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back at Frances, he said, “Put me through to the RCMP in Ottawa.”
    This time as he listened, he looked stunned.
    “What is it?” Frances asked.
    Darnell licked his lips nervously as he shot a quick glance at Pax. “Put it on speaker,” he said.
    A second later, a voice streamed out of the speakers next to the monitor. “—home, and until services are restored, avoid all contact.” The voice was female, her message clearly recorded. “Good luck, and may God be with you.”
    “What the hell is she talking about?” Faber asked.
    Darnell held up a hand, silencing him.
    There was a moment of dead air before the woman began speaking again. “You have reached the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. Due to the Sage Flu crisis, there is no one able to take your call. If you are ill, remain where you are. Do not attempt to go to the hospital or any other medical facility. All facilities are currently closed to any new patients. You would do best to remain in bed, drink as much fluid as possible, and…”—she paused—“…pray. If you are unaffected at this time, stay in your home, and until services are restored, avoid all contact. Good luck, and may God be with you.”
    Pax closed his eyes, his chin falling to his chest. Captain Ash had failed. They had all failed. The very thing the Resistance had been formed to prevent had happened.
    The woman’s voice filled the room again. “You have reached the Royal—”
    “That’s enough,” Darnell said.
    Frances touched her keyboard and plunged the room into silence.
    “You have Internet access now?” Pax asked her.
    “We should.”
    As she started to type, Pax, Darnell, and Faber crowded around behind her. The first few websites she tried kicked back the message:
     
    WEBSITE SERVER NOT RESPONDING
     
    CNN.com, however, was working. Just below the standard banner at the top was a large, sunlit picture of Times Square. Pax figured it had been taken near midday. The buildings were decked out in holiday fare, and the electronic billboards displayed mainly Christmas ads and messages. Which made the fact that the streets and sidewalks were empty all the more eerie.
    Across the picture in red, semi-transparent capital letters was the word PANDEMIC .
    “Holy shit,” Faber said.
    Frances leaned toward the screen. “This hasn’t been updated in over a week.” She looked back at her boss. “How is that possible?”
    “Check the CBC or PCN or Fox or MSNBC. All of them, if you have to.”
    She did, but the few that were still up displayed similar messages to CNN’s.
    For the first time since they’d been listening to the RCMP message, Darnell looked at Pax. “You were telling the truth.”
    “I was.”
    Silence.
    “They’re all dead? Everyone?”
    “Not everyone,” Pax said.
    “But most?” Frances asked.
    “If not yet, soon.”
    The room grew quiet.
    Darnell finally broke the silence. “What happens now?”
    Before Pax could answer, Faber, barely able to control his emotions, said, “What happens now? Now we’re all going to die is what happens! Either we stay here and freeze to death, or go home and die from the flu.” He looked at Pax. “Right?”
    “That’s one option,” Pax said. “But there is another.”
    “What?” Faber asked. “Kill ourselves?”
    “I mentioned it when I first told you what was going on.”
    All three looked at him, dumbfounded for a moment. Frances was the first to snap out of it. “Vaccine,” she said. “You told us you had vaccine.”
    “Yes.”
    “Enough for everyone here?” she asked.
    “More than enough.”
    Darnell grew wary. “I’m sure you want something for it.”
    “What does it matter what he wants?” Faber said. “There are more of us than them. We can just take it!”
    “Unless you’re all trained in combat like my men, I’d advise against trying that,” Pax said.
    “You surrendered your weapons the first day you were here,” Faber said.
    “Not all of them,” Pax told him. “But we don’t