I spent the next three days doing nothing but studying.
Marcus brought over all his data from tracking the corrupted people online. Forum posts, timestamps, account connections, everything he'd compiled over the past weeks.
I spread it all out across my apartment floor. Printed pages covering every available surface.
"What exactly are you looking for?" Marcus asked on day two.
"A pattern. Something that explains why the Whisperer does what it does."
I'd been going through each victim's timeline. When they first got corrupted. How long between infection and action. What they posted online before the coordinated attack.
The news was still covering the aftermath. Final death toll had settled at one hundred and twenty-three. Dozens more still in hospitals. The mayor had extended the curf
