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Bryn pulled over to the side of the road with a sudden jerk of the wheel, spewing gravel and bringing the truck to a juddering halt She bent forward and rested her forehead on the steering wheel, gasping for breath, gagging for it The wheel was gritty on her skin, coated with the sweaty, oily deposits of those who’d driven it before It stank of strangers, and she thought of her own skin rubbing off, joining this horrible anony down that hillside, ripping into the flesh of anecks and slicing flesh and the joy, the unclean joy of it made her stomach suddenly twist and try to escape

"Drink"

Patrick’s hand on the back of her head, gentle and steady His other holding the gallon of water, uncapped and ready She took it and gulped, gulped, trying to wash the taste of all of that away

All of her away

The water tasted like tears

She sat back, taking deep breaths, and said, "Dr Reynolds, we need to knohere to find the rest of the Fountain Group Please tell us where they are"

He turned that terribly dull look to her, and she saw hioodthat was going to happen to him But, like Thorpe, she couldn’t look into his eyes and not see herselfnot understand that hu into eternity, and she kne that felt

She kneould feel, when she arrived there It was sole human, even those like her, would eventually face

She couldn’t look at eternity and not feel small, and frail, and alone She had to reach out

"I’ers were liainst hers Not damp quite yet The skin still felt firm A near-perfect simulation of life "I’m so very sorry Please Please tell us before it’s too late You knohat’s going to happen to you You kno horrible it is You don’t want that for your children, too The Fountain Group--what they’re doing is evil You know that Somewhere deep inside, you know Listen to it"

"Bryn," Patrick said, and his warm hand cupped the back of her neck for a moment "He’s conditioned to respond You don’t have to convince him"

"I know," she whispered Tears blurred her vision "I want to convince hi breath It smelled of slow death and sickness "I don’t knohere they all are," he said "I’m sorry"

"Do you knohere any of them are?"

"Yes," Reynolds said And that was the moment when she knew she’d reached him, because even as she started to ask for the necessary clarification the conditioning requiredhe went on "Most of theon offices in San Francisco in a few days All the ones that matter will be there The others--the others are like Thorpe They don’t agree with the program They were outvoted" He sed She heard the wet, thick sound, and she re to pieces in slow, dreadful ive you everything"

She nodded "We will"

He held her gaze very steadily, and said, "Will you kill er for it Still hungry for pain and blood and flesh and screa

"Do you want me to?"

"No," he said "I’d rather live"

Still Even now

How veryhuman

"Then we’ll find a way to keep you alive," she told hiazes with Patrick on his other side "Soainback into the sparse traffic It was colder up here, and the skies were glooed clouds threatened rain, or snow, or worse

"Bryn?" Patrick said "San Francisco is the other way"

"I know," she said "But we have to go somewhere else first"

"Where?"