The Queen prepares for war.

Julie smiled up at Aries lovingly as he flew away to fend off Hermes' attack. “Very well, my love,” she purred while stroking one of her plant’s vines, “Then they will know me as Aphrodite.”

Still tender from her lovemaking, the lovely Nymph stored the vial in one of her plants. She would decide what to do with it later, but for now, she had to deal with the blockade. During her time trapped in captivity, she had put a bit more focus on creating new mutants that were strong enough to fight, as well as a few new breeds of plants.

***

At the blockade, a lovely red-haired woman dressed in hazmat gear rushed into the command vehicle, a large armored van with an airtight seal. From here, her team has been keeping watch over the new strain of the virus and ensuring that it doesn’t spread any further. For this task, they came equipped with mostly flamethrowers, a salt-based chemical compound, and drones. They thought they had been able to keep it contained within college grounds, but lately they had found evidence that the roots had been going under them.

Dr. Lara Pierrat had been trying to find out just how wide-spread the roots were by sending drones and research teams into the woods. Though most of their drones were destroyed, either by the plants or the mutants, they were able to find the oldest tree in the woods and possibly the starting place of this new infection. She had sent a small team inside the woods to scan the tree roots, but lost contact with them over an hour ago.

She was coming up with a new plan of action when word reached her that the company had just acquired a large number of tanks from the local government and was in the process of eradicating the virus in the city. This was not what Lara wanted to hear. The woods had been docile, most likely because they had been keeping their distance, but a full-scale **** on the city would probably change that.

After staying in the decontamination chamber for about three minutes, Lara stepped out and removed her helmet. She then walked up behind one of her assistants, operating the radio. “Were you able to reach headquarters, Ruri?” she asked in a panicked tone.

Ruri, a slender Asian girl, took off her headset and turned to Lara, “Yes, ma'am. They called us a few minutes ago.” She then flicked a switch on her console, putting headquarters on speaker. “Go ahead, sir.”

After a brief pause, they heard a gruff voice on the other end, “Dr. Pierrat, what is the status of the second strain?”

“The woods and the mutants are still contained,” said Lara, “However, we have yet to find out just how deep the roots go. I was going to recommend using sonar until I heard you were attacking the city. Sir, I really don’t think that’s such a good idea. 63X-2 has been positively dormant over the past few days, but attacking 63X-1 might aggravate it.”

“As I understand it, you found the original tree that was infected,” her employer replied, “We already have a plan in place to get rid of it.”

Lara and Ruri traded bewildered looks. “Sir?” Lara asked him.

“From our research, Patient Zero can control the virus and organize its spread,” he continued, “To that end, we believe that our best course of action is to destroy Patient Zero. The mutants will become disorganized and easier to exterminate.”

“So, you are launching a full-scale **** to kill Patient Zero?” said Lara dumbfounded.

“The attack is to draw out 63X-1’s host,” he continued, “63X-2 will be more straight forward. Your Patient Zero is a tree, and unless it somehow sprouts legs and walks away, a single napalm bomb should be enough to destroy it.”

“Sir, we don’t even know if the tree by the boy’s dorm is Patient Zero,” stated Lara, “In fact, we know even less about this new strain than we do the original. If you give us more time to study-”

“We don’t have time!” he snapped at her, “The original host of the virus has all but taken the city, and we are getting a few isolated reports of it outside the quarantine. We have found a quick and easy way of eradicating this thing before it turns into another COVID-19, and I intend to act on it.”

Lara was about to respond when they heard a loud banging on the side of the vain. “Dr. Pierrat!” they heard a man shout, “Movement in the woods!”