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And then the survivors go ho for their dead They take off their armor, and they clean their weapons, and uard or wipes his eyes with a hand that got a little too close to a leaking zombie Live viral particles hit the bloodstreains In an average-sized human adult, full conversion happens inside of an hour and the whole thing starts again, without warning, without reprieve The question “Johnny, is that you?” went from horror movie cliché to real-world crisis da the infected hand-to-hand

The closest call I’ve ever had caed to spit asafety goggles over lasses, I’d be dead Shaun’s come closer than I have; I try not to ask anymore I don’t really want to know

My armor and pants were clean I re, perfor the sa the thes revealed no unexpected smears or streaks of blood I already kneasn’t wounded; I’d cleared two blood tests since the field If I’d been so much as scratched, I’d have started amplification before we had hit Watsonville My socks, bra, and underwear joined the rest They hadn’t been exposed to the outside air That didn’tsterilized There are a lot of folks who advocate for sterilization outside the hoet shouted down by the people ant to keep it internal, since field sterilization—or even “front-yard chemical shower” sterilization—leaves the risk of recontaroups have been able to keep things deadlocked and we’ve been able to keep doing our self-examinations in relative peace

I stepped off the plastic sheet, folded it around my clothes, scooped it up, and carried it to the bedrooh to toss the whole bundle into the hauaranteed to neutralize any viral bodies clinging to the fabric, and the clothes would be ready to wear again by h to make my eyes burn I scrubbed at them with the back of my hand as I turned toward the bathroo now!” A thump on the wall answered me

Shaun and I share a private bathrooht shower system Another little requirement of the household insurance—since we leave safe zones all the time in order to do our jobs, we have to be able to prove we’ve been properly sterilized, and that ed computer verification of our sterilizations The bathroom started life as the closets of our respective bedrooms Personally, I consider this a hts switched to UV when my door opened I walked over and pressed ia Carolyn Mason”

“Accessing travel records,” the shower replied We don’t screith the shower the e screith the house system House security is kept at an absolute overnet in serious trouble if the records don’ta contamination risk are

The shower door unsealed “You have been exposed to a Level 4 hazard zone Please enter the stall for decontamination and sterilization”

“Don’t mind if I do,” I said, and stepped in The door shut behind ed

A stinging compound of antiseptic and bleach squirted fro me with icy spray I heldthe seconds before it would stop They can only legally bathe you in bleach for half a minute unless you’ve been in a Level 2 zone At that point, they can keep dunking you until they’re sure the viral blocks are clean Everyone knows it doesn’t do any good beyond the first thirty seconds, but that doesn’t stop people fro afraid

Travel in a Level 1 zonebut shoot you

The bleach stopped The upper nozzle caed but turnedfor the soap

“Clean,” I said, once the shampoo was out of my hair I keep it short for a variety of reasons Most have to do withfaster is also a definite er, I’d have to start using conditioner and a variety of other hair-care chee the bleach does every day My one true concession to vanity is dyeing it back to the color nature gave ed,” said the shower, and the water turned off, replaced by jets of air froood part of our shower syste only a little residual dampness in my hair The door unsealed, and I stepped out into the bathroo for ood buddies The solution: acid-based lotion, usually fore the bleaching does Professional swi, and everybody does it now It also helps to lend a standardized scent tag to people who have scrubbed themselves recently My lotion was as close to scentless as possible, and it still carried a faint, irritating hint of lemon, like floor cleanser

I worked the lotion into , “Shaun, it’s all yours!” I got the door closed as his was opening, spilling white light into the roo