Aleigha angrily headed toward the edge of the dome and used her bladed staff to create a barrier. She used the same way she had done before when she was still a zombie. The blast shield was no longer up, so it was a simple process. If the blast shields had been up, she would need a new plan. Her bladed staff would not have been able to penetrate the dome if the blast shield had still been up.

After slipping through the dome's plasma shield, she headed for the camp at the east gate. She knew that Eric and Steve had an abundance of weapons that were not used inside the dome. They had an entire tent filled with weapons that they had planned to take over the dome with. She hoped it was all still there. She needed to find something that the Rameisans had never seen before.

Reaching the camp, she headed for the first tent. Still cloaked, she peered into each of the tents, trying to find which one had all the weapons. She knew about it, but they never told her which tent it was. Most of them had bodies. The virus had killed them. When she found the one with weapons, she carefully stepped inside.

She looked around her. There was no one inside. There were only the weapons she was looking for. Inside the tent, there were shelves that were positioned to create aisles. It looked like a mini supermarket. Aleigha walked down each one, studying the contents of the rows of shelves.

She found grenades, handguns, rocket launchers, and rifles. Opening her knapsack, she stuffed a small box with some of the grenades and put the box inside the main pocket of the knapsack. It barely fit. She wanted to be careful, unsure if the pins would stay in place. She didn't want to blow herself up accidentally.

Continuing down the aisles, she continued to scan the shelves, finding a stack of larger military backpacks. She pulled one off the shelf and added another box of grenades, then continued to study the contents of the shelves, hoping to find something better.

Mason jars in the back of the tent caught her attention. Moving toward the jars, she glanced at the shelves to each side of her, not seeing anything she wanted. Everything was weapons that the Ramesians had seen before.

When she got to the back of the tent, she scanned the small cluster of mason jars. Reading the handwritten labels, she smiled. They were poison-filled mason jars. There were only four jars, each a different poison. They even taped directions for use on the back of the jar. One was for dipping arrows and knives in. Another was for ingesting. Two identical jars were filled with syringes for injecting the poison. She filled the military backpack with all the jars. She didn't know which one she would use, so she decided to take them all.

Scanning the tent one last time, Aleigha silently left the tent and made her way back to the dome. She had three Ramesians to kill. They wanted her dead. She decided to make sure they died first.

Aleigha waited for it to get dark before she used her staff and slipped back inside, then headed for the tunnels. She wanted to stash her items in a hidden room that she hadn't had time to tell anyone about. She was glad she didn't. The hidden room even had a hidden compartment to store things that needed to stay hidden. It was perfect for what she wanted it for.

When she almost reached the tunnel's entrance, she saw that all the guards were watching her friends' homes. Their backs were turned, so none of them saw the door of the tunnel open and close again. She rushed toward the secret room that was nearly identical to the one the hidden city was in. It had the same invisible entrance. The dim yellow lights every few feet in the tunnel lit the way.

Passing the tunnel where the ladder was, the flour was still spread out on the floor, which she avoided; she continued past three more corridors before she turned and headed in another direction. Once she found the hidden entrance, she slid it open and dumped her knapsack and backpack on the floor inside.

There was a small panel in the wall that she slid open, invisible unless you knew it was there. She opened the hidden panel and put the bag of extra cloaking shields inside. She saved only one for use. If she had to sneak back in without one, she wanted to have them available. Since no one knew about the hidden room or the invisible compartment, it would ensure she had them available if she needed another one. After taking out four syringes from one of the jars and one of the bladed staffs she had, she stuffed the two bags and one of the other bladed staffs inside the compartment, then closed the panel tightly, making sure it couldn't be detected.

The only reason she knew the hidden compartment was there was that it was partially open when she found the hidden room.

Aleigha was hungry, but figured they would be keeping an eye on the use of the replicators inside the hidden tunnel city. It would tell them that she was down there. She didn't want that.

