Kristy along with Colin, Jenny, and the rest of the awakened gathered in the center of the cul-de-sac. The FBI had several vans with them and one of the agents she thought was named Ellen, had a loudspeaker in her hands.

  Ellen turned on the loudspeaker, and it made a screechy sound before she put it up to her mouth and announced, “Soon the military will be moving in to assist efforts towards this town. That means after today we cannot guarantee what decisions will be made regarding all of you. You’ve seen how willing we are to help you, but we can’t guarantee the military will offer the same treatment.”

  “So what are we supposed to do? What if they try to dissect us like we’re aliens or something?” Jack, one of the first awakened asked.

  Ellen waved to the vans behind her, “We’re offering you the best solution we can think of. That’s what these vans are for. I’m happy to announce that we’ve gotten approval to evacuate as many of the awakened that would like to leave. Nobody’s being forced into anything, but this is your opportunity to leave this town and be under direct protection of the FBI. This is your only chance though. After today, we cannot guarantee what’s going to happen when the military moves in.”

  “She’s using FOMO sales tactics,” Colin whispered under his breath to Kristy while sending her pulses of mistrust and upset.

  Kristy was relieved that Colin wasn’t buying into this. The way the FBI ingratiated themselves into the town and now offered to “rescue” Awakened, didn’t seem right. Even the way they implied the military would take over was misleading the people here. She felt the need to say something, but hesitated.

  “Go on,” Colin encouraged her and squeezed her shoulder, “You’re the smartest person I know. I can tell you have something to say. Go on.”

  “I have a question,” Kristy said while awkwardly raising her hand, “Are we in this town being declared weapons of mass destruction?”

  The crowd started to stir and murmur at the question.

  “I don’t see how that’s pertinent to helping everyone here evacuate before the military takes over,” Ellen said, dodging the question and turning it around on Kristy.

  Kristy felt her face go hot as all eyes landed on her. She didn’t like being so antagonistic, but she would be damned if she didn’t try to keep her townspeople, the people she’d just saved, from getting hurt, “We’re still on US soil, meaning the military is only allowed to take jurisdiction from the FBI in two possible events here: First is a biological outbreak that has spread uncontrollably beyond quarantine. Since none of us have breached the perimeter you have set up, that option is not on the table. The second is if we’re all declared some sort of weapon of mass destruction. That means my question directly relates to what is happening here. Are we in this town being declared weapons of mass destruction?”

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  Now all of those eyes in the crowd turned back to Ellen with fear and suspicion.

  “I’ve heard no such reports of you being declared that,” Ellen said with a straight face as her hand rose to her earpiece. There was a pause before she continued, “I’d like to repeat, nobody’s being forced here. If you don’t trust the helper offering after everything we’ve done to help you here that’s fine, but I beg you not to ruin someone else’s chance of being rescued based on unwarranted suspicion. The vans here will leave in thirty minutes with whoever chooses to join us. We will respect the decision of anybody who chooses not to come along.”

  Kristy didn’t like the way she phrased things, but she wasn’t sure how to respond to that. If the military was moving in, that meant the situation was serious enough for the FBI to need their help. That also indicated that the town was no secret to the president. It was only a matter of time before the media got a hold of this if that was the case. Her head was swimming with possibilities. The way the FBI was pushing for people to join them, it made her feel like they were still trying to complete their raid mission from a few weeks ago that Collin stopped, but now they were using people’s consent against them and hiding behind it.

  “Something’s coming this way,” Colin said in a growl. He firmly wrapped his arm around Kristy and his other arm around Jenny and started pulling them backwards. Kristy didn’t fight his pull. The tone of his voice was far too serious. He didn’t stop pulling until they were underneath the porch covering of the nearest house several yards from the crowd in the cul-de-sac.

  Just then, a terrible screech blasted across the sky and drones fell, crashing to the ground.

  The crowd and the FBI both looked around confused and before anyone could react every single FBI agent, besides Ellen, collapsed to the ground.

  Ellen looked around in a wide eyed terror that was obvious even from this distance.

  “What’s happening?” Kristy asked, feeling an instinctual dread she couldn’t place. She gripped tight onto Collin’s arm and repeated, “What’s happening?”

  “I’m such an idiot. I should’ve known they didn’t take him,” Colin said through gritted teeth as his muscles bulged and he started to grow scales over his body and his teeth turned to fangs.

  Before Kristy could ask what was happening again, a small figure dropped from the sky at a blurring speed then turned massive just before it landed on top of Ellen and she cried out in pain and horror.

  It was a gorilla with armored looking skin and thicker, longer legs then was naturally possible for a gorilla’s anatomy. It picked up the loudspeaker, turned it on and announced to the crowd in a deep, charismatic voice, “If you do not interfere with me, I will not kill you.”

  The stunned crowd didn’t move. They likely couldn’t, being paralyzed in fear.

  The gorilla tossed the loudspeaker aside and turned his attention back to Ellen.

  “Who is that?” Kristy asked.

  Colin’s hackles raised and his fangs were bared as he said, “It’s Chuck.”