A woman came through the crowd, moving with exaggerated care, carrying a bundle in her arms. As she blundered along, people let her pass. Mark had to suppress his surprise and concern because she was a hybrid, he could see it in her empty eyes, and in the dead cast of her skin. She wasn’t the woman she appeared to be, she was wearing her. Then he saw what she had in her hands.

The child was perhaps three, and it was human.

Mark tried to take it, but she yanked it away.

“The child is dead.”

“You killed him! You killed my baby!”

So that would be her game, to undermine them with these people. And why not, it was in her interest, they were her prey.

Gina said, “Ma’am, the little one is dead.” As she spoke, the slightest glance Mark’s way told him that she, also, knew.

“How do we know who you are? You’re them!”

The extent to which the hybrids were networked was unknown to Mark, so he could not tell whether this creature was in communication with others on the outside. Something was certainly wrong with her, though. He thought she might even be blind or at least sight-impaired.

He raised his voice, but still spoke gently. “Folks, she’s got a dead infant, she’s in shock. If anybody else has dead, let’s put them all in one place and try to help each other, here. We need to organize ourselves.”

Others brought their dead forward, until eleven bodies were on the flagstones before Mark and Gina. And with the dead came the questions.

Who are these murderous people with these drums? Why are they so pale?

Where’s the military, the government?

Why is half the city in the bay?

Unspoken was the real question in all of their minds: Is there any hope?

“We don’t have any working communications,” Mark said, “but we’re adequately armed to at least protect this place.”

“How are you armed?”

“Where did you come from?”

Mark saw how fast this could spin out of control. “Hold it.”

“Who are you? What unit?”

“Hold it!”

Silence fell.

“We’re Delta Force operators,” he said. “We work independently.”

“They’re liars, look at them,” the woman shrieked. The group stirred nervously. “We need to go outside. We’re trapped in here!”

People clustered nervously.

Mark decided that the hybrid needed to be killed immediately, but without panicking the rest of the group.

“Okay, let’s take an inventory,” he said. “What do we have in terms of weapons?”

Just a single pistol was among them. So when he and Gina had to leave, which must inevitably happen, they would be almost helpless.

“I left the bullets at home,” the owner said. “I’m sorry.”

So they would be entirely helpless.

“All right, now let’s explore our communications. I assume the cell phones are down.”

There was general agreement.