Mitch shaded his eyes and stared at the wide swathe of trampled corn plants. It looked like the path of a tornado, the area flattened and churned up at the same time. The loud rattle of chains made him turn his head and watch as Jim dragged away the second carcass, having waited for Mitch to complete his sample taking before removing the dead beast to be buried.

Not knowing if the animal had ingested the water borne spores, or been contaminated by a bite from a hybrid, Mitch recommended they not butcher the animals for food, or feed the meat to the dogs, but rather bury or burn them. Jim had a small pit at the extreme edge of the property and he opted to bury the beasts. Mitch agreed. The smell of burning, especially dead animals, was not a pleasant experience.

With a wave to the crop farmer, Mitch hoisted his sample bag and started walking back to the gate, his thoughts consumed by the animals that streamed past in the dark last night.

Looking towards the tiny hamlet of Turin, and comparing it to the flat river lands beyond the borders of the farmhouse, it was plain that behind the houses was an unusual feature in the landscape. There was no sign of houses built on the low hills, no power lines, radio towers or other human evidence of access or use to be seen. It was a puzzle, the clear tracks from the migration of animals heading in that direction, not deviating to left or right.

He reached the high metal gate and shouted for entry. A moment later it swung open, Jamie there to meet him.

"Get what you wanted?" She asked, shutting the gate behind him.

"I did. Also did a quick visual check, inside and out, but no obvious signs of mutation or change, no defiant pupils or strange pouches to report."

Jamie matched his stride as they made their way to the converted dairy, now Mitch's makeshift laboratory. Inside he emptied his samples into the small fridge, then turned to check on the strange pea-sized 'eggs' he'd extracted from the hybrid Jamie shot the day before.

"Holy shit!" His exclamation drew his partner over.

"What?"

"Look at these things. They're three times the size they were yesterday."

"Abe said the blood sample Jackson sent him grew at an accelerated rate as well."

"Even so. If that remains true for these, we could have half dozen baby hybrids running around in less than a week!"

"What about freezing them? That should stop any growth spurt?" Jamie suggested, opening the freezer to see how full it was.

"The formation of ice crystals will slice them up and make them unusable."

"Formaldehyde?" Jamie tried again. Mitch shook his head.

"Again. That will make them unusable for comparison and DNA testing. Same with Formalin."

"What's left?" Jamie asked, her limited knowledge exhausted.

"We can try refrigerating them, not cold enough to form ice crystals, but enough to slow the growth rate. We'll have to somehow hook this fridge up to a battery and run in off that, if we take it with us."

"And I thought you were going to set me a challenge. Let me sort that out while you start packing up the shop to get back on the road." Jamie flashed him a grin and sauntered towards the door.

"Fine. Don't forget I still want to be able to fit that mattress in somewhere." He stared down at the now grape sized egg sacks. "You're not going to fit in those containers for long. Let's see what else we can find to put you in."

x-x-x-x-x

Jamie decided to get creative with re-packing the armored trailer. Ethan proved helpful when she put forward the idea, over the midday meal, of creating a framework to store some of the stuff, currently inside the trailer, on the outside. The frames couldn't be too heavy or the trailer would become unbalanced and a pig to tow, likely to fish tail at a certain speed. Ethan suggested putting extra storage on the roof of the trailer, only a couple of feet high, and create a wind buffer at the front to prevent drag and make the air flowing around the trailer work for them, or at least not slow them down and chew through their fuel quicker. They also decided to use the various bars and guards around the main truck, like they had already done with the front bumper, loading it up with anything that could stand the buffeting and not be affected by weather, good or bad. There was even space for a roof rack on the body of the unimog.

Ethan was a Nascar enthusiast, so he suggested using modified wind deflectors to counteract the tendency to weave at high speed, as well as push the vehicles more firmly onto the road, providing improved traction. Both the truck and trailer already had industrial strength suspension, moderate aerodynamic design and surge brakes on the trailer to help manage the load and prevent fishtailing or jackknifing. But Jamie wasn't about to turn down help in improving their fuel economy and making more space to stow stuff. She and Ethan drew up various designs, then set about cutting up metal bar and welding for the rest of the afternoon.

