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She didn’t understand She didn’t want to understand Her heart was pounding--if she were dead, her heart shouldn’t be beating, right? But she could feel it She could feel everything She was thirsty, for God’s sake

She was alive

"You brought

"To ask me questions"

"Questions you haven’t yet been able to answer," he said "Which is a problem for us both, you see I s go, I really don’t have any justification to give you a second shot Unfortunately, that means you face a very difficult five or six days while the nanites completely shut down, and you … continue on the natural path of decay We don’t really know if consciousness survives during that process, but I’ we can tolight: Mr and Mrs Jones The drug Mr Fairview de weakly in its bag

That’s going to be me

"No!" she burst out "No, you can’t do this to me! You son of a bitch, you can’t just letthat I can use to keep you alive," he said, and for a second, his hard shell of reserve cracked "Please Miss Davis Tell "

She sed hard, squeezed her eyes shut, and then opened the ten thousand dollars, and five hundred per shot I saw him with someone named Mr Jones His wife needed the shot And … he’d lost his job He tried to grab the drugs, but Mr Fairview shot hies for a rabbed a deep breath to steady herself "They put Mrs Jones in a body bag She was still alive Still , anyway"

There was a flash of horror across the man’s expression that made him seem, at least in that moment, human "I’m sorry," he said, "but that doesn’t help us Did you hear Mr Fairview say anything about where he was obtaining the drugs …?"

"No," she said "I don’t know anything about that" And she realized, with a sinking sensation, that she’d just doo he didn’t already know

He see, silent moment, and then he turned and headed for the door

"Wait," she said "At least tell me your name"

She didn’t think he would It was probably easier for him if he didn‘t But he surprised her "My name is Patrick McCallister," he said "I’m the chief of security for Pharmadene"

"What’s Pharmadene?"

"The co that we gave you to bring you back"

"You ain," she said

He unclipped his badge and swiped it through a strip reader next to the door The door clicked open "Unless I find a good reason to give you the next shot," he said "Yes"

She watched the door slowly close, and then lowered her head to the clean, soft pillow

I’ht Damn it, I’m alive

For five more days, anyway

Chapter 3

There was no way to tell time in the sterile little room Bryn was trapped inside She wasn’t restrained, at least; that was so There was a small, bland little toilet area off thealmost alive ca whether they’d lied to her, ifwith her; she didn’t feel different She felt fine

She was alive; screhat McCallister had said This was all bullshit, and they were just trying to scare her She’d blacked out when Freddy had been suffocating her with the bag; that was all--sootten it off of her in time, and she’d been unconscious for a while, but she was okay now Nothing weird about any of it

In fact, she was no longer sure she’d even seen what she thought she had Mrs Jones had probably just been a junkie, sick with need And the body in the bag … No, that had just been a deco special about it It hadn’t moved It hadn‘t

It couldn‘t

Bryn flexed her hand, staring down at it Saernails, topped with the same chipped pearl-pink polish Same flexors and extensors and muscles and bones Saht a piece of flying shrapnel froht back from the war

Not dead

There was a camera in the corner of the room, and Bryn stood and faced it, head raised She felt cold, but defiant "McCallister," she said "I’m not dead I’ it, all right? Just let n whatever forms you want Nondisclosure Whatever"