Fade didn’t look as if it helped to have a name for what took his parents away. But it was good to know that our stories down below were so much rubbish—that the poison that started the problems had long since vanished, leaving the world to heal as best it might.
“Why didn’t I die too?” he demanded. “I drank the same water, lived as they did.”
Wilson shrugged. “Perhaps your immune system was better. Or possibly you were just lucky. Do you recall whether you were sick at all?”
Fade shook his head, obviously frustrated. “Maybe a little, but never as bad as my mother, first, and then years later, my dad.”
“You said you had multiple questions. What’s the other?” Though we were obviously nursing our drinks, I could tell the man was eager to get back to work by the jogging of his knee.
“The Muties … why are they getting smarter?” The moment Fade asked that, I wished I’d thought to do so.
Wilson appeared delighted with this question. “Again, this is an unproven theory, but I suspect the mutants have what I’d call genetic memory.”
Fade and I swapped looks, then I said it for both of us. “I don’t understand.”
“Genetic memory is when a species recalls everything its ancestors know, so with each successive generation, the offspring is a little smarter than those that came before.”
“So that would be like if I remembered everything my dam and sire knew, and their dam and sire…” I trailed off, overwhelmed by the idea.
“We shouldn’t have seen such a shift so quick, though,” Fade protested.
“Ordinarily, no. But the mutant life cycle is much shorter than a normal human’s. I suspect that’s the price they pay for their exceptional speed, strength, and olfactory sense.”
“How short?” I asked.
“Two years of childhood. Four to maturity, and they rarely live to be older than ten.”
“But … the ones down below didn’t change that fast,” I said.
“I imagine there were fewer resources, so they were probably starving. From extensive dissection, I’ve deduced that they’ve evolved into optimal predators, but in times of privation, their bodies cannot cope. They cannibalize their own systems to survive, but once they begin digesting their cerebral proteins, cognitive ability cannot help but suffer.”
Fade said quietly, “They look, smell, and act different now. The ones we’re fighting seem organized and they’re not covered in sores anymore.”
“I can only guess, young sir, but I’d say their evolutionary shift has stabilized and they’re turning into beings capable of competing with humans on all levels.”
Discharge
Those questions exhausted Wilson’s patience. He downed his drink in one gulp, then escorted us back to the main room, where he returned to gathering up documents for the colonel. Eventually he presented us with a leather folio, similar to the one that housed my precious maps. The scientist wore a hard expression as he handed the papers over to us.
“Make sure you tell Emilia that the pheromones aren’t a solution. The complications I spoke of earlier have a significant impact on the general populace.”
“What does that mean?” I asked.
He sighed. “For some, exposure to mutant pheromones imbues certain irresistible urges. They become violent and in some cases … feral.”
“So they attack and try to eat you?” I was horrified. “How is that better?”
I’d much rather fight Freaks; at least I understood why they hated and wanted to kill us. If they truly remembered everything their people had suffered over the years, then I was right, and they did blame humanity for their pain. That didn’t mean I’d let them annihilate us.
“It’s not,” Wilson said. “I thought if I distilled a compound, based on excretions from the mutant endocrine system, it might make them think this territory was already occupied by their brethren and leave it without need for conflict. That part of the spray works as intended. But I didn’t anticipate how certain human physiologies would react.”
Of that, I only understood that he was coating the area in Freak-stink and it was driving his townsfolk crazy. “That’s the colonel’s plan? Her soldiers will massacre each other.”
“If they’re susceptible. So make sure you tell her, this is not the miracle cure she’s looking for.”
Fade laughed. “She’s not thrilled with us right now. I can’t guarantee she’ll listen.”
“Since I’m not sending any of the treatment with you, she’ll have to send another envoy if she wants to discuss the matter further. I hope not,” Wilson added, looking worried. “I don’t have the personnel to defend the lab if she decides to take the compound by force.”
“Destroy it,” I said flatly.
I could see he was conflicted because it was an idea that he’d had that actually worked, if not as intended, but in the end, he came to the same conclusion. The colonel couldn’t be permitted to unleash this plague on Soldier’s Pond. People using questionable mixtures on one another was what started this trouble in the first place, a long time ago. We didn’t need another mess before we cleaned this one up.
“Now I need you to go. I have work to do and a round of experiments ready to check.”
I put the packet of papers in my pack. “Thanks for your time, Dr. Wilson. We appreciate it more than you can know.”
The old man actually colored. “It was a pleasure to shed some light on the world for you. I don’t often get to play the role of instructor. It will be safer if you travel during the day, but I suppose you already know that. Mutants aren’t any more nocturnal than we are, though there are occasional exceptions. There’s a woman who will rent you a room for the night, if you have anything of value to trade.” He gave us directions, then added, “Stay out of the south side.”