No one had suggested they not leave. Jamie had assured them that sufficient weaponry would be left to see off small to moderate attacks, their last resort the basement in the event of being over run. While Ethan beavered to create the new metal attachments, Jamie and Jim talked over strategies, using different scenarios, for defending the homestead, and themselves if they ventured out to garner more supplies.

Mitch was largely left alone to repack up his toys, gradually creating a sizable heap outside the former dairy building, ready to be packed on the newly configured truck and trailer. Jamie had discussed several ideas to improve things within and without their vehicles, Mitch happy to give her free rein to play, agreeing with nearly all her suggestions as long as the new mattress took center stage. Peggy had laughed when the request was made, happily allowing them to swap what they currently had, with the one from the bed. She also supplied some extra pillows, blankets and other linen to supplement their supplies. Given the the Hambly's household goods were added to their own, they had plenty to share.

By evening the modifications were done and they all pitched in with filling the new spaces, and reconfiguring the existing. Now there was plenty of room for the modified fridge, extra padding to keep the delicate equipment and glassware unbroken, and room to stow a few extra's.

Finally, they sat around the dining table inside the house, partaking of a last meal, and discussing where they went from here on. There were any number of wine, beer and spirits distilleries in Iowa, mostly to the east. Jamie widened their search area, primarily to get them closer to the Canadian border, and found a place called Watertown, with a local distillery that specialized in vodka, rum and other spirits.

"Now that is my kind of watering hole." Mitch announced. "I vote we go there."

Jamie looked over the area. "Hmm. South Dakota, so definitely heading north, about five hours from here give or take. Smallish population and a bonus, the distillery is right next door to their zoo park."

"A bonus?" Peggy queried.

Mitch nodded. "They'll have a lab I can use, if they can be persuaded."

"And the town is surrounded by glacial lakes, so more water testing!" Jamie informed him, Mitch mock groaning at the prospect of more testing and sampling.

Jamie gave him a nudge with her elbow. "You know you live for sampling."

Mitch nudged her in return. "I do. Even more so when I have a nice, comfortable, well equipped lab to work with."

They talked for a while longer, Mitch finding out that the unusual topography behind the farm belonged to a nature reserve, Davis wetland. An area of hills and gullies with small pockets cleared for cropping, but for the most part covered in thick tree cover. It extended for some distance north, an almost perfect hiding place for a sizable herd of mixed herbivores and a population of hybrid carnivores. With the small, isolated human population surrounding it, it wouldn't take many hybrid attacks to convince people to stop going in to the area, leaving it solely for the animals, providing food, shelter and water in abundance.

"Clever beasties." Mitch muttered. How many more of these pocket populations were there in the wild places between where they were and the barrier back in Colorado. The hybrids seem to be highly organized, and hyper-intelligent. Either that or Abigail had some way of communicating with her pets over a great distance and directing them accordingly. Still didn't explain her over all plan, but did add another piece to the puzzle. The ever expanding puzzle.

The meal over and discussions ended, it was time to go. The four remaining behind stood in the yard to see them off. Jamie opting to drive the first couple of hours, under the cover of darkness and via a route traversing back roads almost all the way.

"Don't let it be another decade before we see you, Mitch," said Peggy, giving her friend a warm hug.

"I'll try not too." Mitch replied, before shaking hands with Jim and Ethan. Jess gave him a tentative, but sincere peck on the cheek and he patted each of the dogs before strolling over to the unimog and climbing aboard.

Jamie endured a round of hugs, even from Ethan, before almost skipping to the drivers side of the heavily armored truck, her delight in getting back on the road obvious. By morning they would be close to hopefully solving the water crisis, and be several hours closer to meeting up with their team.

In the darkness they rolled out of the farm and out of Turin, leaving the hamlet in their dust.

