The buzzing of the lock release could be heard down the entire length of the hall. The continuous droning, so unlike the normal short burst, was an alarm in itself. The whole lab would have been rushing toward the cell, if there were anyone else to hear it.

The small Heckler and Koch submachine gun pulled Barbara's right arm down with a satisfying weight. She'd taken it from the weapons locker in the guard station, when she duct taped down the switch for the security door. The gun locker had been left open and the Taser she'd taken off of the guard looked pitiful next to the array of weapons at her disposal.

At the door, where the buzzing was at its loudest, Barbara considered leaving the gun outside in case it frightened Donald. That boy was awfully skittish. But laying down the weapon would be stupid. So far it appeared that the gas had worked but the last thing she needed was to be caught by surprise by some guards who had made it to a gas mask in time.

She opened the door and was relieved to see that the kid's face was covered identically to her own. His eyes peered out through the goggle windows and his mouth was safely behind the filters. She hadn't relished the thought of carrying him to the car. He was no toddler. He was practically a teenager. Barbara would have needed to strap him to one of the rolling carts from the lab and wheel him through the complex but at least he was bright enough to follow instructions.

During the morning examination, she had slipped him the gas mask, a watch, and a note telling him to put it on at exactly 2:00 p.m. Barbara had placed a finger to her lips with a silent "shh" while Donald stared up at her with eyes full of wonder. But he didn't stand there gaping for long before he stashed everything under his pillow, as Barbara blocked the camera with her back.

"Dr. Barbara," he said when she entered the room. His voice was muffled but it didn't disguise his nervous excitement.

"Are you here to...?" He didn't finish his question, perhaps not sure of the words. Perhaps scared to hope.

"It's a rescue, kid. You want to get out of this dump?" She swung the H&K up to rest on her shoulder.

"Hell yeah." He raced around the bed and wrapped his arms around her waist.

"You can thank me once we're out of here. We have to keep moving." Barbara held him by the shoulder with her free hand and marched him out of there. The quick pace caused sweat to crawl down her face and the polyurethane lining of the mask began to cling to the skin and make it burn with heat.

She kept him moving until they reached the guard station. Donald stopped to rubber-neck and Barbara had to drag him away from the scene.

"Are they...dead?" he asked pointing to the bodies on the ground.

"No. They're just unconscious," she told the boy. "But they won't be for long." That incompetent fool, Palmer, had only managed to get an air deployed anesthetic being marketed to police forces. It put everyone out, but Barbara had a timeclock in her head ticking away the seconds before they all woke up.

Although the disclaimer on the tank did warn it shouldn't be used on people with heart problems, so there was some hope that it would kill the Proulx's. Barbara had briefly thought about seeking them out to make sure they stayed down. But that would have been indulgent.

They got to the end of the warren of tunnels and rode the elevator up to the fake office topside. The guard up there was passed out across his desk. Barbara made a quick detour to grab the keys to the Suburban that was used for supply runs.

Opening the door to the outside world, Barbara squinted into the bright day and scanned the field with the barrel of her gun. No one was about. She yanked off the gas mask and abandoned it on the porch. The sweet, crisp air tenderly brushed across her face bringing instant relief to her broiling skin and eyes. The boy followed suit flinging the mask away, but he kept his hands over his faces and peered out from between his fingers.

"It's been a few months since I was last outside," he explained.

"Don't worry. You won't have to go through that again." She led him to the SUV and got him into the passenger seat, making sure he was buckled in.

Donald asked, "Why are you doing this for me?"

It was clear he was asking about the escape and not the babying act of fastening the seatbelt. The answer was so big and complex. Delgado was the first thought that came to her. But it was more than that. It raced its way through her entire life to the great eons beyond. Barbara wanted to end her suffering and the suffering that everyone had to endure in this world.

Somehow these creatures could stop it all.

