A shadow moved behind Director rcer’s eyes. Not guilt... just simple calculation.
"They go in the sa columns as the ones who live."
Of course, her creature murmured. He is honest. Numbers first. Lives second. Feelings never.
Sera nodded slowly. "Efficient."
"I prefer functional," rcer replied. "Efficient sounds like a sales pitch."
Lachlan huffed. "You don’t really have anyone left to sell to."
rcer ignored him again.
His gaze moved over all five of them in one smooth pass. Sera, Zubair, Lachlan, Alexei, Elias. Then Luci.
"You walked through infected territory to get here," he stated. "You lived long enough for my scanners to complain. That makes you interesting. Interesting things are dangerous. Dangerous things get looked at very closely before I decide if they are an asset or a problem."
Sera watched his hands while he spoke. He didn’t fidget. He didn’t tap. He didn’t even rest a thumb on his belt like so n did when they lied to themselves. Everything in him was contained.
You could break him, her creature offered gently. It wouldn’t even take much effort. He is bone and blood and electricity like the rest.
Maybe later, Sera answered inwardly.
rcer turned to Dr. Kearns. "You’re primary on their workup. Blood, tissue swabs, imaging. I want full panels and overlays. Any match with existing files, I hear about it first. Any anomaly, I hear about it faster."
Kearns nodded, throat working. "Understood."
He faced the soldiers.
"Move them."
Squad Two tightened formation. Two soldiers stepped to the front, two to the back, one on each side. The barrels of their rifles stayed angled down, but fingers were close enough to the triggers that it wouldn’t take much.
Sera walked when they nudged her forward.
The corridor they moved into was long and narrow, ford by stacked containers and temporary panels. Lights hung overhead in long, buzzing lines. The floor vibrated faintly with the hum of generators deeper in. Chemical dispensers dotted the walls—hand scrub units, spray nozzles, warning signs about contamination and compliance.
It slled like effort. Bleach, sweat, tal, lingering fear. The kind of fear that had been pushed down long enough to ossify.
They passed other people in CDC markings. So glanced at them with curiosity, so with suspicion, so with tired indifference. No one looked horrified. No one looked like they questioned what was happening.
Of course they don’t, the creature inside of her observed. He kept them alive. He tells them who to bla. They rest easy as long as they know it is not them.
Elias walked a little ahead of her, eyes cataloguing equipnt—every scanner, every vent, every ergency hatch. Zubair stayed near her left shoulder. Alexei tracked their flank. Lachlan occasionally did a slow head-count of how many rifles were within reach.
Luci moved at her right, massive shoulders level with her waist. The wolf’s ears twitched, catching every small sound. More than once, a soldier’s gaze caught on the animal, lips tightening in respect or unease.
They reached another doorway. This one was reinforced, edges lined with a faint rubber seal.
rcer waited for them there.
He had not rushed. He had taken the shorter path and arrived ahead of them, unhurried. Two guards flanked the door, armor a darker shade to mark them as internal security.
"This is Level Three isolation," rcer explained, as if giving a tour. "Temporary holding, single occupancy. d team access only. No unsupervised contact."
Sera’s attention ticked to the word "single."
"No group rooms," she noted. "That might be a bad idea."
"This isn’t a hostel," he returned. "You will stay where we put you."
He gestured, and one of the guards keyed in a code on the panel. The door hissed open.
Inside, Sera glimpsed a short hall with doors on either side. Six in total, heavy and tal, each with a small reinforced window. The air that flowed out was cooler, dryer, scrubbed down to a thinner taste.
Cages, the creature nad. Pretty rectangles. Sa function.
rcer looked at each of them in turn.
"You cooperate, this is quick," he outlined. "We test, we scan, I decide what you are. If you’re clean, you route to debrief and evaluation for asset status. If you’re not clean, you route to my other list."
"Other list?" Lachlan echoed.
"The one with incinerators near it."
Silence stretched for a mont.
Sera watched rcer’s face. He didn’t threaten with the word. He just... used it. Part of the job.
"You kill a lot of people," she remarked.
"I remove contagion," rcer corrected. "People die in the process."
"And you sleep fine."
"I sleep," he replied. "That’s enough."
Her creature chuckled, low. He believes his own story. Those are the ones who never see themselves coming.
rcer flicked two fingers toward the hall. "Separate rooms. Wolf goes to animal containnt. No restraints unless they fight you."
The last part he aid at his soldiers, not at them.
Sera looked down at Luci.
The wolf’s fur brushed her fingers. His amber eyes watched her, calm but questioning.
"It’s all right," she murmured, scratching once behind his ear. "You’ll be fine."
You comfort him, her creature noted. Interesting. You never comfort yourself.
"Contain the animal first," one of the guards instructed.
Two soldiers approached, hands out, moving slowly. Luci rumbled again, low. His hackles lifted a fraction.
Sera’s fingers tightened on his fur.
Zubair shifted his weight. Alexei’s jaw clenched. Lachlan’s hands curled into fists.
"Easy," rcer warned, tone mild. "He goes into a separate unit. Nobody harms him unless he harms my staff."
"Nobody harms him," Sera returned, her eyes focused on rcer’s. "Period."
He t her gaze for a steady mont.
"Then we agree," he concluded.
She studied him another heartbeat, then gave Luci’s neck a final rub. "Go on," she whispered.
The wolf huffed once, then stepped away from her side and padded after the guards. They guided him through a side door marked with an animal icon and a number stencil.
The instant he vanished from view, sothing in the air felt emptier.
The n shifted closer to Sera without thinking about it.
rcer watched that too.
He turned to his security team. "One per cell. Standard isolation. No shared occupancy. Bio-sensors active."
He paused.
The hallway lights reflected off his badge, off the thin tal bar on his chest that marked his old rank from before the CDC.
"Full restraint protocol," rcer finished, voice still level. "No sedation."
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