X-x-x-x-x

They had mapped out a route, one that followed the old highway seventy five to Sioux City, staying on it as it skirted the suburbs, eventually ending up far to the west of the city on the ominously named Military road, formerly the main road north west before the interstate was built. Avoiding the city put another hour on their travel time, not helped when they got lost temporarily in the back roads. With so many waterways criss-crossing the borderlands between Iowa and South Dakota, they had to use bridges, despite having a four-by-four. This also slowed them down while they scoped out the traffic, watching for anything military or police patrolling the roads. It didn't appear that there was a curfew, but there were not many vehicles about either, so they slipped through unremarked and more importantly without being stopped.

Mitch took over driving once they were able to pull over. It was gone midnight and rain had started to fall, forcing them to lower their speed and making visibility difficult. He put in a CD and listened to the gravelly voiced male singer croon his way through a selection of bluesy songs, Mitch tapping out the rhythm on the steering wheel. So far they'd only encountered one or two vehicles on this particular back stretch, but now that road was ending and they would need to jump onto the next road heading north, the one-oh-five ending in Jefferson.

Jamie was curled up in the passenger seat, covered by a blanket. He glanced over now and then, keeping the music down so not to disturb her. Not wanting to waste more time, and having already noted that Jefferson was not much more than a mile wide, he chose to cruise down main street, entering and exiting the tiny town in a matter of minutes. As the lights illuminated a strip of the crops fields on either side, he tooled the growling engine at a steady speed, mindful of the slippery conditions.

They passed through the colorfully named Elk Point, the Missouri river to the south acting as the border between Nebraska and South Dakota. This time he didn't do a main street run, but used the grid layout of the small town to his advantage, cruising parallel to the main thoroughfare and avoiding the sheriff's station at its heart. Then they slipped under the interstate and started to shadow the railway line. At Burbank they took a hard right onto four-sixty-nine avenue that headed north, veering across country to once more mirror the interstate.

"Thank the good men in city planning." Mitch muttered to himself when they approached a highway heading west. He shut off the headlights, approached the cross over point, and paused to see what traffic was like. When it looked clear as the eye could see, he slipped the truck and trailer over the dual carriage way to the opposite side and put a mile between them and the junction before putting the headlights on full again.

This maneuver was used at each major junction, where north crossed over west, the rain stopping somewhere around Beresford.

Once passed Sioux Falls it was two hours until they would arrive in Watertown, their destination for the night. Checking the map Jamie had drawn, they would have to leave the straight-as-an-arrow four-sixty-nine for a county road west, then another road north.

When they were safely heading north again, he stopped on the side of the road to stretch and take a piss. Standing beside the truck he stared up at the stars, the sky clear of cloud right over head. Having doused the truck lights, the milky way looked so much closer to Earth, sparkling like a diamond necklace. His business taken care of he walked back to the cab, but paused before climbing aboard.

He'd never really taken a road trip across country before, preferring the relative comforts of flying over hours in a car, often stuck in a queue behind a gigantic truck and trailer. Now he almost wished the road was busy enough to provide for a queue, instead of the mile after mile of nothing.

He chided himself for being irrational and climbed up into the cab.

"Are we there yet?" A sleep voice followed by a tousled, red head emerged from the cocoon of blankets on the other side of the cab.

"Nope. Just a pit stop."

"How far are we from Watertown?"

"About an hour." Mitch settled himself in his harness and flicked the headlights back on.

"Shit!" Standing in front of the truck, in the middle of the road, were cattle. Reaching up, Mitch turned on the spotlights and he swore again. The lights showed an enormous herd spread out on either side of the road, and going as far ahead as the lights could reach. How the animals had managed to approach without making a sound was unnerving. Only minutes before he'd been standing, completely unprotected, as far as he knew alone, staring at the sky. Now there was a massive wall of cattle in front of them. Even as they watched the creatures further out started to move inwards, quickly surrounding the truck and trailer, enclosing the two people inside among an eerily silent crowd of bovines.