Walt's voice came back to her. His Norwegian accent had fallen into a slow, leaden drawl with the lateness of the hour and too many cognacs. They were at his retreat in Aspen, the snow outside the window was ski brochure perfect and the fire was down to embers in a hearth so big it could be used to roast a pig. Barbara had asked him to explain how one girl could bring about the end of the world.

"To understand that, my dear, you must first understand the past. I know you have no patience for legend but bear with me one moment. I have told you before of the great wolf Fenrir, who was destined to slay the gods and bring about the Ragnarok. He failed. The beast was captured without ever fulfilling his destiny. But before the gods managed to leash him, Fenrir sired two sons, Hati and Skoll to carry on his legacy, albeit dividedly. Hati was to terrorize the night and Skoll the day."

Walt went to take another sip from his snifter but found it empty. He rose out of the leather chair and sauntered over to the bar. "That is the myth, for what it's worth. Too many cling to fairytales and repeat them to each other until they're sacred. But what can one do when history fails but look at the myths and try to decipher the clues." He filled the bell of the glass with the thick amber liquid. "History only steps in much later. And even then it is not the history you'll find in school textbooks, only the annals of The Order.

"Hundreds, thousands—God knows how many years later, the descendants of these sons ruled two clans. Being abominations, they kept to the far north and for generations they thrived in isolation with their ragged bands of human subjects, raiding distant coastlines. But one day, the chieftain's broke from their fathers' ways and grew greedy. The two clans banded together as they had never done before and warred with their neighbors and began building an empire. Many joined them. The rest rose up and united against them. There was a great war, which they nearly won. But despite all the power at their disposal, these foul creatures had grown fat and corrupt. Their arrogance blinded them to the strength of men. While they crushed their foes in battle after battle, they never saw the threat from within. Never considered their own people might use this chance to throw off the yoke of oppression and rid themselves of these demons."

Walt leaned forward and rested his elbows on his knees. His eyes were no longer sleepy and they pierced her with their blue ice. "The night before a major offensive to take Skåne, the two chiefs and their families were slaughtered in their sleep by men some called turncoats, but most called heroes. The war came to an end and the history that people generally know began. But of course it is not so simple. Loyalists of the Skoll clan smuggled the son of their chief out and went south. And the Hati clan rescued a daughter and sent her west to Vineland, the name of this new world before your Christopher Columbus discovered it." Jorgenson made air quotes around discovered.

"So this daughter of Hati is supposed to be Amy's ancestor?"

Walt settled back into his seat and polished off the glass. "There is no supposed to be. She is. We have been trying to disrupt the bloodline for centuries, but every now and again by accident or design two compatible mates get together and spawn a litter of these vermin."

"After all this time your precious Order hasn't been able to wipe them out." Barbara knew it was goading him but she wanted to keep him agitated and talking.

"Wipe out? You are talking genocide. There are millions carrying the genes today." He reacted as though she had expressed surprise. As far as Barbara was aware not a muscle in her face had twitched. " Yes, that's right, a goodly portion of the population of Europe and North America are not entirely human. You yourself may have some of those genes buried away in the dark recesses of your genetic code."

"But if that was the case, everyone would know about it. Genetic testing and DNA forensics isn't exactly new."

"They have only been common for a short time. And it will be years before testing becomes universal. In the meantime, The Order uses its influence to keep this condition quiet. The Genome project a few years back was mainly conceived to conceal the genetic markers—create a new normal, if you will, where they could hide among so much data. Because you see, there are better ways to stop them than mass murder. SBI and a few other companies have been syphoning DNA results and isolating the most at risk carriers for elimination."

Barbara had been hoping for better news. A clearer more defined population, where she might find others.  Perhaps the second group he mentioned might prove easier to track down. "So does that mean there are descendants of this other one? This Skoll?" she asked.

