"Hey, Mom." Arin dropped to one knee in front of the gravestone, voice flat, eyes dead tired.
"Yeah, it's been a while." Rajiv's hand clamped on his shoulder, like he was holding him together.
"Shit's happened. New job, new site. Triple the pay, but it's still hell."
He turned away, jaw clenched. "Carter's still a dick. Maya quit her job—her boss actually helped, shocker."
He wiped his face.
"Had kung pao last week. Maya made it, can you believe that? Still won't touch meat herself. Miss your food, Mom." He sniffed, fighting it, but the tears won anyway.
"I'm sorry. I'm so fucking sorry, Ma. I should've been there. I should've done more. I should've—"
Rajiv pulled him into a sideways hug, and Arin just broke.
The sky went dark, like it was tired of pretending too.
Next Morning
Near the construction site, May 20, 2032
Carter, in his sweat-stained shirt and pants, wiped dust off his chest like it mattered. Buses lined up, ticking down the last 15 minutes before hell on wheels.
"Where the fuck are those idiots?" he muttered.
Right on cue, three shapes stumbled over—Arin, Rajiv, Maya, all dragging enough bags to invade a small country.
Arin groaned, "Babe, you sure we need all this?"
Maya rolled her eyes. "If you hate it so much, toss it. I dare you."
Rajiv just laughed, nervous as always.
Carter scowled. "Took your lazy asses long enough."
Arin forced a smile. "We're on time, Carter."
Maya shot Carter a look that could kill. She faked a smile so hard it probably hurt.
Carter ticked their names off his list, thinking, Why do I even bother?
Rajiv dumped the bags, and they all filed onto the bus. Rajiv waved at Eli, the old man three rows back.
"Hey Eli, not bringing the wife?"
Eli just shook his head, eyes hollow. "She can't handle the trip. But the treatment's working. Sort of."
Rajiv squeezed his shoulder. No words left.
Up front, Carter grabbed the mic. "Alright, listen up! You're all headed to Sector 51. No planes, just twelve days of ass-numbing bus seats. Company's paying, so don't bitch."
Grumbles rose.
"Road? That's too far.""How many days?""Fuckin' hell, I'm glad I left that bitch behind," one worker whispered, grinning to his buddy.
Carter's eyes swept the bus like a drill sergeant. "Twelve days. That's right. Twelve. Fuckin'. Days."
Arin groaned quietly. Maya shot him a sideways smirk.
"Yeah! Road trip!" some kid up front shouted.
Carter kept going. "Two more convoys behind us, food and bills covered. So buckle up for the road trip from hell."
The bus jerked to life.
Meanwhileat Chinese National Biotechnology Research Institute (CNBRI)
If the world outside was collapsing, the CNBRI felt like the last lighthouse standing in a storm that wanted to swallow the planet whole.Inside, under layers of security and behind reinforced glass, teams of white-coated scientists hustled through echoing halls, faces tight with stress, shoulders stiff with exhaustion. Petri dishes clinked, centrifuges whirred, data streams flickered across holographic displays.
Inside one of the biosecure greenhouses, things were… unsettling.
Rows of mutated crops stretched under bright artificial lights. Some leaves twisted like corkscrews, others pulsed faintly, as if they were breathing. Corn with bark-like skin. Strawberries that reeked of iron instead of sweetness. Tomatoes oozing a viscous, black liquid no one dared taste.
"Goddamn it," muttered Dr. Natalia Petrova, her Russian accent sharp as she jabbed her tablet. "These sequences make no sense. They're adapting faster than our edits can catch up. It's like they're… learning."
Dr. Liu Feng, head researcher, didn't look up from his microscope. His calm face was carved from stone, but the death-grip he had on his pen said everything."We're losing the race," he murmured.
Near them, Dr. Rahul Iyer—Indian agronomist, expert on plant genetics, and today's honorary pessimist—folded his arms."This was supposed to be random mutation. Post-Shift chaos, sure, but this?" He shook his head. "This isn't natural evolution. Something's forcing the change."
Feng finally looked up. His eyes were tired, and underneath that—fear."It's not just the crops."He let the words hang, heavy."The microbial samples… they're changing too."
The entire group went still.
Petrova exhaled sharply, raking a hand through her blond hair. "No. No, no, no. Don't even say it."
Feng gave her a grim look."If the bacteria and viruses start mutating at this rate…"
Rahul finished the sentence for him, voice low."…we're looking at a second pandemic."
Silence. Thick enough to choke on.
Petrova dropped into a chair, tapping rapidly through sequencing data. "With the state the world's in, we can't afford even one outbreak, let alone a global one."
Rahul sighed. "What's causing it? Radiation? Climate shifts?"
Feng hesitated. That was the scariest part."The best theory we have? The Shift didn't just relocate Earth across the galaxy. It changed the very environment we live in. New radiation. New physical constants. The laws of biology might be rewriting themselves."
Petrova let out a sharp, humorless laugh. "Great. The universe is gaslighting us."
Before anyone could add more bad news, a voice crackled over the intercom:
"The committee is ready for your report."
United Front Committee Boardroom
Inside the high-security meeting room, Zhang Wei sat like a statue at the head of the polished conference table. China's top diplomat, head of the United Front's research committee, and a man so famously unreadable, people joked he had his poker face surgically installed.
Next to him, Arjun Mehta, India's foreign affairs chief, leaned forward with restless energy. Across the table, Dmitry Volkov from Russia brooded like a bear denied his vodka, and the African Union's representative, Nandi Okoye, tapped a pen impatiently.
They didn't wait long.
Dr. Liu Feng led the scientist team in, cleared his throat, and launched straight in."Honorable committee, we've confirmed that biological mutations across Earth's flora and microbial life are accelerating. Our genome-editing tech is starting to fail. The organisms are adapting too quickly."
He tapped his console, projecting images onto the room's main screen: writhing plants, corrupted bacterial chains, mutating viral strands.
Arjun frowned. "Primary cause?"
Petrova stepped forward, voice brisk. "Combination of climate chaos and unidentified radiation exposure. Not just random changes—forced adaptation."
Zhang Wei narrowed his eyes. "Forced by what?"
Silence.Not one scientist could answer. And that was maybe the most terrifying thing of all.
Rahul finally spoke, his voice grim. "If this spreads to human pathogens, we won't be dealing with a food crisis. We'll be facing mass death."
Volkov scowled. "You're saying we're staring at a second extinction event?"
Liu Feng hesitated. Then, quietly, he nodded."Yes. One wrong mutation, and we're finished."
The air in the room seemed to thicken. For a long moment, no one moved, no one breathed.
Finally, Zhang Wei leaned forward, steepling his fingers."What do you propose?"
Petrova didn't miss a beat. "Immediate biosecurity lockdown. Quarantine new mutations. Deploy rapid-response teams to agricultural centers. And, bluntly, we need a dedicated microbial task force before we end up buried under another plague."
Arjun gave a sharp nod. "India can provide scientists and containment crews."
Volkov crossed his arms. "Russia will fund and reinforce the efforts."
Nandi Okoye added firmly, "The African Union will protect critical food sources. We cannot survive another famine."
Zhang Wei listened to them all. Then he stood, his voice cold, sharp, and cutting through the tension like a blade.
"The United Front approves these measures. Failure is not an option."