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"Yeah, well" It was hard to s past the lump in my throat It was the damn smile that did it I knew she was a hallucination I just didn’t care "You zigged when you should’ve zagged"
"What’s done is done So are you up for this?"
I didn’t say anything
More sharply: "Shaun? Are you even listening to me?"
"I miss you soat her, not if I wanted to hold on to what little was left of my sanity "Ito you this whole time, but I also know it’s because I’ to ain, and this isn’t even really a sentence anye, I , very softly, "I don’t think I kno to do this without you"
"You have to" I heard her stand, heard her footsteps as she crossed the van to stop in front of me Her knees were on a level withsystem for quality of hallucination, I can say I was definitely scoring pretty high; I could see the wrinkles in her slacks where they fell over her knees, and a bit of carpet lint sticking to the sole of one sensible shoe "Shaun, look at me"
I raised my head This close, her eyes were even more alien… but they were still her eyes It was still her behind them
"Step up or step down," she said, very quietly "Those are the choices"
I sed "Do I get anything more than that? Step up or step down?"
"This isn’t a news story, Shaun The only reward you get for et to know the truth, and that’s it I don’t coo back to the way that it was; life never goes back to the way it was, no matter how hard we try to make it But you’ll know You’ll have the truth You’ll have the pieces that we’re stillup in her eyes I’d never seen her cry, even ere kids The retinal KA atrophied her tear ducts years before her eyes actually changed in a visible way But she was crying now "The only happy ending we can have is the ending where you take the bastards down and make them pay for what they did to us Can you do it? Because if you can’t, I need you to call Mahir and tell hie now Someone has to find the truth Please"
"I can do it," I said My voice was unsteady, but it was there, and that was really all that I could ask "For you, I can do it"
"Thank you" She leand forward My breath caught as she pressed a kiss againstme with a clear path to the exit "Iup as I did The blood on the ceiling was gone When I looked down again, so was George I wiped my cheeks with the pal at the spot where George had been She didn’t reappear That was probably a good sign "Love you, George," I whispered
She would have gotten better, hissed Kelly’s voice, but its poas gone Oh, I was still going to have to deal with the reality of it, but I’ with stupid shit If the CDC wanted to play hardball, we’d play hardball And in
I was unsurprised to find Becks standing outside the van with her pistol resting against her knee, lazily sipping frohtened when I stepped out onto the blacktop, asking "Everything okay?"
"I think I just had a , but it’s cool; I’ the van doors "You?"
Becks blinked at me, momentarily thrown by the flippancy ofas she has, she hasn’t learned to take stateive her this: She recovered fast, saying, "Well, I just watched ht I’d coet his damn fool ass eaten by a zombie before he settled down" She hesitated, then added, "I didn’t shoot her After you ran out of the room? I didn’t shoot her"
I wasn’t sure whether she was looking for praise or expecting"We’re going to need that pretty little head of hers intact if we’re going to crack it open, pry out all its secrets, and use theht," said Becks, slowly "Were you on the line to Mahir just now? Because I thought I heard voices in there"
"Psychotic break, reed "Look, Becks--Rebecca--you knohat you’re getting out of this teaed I’m practically remaindered If you can cope with that, I can promise you the ride of your life If you can’t, I have the feeling that e go back in there," I hooked a finger toward the door to Dr Abbey’s lab, "you lose the last chance to cash in your ticket on the crazy train"
"I like trains," said Becks Her expression sobered before she added, "And I loved your sister She was the first person who gave ood reporter So if you’re a little nuts, so what? I think it’s pretty obvious that we’re all mad here"