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I pulled the action figure from my pocket and thrust it into her face

It was the King, of course, in Comeback Special black, couitar This was my only keepsake from her former life - I&039;d stolen it fro by a week after Sarah had disappeared, instinctively knowing she wasn&039;t co of hers

Sarah howled, closing her fist and bringing it down onwith tears But her weight was suddenly gone

I rolled over, gasping, trying to regainfur in every direction, the rats in a panic at their mistress&039;s distress

She had started down the stairs, but now the anathema had taken hold of her mind The Elvis memorabilia I&039;d placed on the steps did its job - Sarah twisted ina rattlesnake, and crashed through the rickety banister

I scrae and looked down She crouched on one of the pews, glaring up at me

"Are you okay, Sarah?"

The sound of her own na room, bare feet silent on the backs of the benches But she stumbled to a halt as she ca poster, a horrible wail filling the echoing ter transformations, like when a forlorn cat suddenlythe cry of some other species

Rats swept toward ht for awithout purpose around h holes and into office doorways

As I ran down the staircase, the metal bolts that held it to the wall yanked at their berths in a screeching chorus Sarah darted fro&039;s face She froze and hissed at ain

She knew I had her cornered and watched warily as I put the doll back in my pocket

"Stay there I won&039;t hurt you" I slowly cli stairs It was about as steady as standing in a canoe

The round floor, Sarah ran straight toward the far wall She leaped high, her black claws grasping one of a web of steaernailssounds on the ehI hadn&039;t bothered to cover She moved like a spider, fast and jerky

There was no Elvis between her and freedo, I turned and dashed back up the swaying stairs A series of pops ca, and just as I reached the top, the whole staircase pulled away, freeing itself froround, just sagged exhaustedly, a few bolts still clinging to the upper floor like rusty fingernails

Sarah reached the highand put her fist through it, sray sky But as she pulled herself up into thefra her square in the face

The rosy light filled the ter fro She tried to hoist herself through the broken ice ht forced her back Finally she scurried away, fleeing along the pipes and leaping to the balcony, darting through the farthest doorway fro

The last office was the darkest, but I could smell the rats, the main nest of her brood When I reached the door they turned to face me in awful unison, red eyes illu in behind s covered with rotting clothes Most peeps didn&039;t bother with beds Had it been left here by squatters? Or had Sarah salvaged it from some rubbish heap?

She&039;d always been a fussy sleeper, bringing her own pillow to college from Tennessee Did she still care what she slept on?

Sarah watched me from the bed, her eyes half closed It was only because the sunlight had burned them, but it made her look more human

I approached carefully, one hand on the action figure in my pocket But I didn&039;t pull it out Maybe I could take her without any le She&039;d said my name, after all

Thefrom my pocket and e Cornelius&039;s dander My ancient cat hadn&039;t hunted in years, but the rats didn&039;t know that Suddenly, I s to the bed&039;s spindly fralove onto my left hand and dropped two knockout pills into its palive you these They&039;ll make you better"

Sarah squinted at otten to take her pills, and it had been my job to re reh to be an anathe as fast as it had during the chase

She could spring at me at any moment

I took another slow step and sat down beside her The bed&039;s rusty springssound

"Take these They&039;re good for you"

Sarah stared at the small white pills cupped inwhat it was like to be sick - just normal sick - and have a boyfriend look after you

I&039;, but I am pretty quick I cupped my hand over her mouth in a flash and heard the pills snick into her dehydrated throat Her hands gripped ht, letting her teeth savage the thick glove Sarah&039;s black nails didn&039;t go forher pale neck

The pills took her down in seconds With a ht away - I feel tipsy about a ue, and I da

"Well done, Sarah" I let her go and saw that her eyes were still open "You&039;ll be okay now, I prolove off The outer water-resistant layer was shredded, but her teeth hadn&039;t broken the Kevlar (It has happened, though)

My cell phone showed one lonely bar of reception, but the call went straight through "It was her Pick us up"

As the phone went dark, I wondered if I should have ure out how to get up

"Cal?"

I started at the sound, but her slitted eyes didn&039;t seem to pose a threat "What is it, Sarah?"

"Show ain"

"Show you what?"

She tried to speak, but a pained look crossed her face

"You ?"

She nodded

"You don&039;t want that It&039;ll only burn you Like the sun did"

"But Iher

I sed, feeling so flat and heavy settle over me "I know you do"

Sarah knew a lot about Elvis, but she enjoyed obscure facts the most She loved it that his mother&039;s middle name was Love She searched the Web for MP3s of the B-sides of rare seventies singles Her favorite movie was one that you&039;ve probably never heard of: Stay Away, Joe

In it, Elvis is a half-Navajo bronco buster on a reservation Sarah claimed it was the role he was born to play, because he really was part Native Arandreat-great-great-grandenetic impact there But Sarah didn&039;t care She said obscure influences were the most important

That&039;s a philosophy major for you

In the movie, Elvis sells pieces of his car whenever he needs o, then the roof, then the seats, one by one By the end he&039;s riding along on an e wheel, four tires and a sputtering engine on an open road

As the disease had settled across her, Sarah had held onto Elvis the longest After she&039;d thrown out all her books and clothes, erased every photograph from her hard drive, and broken all theto her walls, cru on As her mind transformed, Sarah shouted ht of

Finally, she fled, deciding to disappear into the night rather than tear down those slyly grinning faces she could no longer bear to look at

As I waited for the transport squad, I watched her shivering on the bed and thought of Elvis clutching the steering wheel of his skeletal car

Sarah had lost everything, shedding the pieces of her life one by one to placate the anathe to a shuddering, rickety frame