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"They’re here," she said, but her eyes darted away for a "

Nix hesitated "Okay," she said eventually "Let et your robe and mask"

"Mask?"

"Everyone has to wear theit’s easier if you see it"

Nix helped him stand and put on a robe made of heavy wool Then she took a blue cotton mask and tied it around his mouth and nose She put one on too

"Sanctuary isn’t exactly e thought it was," she said, and her voice sounded ready to crack

Nix slowly pushed back the curtains, and Benny stared wide-eyed

They were in a vast roo and huge s at either end

"It used to be an airplane hangar," she explained "There are eight like this one And more on the other side of the compound"

Benny hardly heard her He stared numbly at the rows of cots that stretched froar to the other Every bed was filled Some of the beds were screened off, as his had been Most were not, and ures lay as still as death Farther down the row, separated by a line of sawhorse barricades, was a larger screened-off area Benny heard continuous coughs co from there Everywhere there were soft cries, the sound of weeping, moans of pain Way-stationthe patients, hand-feeding the to people who seeness above their beds

"Oh ar All the hangars are full"

Benny was appalled "What is this place? Nix, this isn’t right I thought there was a lab where they were studying the plague, trying to cure it"

"That’s the other Sanctuary," said Nix "The labs are on the other side of the compound I’ll show you"

They walked slowly between the rows Benny’s balance was bad and his legs weak, but Nix supported hireat care Solazed with pain or bleak with despair

"Who are these people?"

"Refugees fro a lot of thes some"

"Did the reapers do all this?"

Nix shook her head "Benny, after First Night, there were no real hospitals left No factories to s No local doctors to prescribe the, even simple infections, went crazy It’s like this everywhere People are dying everywhere faster than the zoms can kill them The monks can’t help everyone They aren’t real doctorsthey’re just monks They have a few places like this"

"Hospitals?"

She gave another sad shake of her head They paused to look at an old man who lay curled into a fetal position, his skin mottled with dark blisters

"It’s a hospice, Benny This hangar is a healing place, but not the others Thepeople here to take care of the"

"Where are the doctors and nurses?"

"There are no doctors on this side of the compound The doctors and the scientists are all in a different hangar In what they call a clean facility Almost no one’s allowed in except for the research field tea isonce a patient goes into the clean facility, they’re not allowed out again"

"Why not?"

"Becausestudied They’re trying to cure the Reaper Plaguee’ve always called the zo to cure all these diseases They’ve even coive them to the monks Not everyone who comes here dies"

"But most do?"

She nodded sadly "By the time most people come here, they’re already so sick All the monks can do is make theh to hang on it

"They’re doing what they can"

They walked toward the exit doors One or two of the patients nodded to hih he wasn’t sure what that silent conified Maybe, We’re not dead yet

It was horrible

"I’ and souy Joe, maybe? I have this weird memory about a Zombie Card"

"That’s hi the head of a teaers "He used to be a bounty hunter up around our hich is how he knew Too and went south Bennythere’s a kind of government It’s small, but it’s there They call it--"

"--the American Nation We saw it on the plane"

"It’s real," she said "They only have about a hundred thousand people so far,for ether"

Benny thought about his dream, about what Tom had said

"I hope not," he said "They need tobetter"

Nix’s green eyes glittered as she studied him; then she nodded

They walked on until they reached the end of the big hangar The sadness of it all was a crushing weight on Benny His heart hurt worse than his head, and he wanted to go back to his cot, pull the blankets over his head, and let all this go away That was ih, and he knew it

Nix opened the door, and they stepped out into the sunlight

Benny blinked and held a hand up to shade his eyes As he adjusted to the glare, he saw that they stood outside the first in a row of ars Monks walked slowly in and out of the buildings The grounds outside were planted with herbs, and there were rock gardens with benches for ars held horrors inside

Nix pointed at the other buildings, each of which had a large nu One is for patients they think will recover Mostly injuries, animal bites, or people wounded by reaper attacks"

"What about the other buildings?"