Mitch turned off the spotlights and reduced the headlights to just the running lights. It made no difference, they remained surrounded by an unimaginable number of cattle.

Jamie was now fully awake, starring wide eyed at the formerly empty roadway now full of watching eyes.
"Mitch?"

"Yeah. I'm thinking. What did Abe say about that hybrid and the egg?"

"He said the hybrid ignored him and took the egg, leaving Dariela and their son alone as well."

"Yeah. You remember when I stuck the needle in the leopard cub?"

"I remember. You think they know about the eggs we're carrying?"

"Uhuh. I'm thinking that this lot are being affected by the water borne spores, that they've developed a mutation..."

"Or the eggs we've got are able to send out a signal for help?"

They looked at each other, faces illuminated by the dashboard lights.

"Putting them in the fridge and lowering their temperature might have done just that." Mitch hypothesized "Maybe the hybrids don't react well to extreme cold."

"That could be useful to know." Jamie added. "That could also be the reason Jackson and the others headed for Canada."

"Great. Puzzle possibly solved, but what do we do now?" Mitch asked, frowning at the silent mob.

"We give them the eggs." Jamie reasoned. "Simply give them what they want."

"Dammit, I haven't studied them even closely yet. I couldn't tell you what type of hybrid they are!" His voice rose with his level of frustration. Despite the seemingly impossibility of it, the cattle pressed even closer to the truck, jostling it gently.

"I think you have your answer," Jamie whispered. She looked up at the hatch just visible in the low light. "Out the cab, across the roof, down to the tow bar and into the trailer."

"Oh, no you don't. I'm coming with you..."

Not bothering with weapons, they undid the overhead hatch and climbed out onto the roof, crouching behind the row of spotlights and new air diverter, pausing to look over the sea of animals surrounding them.

"Bloody hell, that's a lot of green." Mitch exclaimed, viewing the cattle through the spare pair of night vision goggles. Jamie was already at the back of the truck, having negotiated the new roof storage, and getting ready to lower herself to the tow-bar

Mitch hastily followed and helped her down.

"Stay up there!" She hissed at him, staring out at the animals now at her height where she stood on the narrow triangle of metal attached to the trailer. "There's not enough room for us both."

He watched as she carefully unlocked the trailer door, moving slowly, several bovine heads turning to watch her, still without uttering a single grunt, moo or groan. Minutes later Jamie emerged with the containers he'd transferred the eggs too for the journey and to prevent them moving in the fridge.

He looked over the backs of the surrounding creatures and sensed a shift, some of them moving.

"Head's up, Jamie...I think something is coming to collect those."

She looked around and up, noting the direction Mitch was pointing. Carefully she crouched down and put the half a dozen small, plastic boxes on the cross bar, then stepped back. A low growl alerted her to the arrival of an enormous wolf hybrid, spines raised in a menacing show as it padded forward, eyes never leaving the woman in front of it.

"Don't make any sudden moves, for God's sake." Mitch cautioned her, watching the hybrid get closer until its nose almost touched the tow-bar With exquisite care it opened its huge jaws, exposing rows of lethal teeth, and picked up one of the boxes. It slowly backed away, never taking its eyes off Jamie, until it was swallowed up by the cattle.

"Get your ass up here now, before another one arrives!" Mitch reached down and Jamie jumped. She was on top of the unimog and in his arms before the next hybrid appeared. Each time the creature took a box and disappeared into the silent mass of cattle, until the last one was taken.

Their mission completed, the cattle started to move like normal, ambling away in all directions, some mooing, while others snorted as you'd expect them to. It was like watching some sort of bizarre flash mob, at the end of their routine, dissolving away into the night.

Jamie still clung to him, the pair of them now standing on the top of a truck parked among crop fields with nothing to see all around them.

"We did just see what we saw...didn't we?" Jamie asked, finally letting go her death grip on his arms.

"I did, if you did." Mitch shot back, blinking after removing the night vision goggles and staring into the darkness beyond the road.

