Lira had already left with Molly the moment she caught the first traces of the flashlight beams pierced through the thick fog. Her movements were swift and silent, slipping back into the dark undergrowth before the campus guards could clear the boundary line.
Bill, of course, scrawled away into the deeper brush on a black mountain bike he had hidden near the ridge. His reaction was lightning-fast, and his previous surveying gave him familiarity with the pathway terrain allowing easy navigation of the steep, rocky drop-offs in near-total darkness without making too much sound.
Rein watched his shadow recede and hesitated, her hand still raised from the telekinetic throw, alas she ultimately gave up chasing him. The woods were dense, and she had to consider the very real possibility of him having an accomplice waiting in the ridges. Furthermore, the risk of getting lost was too high; she simply wasn't familiar with these woods.
Lowering her hands, she retreated toward the campus block. With the help of Claire, who used her ability to cancel the sound of Rein's footsteps as she ran past the perimeter, Rein silently evaded the guards. Even when the hunting dogs barked and strained at their leashes, turning their noses toward the brush, it was already too late for the men to see anything in the choking mist.
"We need help! That fucking wolf attacked us out of nowhere!" Claire cried out, her voice cracking as she feigned absolute terror, letting real tears stream down her cheeks to sell the act to the approaching guards. "We all only managed to kill it, but my friends... they got horribly injured!"
The guards rushed forward, their torches illuminating the jagged, deep lacerations on the two boys' legs. The sheer degree of the trauma and the massive loss of blood was something the small campus infirmary couldn't possibly handle. Within ten minutes, the flashing red and blue lights of emergency vehicles arrived at the edge of the quad.
Paramedics loaded the three boys into the back of a large ambulance, moving them at high speed toward the local hospital.
Meanwhile, miles away on the gravel paths of the eastern ridge, Bill rode the mountain bike incredibly fast, his tires spitting wet dirt behind him. He only took a sharp, skidding pause when he finally arrived at the dark alcove where his paneled delivery van was parked.
He climbed off the bike, clutching his belly where Claire's brutal punch had landed. The blunt force had left his midsection throbbing with a sickening ache.
Grunting through his teeth, he quickly shoved the mountain bike into the rear of his van, slammed the heavy steel doors, and climbed into the driver's seat, turned the key as he got the engine running while taking care to keep the headlamp light low to avoid drawing attention from the ridge road.
Sitting in the dim cabin, Bill kept on banging his thick steering wheel in pure frustration, his knuckles bruising against the hard plastic. All his plans for the night were ruined due to too many unknown uncertainties. He had meticulously planned to inject the experimental serum into a strong male specimen, drag him down to the lower streets near the commercial line to monitor the behavioral effects in real-time, and then run down the target of his stalking experiment once the tracker signaled. But now, it was all futile.
Before he could complain further to himself, he looked into his rearview mirror and saw the distant, pulsing glow of sirens and approaching security vehicles flashing through the tree line.
His jaw tightened, quickly took out his smartphone and dialed Quive Stephenson, who at that exact moment was sitting in his dark office, staring at the precinct monitors and praying to God that all the sudden commotion in the North Quad had absolutely nothing to do with Bill.
Well, it was just as the commander feared. Bill explained that he needed to get past the officers who were now stationed heavily at each checkpoint along the county line. As Bill relayed the chaotic details of the encounter on the phone, Quive took a deep breath, forcing his voice to remain steady.
"Don't panic," Quive ordered through the receiver. "There is no bloodstain on either of your instruments, and your digital logs are clean. If the checkpoint guards search the back and ask why you have a mountain bike in the van, you just have to say you were picking it up from the campus lockers for your nephew.
Better yet, turn the van around and drive straight to the regional hospital. The higher-ups from the Munich core just issued an order for you to assist with a series of urgent transplants."
Hearing all that Quive said, Bill finally calmed his breathing, the frantic twitch in his left cheek slowing down. But the deep, boiling resentment towards the unknown female identifiers who had beaten him in the brush didn't die down. He shifted the van into gear and pulled out onto the asphalt.
At the local hospital, the atmosphere was chaotic. The double doors of the emergency bay burst open as paramedics wheeled in the stretchers carrying the two third-year guys with half-shredded limbs. Claire walked quickly alongside them, her gray sweatshirt still damp from the mist.
Dr. Gadhi Lauren happened to be the attending doctor on duty in the trauma wing. As she stepped forward to intercept the gurneys, her sharp eyes scanned the patients, instantly locking onto Claire's face. She was very much surprised to see her there. Their eyes met across the white light of the corridor sighting a brief, heavy flash of familiarity passing between them before Dr. Gadhi instantly turned back to her professional side.
"We need a full checkup on all three arrivals," Gadhi ordered the nursing staff, her voice authoritative and crisp. "Get the blood expanders ready for the lacerations."
She immediately turned to the emergency desk and dialed Professor Julian, who was currently reviewing files in the upper research lab.
"Julian, I need you down at the emergency table right now," Gadhi said into the phone as Caleb's stretcher was rolled past her, his face still pale and completely unconscious from Bill's injection.
"Come tend to the less injured girl, Claire. I'm going to take on the two trauma cases and the boy who isn't responding to the stimulants."