“Ella!” I squealed as she barreled into me for a bear hug. I hadn’t seen her since our mom had her rescued and squirreled away from the 99% cult, who almost had her brainwashed. Back before Angel disappeared.
In the middle of our embrace, someone tapped on Ella’s shoulder and she turned around to see Iggy, looking shy and totally lovestruck. Her face lit up in a huge grin and she leaned in and kissed him, right there in front of all of us, and then Iggy wrapped her up in a long, tender hug.
Watching them, I was drunk with love and hope and happiness all at once, and as the other mutant kids on the cliffs started cheering, I looked at Fang standing beside me, silent and strong. His fingers found their way to mine and his smile said everything I couldn’t.
We were finally, truly home.
77
THEN THE PARTY started.
We walked into a hidden cove with lush green foliage surrounding a breathtaking waterfall, just like my mom had promised. I was waiting for unicorns to come galloping out and fairies to start singing.
Nudge waded into the water, grinning as two girls her age chatted her up, their wings unfurled proudly around them. She looked so happy, so comfortable in her own skin.
Iggy did a perfectly executed back dive with a half twist off the cliff, slicing the shallow water next to Ella with minimal splash, and I thought she was going to faint right there.
Even Angel was looking more like her former self, laughing and splashing with Total and Akila as the Gasman torpedoed into them underwater.
Fang and I were seated with Mom and Nino Pierpont at a wooden table off to the side, watching the festivities. Pierpont looked impossibly cool in his deliberately rugged, undoubtedly expensive trekking outfit as he watched us wolf down a huge meal of braised pork and paella, prepared by his bustling team of private chefs. If there is a way to our hearts, it is definitely though our stomachs—which is why I was getting a little nervous.
“So, what’s the catch?” Fang asked, obviously thinking the same thing.
I housed a giant bite of sausage, wanting desperately for there not to be a catch, for once.
“Hmm?” Mom asked, too innocently.
“Like, is this how it all ends?” I asked. “No more experiments? No more running? Happily ever after, sleeping under the stars in our beautiful tree houses, living carefree in our island paradise?”
My mom smiled, but her eyes said something different.
“I wish, Max… I hope. God, I hope.” Her glance flicked to Pierpont, who was shifting uncomfortably in his seat. “But…”
“But what?” Fang asked accusingly, tensing beside me.
“This is your new world. Your new community,” my mom said. “But it’s a community for…”
“The ones who will survive,” Pierpont finished her sentence gravely.
“Wait,” Fang said, dropping his fork. “The ones who what?”
I looked at my mom in alarm, and she nodded sadly. I’d been hearing about the world ending for so long, had been preparing for this moment for years, but it still hit me like a rock falling out of the sky. “Can someone tell us what’s going on?” I asked, my voice rising. “Can someone, for once, please just be honest with us?”
“Where do I even start?” My mom sighed.
“How about with the part we know—that the 99 Percenters want to save the earth and its environment through the genocide of… well, almost the entire human race. So, what exactly is their plan?”
My mom took a deep breath. I knew this was going to be hard to listen to, and I took Fang’s hand.
“They’ve been working for years on developing a form of avian flu that has a terrifying ability to quickly mutate and has been manufactured to mimic other, even deadlier, viruses, ebola among them.” Mom looked me in the eye, letting her words sink in. “The virus is called H8E, but it’s known among the 99 Percenters as ‘The Finisher.’ ”
“So we’re more susceptible to it because we’re bird kids?” I asked.
“No, actually,” Mom said, smiling. “It seems counterintuitive, but because of your mixed DNA, you kids have a natural immunity to it that we haven’t seen in any other species. Of course, Ella and Nino and I, and some of the other enhanced kids—and Jeb, of course—aren’t immune.”
My heart jumped into my throat.
“And if, by some fluke and despite our precautions, the virus spread to this island and we became infected, and the virus then mutated after evolving through the simple human system—”
“You don’t have to worry about that, Maximum,” Pierpont cut in, waving at my mom to shut up. I narrowed my eyes at him. “We’ve been working for years—since before you were born—to create a safe refuge for those who have the most hope of surviving and continuing the human race. We believe that you children will absolutely thrive here.”
“Wow, and here I would’ve thought that if you knew a biotoxin was being manufactured for decades, you might’ve been spending that time trying to create a vaccine or something,” I said dryly.
Pierpont took off his chic safari hat and ran his hands through his short, silvery hair.
“It mutates too fast for that, Max,” my mom said, unfazed as usual by my insolent audacity.
“On the surface, of course, you have a tropical paradise,” Pierpont continued, gesturing widely at the waterfall. “But should the worst occur, you will be safe inside a luxurious city of caves protected by a force field created with the latest technology. A complex system of passages will allow you to live quite comfortably belowground.”
“You mean until the biotoxin becomes extinct, along with the rest of the human race?” Fang asked.
Mom and Pierpont were quiet, which I took as a “yes.”
“So… what exactly does this ultimate toxin do?” I asked, not sure if I really wanted to know. But I had to find out. I didn’t want any more secrets.
My mom studied her notebook. Then her eyes flicked to Ella, who was splashing in the waterfall. Then she stared down at her shoes. Mom was one tough cookie. If she couldn’t say it outright, it was way worse than I’d thought.
“Just give it to us straight,” I said, huddling closer to Fang, who wrapped his arm around my shoulders. “We can handle it.”
“Okay.” She sighed and started to read. “The toxin is first inhaled and moves through the lungs, causing a slight cough and, in some cases, a rash. The cells multiply, creating internal fissures in the organs and hemorrhaging into the bloodstream. A short time later, boils appear on the skin’s surface. When the boils burst, the wounds weep, shedding billions of the highly contagious cells and infecting, basically, anyone in the vicinity.” Mom cleared her throat. “At this point, with so many open sores secreting contagion, the victim will likely develop a staph infection that will quickly progress to necrotizing fasciitis, literally rotting the skin off the body in a matter of days.”
So, to break it down: You breathe in this little villain, and it basically liquefies your organs, then moves to your bloodstream, and then rots off the surface of your skin until you’re a bleeding, writhing mass of agony, all while infecting everyone around you in every way possible.
I felt bile rising in my throat. Fang’s face had gone white, and I could feel him shivering. “Mark,” he said under his breath. “The contagion…”
We were remembering the same thing: Mark’s last words at the hospital where Angel had been held captive. “Mom,” I said, “could the… threat have been released already?”
My mother didn’t flinch. She obviously knew the answer. And she was going to tell it to me straight.
“Yes,” my mom said softly. “The toxin itself will kill almost all of the population on its own. But based on the agonizing effects it has on the human body, we estimate that at least half of the deaths will be from suicide.”