They stayed up there for a further fifteen minutes, but nothing happened. At length Jamie went down and relocked the trailer. Mitch also climbed down and walked to the drivers door, taking one more look around before stepping up into the cab.

"I need a drink. Break out the good stuff. I think this occasion demands it."

x-x-x-x-x

Their arrival in Watertown was uneventful, which was a blessing after the night's adventure.

They parked in what appeared to be waste ground behind the distillery, the buildings showing what they'd come to expect – no lights, no people. It was a couple of hours before dawn, so they secured the truck and settled in the back.

Jamie had managed to make more room, using the extra storage, and the mattress allowed them room to spread out, within the confines of the sides of the truck. They didn't change out of their day clothes, not willing to be caught unprepared in possibly hostile territory.

The plan was to approach the family that owned distillery and quiz them about their water supply, if they'd noticed any changes, or problems with it. Past that, neither knew. Mitch needed to have access to a proper lab – first to achieve drinkable, uncontaminated water, then to examine the animal samples – minus the hybrid eggs, to see what the contaminated water might or might not be doing.

Mitch, exhausted from the driving, and tense encounter on the road, dropped into a deep slumber with little effort. Jamie lay awake for awhile longer until the regular breathing beside her worked its magic and she slept.

X-x-x-x-x

The sun was well up when they emerged. They discovered a local eatery, a truck stop that appeared to be open. Needing some local knowledge, they went there and were careful to order menu items that didn't require water as an ingredient or were cooked in.

The waitress was friendly and happy to chat, now the early morning breakfast rush was over.

Jamie asked her a number of question about what was happening in Watertown, the answers confirming that, for now, the population was healthy, the local hospital was busy but not unusually so, and were they sure they didn't want coffee with that?

When they had finished, they strolled back to the truck and notice several cars pulled up outside the building, that hadn't been there before.

"Time to see if we can finagle some help," said Mitch.

They were in luck. The owner and his plant manager were both in the office, intrigued to hear their story. When Mitch asked about the water quality, the men got a little defensive, but when Mitch explained why he was asking, they looked suitably horrified at the potential damage such an organism could do to their business.

"We source all our water from the glacial lakes, hence the name. Pure ingredients, pure taste." Tony, the plant manager, told them. "We've kept up production on a smaller scale, just keeping up with demand. But transport is becoming unreliable, so we store most of what we produce, and just supply the local businesses for now."

The owner spoke up. "If there was a problem with the water, Tony would be the first to know. We test every batch before it gets anywhere near the equipment. What exactly are you expecting to find, up here?"

"Can we go to your testing lab. It's easier if I show you, rather than try to explain."

Tony and Chas, the owner, took them to a room just off the front office. Mitch entered and lifted his head to sniff the air.

"Home." He stated, with a quick glance at Jamie.

When presented with an wet-SEM electron microscope, Mitch pulled out his containers, snapped on gloves, and prepared his first sample for show. While he did this, Jamie quizzed the men about their knowledge of hybrids, had they seen one? Had they noticed any different animal behavior in the last week? Had they heard any reports from their neighbors or friends of strange cattle movements around the county.

What Chas and Tony thought of the questions became moot when Mitch presented them with an image from the first sample of water at the site of the cattle poisoning.

"That, gentlemen, is what we are tracking and need a way to remove from all drinking water sources." Mitch told them. "There has been less concentrations as we moved north, and got further from the original source near Denver."

"You're seriously telling me this could be in our water?" Tony asked.

"Yup. I can't prove it, but if you've seen the news from Omaha, they've suffered an extreme outbreak of a form of gastric flu, caused, I believe, by this critter on the screen. I've already trialed a number of ways to remove it, but most failed, or didn't produce enough clean drinking water to be worth a damn."

"So you've come here, because?" Chas asked.

"I don't exactly have a condenser in my back pocket. If you're prepared to allow me, I'd like to run a series of test with your lab based equipment."

"To see if those, whatever they are, can be eliminated?"

"That's the idea."

