"Can I get some water too?" she asked as both her pals sat there silently ignoring the other. Krish abruptly passed the tumbler to her and Ezra took a thirsty sip, relishing as the water wet her mouth and throat. "So who cleaned and stitched me up?" she asked, feeling the tight tug on her shoulder as she passed the empty tumbler back.

Tehreem seemed glad for the change the topic. "Lucky for you, Krish seems to be handy in that area."

"You know how to stitch?" For some reason this surprised Ezra. She knew he could kill a man thousand different ways, but he knew how to stitch a bullet wound? One he gave her himself?

"Tell her how many armies have spend time and money training you to be a killer."

Krish growled at Tehreem's comment. "You're gonna blame the whole thing on me now?"

"Might as well. If you hadn't—" A hard look from Krish cut Tehreem's sentence short.

"What is going on between you two?" Ezra looked from one to the other. "Did I miss something?"

"Nothing much, other than how a company of covert military gained access to and took down a squad of highly trained men like him... yet Krish alone survived?"

"But we did too." Ezra stared, baffled by Tehreem's outburst. "What are you implying?"

"Yeah? What are you implying Dr Malik?" Krish sneered.

"Why don't you tell her how many escaped the facility." Tehreem turned away. "Why don't you tell her about Watergate."

Ezra turned to him then, her curiosity at its peak. Watergate? Was Tehreem implying he too was killed? But why would his own men kill him... unless? "Krish?"

Krish's jaw tightened as he turned to her.

"Is Watergate dead?" Something in Ezra broke loose then, sheer terror. If Watergate was dead then that'd mean the facility wasn't exterminated by his men. Someone else had. But who? Who knew what Watergate was up to? What they were up to?

When Krish remained silent, Ezra almost yelled, "Krish!"

Krish turned to her again. "What?"

"Is Watergate dead?"

His gaze flickered to Tehreem before it resettled on her. He nodded. "Everyone at the facility."

"Then that'd mean—"

"It wasn't Watergate or his men who released the virus."

It was as if someone had gut-punched her then. Her breath went out in a painful whoosh. If Watergate's dead... then what of his promise? What about securing Dad and Shaki at their military bunkers before the release? He promised. He promised me that they'd be safe from this...

"He can't be dead," she mumbled, feeling woozy as she said it. What's happened to Dad and Shaki? "He can't be dead..." Her vision blurred as tears gathered. "He promised to keep them safe... he promised."

"Wow, wow, wow." Krish caught her just as she fell backward. "Easy now. Easy, Doc."

She peered up into his eyes then, searching for the Krish she'd begun to like. "He's not dead. He's not dead. He can't be."

"I'm sorry." Krish shot a look at Tehreem. "I didn't want to tell you yet. Not when you're like this."

"He promised a bunker... he promised a bunker..." Ezra mumbled, watching the room spin uncomfortably before sobs wracked her body and Krish wrapped his sturdy arms around her and let her cry. "He can't... Oh god..."

Ezra didn't know how long she cried or how long Krish held her, or when she became calm again. It felt like someone had placed a slab of concrete on her heart when she pulled away from him. "I have to find them."

"It's chaos up there, Ez." Tehreem reached out and gave her hand a squeeze. "But I'm sure they are fine. Your dad's smart, and your sis, a genius. I'm sure they are fine."

Ezra looked at the worried expression on her friend's face. "Your mum and brothers..."

Tehreem faintly smiled. "I'm sure they are fine, God willing."

She realised then she wasn't the only one there with family in danger. If her fragmented visions were correct then it wasn't just the pandemic sweeping through the population that put them in danger, but the chaos humans wrought when they panicked. She could already imagine what a dog-eat-dog world it would be.

She turned to Krish. "What about your family? Are they in Sydney too?"

"Doesn't matter." Krish sniffed and moved to the khaki-coloured military-issue bag and rummaged through it. "We better get a move on. The curfew will start in half an hour. It's safest to move when the streets are empty. Less likely to get attacked that way. We can't stay here any longer. I think a group followed us quite closely today. Tomorrow, they may find where we're hiding."

