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Ormore into it Maybe Marcus was e, so it wasoverly sensitive

"I couldn’t snificant skull fracture"

Pietro’s ht frown "And so you automatically assume he was a zo…didn’t the paramedics run an EKG strip on him?"

"Well, yes but--"

"With only a skull fracture he would still have heartbeat, though very slow," he said, and this ti sneer in his voice

I shot a look at Marcus, but he reave a slight shrug that was clearly er and betrayal swept through ue hard to hold back the urge to either cry or shout a bunch of curse words "Right Then I’ed

Pietro said nothing, but the look in his eyes echoed el, you’re one of us now That’s why you’re here We’rewith"

I took a deep breath to get ed emotions under control "What about the other zombies in the area? Have you warned them about Ed?"

Pietro nodded "The ones who are in our circle know"

"Your circle?" I echoed, frowning "What does that"He means we’ve contacted everyone we know for certain are zo sut

But I also knew that I’d be wastingmore questions "Gotcha," I said instead and did"Then we should rejoin the party" He lookedelse you wish to discuss?"

I shook my head He didn’t really want to discuss shit with ood" He beckoned to the door, and I er Marcus’s parents had already left by the ti I wanted to do was talk to anyone else anted to pin oal right noas to stay alive, to survive Pietro pulled Marcus aside at one point, and I escaped to the bathroo to talk to toothat people would wonder if I was sick Or, I realized later, doing drugs

Unfortunately, as soon as I came out of the bathrooel, I’lad I ran into you," she said with an earnest look "I think we got off on the wrong foot earlier"

I fixed as polite a s to make any sort of scene or be a bitch At least that’s what I told ht have even gushed it "Don’t be silly It’s fine," I insisted

She shook her head "No, I mean it I spend most of my time in a lab which means my social skills sometimes leave a lot to be desired And I realized that I probably…"

"Made me feel like an inadequate moron?" I finished

She flushed "God Yes I swear it wasn’t my intent"

I wasn’t sure if she really was as remorseful or uncomfortable as she appeared to be, but I went ahead and took satisfaction in it anyway "It’s cool I knohat I am"

Sofia smiled uncertainly, clearly not sure how she should take that "Oh Okay, well, again, I’ave a stiff nod "Sure I’ll even accept it" I folded ht I don’t have shit in the way of education I had a crap family life, and there was no one to tell e or any of that stuff And there sure as hell wasn’t anyone to help pay for it But it doesn’tto i me that I need to do it Justthat little detail

She blinked, silent for several seconds, then suarded expression I’d seen on her "Now I’h for you"

"I think we’rein her purse and fished out a business card "Look, here’ssoet off on a better foot?"

Not in this lifetiht, but I si in my purse for a scrap of paper and scrawled iving her irl-chat funtime over lattes, but it probably would’ve been insanely rude not to reciprocate

Thankfully, Marcus rounded the corner at the end of the hall and spiedall over for you," he said "You ready to go?"