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"Then I die"

"Don’t do this"

"Take me to Uncle Gary’s room" The CDC people had shooed her out earlier, but by now et back in "I want to be with him, no matter what happens"

Asa’s dark eyes flashed with eer read "I’ll come with you as far as I can"

Mateo dashed out onto the beach to see--a hellscape That was the only word for it He could hardly tell the s ocean that stretched out to a dark horizon

And you’re going to go out on that in a boat? said the part of his brain that still wanted to think he lived in a normal world

But he ran for the nearest boat, untied the ether Verlaine and Asa ran up the stairs, which was faster by far than waiting for the glacially slow hospital elevators As Verlaine’s Converse pounded the concrete steps, she noticed how lightly Asa ran, as though he had no weight at all As if he could almost fly

She felt as if she had never understood Asa before thisno That wasn’t right She had always understood him, from the first monation within Asa But she hadn’t dared to trust what she knew until now

They eed onto the fourth floor, Verlaine breathless, Asa not even beginning to tire When they burst through the doors, though, a sroup of CDC doctors down the hall whirled around to look at them "Hey," one woht his hands together--and like that, time stopped She turned to him and smiled, and he smiled back tentatively, as if he still couldn’t believe she trusted him "Come on," he said, and they hurried down the hall

Uncle Gary lay in his hospital bed For a split second the stillness of the heart ave her pause, but of course, tiht between heartbeats