"And you've come from where, exactly?" Chas asked. Mitch indicated Jamie.

"My lovely assistant will give you all the information you can handle."

x-x-x-x

Jamie dozed in a patch of sunshine, seated in a comfortable chair in the corner of the lab. Tony was helping Mitch, the two men talking in low voices, mutually excited by what the samples were producing. They were testing each and every one, re-testing the theory regarding transference through the distillation process, retesting different processes, incorporating varying filters and temperatures, all noted, annotated, discarded or pursued. There were a selection of experiments in progress with half a dozen condensers set ups with an array of glass flasks so that the whole room looked like a mad scientists playground. Mitch was in his element.

Chas put his head in periodically, talking to the two men, before leaving them to carry on. Jamie had mentioned about the Zoo next door, and Chas was going to organize an interview with the administrator of the park for the next day.

When the two men had heard the story from Jamie of where they'd come from and who they were associated with, they were keen to get involved. Their business, their livelihood, their very lives could depend on whether Mitch could repeat his previous miracle of a decade ago. They were also impressed to have The Jamie Campbell in their midst, recognizing her celebrity status as a best selling author, both keen to invite her back to their homes and introduce their families.

"Godammit, another failure!" Frustrated at his lack of success, Mitch threw his pen on the bench top and kicked the stool away behind him. Tony peered through the microscope eyepiece, sighing when he confirmed what Mitch had seen.

Jamie blinked at her lover as he paced in front of the windows, her rude awakening highlighted by the reminder from her growling stomach that they needed something to eat.

"We need a break." She announced, rising from the chair and stretching. "I'm hungry."

Mitch swung around, ready to snap her head off but met, instead, her wide blue eyes and steady gaze.

Swallowing what he'd been about to say, he nodded, still frowning but knowing the truth when he heard it.

"Yeah. What is the time, anyway?" A quick glance at his watch had him giving a small whistle of surprise. "No wonder. Diner?"

Tony spoke up. "They only really open for breakfast. I'll take you back to my place for a meal. I've already spoken to Shirleen about the water, so don't expect anything more fancy than sandwiches."

"Sounds perfect," said Jamie, grinning broadly.

The simple meal quickly turned into a full on barbeque, despite the cool afternoon. Chas and his family combined with Tony's, plus they invited several of their employees to the impromptu event. Despite not being a fan of crowds, Mitch was thankful for the meal and was happy to talk science with people who relied on it for their living, to produce the best product possible.

Jamie was mobbed by the wives and girlfriends, quizzed relentlessly about her life, her book, the sequel, the characters and who they were based on. Several of the woman recognized Mitch from the descriptions in the book, marking him as a minor celebrity having starred in a best seller. He would look across the room, checking on Jamie, and end up wondering why several of the women were looking back at him, one even giving him a wink, which completely upset his train of thought.

All the guests had been primed regarding the water supply, so nothing eaten had come in contact with anything other than bottled water dated before the hybrid escape from the barrier, and anything drunk was either the company brand or bottled soft drinks, batch dated as far back as possible.

Conversation drifted through many topics, Mitch finding out more about the area from the anecdotes and tall tales of the people around him. He learnt that the winters were sometimes brutal, that the summers were often hotter than hell, that the local lake held boat races, and in the past was host to rum-runners during prohibition.

"When do you expect to confirm if the town supply is compromised, Doctor Morgan?"

Mitch cleared his throat. "We're running a series of tests back at the plant. We'll know by tomorrow if there are any concerns with the water quality. Tony will keep you all in the loop and advise when we have an answer."

He also had to field question of why the news about the hybrids was not more widespread. He was quizzed about why he hadn't gone to the authorities first, why leave the public in the dark about the water, about the animals. Mitch started to feel he was under siege. Using the excuse of needing the bathroom he escaped into an upstairs bedroom for some peace. Jamie found him shortly after.

"Tough crowd?" she asked, sitting beside him on the bed.

"They're starting to ask 'those' questions."

