Total pages in book: 117
Estimated words: 113051 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 565(@200wpm)___ 452(@250wpm)___ 377(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 113051 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 565(@200wpm)___ 452(@250wpm)___ 377(@300wpm)
He was constantly trying to tell me the truth. He just had a weird way of doing it.
“Wait a minute,” I say, looking back to Lauren. “You said you missed watching the Kardashians. You mean that’s still playing in 2025?”
She lets out a small laugh. “Sadly, yes.”
“What else have I missed?”
“The Last of Us,” Munawar says excitedly. “We could have a watch party!’
“No,” everyone says in unison.
“Good lord, Munawar, what is wrong with you?” Rav asks.
Munawar shrugs. I’ve played the video game, and the parallels between that and the poor mutated creatures in the forest are too close for comfort.
“So what happens now?” I ask Wes. “What about the animals around here? They were experimented on.” I pause, horror seizing my chest. “Oh no, was I the one experimenting on them?”
“No,” he says adamantly. “That was Wes and Everly, and that was after you died. And as genius as you were, sweetheart, you are not a doctor or a neurosurgeon. You didn’t do any of the operations or testing. It was just your formula that made it possible.”
But I’m the one who dragged a dead girl over to them, I think, remembering bits and pieces now of what happened when I discovered Farida had died. I’m the one who…who…
“You didn’t kill anyone,” Wes whispers, trying to assure me. “In fact, the moment you found out what had happened to the other students, when you realized that they didn’t die by suicide but that they had been purposely murdered, you tried to tell the police. But Everly had a noose around your neck.”
“The NDAs,” Janet says, walking over to me. “They had us all in shackles.” She looks off into the forest. “The mycelia didn’t take in their brains the way it did in yours. The animals won’t live forever. They aren’t in any pain. Everything in the rainforest here is still in perfect balance. It won’t be long before they become one with the forest floor. All the different fungi here will devour them. Their remains will sink into the soil as fertilizer, giving the trees here their growth. The trees give us the air. It goes on.”
The wind blows back her hair, and she wipes a tear away from under her glasses. It’s only now that I notice she’s wearing her pajamas under her raincoat. In fact, everyone is, having been woken up by Wes.
We’re having a hell of a night.
“Look,” Hernandez says.
We follow his gaze. The north dorm is on fire.
“Everly,” Wes says grimly. “She’s probably burning it down. She’s destroying all the evidence.”
“All that research,” Janet says. “All those years of work, all that life-changing research going up in smoke.”
But she doesn’t sound sad about it. I know when I first started, all I wanted was to find a cure for Alzheimer’s. I wanted to avenge my grandmother at all costs, to stop feeling so helpless over her loss.
It was enough that I let that vengeance become an obsession, let that obsession lead me down a path there was no coming back from.
I still want that, too. I want a cure. We had a cure. Madrona Pharmaceuticals was ready for it. We just needed more testing. But then I got sidetracked by something even greater—the cure for death.
Something there should be no cure for.
I lost my way.
I lost myself.
I lost my life.
And yet, somehow, I’m still here.
“I’m tired,” I say softly, leaning into Wes.
“I know,” he says, kissing the top of my head. “We all are.” He clears his throat and looks at the group. “Unfortunately, I don’t think it’s wise for anyone to head back into the main lodge. Not only could it catch on fire, but I don’t know where the rest of the staff is, and it’s safe to say, I don’t think they’re on our side.”
“When I went to the generator to cut the power, I saw Roderick—guess he didn’t stay subdued for long,” Janet tells us. “He was with Nick, Michelle, and Handyman Keith. They got on an ATV. It already sounded like another ATV was in the distance, I couldn’t be sure. Maybe the rest of the staff escaped.”
“Oh my god, the barn!” I cry out suddenly. “We have to go save the animals!”
“Already done,” Janet assures me quickly. “I let the goats and the chickens loose. They’ll be alright.” She looks at Wes. “You said there was a chance that Madrona could go up in flames. I know you always follow through.”
“I don’t make idle threats,” he says with a shrug.
“So we have to leave our stuff behind?” Munawar says. Then he gasps. “Oh no, all my fungi shirts.”
“We’ll get you new shirts, alright?” Wes says. “Everyone still have their essentials on them, your passports and wallets?”
The students pat down their pockets and nod. I don’t think any of them are okay with leaving their luggage and belongings behind in their rooms, but we don’t have much of a choice.