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I sat with , and waited for Buffy to tellwith the Dead

You tell the truth as you see it, and you let the people decide whether to believe you That’s responsible reporting That’s playing fair Didn’t your parents teach you anything?

—GEORGIA MASON

Daras right Death doesn’t play fair

—STACY MASON

To explain s for Senator Peter Ryman, I must first note that I aood to be true, in enerally is It is thus with the natural cynicis stateolden boy, is too good to be true

As a lifelong member of the Republican party in an era when half the party has e dead are a punishment from God and we poor sinners dom of Heaven, it would be easy for hins of it He is friendly, cordial, intelligent, and sincere enough to convince this reporter, even at three in thewhen the convoy has broken down in the e has turned saltier than the Pacific tide Rather than preaching da for a “war on the undead,” he reco our defenses and the quality of life in the still-inhabited zones

He is, in short, a politician who understands that the dead are the dead, the living are the living, and we need to treat both with equal care

Ladies and gentle skeletons in his closet, it is my present and considered belief that he would make an excellent President of the United States of Ain to repair the social, econoe that has been done by the events of these past thirty years Of course, that can only es May Disturb You,

the blog of Georgia Mason, February 5, 2040

Seven

The civic center had been prepared for Senator Ry chairs and video screens angled to broadcast his ie all the way to the rear of the cavernous room Speakers were mounted every fifth row to make sure his words remained crystal clear as they fell upon the ears of the twenty or so brave souls who had actually dared to come hear him speak The attendees were clustered in the front four rows, leaving the back of the rooe, security folks, and, of course, the three of us Put together, we outnu public almost two to one

Not that this was a unique occurrence We’d seen this scene play out in nearly two dozen states and more than three times as many locations in the six weeks since we had left California People don’t come out to “press the flesh” the way they used to, not even for the pri it all the way to the presidential elections They’re too worried about contagion and too afraid that the weird guy who keepsto himself isn’t actually insane—there’s always a chance that he’s going through massive viral amplification and will take a chunk out of someone at any moment The only safe people are the ones you knoell that they can’t surprise you with the personality changes the virus causes during replication Since few people have enough close personal friends to fill an auditorius have been going unobserved Judging by the ratings, page hits, and downloads, the cahest viewer numbers since Cruise versus Gore in 2018 People want to kno it’s going to turn out There’s a lot riding on this election Including, incidentally, our careers

Shaun’s always said that I take things too seriously; since the start of the caically removed to make room for more anal-retentiveness Anyone else who said that would probably have gotten slapped, but from Shaun, I had to ads up to hi we didn’t mind the lack of privacy until we died Someone has to watch the botto to Buffy, I stage-whispered, “How do our nu rapidly across her phone The data feed wasit, but it obviouslyto Buffy because she nodded, with a s at a sixty percent local audience on the video feed, and we just hit top six percent on the Web The only candidate getting a higher feed ratio is Congresswo in the actual polls”

“And we knohy she’s getting the feeds, now, don’t we children?” drawled Shaun, continuing to test the links in his favorite chain-ht pliers

I snorted Word on the blog circuit is that Kirsten “Knockers” Wagery before she went into politics, acting under the assuraphic, looking good islike you have two brain cells to knock together That worked for a while—it got her a seat in Congress, partially because people enjoy looking at her—but it isn’t going to get her very far in a presidential race Especially not now that she’s up against folks who understand the issues

Senator Ryman didn’t appear to have noticed the emptiness of the hall or the nervous expressions on his few actual, physical attendees Most were probably local politicians co out to show that they believed in the safety of their community, since several of them looked like they’d explode if you snuck up behind the tone of voice Most, not all There was one little old lady, at least seventy years old, sitting dead center in the front row She held her purse primly in her lap, lips set into a thin, hard line as she watched Senator Ryh his paces She didn’t look nervous at all If any zombies tried to invade this political event, she’d probably wind up giving the them back outside to wait their turn