The mouse had come out of a small hole in the wall and was now crouched at the opening. I could see other mice heads sticking out of the wall, but they were hidden further into the shadows. The main mouse looked at me, its head cocked to the side.

“Trouble?” it asked.

I just gawked at it. I had been fully expecting a squeak, but instead heard words. My mind felt like tar as it tried to process this information. How was I hearing this mouse speak? This didn’t make any sense. While my brain processed this information, I found myself simply staring at the little mouse. The creature grew nervous with my staring and started to back up into its little hole.

“Back”, it said, keeping its little eyes in my direction. The other faces in the little hole swiftly disappeared. This caused me to gasp in surprise, snapping me out of my daze.

“Wait, don’t go”, I shouted, a little too loud. The mouse jumped a little, freezing again. Its little eyes bulged from its head as it stared at me.

“Trouble?” it asked again, barely audible to my ears.

“No”, I responded. I slowly leaned the broom against the wall and put my hands up to show that I was no longer armed. “I won’t hurt you”.

“Confused”, it said, looking from me to the broom and back again. Little mice heads again poked out of the hole, also staring at me.

“I know, I know. I’m very confused too. Listen, I won’t hurt you. Please don’t leave.”

The mouse just stared at me. It seemed to be considering something, its little tail twitching behind it. The little creature didn’t move, so I didn’t either. After a short pause, another mouse came out of the hole. This one was slightly smaller than the first mouse, but a little bigger than the other mice hiding in the shadows. It slowly moved forward until it was standing next to the first mouse, where it paused and looked me over. The first mouse shot the second mouse a concerned look, which the second mouse ignored. The newcomer then moved forward a little more, very slightly. I knelt to the ground, very slowly.

“Friend”, I said. “I promise”.

This new mouse suddenly loosened up, becoming less defensive. The first mouse also loosened up, and the little heads behind them stuck their heads out of the hole a little further. My promise of friendship seemed to comfort them, and I smiled at them. The second mouse started to move closer to me, but froze. The first mouse also froze, and their little heads swung towards the front door.

“Trouble”, whispered the second mouse.

“Back!”, yelled the first.

The little heads disappeared in the hole and the bigger mice turned away from me and dashed away as fast as they could.

“What?”

A crash deafened the air and the front door smashed open, revealing a handful of guards in the entrance. The two in front dashed forward and grabbed me, pulling me out the front door. I screamed and thrashed, but they were too strong.

“What are you doing?” I yelled. “Get off of me!”

“Lord Stefan Gregor, Lord of Westfall, has ordered that all survivors of the plague be taken to the city hall”, the guard on my right said, pulling on my arm.

“Let go!”, I yelled, trying to twist free. People standing on the side of the road watched silently as I passed, looking away when I glanced in their direction. Some looked angry, others looked scared. But all they did was stare.

And the guards took you to the city hall?

Yes. I gave up somewhere along the way and just walked, letting them pull me along. When we got to the city hall, I was surprised to find that some of the sick people were still there, being tended to by doctors and nurses. I could see a few faces that I recognized, including Catherine. It looked like she was still unconscious.

I was dragged away from the main room and pushed down a long hall before finally being pushed into a small room. The door slammed behind me and I looked around. A window was set into the furthest wall, and several chairs had been placed around the border. I immediately recognized some of the faces in the chairs.

One of them was my best friend, Gloriana Bolbec. She was sitting as far from the others as she could, face in her hands and rocking back and forth. I immediately went over to her and wrapped my arms around her, asking if she was okay.

“Stop talking, stop talking, please stop”, she responded, not bothering to look up.

“Sorry, I…”

Her head shot up and she looked at the other people in the room, who were sitting in the other corner. “STOP TALKING”, she shouted, her eyes wild and angry. I threw my arms up, giving her some space. She looked at me surprised.

“Kristene?”, she asked, staring at me. “Kristene Bess?”

“Yes, I’m here”, I said, moving closer. Suddenly, her head dropped back into her hands and she rocked back and forth.

“She’s been like that since I got here”, a voice said from the other corner. I looked up to see Bastion sitting in one of the chairs, one arm around a crying girl. I looked closer and saw that it was Seraphina Drake, her eyes red from crying and her hair disheveled.

“What is going on?” I asked, moving away from Gloriana to join the rest of the group. Sitting with Bastion and Seraphina was a man named Adam Tack, who was the owner of the city market, and a woman named Annalee Borsch.

“We don’t know”, Bastion said. “She keeps yelling at us. Or at the wall, sometimes.”

I looked at Gloriana, trying to figure out what to do. I then looked back at the group and found them all staring at me. “What?”, I asked, wrapping my arms around myself.

“So, you survived the plague too, huh?”, asked Adam Tack, looking at me intently. “Do you feel any different?”

“Different? No, I don’t think so. Why?”

Adam started to answer, but was cut off by Bastion.

“Something strange has been happening to us, Kristene. Anyone that has survived the plague has ended up being… I don’t know, changed. Do you know little Timothy, who lived near the chapel?”

I nodded.

“When he woke up from the plague, he caught on fire. An alarm was raised, and the doctors scrambled to smother out the flames. They put out the fire, but it killed Timothy. Kristene, he wasn’t on fire. He was fire”.

I couldn’t speak. I just stood there, gaping at him.

“Here’s another one. A lady living down by the coast woke up from the plague and had grown spikes from her back and head. And her fingernails had grown stiff and sharp as well.”

“What happened to her?” I asked quietly.

“From what I hear, she freaked out and attacked some men that were trying to calm her down. It took some effort on the guard’s part to stop her and I believe she’s locked up in the city prison now.”

I shook my head slowly, utterly bewildered.

“I’m telling you, Kristene”, he continued, looking at me closely. “Something is going on. That wasn’t a normal plague. There is nothing normal about what happened to us”.

He looked away from me to the rest of the group, looking Adam and Annalee in the eyes. He then glanced at Gloriana, who had stopped mumbling and now sat quietly in the corner. A moment of silence passed as the group looked at each other, eyes wide.

The door slammed open, making the whole group jump, and in walked Blake Forsith, the city’s best scientist. Blake was a tall man with wild hair and large eyes. He looked down at us with a small smile on his face. Guards moved to either side of him, looking menacingly at the group. And standing behind them lumbered Trent Cage, the massive city guard captain.

“Well, well”, Blake said, pulling on a long white glove, which he snapped into place. “Hello there.”