Burke waited a moment, letting all the men consider that. “Gentlemen, I’ve seen a few of the photos taken of the people who died as retaliation. These killings weren’t done by the shifters humans usually have contact with. They weren’t done by any kind of shifter most of us have seen—or will ever see while we have any chance of staying alive. The denizens of the true wild country—those parts of Thaisia that have never been touched by anything human—are no longer willing to let shifters like the Wolfgard act as a buffer between them and us, because we’ve just shown them that we can, and will, kill the terra indigene who were dealing with us. So now other kinds of earth natives are on our doorstep. They had already declared a breach of trust and had limited the use of the right-of-ways that run through their land and connect human populations. I think from now on, we should assume there is no right-of-way. Not for vehicles traveling on the roads; not for the trains. Certainly not for any vessel traveling on the lakes or rivers.”

Burke gripped the podium. “This next part has to stay with the people in this room. You’ll be tempted to tell other family members and friends and your next-door neighbors. If you do, you’ll only cause panic over something I hope will never happen.”

Extinction, Monty thought, feeling cold as he recalled Simon’s comment about not fearing humans because most of them would be extinct.

“Every family member should have a go bag,” Burke said. “A couple of changes of clothes, toiletries specific to each person, including any prescription medications that person needs to carry. Have a separate bag for general medications and first aid supplies, or put essentials in the bags for the adults. Include a list of bank account numbers as well as any important papers you don’t keep in a safe-deposit box. Put the go bags someplace where they can be grabbed by people scrambling to find them. You want your families to be out of the house in a couple of minutes.”

Silence. Uneasy looks.

Louis Gresh cleared his throat. “Having go bags is fine, but if they’re needed, where are our families supposed to go? If the terra indigene are going to attack us for what was done in another part of Thaisia, and if your point about there no longer being a right-of-way through the wild country means the Others are going to attack anyone who tries to leave the city, where can we go?”

“Here.” Burke sounded grim. “We’ve been working with the Lakeside Courtyard and have gained the trust of the leaders. I think if this is put the right way to Simon Wolfgard, he might know how to prevent a direct attack on this building and its personnel. He might be willing to help us.”