Chapter 105 - Rally the Troops

  The flight back to City Hall took just minutes, but every second felt like an hour. My mind kept racing through worst-case scenarios. What if more of the patients transformed while I was gone? What if Redhead and She-wolf attacked someone else? What if Cleanse didn't work at all?

  I pushed myself faster, the cold night air whipping past me as I streaked over the darkened city. Below, scattered fires and lights marked the locations of survivors. There were so many people down there, all struggling to survive in this new world. Harvard at least had walls. Most people didn’t. They would be easy prey for the werewolves, and each one bitten would be another warrior fighting for the other side and spreading the werewolf curse.

  Boston City Hall came into view, its brutalist architecture unmistakable even in the darkness. The building was lit up more than usual tonight, with torches and magical lights blazing from multiple windows. Right! Alex’s feast! The celebration for beating the dungeon. He’d wanted me to hurry back so I could attend. With everything that happened at Harvard, I'd completely forgotten about it.

  I descended toward the plaza in front of the building, touching down gently on the concrete. Guards were stationed at intervals around the perimeter, and they recognized me immediately.

  "Mr. Castle!" One of them called out, a young woman whose name I didn’t know. "Welcome back! They're all inside waiting for you."

  "Thanks," I said, already moving toward the entrance. "Where exactly are Alex and Marion?"

  "Main hall, second floor," another guard replied. "Can't miss it. Just follow the noise."

  He wasn't wrong. As soon as I stepped through the doors, I heard the sounds of celebration echoing through the building. Under different circumstances, it would have been a welcome sound. Just then, it made me more anxious.

  I took the stairs two at a time, following the noise to a large open space Alex had repurposed as his dining hall. Tonight it was filled with long tables laden with a true feast. Roasted meat, fresh vegetables, and even bread that smelled like it had been baked that day were laid out for everyone to share.

  The room was packed with people, maybe fifty or sixty in all. Some were the fighters who'd gone into the dungeon with us, all assembled alongside Alex and Marion at a head table. There were others, too. I saw guards, crafters, and other support staff. It looked like Alex had invited all of his people who he could spare from other duties.

  Alex stood behind the head table, a cup in his hand, talking animatedly with a group of his warriors. Marion sat nearby, looking tired but content. They'd both changed into fresh clothes and cleaned up. Meanwhile, I was still covered in werewolf fur and various other substances I didn't want to think about too hard.

  Alex spotted me and his face lit up. "Cameron! There you are! We were starting to—" He stopped mid-sentence as he got a better look at me. His expression shifted from celebratory to concerned in an instant. "What happened?"

  The conversations around us began to quiet as people noticed Alex's change in tone. Eyes turned toward us. The last thing I wanted to do was mess up Alex’s party, but time was short if we were going to have any chance at saving those people from turning.

  "Can we talk?" I asked quietly. "Somewhere private?"

  Alex set down his cup and nodded, his expression serious now. "Marion, can you come with us?” She nodded as Alex gestured toward a side room. "Everyone else, keep eating! We'll be right back."

  We slipped into what looked like it had been a conference room in a former life. Once we were all inside, Alex closed the door behind us, muffling the sounds of the feast.

  “Something bad happened while you were making your rounds,” Alex said. “Spill it.”

  I took a deep breath and laid it all out for them. I told them about my trip to Harvard to deliver the healing crystal, how they’d been attacked recently, and Maggie used it to heal the wounded from the werewolf attack. Then I went on to tell them about the transformations that started right in front of us, the fight with the three werewolves, how two of them escaped, and the remaining patients who were almost certainly going to transform as well, if we couldn’t cure them.

  “You were right to come to me immediately,” Alex said when I'd finished, his voice flat. “This is a serious threat. It sounds like they’re even more infectious than the zombies and higher tier?”

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  I nodded. “From what I’ve seen, yeah.”

  Marion straightened up, her exhaustion seeming to fall away. "You think Cleanse might work."

  "I'm hoping it will. You can remove poisons and diseases, right? Maybe you can remove whatever magical curse or infection is causing the transformation, too.”

  "Maybe," Marion said thoughtfully. "I've never tried it on anything like this, but theoretically…? It's worth a shot, at least. When do we leave?"

  "Hold on," Alex interjected, raising a hand. "Let's think about this for a minute."

  I turned to him, surprised. What we needed to do next was clear to me, and time was short. “What’s there to think about? People are going to die, Alex. Or worse, become monsters that could spread this infection through the entire city."

  "I understand that," Alex said, his tone measured and reasonable. "But my people just spent over a day fighting through a nightmare dungeon. They're exhausted. And now you want us to rush off to deal with someone else's problem?"

  "Someone else's—" I stared at him. "Alex, this affects everyone. If those werewolves spread, everyone is at risk.”