There was no need to tell us that it was full of feral humans, who might try to eat our faces. “Why didn’t you just kill them?” I asked.
“Because I’m working on a cure. It was more humane to pen them up until I can figure out how to heal them.” But he didn’t look hopeful anymore, so maybe it was more that he couldn’t bear to admit failure and order those poor people to be killed.
I read the caution and regret in his eyes as Wilson lifted his hand to us in farewell. Fade led the way out of the lab, following the turns perfectly. He had an excellent sense of direction Topside, better than mine. Soon enough we were standing outside the house where we could rent a room; I was less sure what we would use to do that. Before knocking, I rummaged in my pack and then looked at Fade.
“What do you think she’ll want?”
Fade shrugged. “Let’s go ask. We need a good night’s sleep before starting the trip back.”
I noticed he didn’t say home, and I felt the same way. At best we were biding time in Soldier’s Pond. Idly I wondered how they’d controlled the savages in the southern section of Winterville, but I didn’t intend to go see how bad it was. It did explain why the place was so quiet, however; I imagined there had been casualties.
Fade rapped on the door and within moments, a young woman answered, no more than five or six years older than I was. She wasn’t what I’d expected; I supposed I had been looking for someone like Momma Oaks, as she was the one who sheltered us when we first arrived in Salvation. I cleared my throat.
“Dr. Wilson said you’d be willing to put us up for the night.”
“Did he now? Then I’d better not make a liar out of the old goat. Come on in. I’m Laurel, by the way. Nice to meet you.”
Inside, her home was cheerful, decorated with cushions in colorful fabrics. The furniture was old and battered, however, which told me they didn’t have many skilled woodworkers in Winterville. She waited for us to take a seat, then said, “What are you offering for a night’s lodging?”
“News,” I said.
By her expression, I’d surprised her. “If you don’t find what I know useful or interesting, we’ll camp outside. No harm done.”
The woman nodded. “That sounds fair.”
Quietly I summarized the sacking of Salvation, the gathering horde, and the unrest in Soldier’s Pond. Then I finished with “I realize you have the treatment that’s supposed to keep the Muties away, and so far it’s working, but that’s not exactly a permanent solution.”
“No,” she said shakily. “It’s not. There are those in town who will prize this information highly, so I can use it as leverage.”
I didn’t ask what she meant by that. “Is it enough for you to put us up for the night?”
“I’ll throw in soup for each of you,” she said. “Let me show you to your room.”
Fade and I were tired enough that we went straight to sleep and only roused when she knocked much later to tell us it was time for the evening meal. We ate quickly, then retired once more. I felt like a miser, hoarding sleep, because it would certainly be scarce on the return trip.
In the morning, Laurel packed us some bread for the road. I hesitated, as I hadn’t discussed this idea with Fade, but it seemed right to me. So in parting I said, “Will you let the men in town know we’re raising an army in Soldier’s Pond? Anyone who wants to enlist should make his way there and can march with us. There’s no way around it—we have to fight.”
If the men thought I meant the colonel, well, that wasn’t my fault. A flickering look from Fade told me he’d caught the slight deception, but he didn’t say anything.
Laurel nodded. “A few might make the journey. We’re not warriors by and large.”
“That’s all we could ask.”
Since we’d slept almost a full day and eaten well, the return trip went smoother. Freaks still prowled in our wake, but we outran them and in some circumstances outsmarted them. It took us two and a half days of constant running with only short breaks for food and rest. I didn’t sleep more than three hours at a stretch until I saw the barbed metal fencing glimmer in the morning sunshine.
“We made it,” I said to Fade, pushing out an exhausted breath.
I slowed to a walk then as the shout went up from the sentries not to shoot us. Reassuring. Freak corpses lay at irregular intervals outside the perimeter. So a hunting party had tested the defenses here at Soldier’s Pond while we were gone; they’d fared poorly too, but it wouldn’t be long before others came in search of their lost brethren. I foresaw a repeat of what happened in Salvation, though these warriors could withstand a longer siege.
As we approached, they neutralized the defenses long enough for us to enter. Fade quickened his step, no doubt eager to have this errand done. I agreed with him. But we didn’t get to the colonel before Tegan found us. And I had never seen her so angry.
“You left me!” she shouted, then she hauled off and hit me.
I was so stunned that I didn’t even try to block the blow, so she punched me square in the nose. The resultant crunch hurt like the devil, blood trailed down over my upper lip and into my mouth. Gaping at her, I scrambled in my bag for a scrap of cloth to blot it up.