Chapter 11

Lake’s family had money and loved their only son, so it was no problem getting funding to open a shelter designed to assist people who’d lost their way. Lake and Oberon offered medical services free of charge, counseling, and legal advice.

Meanwhile, famine raged in food production areas across the globe. As scientists and farmers scrambled, a new strain of Ebola emerged in Africa and in the Middle East. Flus broke out in Europe and the Americas. Starvation and diseases killed tens of thousands.

And then, one spring day, a man walked into Heathrow Airport and released a lab-created, airborne strain of smallpox. At the same time in LAX, someone unleashed a manmade, airborne flu virus. Both culprits committed suicide, and the next day, the Era of Plagues began.

As the plague spread, the shelter was flooded with the sick. Oberon was immune to illness himself, but he couldn’t keep everyone else healthy and cure patients, so they had to turn the dying away in droves.