"How often have we been moving?" Ezra asked, aware that Krish never answered her question. Where was his family? Did he have any?

"Since arriving in Sydney? Every few days." He turned around with three silver packages in his hands. He threw one to Tehreem and one to her before settling back on the corner of the mattress and ripping into it with his teeth.

"Are we in danger?" Ezra grabbed the packet and turned it in her hand.

"Kinda." Tehreem finally spoke, her demeanour and voice softer now. "He has been moving us every few days, mostly at night... to keep you and our package safe until we can get to"—Tehreem turned to look at the soldier amidst them—"You can tell me where are we going now. You said you'd tell me when she woke up." 

Ezra, intrigued, turned to him as well. "Where are we going, Krish?" 

"Sshh." Krish placed his food on the mattress and held his finger to his lips, signalling them to be quiet. He slowly drew the serrated K-bar from the sheath at his belt and got up, tapping his ear—I heard something. He then pointed at the dark stairs.

The girls heeded his warning and stayed still, hugging one another. Their gazes riveted on the stairs, or what of it they could see. Krish slowly moved towards his bag, from which he retrieved a headset, clipping it down over his eyes. He signaled to himself, his eyes, then at the stairs. Before he left, he turned the small camping light off, plunging the platform into pitch black.

Ezra shivered quietly in Tehreem's arm, whether from fear or fever, she didn't know. She whispered, "What's happening?" 

Tehreem didn't say a word, but her friend's equally trembling hands told Ezra she was shaking from fear.

Whatever it is, it's not good, Ezra concluded. But what could possibly be so bad as to terrify these two? How bad could things have gotten in a few weeks? How far and wide could the virus have spread already if it was released in dense areas overseas? How quickly could this pandemic have arrived back in Australia, where they created it? Or did the virus breach containment when the lab was attacked? Did someone survive? Someone Krish doesn't know survived, and they are patient zero? Is that why they were currently hiding in an old abandoned subway? To avoid exposure? 

It felt like hours, those few minutes of silence, of fear, of waiting for a word from Krish. For his return. 

Minutes later feet shuffled towards them and the two women clutched at each other, cowering when the camp light flickered back on. 

"False alarm." Krish dropped his night vision goggles back in his pack and picked up his food once more. "Eat." He nudged his head at the vacuum-sealed packages the girls hadn't yet touched. "Then we rest an hour or two before moving again. The sooner we get to the extraction point, the sooner I can send a signal to my people for retrieval." 

His people? Who are they? Who is Krish really working for? But she had no time to ask these then. 

"How much longer?" Tehreem interrupted her thoughts, casually ripping into her food packet. When she saw Ezra staring she smiled. "It's Krish's military rations—I don't know how or where he gets them but it's all we have right now. Eat." 

"Safe houses or drop-off points," Krish said matter of fact, taking another bit out of his food. "Looks like shit, but does the job. Eat."

Ezra eyed the packet in her weak hands. Roast chicken and mashed potatoes. Sounded reasonable, though she doubted it tasted the same as the real thing. Not that she would know what a good roast tasted like. She hadn't had one in years. The last time she'd had it, she'd been young, in the days before rations became tighter before Shaki was even born. Mum used to bring a small chicken and some potatoes from her parent's farm. Ezra had hated hearing the cries of the bird as Dad killed it and cleaned it for dinner, but it was one of the best dinners she ever had, back when they were happy. After that, Shaki was born and Mum rarely got away to visit her ailing folks or bring anything back home. It wasn't long after that, that the grandparents passed away.

Ezra now wondered whatever became of their farm as she stared at a vacuum-sealed roast chicken and mash. Why didn't we move there, the four of us? Cleaner air. Open space; somewhere for us to play... and less traffic... maybe Mum would still be with us... 

