It was a struggle to get Lillian to the car. Carrying her through the forest at night was an intense experience for Jack. He had no clue where he was or where he was going, and if he was alone, he was sure he would get lost. But he was with Hunter, and Hunter knew exactly where they were heading. After some time stumbling around in the dark, they finally started to hear booming music coming from the party.

"Oh, thank God." Jack sighed. "Hang in there baby, we're almost there."

Lillian had no way of answering. She was out cold, her breathing quick and faint. The huge bloodstain on her shirt was only a fraction of the amount she had coughed up earlier, and Jack was very worried that she wouldn't make it.

The party was still going hard when Hunter and Jack reached the parking area. There were a couple of college students spread out on the grass, all fated to wake up with terrible hangovers on the next day. Those who were still conscious didn't bat an eye at the two men putting an unconscious woman into the backseat of an orange Mustang. It was every man for himself when taking care of drunk friends.

With Lillian safe in the backseat and Jack in the passenger seat,  Hunter started the engine and zoomed out into the mountain road that he had taken to the secluded party.

"The nearest hospital is 26 minutes away." Jack said while checking routes on his phone.

"We're not going to the hospital." Hunter said, keeping his eyes glued to the road.

"What are you talking about? She's dying! She needs help!"

"They won't know what to do with her. I know a guy who will."

"You aren't taking her in for experiments, are you?"

"No. I'm taking you both in."

"What?? No! You can have me, but you can't have her. Turn this fucking thing around and get her to a hospital!"

Jack grabbed the wheel in an act of blind desperation and yanked it sideways, nearly sending the car flying off the road. Hunter held on tight to the wheel and kept it was straight as he could under Jack's wheel.

"Let go of the damn wheel!" Hunter shouted.

"Only if you turn us around and take her to the hospital!"

"I'm warning you, let go."

"No!"

Hunter grabbed his revolver, which he had tucked into jeans, and smacked the butt of it into the back of Jack's head. Jack and fell back into his seat without a sound. 

"You better not die on me." Hunter muttered to himself.

The Agency demanded that any target suspect of being infected with an alien pathogen had to be delivered to one of many designated medical officers. Luckily for Hunter, he knew one such agent that lived in a house some twenty minutes up the mountain road. Hunter didn't know him personally, but knew of his existence due to location briefing.

A rusty old gate appeared like a phantom on the right side of the road, one of many that popped up every couple minutes. There was nothing special about this one, save for the old lamp post that stood right beside it. It was a cheap lamp post, one that that could be bought at any local land scape store. What drew Hunter's eye to it was the flashing light bulb that looked like it would go out any minute. 

The light flashed in a code that Hunter knew very well. He studied the length of each flash carefully, taking note of the pause between every few flashes. After a minute observing the light, he was able to put together the message in Morse. The message was this: I am something that people celebrate or resist. I change people's thoughts and lives. I am obvious to some people, but to others, I am a mystery. What am I?

Hunter smiled and drove through the gate, which swung open with no resistence. He drove up the path leading to a two story house that was shrouded in darkness. The only light available was faint, and came from two windows on the second floor. The windows looked like eyes from Hunter's perspective, a fact that made him chuckle.

"This guy sure is dramatic." Hunter said as he pulled up into the house's drive way.

Hunter stepped out of the car and walked up to the house's front door. He rang the buzzer and stood listening for the sound of footsteps on the other side. He waited a moment, than rang it again. The door suddenly flew open, and Hunter was met with the barrel of shotgun pointed right at his face.

The wielder of the shotgun was a woman in her mid 50s. Her dark colored hair was starting to show evidence of gray around the area of her temples, and the bags under her eyes suggested she had seen a recent deal of great stress.

"If it's a party you're looking for, it's further down the road." The woman said with a strong voice.

"Hm. Now I get why you put up that riddle." Hunter said, amused.

"I beg your pardon?"

"Something that people celebrate or resist. The answer to that riddle is age, something it looks like you're starting to resist, although you look pretty good for your age, all things considered. How old are you? 54? 56?"

"55." The woman said, lowering her shotgun. "You must be Agent Black. The men up top warned me you were a little shit."

"They said that? What a bunch of jerks. Call me Hunter."

Hunter offered his hand.

"Agent Kidman." Kidman took Hunter's hand and gave it a firm shake. "Who are those two in the car?"

"Two recent Compadian victims, a male and female. The girl is coughing up blood."

"Does she have a fever?"

"No."

"Bring them inside."

Hunter went back to the car and picked up Lillian first. He put her on her shoulders and went back towards the house. He stepped into the living room and was surprised to see how nicer it was than in his imagination. A red turkish rug sat in the middle of the room, and above it hung a crystal chandelier. The light from chandelier was fitted with old school incandescent light bulbs, giving the room a nostalgic yellow tinge. Oakwood furniture and a large book case rounded out the room's classic look.

"Where do you want her?" Hunter asked, not daring to out her down on the expensive looking rug.

"The elevator, please." Kidman replied as she emerged from the kitchen with a glass of wine in her hand.

"I see I'm not the only agent who doesn't drinks on the job."

"Every agent drinks on the fucking job."

Hunter laughed and made his way to the elevator next to the staircase. The elevator was an ancient steel beast that looked like it was at least 70 years old. Kidman pushed away the middle grate that gave access to the inside, allowing Hunter to step in. He set Lillian gently on the floor, noticing how her breathing had gotten weaker.

"Put this back in the kitchen please." Kidman said, handing the wine glass to Hunter. "Don't break it."

"Yes ma'am."

Hunter stood and watched as Kidman knelt beside Lilian. Kidman gently raised one of Lillian's eyelids with her index finger and shone her phone's flashlight at the nearly lifeless eyes.

"Her pupils aren't reactive. Could be brain swelling. Bloody cough, brain swelling, she doesn't look too good. I hope to God this isn't viral. How is the male doing?"

"He's fine. I just hit him in the head to shut him."

"He better be alive, for your sake."

"Well, if he isn't, my job here is done."

"Not until you get my clearance."

Hunter cursed under his breath and put the wine glass back in the kitchen. He washed his hands in the sink and ate a few cookies from a jar sitting on one of the shelves, without alerting Kidman, of course. He couldn't bare to get a talking to for taking cookies without permission. He was so close to completing his task, and here he was, taking orders from some grumpy middle aged bitch! He cursed himself for not just shooting Jack and Lillian earlier, but he knew it wasn't as simple as that. If an alien virus had broken out in the area of the party, he knew the Agency would come for him.

They would send one of those reptiles after me, Hunter thought with a shudder.

"You sure took your sweet time." Kidman said as Hunter set Jack in the elevator.

Hunter said nothing and crossed his arms as the elevator went up. It went up past the second floor and stopped in the attic, which had been transformed into a makeshift laboratory. Multiple shelves of medical and scientific instruments lined opposite walls of the lab, while the wall across from the elevator was dedicated to housing a few computer racks and some monitors.

"Set them down there and there." Kidman said, pointing to the two operating tables sitting in the center of the lab. She took long strides towards the shelves and immediately got to work on picking out which instruments she would need. "Let's find out what's wrong with them, shall we?"