"Oh. Why aren't the police all over it? Why aren't the council issuing warnings? Why are we here?"

Mitch nodded. "Yeah, those ones."

"They're scared. I'd be asking them too, if I were them."

"Only, I don't have any answers. If they all knew the real truth, they'd never get to sleep at night."

"What is the real truth, Doctor Morgan?" A voice from the doorway interrupted the pair on the bed. "What aren't you telling us? What do we need protecting from?" More faces appeared behind the man in the doorway. Mitch and Jamie got to the feet.

"Look...we're not keeping information from you because we don't think you can handle it..." Mitch tried to explain. "We're trying to find answers, find solutions..."

Chas and Tony pushed their way to the front of the crowd.

"Come on, back off, Dan. Don't start hassling our guests..."

"They know something they're not telling us!" Dan protested, other voices joining in.

Mitch lowered his head and spoke softly to Jamie. "Get ready, there'll be pitchforks and torches next."

Chas held up his hands. "Let's all go downstairs and settle down. I'm sure we'll be able to answer all your questions, but not here, not crowded into our spare bedroom."

The muttering group started to disperse and Jamie let go a breath she'd been holding.

Chas turned to face them. "I'm sorry about that. They're just worried, and we've heard nothing but vague rumors and outlandish reports. The news channels have been unhelpful and we've had no notifications from the government one way or the other."

"Do you really think it's wise to let them know what is really going on?" Mitch asked. "Because it is likely, once the news is out, to cause widespread panic, looting, hoarding, shooting and general running amuck. I'm not kidding. Life as you know it, up here in sleepy Watertown, will change forever."

Jamie spoke up. "Mitch isn't exaggerating. With what we've seen and experienced in just our trip up here...well, there's a reason we travel in an armored vehicle."

Chas looked at his friend and plant manager, Tony. "You've heard what they have to say, what do you think?"

"Doctor Morgan has a point. Some will panic, but if we don't know the worst, how can we prepare for it?"

Several long moments passed, then Chas nodded. "We need to know what you've seen and heard. We need to have a chance at surviving whatever may be coming."

Jamie exchanged a look with Mitch. "I agree. What they do with the information is not for us to decide." She watched Mitch's face and saw him nod his head fractionally. "We'll be down in a moment."

Chas and Tony turned to go, leaving the couple alone.

"This is so not a good idea," Mitch groaned. "They'll panic, blame us, the pitchforks will come out..."

Jamie punched his arm to shut him up. "If we want their co-operation, if you want to have access to the zoo labs, we need to bring them onboard. We can't predict how they'll react..." she paused, Mitch giving her an arch look and snorting in disbelief. Jamie continued. "But we have to give them a chance, the same way we did for Peggy and Jim. If we don't, we're no better than Abigail."

Mitch let out a long breath and hung his head.

"If this all goes tits up, I'll remind you of that statement, Miss Campbell."

Jamie smiled and kissed his cheek. "Time to put your Professor face on, Doctor Morgan. Blind them with science and save the world."

"Hah!" Mitch retorted, but he smiled back at her, kissing her deeply before pulling away.

X-x-x-x

Mitch stared at the room full of strangers, their faces reflecting a myriad of expressions, from horror to fear, from anger to confusion. At least they weren't looking bored. That would have taken him right back to one of his lectures.

"So there you have it, the whole enchilada. You asked for the truth, to the best of my knowledge, that is the unvarnished truth of the current situation. Maybe now you understand why we didn't want to pass those depressing little gems on to you." Mitch finished, unable to prevent the cutting tone in his voice. He looked over to where Jamie stood, she looked back at him squarely, giving her silent support, telling him in her own way she had his back.

He cleared his throat. " Any questions?"

The room remained silent for a brief moment, then erupted into a clamoring of voices, washing over where he stood like a breaking wave.

Most of the questions centered on why they hadn't heard any of this, why the local government agencies were silent, why nobody was doing anything, other than Mitch and his team.

