The lady sighed, a sadness like the death of children melting her features. “We came because we know who you are. We came because the world has changed. A lot. We came because we’re hoping to find descendants of two very important people from a long time ago. My partners, there?” She pointed at the boat and its deck full of dead people. “They wanted to quit, go back. They threatened me when I wouldn’t let them at the fuel reserves that would ensure we could return if . . . when we found you. So I put them to sleep, then shot them. That’s how important this mission is. You wanted honesty? Well, there ya go.” She ate some fruit, drank some water.

Isaac had been silent, but was somehow stunned into being even more silent.

It took a moment for Miyoko to recover her resolve and speak, but she avoided the scarier parts of what the stranger had said. “Descendants of whom?” she asked. “What two people are you talking about?”

The woman finished off the container of water, tilting her head back to get every last drop. Then she looked at Isaac, those dark eyes boring into him, and then she looked at Miyoko.

“There’re others who are . . . immune,” she said. “I’m sure you realize they couldn’t possibly have found all of them before sending you here. And we’ve spent our lives studying the children and grandchildren of those people, trying to figure out what makes them . . . makes us . . . immune. It’s never been enough. Never enough. And now there are enough variants of the virus to make the thing infinitely more complicated.”

The stranger paused, as if all that speaking had sapped the tiny bit of strength she’d regained. She took a few slow, shallow breaths, then continued.

“But we have samples that survived the collapse of WICKED. And there were two people that stood out from the rest. Like . . . like mountains compared to anthills. Something special in their cells and in their blood that we’ve found nowhere else. We need to find them or their descendants, or we might as well give up and quit.”

“Who were they?” Miyoko asked. “Which two people are you talking about?”

The woman lay back down on the sand, looking up at the sky. The more she talked about all of this, the more pain it seemed to cause her. But after a minute or two, just when Isaac thought she’d given up on speaking, she finally answered the question.

“They were brother and sister.” She paused, closed her eyes for a few seconds, then opened them again. “Their names were Newt and Sonya.”

CHAPTER FOUR

The Keeper of Ruin

She stood amongst ruins.

Alexandra, Godhead, Second to One, Second to None.