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This blood, the blood in the gutters don, is less than a year old This place is arim sombreness in the air

But it explains why there are so s, and why they are so active

There were survivors here, Moses says Till not so long ago

How can you tell? the girl says

I can tell

Could there be sos

There could be, he says We’ll keep an eye out

Is it too dangerous? she says Should we go back?

Moses shrugs again

Everywhere’s dangerous Just different kinds is all Abrahah most varietals Six of one, half-dozen of the other

They drive until Moses finds what he’s looking for: a hospital But the place is blasted through, burned down to its eeable So he looks for the next best thing, a drugstore, but those too see ti while

No luck, Moses says to his brother We may have to do it on pure nerve

We done it before, Abrahaot lots of nerve left, I reckon

So they find a place that looks shut up tight, a hotel, and they clih a second-storeyand hoist themselves in Then they kick the dumpster away so that they won’t be followed

Inside, the building is deserted They sit Abrahareen upholstered couch with a filigreed back, and then Moses and the girl light candles to search the dark back rooms

In the abandoned bar, they find thole bottles of Jameson’s

It’s Abrahaht into anaesthesia

You think they have any canned food? the Vestal asks All I’ve been eating is beans and garden fruit for weeks That’s probably the kitchen back there

And she pushes through a swinging door into the next rooet et

He peruses the bar soone or sister with a drawer full ofin his long-ago childhood – but now they are the last thing the survivors are interested in lugging around They , but that’s about it

When he pushes through the swinging doors into the kitchen, he spots the Vestal on one end, leaning deep into a cupboard and sifting through its contents On the other end of the kitchen, on his hands and knees, is a slug It’s an ancient rey and shrivelled and flaking as though he werestuffedMoses notices when he steps into the kitchen is that the slug is not rily towards the Vestal It seeue interest in the sudden movement around his stare at night-time stars or at television screens that have not yet burned out or even at each other – siirl is soeously, beyond their appetite

And it is just her, because when the slug sees Moses, he i out his grey bony fingers with the little strength he has left in his desiccatedwould consuht up And yet it has no interest in the redhead wearing the white robes

Moses takes an iron skillet fro’s skull The head caves in easily, the slug collapses on his stomach, and whatever small amount of blood there is slowly oozes out of its ears and nose

Startled, the girl e, Moses says, pointing

Oh, I didn’t see it

You should be s Look what I found

She holds out a jar of olives in oil

When was the last time you had an olive? she asks

I don’t care for olives, he says

Look at you! she says Sohty mister with tastes! Well, some of us can’t afford to have picky palates

She tries to pry the lid off the jar, but it’s on tight She holds the jar between her knees and leans over, getting her whole back into the project, but the lid won’t budge Then she knocks the lid against an aluminium tabletop, and all the discarded utensils on the table shudder and rattle like bones But when she tries again, there’s still no movement

Moses watches the entire process until she looks up at hi jar in front of her like an infant baby

Will you open it for et that bullet out of er keep his head froe of his neck Then they lay hiuest rooms on the first floor, and Moses reaze? says the Vestal Amata, but Moses can tell it is said in jest She has rested the big jar of olives, still unopened, on the night stand

Moses puts towels under his brother’s legs and uses a steak knife from the kitchen and a claw-like instru the bullet out At the first thrust of the knife into the bloody hole, Abraham screams loudly then passes out The rest of the operation takes place in silence, the Vestal co the wound firht in ripped towels and let Abrahairl says Do you have anything for the pain?

Aspirin, Moses says, but not h worse

Then Moses goes to the olive jar on the night stand and uses the pressure of his thick paws to wrench the lid free