His answers were mostly vague – they, the government and agencies, probably weren't aware of the true situation, the IADG wanting to limit the spread of panic among the general population. Somebody was doing something, evidenced by Mitch being in front of them. Again, the IADG were working with agencies from around the world to confront and solve the hybrid problem. He didn't know if they were aware of the water issues, but it was likely they were and working on a solution, as he was.

Eventually the questions were asked and answered, to the best of his ability, and the room devolved into silence. Eventually Chas stood up.

"What can we do to help you, Doctor Morgan?"

Mitch looked surprised. "You're already doing it. Allowing me access to your lab at the distillery. Arranging for me to meet with the zoo administrator. All these things will allow me to isolate what is happening with the water borne spores and with the animal mutations. These are all important to finding the eventual cure, same as it was ten years ago."

"What about finding other scientists to help you find this cure?" One woman asked. "Surely having more people work on the problem will bring finding the final cure happen sooner?"

"Possibly. If those scientists are fluent in the field of animal biology, microbiology, familiar with the previous animal mutations and the possibility of variations. We'd need brains that are studying the water ecology, the council probably has a specialist for testing the towns water supply, people like that. And those scientists need to be open to the idea of mutation, of asexual reproduction, of the existence of long distance communications between species, the list goes on." Mitch paused.

"Our team, who we hope to connect with soon, has those sort of scientists." Jamie added. "They were the ones to find what we needed the last time, and we hope we will find the answers this time, as well."

Mitch spoke again. "There will be a way to stop or reverse what is happening in our ecosystem, but I can tell you this. It is going to get worse before it gets better. If what happened in Omaha, happens here, life will be difficult if not dangerous. Resources will become scarce, as you know already with the intermittent deliveries. Don't rely on your local council or government to know any more than you do, probably less."

Some one at the back of the room spoke up. "The end of the world as we know it?"

"Pretty much!" Mitch shot back. The room remained quiet, shocked into silence.

"Look," said Mitch. "If we can find a way to provide uncontaminated water, that's a start. With that knowledge we can then share it with others, show them how to produce their own drinking water, or produce a consistent supply so that what happened in Omaha doesn't happen here."

After a moment, Chas got to his feet. "Doctor Morgan is right. One problem at a time. We get the water right, and then address all the other stuff, agreed?"

Everyone in the room nodded or made sounds of agreement.

Chas spoke again. "There you go. Unless there are any more questions?" He waited for anyone to speak up, but they didn't. "Right." He addressed Mitch directly. "Let's get you back to the plant and get this water thing sorted."

x-x-x-x-x

Mitch pushed back from the bench and took his glasses off, pressing his fingers to his eyelids. They felt gritty and sore from hours of starring through the microscope, squinting at computer screens and generally remaining open throughout the night under artificial lights.

He replaced his glasses and wandered over to where Jamie lay, curled up under a blanket. He shook her shoulder to wake her. She emerged, blinking slowly, her mouth curling up int a smile.

"You've done it." She stated. Mitch nodded, waving her out of the chair. Once vacated, he slumped into the warmed upholstery and waved her back, to sit on his lap. When he had Jamie where he wanted her, he draped the blanket over them both and put his head back.

"I have to run the test for a third time, just to be completely sure, but I think I've found a process that keeps them from transferring."

Jamie snuggled into his body. "I knew you'd find a way." Lifting her head, she kissed him softly, Mitch reciprocating but without any heat in the embrace.

"I'm so tired my eyelashes hurt." He complained, eyes firmly shut against the overhead lights.

"Then sleep. You've earned a rest."

His arm tightened around her, drawing her snugly against him. "I think I'll do that."

Within minutes he was out for the count. Jamie watched him slumber, stroking the back of her fingers against his whiskery jaw, tracing the outline of his lips and generally exploring his features, noting the creases at the corners of his eyes, the lines from frowning on his forehead, the indented nose where his glasses rested, the dark eyebrows matching the thick, black lashes hiding his eyes from her.

"My beautiful genius." She whispered.

x-x-x-x