"Of course. But they are not nearly as troublesome. They are a vicious breed, don't get me wrong, but they are little more than dumb animals. It is the legacy of Hati who are able to mix seamlessly into human society, which is ultimately the danger. For you see, it is not their wolf form that is the most dangerous but their human one. They have ways of bending people to their will. History is strewn with men who had enough varúlfur blood in their veins to sway masses toward their own destruction. But it is nothing compared to a full blooded creature capable of transformations."

Walt scratched his beard as though pondering the horrible possibilities. "My dear Barbara, I do not want this Amy Westgate dead because I fear she will attack someone, but because it is only a matter of time before she convinces her guards to set her free."

"Okay, say you're right. Amy gets free and then what? Becomes the president? A queen? Whatever? That is hardly the apocalypse. That is just a change of order."

"It is a change in order that will lead to the apocalypse or at least the end of civilization. These things are bloodthirsty predators. If people were to be led by a shark, where do you think it would take them?" He tapped his fist against his palm as though counting out his points. "It will start with consolidation: uniting the willing and the easily manipulated. Next will come the wholesale destruction of everyone else. She will feel the need to crush all opposition. And anyone who doesn't follow her slavishly will be in opposition."

"But you can't be certain."

"But I am." Walt was on his feet as though he couldn't remain seated after such an outrageous suggestion. "You have no idea how close to the brink we have come and that was before modern warfare: nuclear bombs, jet planes, the internet. If someone was determined to raze the Earth, the tools are just sitting there to use. It is almost as though the Ragnarok has been waiting for this moment in technological evolution. But at least with Amy and her family dead, it will postpone that day for years, perhaps decades."

That conversation was two years ago. Sometimes, Barbara felt foolish pinning her hopes on his crazy theories. But then, Amy had convinced R.J. to rescue her.

If someone was determined to raze the Earth, the tools are just sitting there to use, Walt had said. She was fiercely determined and here was this boy sitting in front of her in the passenger seat waiting to be used. A boy who Walt didn't even know had lived.

"I'm doing this," she said, answering Donald's question. "Because someone had to. It isn't right to keep you locked away in a pit. Not when you can accomplish so much."

Barbara closed the car door and went around to the driver's side.

When they were moving he asked, "Where will we go?"

"We'll head north into Alberta and from there we'll find a city to settle in." The rural areas would be no good. Strangers stand out there. They needed a city to become anonymous and disappear.

"And you'll stay with me."

"Yes, Donald. I'll stay with you. I'll make sure you grow up strong and I'll make sure no one ever takes you back to that place. Is that okay with you?"

There was no hesitation. "Yes."

They pushed through the miles. Barbara hoped they could reach the car Palmer had stashed for her before the alarm sounded back in the lab and the hunt began.

"Dr. Barbara, what did you mean when you said I'd accomplish things?"

"Why do you think they locked away? It wasn't what they told you. You're not sick. They were scared of you. Scared of what you would do when you were older." It was hard to imagine the fair haired boy with sallow skin would amount to anything. But she would guide him, mold him. "They wanted to stamp out your potential, but I will nourish it. You will be something great. Together we will shake the world. And please stop calling me Dr. Barbara."

"What should I call you?"

She reached into her pocket and handed him the passports. They would need to be these new people now. She had to make sure he would play along. "Well, these say I'm your mother. You could pretend and call me 'mom.' Could you do that, Donald?"

"Yes." And then with a self-conscious giggle he added, "Mom." He examined the documents as though they were the most fascinating pieces of paper ever printed. "And I don't like being called Donald. Only the people at the lab called me that. Before, my family called me Donny."

"Well, Donny, let's go be family." She stared meaningfully into his pale blue eyes. The resemblance to his sister really was uncanny. 

***

Author's Note: Not entirely happy with the way this worked out. It's been a rough week for writing motivation.  Let me know what you thought of Barbara's last (*gasp*) scene in book 2. Also, you may have noticed that the numbering for chapter 11 has changed. I consolidated a few scenes because it wasn't working having them split up into shorter bits.