Officer Ben swiftly organizes a team at the Showbox and designates it a crime scene. He interviews me, Justus and Kat, but there's not much we can tell him other than our guesses about who might have done this.
"No matter how good these people think they are, there is always evidence," Officer Ben assures me. "If they truly activated the virus in a room full of innocent people, they will pay the price."
"The punishment for an Evolved 'retiring' a Throwback is a fine. No jail time. No justice," I say, my voice flat.
Officer Ben looks at the ground, knowing that I'm right. "We'll find a way to charge them. Breaking and entering. Public destruction of property. The Governor will back us."
I nod, too tired to argue. Kat has summoned our van, and it takes us back to the Chrysalis. Harriet, Sun and Marie texted to tell us that they are already there with Flo, being tested to see if the H2IV virus is active in their blood.
We find them in the breakroom, and when my eyes meet Harriet's, there's a familiar resignation in them that tells me everything I need to know.
"We're going down together after all," she says. "Every last one of us tested positive.
"No. Marie, no," Kat whispers, her voice shaking.
Tears spill from my eyes. I want to curl up in a ball, or scream from the rooftops. Rage and grief press against my heart with such ferocity that black spots dance in my vision.
Next to Harriet, Mason moans on the couch. He's curled around Harriet, his hands fisted in her shirt. He wasn't inside the Showbox tonight, so he escaped being gassed with the rest of us. He was working outside managing crowd control. And now the love of his life is doomed to die a terrible, bloody, painful death while he watches.
My phone vibrates with text messages from Wilde, Alison and the other students at Seattle Secondary who attended the event. Everyone has H2IV. What use are these visions of the future, if I never saw this coming? What is the point of all our effort and struggle? The show that we created to save us has doomed us instead.
A choked noise escapes Sun's throat, drawing everyone's attention. He's staring at his phone with an expression of shock that looks foreign on the face of a man who's always one step ahead.
"Strand issued a press release," he says. "Consoling the Throwbacks at the Showbox for having to go through such a harrowing experience, condemning the prejudiced Evolved who perpetrated the attack, and...and...promising to provide 1,000 free doses of an antidote for the victims."
My brain is so fuzzy after the events of the day that his words take a moment to register.
"They're going public with the antidote? Why?" Kat asks, her face filled with hope and fear.
"Positive press?" Justus says, gripping my hand and pulling me closer to him.
Harriet slowly shakes her head. "They're promising 1,000 'free' doses of the antidote. After that, anyone who wants one will have to pay. They're turning a tragedy into a business opportunity."
"No," Sun says. "They created a tragedy for the sake of a new business opportunity."
"There will be no way to prove it," Marie says.
"Think of what people will pay for this. Anything, everything they have. It's life or death," Justus says, almost choking on the words.
"In one brilliant move, they have demoralized the Throwback population, taken the moral high ground, and robbed us of every piece of leverage we have," Sun says.
"I don't care," Mason retorts, never looking away from Harriet's face. "I'll pay whatever they want. You're going to live, and that's all that matters."
Harriet cradles his cheek with her hand. "Yeah, Mase. I'm going to be okay. We all are."
A vision slams into me, almost as if it's reacting to Harriet's words.
Gas fills a cancer ward inside the Jackson Memorial Hospital in Miami.
Throwbacks choke inside a Charlotte airport terminal, surrounded by a cloud of mist.
A white cloud descends on a group of elderly Throwbacks in a run-down nursing home.
A Throwback restaurant...
A dilapidated apartment complex...
A preschool packed with kids eating their lunches...
Today is only the first of the attacks.
"Joan!" Justus says, squeezing my hands.
"I'm ok," I say, trying to ease the worry in his eyes.
"What did you see?" Sun asks.
"I see a much bigger 'business opportunity' for Strand than we ever imagined."
~ ~ ~
Much later, curled up on a bed in the Chrysalis with Justus, my mind races. Everyone has either left for their beds or have fallen asleep here, including Justus. He mutters in his sleep, not able to fully rest even though he's technically unconscious.
