Page 24 of Afflicted

“It should have been,” Hawker said impatiently. “But like I said, they were desperate. We were running out of food and they wanted a miracle cure. So they rolled out the chemicals to the farms without completing the required testing periods.”

“So what, is it making people sick or something?” I asked.

“Well it's not contained to the farms. They've realised that it's spreading from the plants it was meant to affect into the plants surrounding them. And the insects and any animals that eat the insects and so on,” Hawker said slowly.

“And what does it do to an insect if it makes a plant grow bigger and faster?”

“We haven't been allowed access to that information,” Hawker hedged but I could tell she'd managed to find out more.

The waitress descended on us, smiling brightly at Kai as she refilled our drinks. He gave her a huge grin and she blushed as she moved away. Santos rolled her eyes at him and I couldn't help but laugh.

“Give me a pen Hawker,” Kai said as he grabbed a napkin from the centre of the table.

“Why don't you just carry your own pen?” she sighed as she pulled one from her pocket.

“Because I've got you.” Kai winked as he took it and jotted his cell number down on the napkin. He stood, pulling his dog tags out from under his shirt and clambered over Hawker to get out of the booth. We all watched as he cornered the waitress at the bar and she started giggling as he handed her the napkin.

“Why do so many women fall for his act?” Santos asked, rolling her eyes.

“Because he's charming, handsome and a Marine. Face it Santos, to most women he's a catch,” Hawker said analytically.

Santos pretended to vomit. “Yeah if what you're looking to catch is an STI.”

I almost spat out a mouthful of soda as I laughed.

Kai returned, smirking triumphantly as he squeezed past Hawker to get back into his seat.

“You should have been a sailor,” Santos said as he stole a slice of her leftover pizza.

“Why?” Kai asked around a mouthful of food.

“Different girl in every port.”

We all laughed and Hawker retrieved her pen before Kai could pocket it.

The waitress walked past, blushing faintly as she locked eyes with Kai. We waited for her to leave and I fixed my gaze back on Hawker.

“Go on,” I prompted once we were alone again. “You were telling me what this chemical does.”

“From what I can gather, anything that comes into contact with the contamination changes. It varies between species but it seems to trigger a leap in evolution and survival genes.” She took a look at my blank expression and explained further. “So a bee that used to be easy to swat now has an exoskeleton so hard that it's practically made out of stone. Nothing can eat or crush it anymore - it's better at surviving.”

“That's really happened?” I asked, raising my eyebrows in disbelief.

Kai nodded and Santos beamed. She seemed to think this was exciting.

“So what happens if a human comes into contact with it?” I asked.

“That information is harder to come by,” Hawker sighed. “But they are determined to contain any contamination at all costs so it can't be good. And there has been a surge in domestic violence issues over the last twenty four hours. People have been attacking loved ones or strangers out of the blue. No official word from higher up that this is to do with the contamination though-“

“But it's a pretty suspicious coincidence,” Santos added with a grin.

I ran a hand across the stubble on my chin as I considered what she was saying. It didn't sound like something that could be real. I wondered why I hadn't been recalled to the unit yet. I guessed it would only be a matter of time if they couldn't contain this quickly and remove it from the environment.

“So you said I've gotta have a satphone?” I asked.

“Yeah they're being rolled out to everyone. There's no official reason for it,” Kai replied as he handed the phone over.

“But unofficially?” I asked as I shoved the phone into my pocket.