Brown sat at his desk shaking his head at the report in front of him. Chuck had done it. The crazy bastard had actually figured out how to incorporate the hypnosites into humans for extended periods. Pouring through Chuck’s notes, Brown couldn’t believe the progress he made. Not only was he able to incorporate the hypnosites into humans and keep them in a balanced state with a dose of stabilizers, but he actually found subjects capable of the reverse. How it was possible to transfer a human’s consciousness into a hypnosite to take advantage of their adaptability made no sense to Brown. If he were a believer, he may consider this to be enough evidence of the soul, but he reserved such a leap in logic for now. For now, it was enough for him to call Chuck’s research proof of the usefulness of the CX project.

  Brown looked up from the report to Special Agent Malcolm and motioned for him to speak as he said, “What’s the status update, Malcolm?”

  “Sir,” Special Agent Malcolm nodded to Brown, “The portion of the report remains true that we’ve been unsuccessful in waking Chuck up. His body remains alive, but entirely unresponsive. We have him on dialysis and under 24-hour surveillance. Chuck’s assistant, Merrin, is still escaping detection and is in the process of issuing a second ultimatum and broadcasting her warning in the adjacent town to the first. We are monitoring the area, but have made no moves to interfere on your orders. There has been drone sightings of mutations on humans and animals alike, but minimal evidence of intelligence remaining in any of the affected individuals.”

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  Brown nodded along, “Thank you Malcolm. Good work. Please share this research with the CX facilities in Kansas, New Mexico, and Alaska. Continue to monitor the situation. Establish a perimeter surrounding the affected area and the next few towns over. Make sure to send an evacuation notice before Merrin gets there, but keep it brief. We don’t want the towns emptied, but we want enough to cover our asses for any press that gets their eyes on the situation. Merrin will likely hit several more towns with a soundwave before she’s done and we don’t know exactly how far the hypnosite infused water spread. Orders are shoot-to-kill for anything or anyone trying to leave the quarantined area. Set a small search squad with clearance to enter the zone. Their primary objective is to find Merrin and bring her here. Otherwise, don’t interfere with the affected parties. This is to be treated as Chuck intended in his notes, as one massive testing zone.”

  “Sir, Special Agent Holly is still in the quarantined area.” Malcolm let the implied question remain in the air.

  “She has yet to report back after the first soundwave incident. For now, we will consider her MIA. If she reports in the next forty-eight hours, we’ll update her status. If she does not report in that time-frame and is alive, we’ll assume she has gone rogue.”

  “And if she tries to leave the affected area before reporting?”

  Brown thought for a moment, but not a long one before saying, “She will not be exempt from the shoot-to-kill order.”