Making sure her cloaking shield was activated, she headed back to the tunnel entrance into the city. When she opened the door, she was relieved to find that the guards were still oblivious to her presence.

Scanning the area, her eyes rested on Keirn's dwelling. Aleigha wanted him to be first, but it needed to be Merrick. She had no choice because he was the only one who could have her killed on sight.

If any of the three of them were in a good position to take them out, she would, though. Merrick, Rask, and Keirn were dead if she found the perfect opportunity.

Medic Kaul needed to die, too, but she would save him for Jada.

No matter who they were to her, mate or not. All three of the others needed to die, just like what they said about her. They said she needed to die. Well, they would die first. Once they were all dead, she would go after Vorik. No matter what, he had to be last.

Aleigha headed toward the area where their dwellings were. When she rounded a corner between two dwellings, she found Keirn standing next to Council Leader Vorik. She nearly bumped into one of them, only stopping at the last second. Rask was standing next to Niki, who was holding her infant son, Drake. Merrik was holding Finn. They were speaking to Council Leader Vorik.

Aleigha pulled out one of the four syringes, silently opening the cap and preparing to jab the closest one to her. She couldn't kill Merrick while he was holding their son. It would put Finn in danger. Keirn and Rask's hands were empty. She could kill either one or both.

Silently moving toward the closest one, she held the open and ready syringe close to his neck.

Smiling, she pressed it inside and quickly pushed the plunger. Yanking it out as quickly as she could, at the same time, his hand flew to his neck. She was too fast; he didn't come close to the syringe.

Aleigha stepped back and watched. She didn't know what was in the syringe, nor what it would do. She hoped it would do what she needed it to do.

She watched as his face turned pale, the green tint of his skin going white. The black of his eyes rolled back. Only the slightly different dark gray that would be considered the whites of his eyes was the only color left. His body collapsed to the ground in a heap. Lightly tinted green foam poured out of his mouth.

"Medic!" Council Leader Vorik called through his Comm link. "Emergency in front of Rask's home!"

Medic Kaul's voice came over the comm link. "On my way!"

It was only a few moments later that Medic Kaul came rushing up with Medic Renn, with an emergency bag held tightly as they ran toward the fallen man.

"What happened?" Medic Kaul asked, ripping the front of Keirn's shirt open to get to his naked chest.

"I don't know, he just collapsed," Vorik stated, watching the two medics work. "Is he infected with the virus?"

While Medic Renn scanned Keirn, Medic Kaul quickly worked on him, trying to find what had happened.

Medic Renn studied the small screen on the scanner. "Something toxic is in his bloodstream," he notified them.

Medic Kaul quickly pulled a toxin siphon and started the procedure he used on all the humans who had been infected with the zombie toxin.

"There's no heartbeat," Medic Renn stated as he kept an eye on the scanner. His duty was to watch the scanner and keep Medic Kaul informed as new information was given.

Medic Kaul continued to siphon the toxin anyway as quickly as he could to save Keirn's life.

Everyone kept back, staying out of the way, letting the medics do their job.

Aleigha kept her distance. She wanted to know if what was in the syringe was effective. If it were, she could use the same method for the others. She smiled, 'they may even think it's a virus,' she thought to herself. The thought made her smile.

"The toxin is binding to his tissue, sir; the siphon isn't taking the toxin out of his blood. It's making it bind," Medic Renn informed, watching the small screen on the scanner intently.

Medic Kaul immediately pulled out the siphon, trying not to make the situation worse.

"There are no signs of life, sir," Medic Renn reported. "Keirn is dead."

Medic Kaul sat back on his heels and looked at Council Leader Vorik. "If whatever this is that is in him is contagious, we need to burn him as soon as possible, sir."

Council Leader Vorik immediately gave the order to start building a funeral pyre.

Aleigha stepped back, smiling. "One down, two to go," she whispered to herself. She stayed nearby. She didn't want to miss seeing him burn. Looking around her, her gaze stopped on Merrick and Rask. She knew one of them would be next. She smiled in anticipation.

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