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The lights were flashing, red to green to red “What was your son’s nawith sorrow “Ethan Patrick Cousins, after randfather Her name was Lisa His mother, I mean Lisa Cousins She was beautiful” He closed his eyes “He had her s

“We’ll remember their names for you, if it ever comes to that,” I said, “but it won’t be today You’re clean, Rick”

“Clean?” He opened his eyes, looking at the test kit like it was so he’d never seen before Then, slowly, he reer from the needle and pressed the trans because there was no way I was taking care of yourto offer a hand to Rick, to help hiround “Shaun would have tossed her out theat the first truck stop we passed”

“Now, George, don’t be silly,” chided Shaun “I would’ve waited for one that had a ‘Beware of Dog’ sign It wouldn’t do for Lois to not have any friends”

Rick and I exchanged a startled look before we burst out laughing I started to cry at the sahim to steady myself Shaun walked over and put his ar his face into my hair to hide his own tears I knew they were there; Rick didn’t need to Some secrets don’t need to be shared

We stayed that way until the sound of tires alerted us to the approach of the biohazard convoy Hastily, we pulled apart, trying to get ourselves into so that approached composure; Rick wiped his face with one hand, while Shaun dried his cheeks and I raked lasses up the bridge ofto Shaun, I nodded and started toward the sound of the approaching vehicles, carryingmy license beacon out with the other

The convoy stopped about twenty yards away fro vehicle; my poor, abandoned motorcycle The Memphis CDC didn’t play around They’d sent a full unit: two troop carriers with their standard Jeep-style frames surrounded by steel-reinforced clear plastic armor, a white medical van nearly twice the size of ours, and, most ominously, two of the vast are, painted safety orange with red biohazard signs blazoned on all sides, and their hoses didn’t squirt water; instead, they delivered a nasty high-octane variant on napalm mixed with a concentrated for down, it’s sterile The soil would be dead for decades, and anything that happened to be in the radius and alive when the trucks ca afterward, but the area would be clean

One of the men in the foremost troop carrier raised a microphone as we approached, and the loudspeaker at the front of the car blared, “Put down your testing units and step back Clean units will be put in their place Do not approach personnel Failure to comply with instructions will result in ter, even through lasses I raised the hand with my license to shield my eyes, and squinted at the troop carrier “Joe? Is that you?”

“Got it in one, darlin’,” the voice replied, less foro ahead and set those units on down, if you’d be so kind?”

“I’ my license beacon with the test,” I called “It includes ilasses off, the glare frohts would probably blind me

A new voice, female and substantially more clinical, came over the loudspeaker “We know about your retinal condition, Ms Mason Please co, jeez!” shouted Shaun, dropping his bagged testing unit and putting his license beacon on top I bent to put ently, and Rick did the sa away

We made it about twenty feet before Joe’s voice cah, darlin’ You three hold tight, now” The door of the medical van opened and three technicians in biohazard contain of their positive pressure unit as it cycled the air, keeping outside particles frorace that implied hundreds, if not thousands, of hours spent in the bulky suits, the technicians walked over to collect our test kits and beacons, putting three sealed kits in their place With this accomplished, they retreated, and Joe’s voice called, “Please approach, open the testing units, and stay where you are until you’ve checked out clean”

“It’s like playing Sirew up, Simon didn’t usually have a truck full of napalm pointed at you,” said Rick

“Pansy,” said Shaun

The testing units left by the CDC technicians were Apple XH-229s, only slightly less advanced than the top of the line Shaun whistled low under his breath

“Wow We really are a threat”

“So like that,” I said I picked up the first kit and broke the seals with ned to cover my whole hand, all the way to the base of my wrist There were at least fifteen visible points of contact Gri, I rolled my sleeve up and slid my hand inside

The mist of antiseptic acrossthat lasted only a second before needles drove theh an to cycle, reen as the more advanced medical processes kicked in