The ghost of a sound echoed in Dawn’s ears as she woke. It hadn’t been long enough to be a scream, but it would have been if it was allowed to finish. Her head pounded with every beat of her racing heart as she struggled to face the door. She could make out chaos outside, shadows moving frantically down the hall.

  Something thudded into her door, and slowly slid down, catching the latch on the way. It creaked open, and the fox-eared doctor crawled prone inside, a trail of thick, dark, blood following her. Her breathing was fast with panic and shallow with pain. A man in scrubs with porcine features stalked in after her, whirring bonesaw in hand. He looked faintly amused, like he was watching ducks in a pond.

  A thorn entered his temple, and he fluttered to the ground as book pages. Siobhan looked at Dawn, eyes starting to go glassy with shock. With herculean effort, Dawn used her left side to right herself, and fell to the floor next to her. She pulled herself to the woman, and used her magic to stitch together the abdominal wound that was weeping dark blood from her innards.

  She did what she could with her own regrowth, but the effort had drained her beyond sustainment. Spent, she collapsed onto the woman’s chest, only having enough time to appreciate that her breathing had become deep and steady, before exhaustion took her as well.

  Dawn woke up back in her hospital bed, and found another hand in her own. She opened her eyes to see Director Swan, smiling gently as Dawn roused herself.

  “Good morning Dawn. I hear something as minor as a cranial hemorrhage can’t keep a hero down,” her smile was sly, but warm. Dawn squeezed her hand and returned it.

  “Were it not for the rose you left on your first visit, that would have gone much differently. The team’s enthusiasm is appreciated, but there is little I can do with Balloons and get-well cards. What was that attack? A single man with a bonesaw? Not an excellent troop choice for an attack on AEGIS,” Dawn asked, genuinely baffled. Clearly the man had been one of the things they’d fought at Camp Dodge, but why one was here, and in surgical scrubs…..

  “Its not good news, I’m afraid. This attack may have done minimal physical damage, due to quick interventions such as your own, but the cost of the loss of public trust in Altereds is hard to calculate. The Elevated Race’s dumbass PR team is already trying to spin it against us, but if anything they’re under even more scrutiny, and like any radicals, more likely to fuck things up for us.” She sighed, shaking her head and looking tired

  “We did capture one character, and had Lira take a look. This is all being done by a man, I, apparently, did not kill hard enough the first time. He has the ability to summon and manipulate any Altered that has died since the start of the waves, and as such any unfamiliar Altered is now suspect. Even some familiar ones, as it appears Fingerguns’ recovery was not as miraculous as we thought.”

  She frowned deeply at that, face oscillating between sadness and fury.

  “What do you mean?” Asked Dawn.

  “During a Dreamscape training session with your team, Fingerguns’ attempted to assassinate Cait. Obviously, it didn’t work, but it revealed that we had imposters among us. Rather than allow them to be rounded up, our adversary had them sow chaos and distrust.”

  “It will be a witchhunt….” Sighed Dawn.

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  “Not if I can help it,” responded Director Swan, giving her a determined smile. I already have Hobbyist building as many high occupancy models as he can on Campus. We’ll retrofit them quickly, and then move any willing, visibly Altereds in, provided they submit to an examination by Lira, Kennedy, or Dreamboat. Hopefully head off any pogroms on disagreeable people that just happen to have the head of a snake.”

  Dawn nodded, but frowned at her inability to help.

  “Why are you telling me all of this?” she asked. “The demands on your time must be immense, Elizabeth Swan.”

  The Director squeezed her hand.

  “Because you’re a friend, Dawn, and you deserve to know the situation. You’ve lost enough to this bastard. Also, to be honest, I don’t know if you’re aware how calming simply being in your presence can be,” the Director admitted smiling warmly, and adding a sly wink. “Nature’s beauty and all that. In addition, your team has formed a rotation to make sure you don’t find yourself alone for long, even as I have them pulling double duty as the hardest to kill motherfuckers AEGIS has access to. One condition they had was that I take a slot on that rotation, which I was going to volunteer to do anyway.”

  Dawn felt a tear begin to gather in her eye. She found it was exceedingly easy to make her cry these days.

  “Thank you, Elizabeth,” she whispered.

  “Of course, Dawn,” she replied, then allowed her face to break into a slow grin. “I won’t tell you to cheer up, you’ve been through too much, but I would recommend you ask your team about their new name next time you lay eyes on one of them.”

  Dawn quirked an eyebrow, but the Director just wore her grin, and patted her hand as she rose.

  “Anyway, you are correct, the demands on my time are immense, and I must be going. I’ll send Siobhan along to check on you. I imagine her bedside manner will be something to behold now that she owes you her life.” The elegant woman winked at Dawn, then left the room.

  Dawn watched her leave, feeling an immediate sense of loss. She wanted to leave this place as well. Elizabeth had done an excellent job of keeping her focused on the present, but nothing could keep her mind from pulling back to the past.

  The humans of New Davenport had loved her, in their own way. They had treated her as though she was some sort of mystical nature spirit, or benevolent pagan goddess. Occasionally the braver children had played with her, but the adults clearly saw her as one step removed from the beasts that plagued their city. Something to be placated and pleaded with through offerings and odd forms of pseudo-worship.

  Her first real friendship had been with Chance. The man had been deployed to the settlement after a particularly virulent wave had resulted in surging monster population in the area. He’d come across her fighting off a horde of Coonbeasts around her tree-house, and had recognized her immediately for what she was: a Guardian in all but name. They’d fought together those few days. The work had been made easy, not only because, numerous or not, the simple Altered Beasts would have been no match for Freeflow alone, but also because for the first time she had a comrade.

  Chance’s easy charm and well-warranted confidence had sparked feelings in her she had no real reference to understand. And because of that, she’d ignored them. Ignored them for years, even as he kept returning, both on and off deployment. He’d just want to spend time with her, or even insist on dragging her into the settlement. When the townsfolk saw their mysterious Wilds Witch drinking and laughing with the famous actual Guardian, they had become much more openly welcoming themselves.

  By the time the end came for New Davenport, the people knew her name. Her actual name. They greeted her on the streets, and the ‘offerings’ became ‘gifts’ with personal notes attached, or invitations to dine at their dwellings.

  Dawn noticed she was smiling, and tried to hold onto it. She hadn’t lost all of that, had she? Those people, yes. Chance, yes…..

  The smile remained, but the tears came regardless.

  The soft patter of pawed feet on tile announced Siobhan. She knocked on the open door as she walked in, looking up from her clipboard to beam at Dawn. Her bright smile fell immediately as she saw the tears streak Dawn’s cheeks. She hesitated for a moment, then dropped the clipboard to the ground. She ran over and pressed herself to the deer’s chest, wrapping her in a gentle hug.

  Dawn returned it as tightly as she could. It had been the right move. This close, her muzzle resting in Siobhan’s soft furry hair, it was difficult to feel so completely alone.