  "Then Harvard should deal with it," Alex cut me off. "They're a large community with their own fighters. They should be able to handle their own threats."

  "They can't!" I said. "Not alone. They don't have Cleanse. Without our help, those people are going to transform, and Harvard might not be able to contain them all."

  "That's not our responsibility," Alex said. He wasn't being cruel, I realized. Just pragmatic. He was all cold calculation in the face of limited resources. "We have to look out for our own people first. That's how communities survive in times like this."

  "Is it?" Marion's voice was quiet, but it cut through the tension. Both Alex and I turned to look at her. "Is that really how we want to survive?"

  Alex's jaw tightened. "Marion—"

  "No, let me finish." She pushed off from the wall, moving to stand between us. "I get it, Alex. I do. We're all tired. We all went through hell in that dungeon. Cam, too. But he was out there helping other people anyway, wasn’t he? How can we do less? If we start drawing lines between 'our people' and 'their people,' if we start deciding who deserves help and who doesn't based on arbitrary boundaries, what sort of people does that make us?"

  "Survivors," Alex replied.

  Marion reached out and took his hands into hers. "Is survival really enough? Because I didn't become a cop to keep myself safe. I did it to help anyone who needed it. That's the whole point."

  "The whole point is staying alive," Alex countered. "If we exhaust ourselves helping every community with every problem, we won't be able to help anyone. Including ourselves."

  She gestured to herself. "I have Cleanse. I might be able to cure these people. How can I not at least try?"

  Alex was quiet for a long moment. I could see the wheels turning in his head, weighing options, calculating risks. How was he going to decide? If he chose not to help, what could I do? I bit the side of my cheek while I waited for Alex to reach a conclusion, praying he'd make the right one. Finally, he sighed and looked back up at Marion.

  "You're right. Damn it, you're right. I’m sorry. I wasn’t trying to be a jerk. I just want to keep you safe. The idea of sending you into harm’s way sucks."

  “You’ll be right there with me,” Marion said. “Cam, too. You can’t keep me safe by ignoring outside threats, love. Sooner or later they’ll come knocking anyway. You know that.”

  “I do,” Alex agreed. He turned to me. "Okay. We help. But we do this smart. I'm not sending a whole expedition force when everyone's exhausted."

  "I wasn't asking for everyone," I said. "Just Marion, and maybe a few fighters for backup in case the werewolves show up while we’re there."

  Alex nodded slowly. "I can work with that. Marion obviously. Ruiz and Dara—they're both rested enough, and they're two of our best. That should be sufficient backup." He paused. "I'm coming too."

  "Alex, you don't have to—"

  "Yes, I do," he interrupted. "If Marion's going, I'm going. End of discussion."

  Marion smiled slightly. "Protective much?"

  "Always," Alex said without a hint of embarrassment. He moved to the door, then turned back. "Give me five minutes to get everyone organized. I’ll get a ground team to follow as soon as they're ready, just in case this turns into something bigger. But the four of us can fly ahead with you and get there faster. I’ll carry Marion, if you can get the other two?”

  “Not a problem,” I replied.

  "Perfect." Alex opened the door. "I'll get them. Let's go."

  The next five minutes were a blur of activity. Alex pulled Ruiz and Dara aside and explained the situation. Both of them agreed immediately to join us, no questions asked. Alex gave orders to his lieutenants about organizing a second team to follow, maintaining security at City Hall, and finally also to keep the feast going so people didn't panic.

  Then we were outside, the cool night air a relief after the warmth of the crowded hall. Alex had Marion in his arms, ready for flight. Ruiz and Dara stood beside me, looking slightly nervous about the prospect of being carried.

  "Don't drop us, eh?" Ruiz said.

  "Not planning on it," I assured him. I'd never carried two people while flying before, but how hard could it be? “Dara, I think I should carry you in my arms, and Ruiz on my back.”

  “Like this?” Dara asked, looping her legs up over my right arm and draping her arm around my back, all while giving me the most flirtatious look I’d ever seen.

  I flushed scarlet and muttered, “Perfect.”

  Ruiz wrapped his arms around my neck and shoulders, clinging to me like a kid getting a piggy-back ride. He grumbled as he got settled in. “This is embarrassing!”

  "Everyone ready?" Alex called out.

  "Ready," Marion confirmed.

  "Let's go," I said.

  We launched into the sky together, streaking northwest through the darkness. The added weight of Ruiz and Dara slowed me down some, but not too much. As we flew, I couldn't help but think about what we were racing toward. People on the verge of transformation. A pack of werewolves already loose and hunting. A community on edge, terrified of what might be lurking in the shadows.

  And Marion, our only hope for a cure, flying toward danger because it was the right thing to do.

  I just hoped we'd get there in time.