"Ezra, it's not that bad, I promise. Just eat." Tehreem prodded her on the arm with her elbow. 

"Yeah." Ezra meekly smiled, ripping into her meal, suddenly starved despite the fever dulling her senses. She took her first bite, desperate to conjure those roast-chicken days with Mum. To remember that smile again... what she wouldn't give to see it one more time. "Do we know who those men were, at the lab? If Watergate was also targetted, it means whoever they were, they weren't just there to eradicate the lab team. They were there for the whole base."

She took another starved bite of the food blob. "You sure there aren't any other survivors? No one from our team? Or Krish's?" 

"You're looking at it. All the survivors." Tehreem lowered her food, staring at a rust-coloured stain on the mattress. "By the time Krish found me, snuck me out through the vents, and went back for you..." her voice was thick. "None were left alive. They'd killed everyone, assassination style."

"Assasination style?" Ezra turned to Rai then. "What does that mean?"

"Bullet to the head." He threw her a look, finishing up his meal. "By the time I got to you, they were doing thorough sweeps of the floors. Everybody I passed had a bullet to the head. Lucky I was able to get you out the same way I got Tehreem out."

"Lucky you got back there when you did." Tehreem shivered next to Ezra. "I hate to think how... some of them probably could have survived their other injuries if not for..." 

"So it's just us?" Ezra asked numbly. Tehreem nodded. Ezra turned to Rai instead. "Do you know what happened? Who were those men? How did they know about the lab? Was it our research? How did they find out about it?" Questions were forming in her mind faster than she could ask them. "Did someone order a hit on us? That's what it felt like"—she recalled how those black-clad men had moved from floor to floor, strategic—killing everyone in sight. Black-clad men. "...the way they were moving...?" 

Men dressed like Krish. She narrowed her eyes at the man before her before brushing aside that unwelcome, uncalled-for thought. 

"They were a highly trained special force." Krish stared at his hands, rubbing them as if he was trying to rub off a stain. "Someone was ensuring the research didn't get out..." 

"Or it's precisely why we were attacked, to get to our research." Tehreem took a bite of her food. 

Ezra stared at her friend. Both scenarios made sense. But both scenarios meant someone with that kind of power had to know what was going on at that base, wherever that base was. She turned back to Krish. "Who would know about the research other than Watergate and his financiers? Enough to eradicate an entire base?" 

The look Krish flashed her gave her cause for concern.

"Krish," her voice wavered as did her heart, telling her, he knows. He knows who they were...

"Captain Rai," she used his official title, hoping if she ordered him, he'd feel compelled to tell them. "Please. If you know something, tell us."

Krish remained silent.

"Krish." Ezra felt her stomach drop, certain that he knew more than he was letting on.

"Forget it, Ez. He won't say a peep." Tehreem scoffed behind her. "I've tried and tried. He knows, but he won't tell us."

So that's why they were fighting!

"Krish." Ezra gently squeezed his arm. Perhaps if she reminded him of the bond they'd shared over almost two years, maybe he'd be inclined to treat her less as a job and more as someone he—what, loved?

"Please, Krish. Who sent those men? And why are we in Sydney? Shouldn't we be getting away from it, the city, in the middle of a pandemic, unless we have somewhere to be or we're running from someone chasing us? You can tell us. There's no one here to court-martial you. Please."

Krish met her eyes then, his own full of regret and tears. "I'm sorry, Ezzie. I can't."

"Why not?" She grabbed a fistful of his sleeve, tugging him. "Why not?"

"Don't make me."

"Krish, please. Lives are on the line. Our families. Our loved ones. Tell us what you know. Please. Why can't you tell us what you know?"

"Because!" He suddenly barked. "Because, Ezra."

"Because what?" Behind her, Ezra felt Tehreem tense too. "Because what, Captain Rai?"

"Because." Krish's shoulder slumped and he hung his head. "They were my men. They were my men..." His burning gaze met Ezra's again. "And I betrayed them for you. I went against orders, for you! I killed them all for you..."