My mind plays over my vision from earlier today. I know with absolute certainty that Strand has weaponized H2IV, and that incidents of Throwbacks having the virus activated in their blood will explode across the country. It's the perfect way to terrorize us into submission while simultaneously making money off of us.
Starting soon, doses of H2IV will be available—for a price—and I'll no longer need Lexi's supply. Which means that she must have found something new to hold over me. I shiver, trying to imagine what it could be.
If we want to stop Strand for good, I need evidence of illegal activity. And I know exactly where it is—in Strand's lab. My friends never dreamed of letting me give in to Lexi's requests to go willingly, because there's no way she'll ever let me leave. But what they don't know is that the end of my story is coming soon one way or another. I want to go down fighting, and to take Strand with me if I can.
My visions don't come on command, but I need one. Which is why I didn't take my regular dose of the antidote last night, even though it was time. I have to find a way to harness this skill, and to use it to my advantage.
My visions are at their most powerful when I'm at my weakest. Quietly, and slip out of bed without waking Justus. My shoes are off, and my bare feet make no sound as I cross the room and enter the hall.
I go to the stairwell and begin climbing up. My body is tired, from the virus and from the very long day I just endured. The exhaustion gives me a grim satisfaction, and I force myself to take the steps up two at a time. At each landing, I go back down, and then back up again until my legs are shaking from the exertion.
When I reach the final flight of stairs, my vision has begun to blur, but still no vision comes for me. Maybe exhausting my body isn't enough. Slowly, I climb to the top floor of the Chrysalis. I put my hand on the doorknob that leads to a place that holds some of my darkest memories.
Am I really ready to go in that room again? Harriet's face flickers in my mind followed by Sun, Marie, Alison, Tupac...so many beloved lives at risk. And soon, so many strangers lives will be in jeopardy too, if Strand gets their way.
I turn the handle. It isn't locked. This floor has been open ever since the room was scoured by Hautey and a team of Throwbacks living in the Chrysalis.
Stepping inside, I'm hit with the lemony scent of some kind of cleaner. The last time I was here, I was almost overwhelmed by the smell of blood and decay. I wander around the room, which is pristine and white now, as it was when Crew first created it. I pause in the center of the room. Elisabeth and Sacajawea fell right here.
My breathing comes faster. There were bodies strewn throughout the room, and somehow my mind remembers the placement of every single one. No one could be saved that day.
I sink onto one of the circular benches and press the palms of my hands into my eyes. The last face I remember is Nic's. How pale he was, when I dragged him inside the Space Needle. He was already dead, no spark of life in his eyes. No more words to tease or comfort me.
My heart beats a frantic rhythm in my chest, and I feel something inside me open. This time, the vision doesn't come to me. I go to it, like unlocking a door inside my mind and finding something that has always been there.
There is a way to prevent another slaughter. Take it, and let no one stop you.
"Ready?" Marie asks me.
I nod and bend my head. Marie takes a small scalpel and makes a tiny incision in the back of my head, right next Strand's chip. The pain is brief, and she immediately covers the small wound with gel that will heal the cut without leaving scar.
"It's in. Your every thought now has the ability to influence those around you."
"We really do need a better name for this than the Mind Manipulator," I joke, trying to lighten the mood.
Marie doesn't even crack a smile. "I've also turned it into a Wi-Fi hotspot, so that the video from your contact cameras will be sent straight to the server inside the Chrysalis. I've imbedded it in your skull right next to your chip, so Strand shouldn't be able to detect it."
"This is the key that allows us to take down Strand, Marie, and it's all because of your genius."
Marie's doesn't seem to register my words. Her eyes swim with tears. "Go, then, Joan, and get the information we need to stop Strand. But please come back."
I tug myself free of the vision, my consciousness snapping back into my body. I know what I have to do, and no one is going to like it.