A man sat in a folding chair, sipping coffee. He was middle-aged, nondescript, wearing wire-rimmed glasses and a polo shirt. He looked like someone’s suburban uncle.
Siena turned.
“Because someone wants the data. The full infection cycle.” Venandi reloaded. “We’re not looking for a lost team, Dr. Vargas. We’re looking for the people who set this loose. And they’re still here.”
Not the infected’s camp—the handlers’. A clean, white tent pitched on a rise above the flood line. Satellite dishes. Solar panels. And inside, a bank of monitors showing drone feeds of the jungle below. On each screen, figures in blue-stained hazmat suits wandered in slow, purposeful circles.
Venandi’s hand shot out, clamping over Siena’s mouth. She pulled them both behind a kapok tree, her body a solid wall against Siena’s back. Through the thin fabric of her shirt, Siena felt the tracker’s heartbeat—slow, steady, absurdly calm.
Siena’s hands moved before her brain caught up. She pulled Mira’s camera from her bag, flipped open the SD card slot—empty—then plugged the USB cable into her own phone. A folder appeared. One video file. Date-stamped four days ago.
“Siena. We missed you. Come see what we’ve become.” They ran.
“Demon,” Venandi translated. Her hand drifted to the knife at her hip. “We’re close.”
Mira’s face filled the screen—unblistered, tear-streaked, but fierce. “Siena. If you’re watching this, I’m gone. The fungus isn’t the weapon. The cure is. I synthesized an antifungal before they took me. It’s in my left boot heel. Administer via aerosol. It spreads faster than the infection. Tell Venandi—she’ll know what to do.”
“Hunter’s blue fungus. Named for its method. It doesn’t poison. It lures. Produces a sweet smell, draws in insects, then paralyzes them. Slow digestion.” Venandi’s jaw tightened. “Someone weaponized it. Three weeks ago, a biotech team from São Paulo came looking for a natural sample. They stopped transmitting five days in.”
“Subject Twelve,” the thing rasped, turning its head with a wet click. “Still filming. Still venandi .”
