Rowen eyed the raving Chinese man as the police and paramedics arrived on the scene. The similarity of their situation compared to the video Casey had showed her earlier was more than slightly disturbing. If the video had really been a fake, then what was wrong with this guy? Jason seemed to think he was on drugs, and it wasn’t unlikely—there were plenty of recorded cases where people went insane after taking strange chemicals—but she couldn’t shake the feeling of impending disaster that weighed heavily on her chest. There was just something so bestial about the way he was behaving. It was almost as if his sense of reason had disappeared.

Her mind wandered absently to something she had studied back in university. During a philosophy elective she had taken in her sophomore year, her class had covered something called the Porphyrian Tree. Based on the teachings of Aristotle, it was a diagram that separated and defined the different things that existed on the Earth. If something had substance, it was a material object; if the material object was sentient, it was an animal; and if the animal could reason, it was a human. The idea used to be so simple, but now that it seemed like the human ability to reason could be taken away, she didn’t know what to believe. Even if the animal couldn’t reason, it could still be a human. That was a frightening thought.

“Right, see you at work,” Rowen answered airily as Jason left the gas station. She let out a long exhale, glancing at her watch. It was only eight thirty, but she already wanted to go back to bed. [i]I need a coffee.[/i] She was already late for work, so taking a few more minutes to go through a Starbucks drive thru wouldn’t hurt anyone. After all, who would blame her for wanting some caffeine after the disaster she had just witnessed? She also felt entitled to a little reward after she tased that frothing maniac and stopped him from strangling Jason. [i]I may have saved an officer’s life today,[/i] she silently justified. [i]I think that deserves an espresso.[/i] Mind made up, she walked back to her car and headed to the nearest coffee house.

--

Rowen stepped through the door of the police station, coffee in hand and shoulders straight. She was feeling better now that she had had some time to clear her head, but unfortunately her recovery was short-lived. The station was in chaos. There were people shouting—both police and civilians—and a woman in cuffs screaming and writhing against the officers who held her back. Rowen stopped in her tracks and stared, wide-eyed, at the wild scene in front of her. [i]What’s going on around here? Everything was so peaceful yesterday. Why is everybody going crazy?[/i] Human behavior was her specialization, so it was even more frustrating that she couldn’t figure out what was happening.

“Ashworth! Where have you been?”

Rowen startled when Chief Wilson’s voice rang out over the commotion. He had appeared beside her while she was distracted by the shouting people in the station. “Sorry I’m late, sir,” she said. “What’s all this about?” She waved a hand at the chaos.

“What a mess,” the chief growled, raking his fingers through his thinning hair. He either didn’t hear Rowen or was ignoring her question. “First things first, Ashworth. I need to you help with the report on the car accident at the gas station this morning. Grantham already got it started.” He jabbed a thumb over his shoulder, indicating the meeting room on the other side of the building. “He’s in there.” With that, the chief left her and hurried to assist his officers with the raving woman.

Eager to get away from the crowd of angry people, Rowen headed to the meeting room, closing the door behind her. As chief Wilson had said, Jason was already inside with a partially completed police report. “Hey,” Rowen greeted him with a nod of her head. She took a seat across from the young officer, took a sip of her espresso, and grabbed a spare pen from a cup in the middle of the table. “The chief told me you already started the paperwork. What’s left?”