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There was blood around his mouth Blood around his mouth, and blood on the seat belt, and blood on the seat where Buffy had been sitting

“Cause of death?” I asked, as analytically as I could

“Impact trauma,” said Shaun The creature that had been Chuck hissed at hi to moan Unconcerned, Shaun raised his pistol and fired The bullet hit the zo to reach us, going lie of its second, final death was trans as if he’d never paused, Shaun said, “It uy Amplification would have been over in minutes”

“Source of the blood?”

Shaun looked toward me, and then back to Buffy, as still down on her knees in the broken glass, hugging herself and coughing “He didn’t have tily endlessinto the cab of the truck Chuck re, anything, I could use to explain the blood away A scalp wound, maybe, or a nosebleed that started when he hit his head and didn’t stop until he reani Just one ser seat that didn’t match to any visible wounds

I turned to Buffy, numbly unsurprised to see that Shaun had his pistol out My feet crunched on the glass as I walked over to her “Buffy? Can you hear me?”

“I’m dead, not deaf,” she said, and lifted her head Tears had left clean trails through the soot staining her cheeks “I hear you just fine Hi, Georgia Is everyone all right? Is is Chuck ?”

“Chuck’s resting now,” I said, crouching down “Shaun, radio Rick Tell hi a field kit”

“George—”

“Do it” I kept ry stare I was too close to her Her body weight was too low, and I was too close; if she was undergoing ah And I didn’t care “Buffy, are you hurt at all? There’s some blood we can’t identify I need you to show me if you’re hurt”

Buffy sned expression, one that turned wry as she rolled up her right sleeve and turned her ar the place where a chunk had been bitten out of her forearh the red “You mean like this? I must’ve hit my head on the roof when the truck rolled, because I woke up when Chuck bit ulation of blood; one of the first, classic signs of the Kellis-A in a soft, sickened tone, “That would probably account for it”

“I heard the gunshot, you know If Chuck’s ‘resting,’ it’s the sort of rest you don’t get better from” Buffy rolled her sleeve pris while they can still be tidy”

“Rick’s on his ith the field kit,” said Shaun, stepping up next to ht, you know”

“He’d just turned when he bit her There’s a chance his saliva hadn’t gone live yet,” I said, glancing at hi, to no one more than to myself, but he’d let me Just for a few minutes, he’d let ood at tests,” said Buffy She shifted on the ground, pulling her knees up against her chest in an unconsciously childlike gesture “I always failed them in school Hi, Shaun Sorry about this”

“Not your fault,” he said His tone was gruff; anyone who didn’t know hiht not have realized how upset he was “You’re taking this pretty well Considering, y’know The circumstances”

“Not ht, but her eyes were beginning to bri down the channel already cleaned by its peers “I’ to take it out on you I have faith that God will reward ht,” I said, softly The Catholic church declared all victio, to deal with the messy little issue of last rites; it’s hard to conduct them when death is fast, unexpected, and filled with teeth

“I’ve got the kit!” shouted Rick, jogging up to the three of us He had the shotgun tucked underneath his ar kit in his left hand He ca “Please, please, tell me this isn’t for you, Buffy”

“Sorry,” she said and held up her hands “Toss it here”

Eyes gone wide in his bloodless face, he tossed her the kit She caught it with ease, sliding her right hand, the one nearest the bite, into the kit’s opening Then she closed her eyes, not watching the lights as they cycled green to red, green to red

“You need to read htly controlled as to be a model of reasonableness and calm “They’re stored on the server under -in ID is the one I use for my poetry uploads, password is ‘February dash four dash twenty-nine,’ capital ‘F’ in ‘February’ I don’t have ti, so just read theoverned that Alaska was too well-suited to the undead and would never be able to coal for anyone without a very special and difficult to obtain license to even enter Alaska,the last of the state’s residents Including Buffy’s fa Alaska