[MD2, 5:10PM, in the car]

Kate caught up to the group gathered around one of the rental cars in the parking lot. She quickly summarized all that she and Craig had learned. When she got to the part about the drug, Patrica looked at Megan.

"You were the one responsible for getting all those kids hooked?"

"I was not," Megan insisted, then sighed. "It's not a controlled substance, you know. There's nothing you could do to me, anyway."

Kate guided Megan into the back seat of the car. With Craig driving and Flynn and Kate sitting on either side of Megan in the back seat, they headed away from the hospital and toward the university. Megan gave them directions reluctantly, gradually becoming more sullen as she started to have second thoughts about cooperating.

"He's going to know it was me," she whined. "He'll kill me if he gets the chance."

"How many more girls is Burrell going to kill if you don't help us stop him," Flynn asked.

"Why exactly did you decide to cooperate with us," Kate asked. She couldn't quite believe that the little incident at the hospital alone would have turned her around. And the more she thought about it, the more contrived it seemed.

Megan shrugged. "He… uh, he told me that I had to pick the next one," she said. "And if I didn't, then it would be me."

"What about the missing girls," Craig asked. "Are they dead, too?"

Megan closed her eyes and shrugged. "I don't know."

"Why don't you start at the beginning and tell us what you do know," Kate suggested.

"Yeah, okay," Megan said. "You already know how it started, back in high school. There's not exactly a lot to do around here. It was just a way of wasting time, really. But we all decided to stay here and go to Karellon, so we wouldn't be separated. Most of us… Well, most of us didn't really have anyone else, except the rest of the group. You know?

"Some of us, Amy and Janet and me, we met Dr. Burrell and he found out about our club. And, you know, one thing led to another, and pretty soon, he had sort of taken over as our leader. That's when he introduced us to the drug. It was just a few of us at first, but it was such a… intense experience, really bizarre. It seemed to be just what we had been looking for all along. When you take the drug, it's not really like you're high. It's more like you're in a dream. You can't tell what's real and what's not. But the strange thing is the mass hallucinations. It's like we're all connected, part of one consciousness, all seeing the same things."

"What kind of things," Kate asked, frowning. This didn't sound like any drug she had ever heard of, and judging from the look Patrica gave them as she glanced over her shoulder, she hadn't either.

"Different things. One time, it was like we were under water. There were fish swimming through the air and we could reach out and touch them. Another time, the building was on fire, but the fire was cold and we could walk through it, even stand in the middle of it. Things like that. And then a few months ago, things changed. Dr. Burrell said that he'd had a vision, and that we were all going to go on this great adventure. But he said that first we had to make sacrifices. Human sacrifices."

"And everyone went along with that," Flynn asked.

"He didn't tell everyone at once. Most of them still don't know, I think.. It started with Amy. She had to pick the first victim, and then she disappeared. And then Janet and Leah and all the others. Look, I don't know where they are, or if they're still alive or any of that. I just know that I don't want to be the next one to vanish without a trace and I don't want to be responsible for someone getting murdered. And I don't want Dr. Burrell to kill me, which he will if he finds out I'm helping you."

Kate almost felt sorry for her. Almost, but not quite. "We'll make sure he can't get to you."

Megan laughed. "Sure. No problem. You don't know him very well, do you? But I suppose its my only chance. There's a dirt road up ahead. Turn on it. There's a building at the end of the road."

The road was barely visible from the main highway, but they found it and made the turn. "How far," Craig asked.

"Half a mile or so."

"Find a place to hide the car," Kate said. "We don't want to alert anyone to our presence if we can help it."

Craig nodded and pulled the car into a grove of trees. Everyone got out. "What about Megan?"

"I've been thinking about that," Kate said, producing a pair of handcuffs and pointing to a tree. "Over there, Megan."

"You can't just leave me here!"

"I also can't put a civilian at risk. And I can't let you escape. Against the tree."

Megan cooperated - more or less - and Kate cuffed her to the tree. "What if he finds me here," Megan demanded. "I'll be a sitting duck."

"Then we'll have to find him before he finds you."


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