing to die so Sarah can synthesize the cure. Choosing sacrifice over survival, just like Phoenix did. Just like Stone did.

Everyone dying to fix Helen's crimes.

"What if the counter-agent works?" I look up at Vance. "What if we can cure the forty-seven patients before they reach Stage 3? Prove containment is possible?"

"Then I'll reconsider sterilization." Vance checks her watch. "But you've got six hours to show results. After that, Ravenshollow burns. With or without your four hundred innocents."

My phone explodes with alerts.

Stone's evidence is going viral. Not just trending—consuming every news cycle. Video footage of dead children. Audio recordings of Helen ordering eliminations. Financial documents proving government complicity.

And the response is immediate. Vicious.

Pharmaceutical stock prices collapse. Blackthorne's international facilities are being stormed by authorities. Supply chains seize up as distributors distance themselves from the scandal.

But the patients. God, the patients.

My phone shows messages flooding social media. Parents of children on Blackthorne medications begging for help. Adults dependent on experimental treatments facing death sentences as supplies dry up. Hospital administrators reporting critical shortages within hours.

Two hundred three thousand people. Stone's truth killing them faster than Helen's lies ever could.

"It's already starting." Vance watches her own feeds. "Hospitals in Jakarta reporting they're out of compound B-7. Three patients died in the last hour. Berlin, São Paulo, Mumbai—all reporting critical shortages." She looks at me. "Your mayor thought he was exposing evil. Instead, he destroyed the only thing keeping thousands alive."

"Helen was—"

"Evil and necessary. Like a tumor that keeps a dying organ functional." Vance turns away. "Now we have forty-seven crystallized patients developing superhuman abilities, two hundred three thousand patients losing access to lifesaving treatments, and six hours before I burn this town to prevent global infection." She pauses. "Tell me again why truth was worth this price."

I don't have an answer.

My phone buzzes. Luna again.

Extraction started. Maya's vitals dropping. Sarah says 3 hours to synthesize enough counter-agent for all patients.

Three hours. Half of Vance's deadline.

"General." I show her the message. "Give Sarah until 0300 hours. If she produces a working counter-agent, you call off sterilization."

"And if she doesn't?"

"Then you burn us all." The words taste like ash. "But you give her the chance."

Vance studies me for a long moment. "You'd die with them? With the four hundred innocents and the twenty-six hundred Blackthorne personnel?"

"I'd die knowing we tried everything before we committed genocide."

She almost smiles. "You remind me of my daughter. She would have made the same stupid, noble choice." Her expression hardens. "0300 hours. That's your deadline. After that, I light this town up whether you're still in it or not."

I turn to leave, but Vance's voice stops me.

"Detective? The crystallized patients from Burlington? Thermal imaging shows them forty miles out. Moving at forty miles per hour. They'll reach Ravenshollow's perimeter in sixty minutes." She pulls up the satellite feed. "When they arrive, they'll overwhelm containment. And then I won't wait until 0300. I'll burn everything immediately to prevent them from reaching Patient Zero."

On the screen, six figures run through the darkness with inhuman speed. Their bodies glow faint red. Moving in perfect synchronization. Heading straight for Maya.

Heading home.

"Forty miles per hour." My voice sounds hollow. "That's impossible."

"Stage 3 crystallization isn't enhancing them. It's perfecting them." Vance closes the feed. "Your counter-agent better work fast, Detective. Because in sixty minutes, this becomes a battle between superhuman carriers and military firepower."

She doesn't say which side she thinks will win.

I don't ask.

My phone buzzes one more time. Not Luna. Mayor Stone's wife.

I found something. Something Rex recorded before he died. You need to see this.

I run.