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My skin crawled "They’re set to autosterilize if there’s any sign of contaestion?" Kelly paused before finishing, grihts They’ll lead you to an exit As long as your infection status hasn’t changed, it’ll let you out"

"And if it has?"

"If anyone in the escape corridor goes into conversion, the autosterilize initiates"

"Fuckin’ swell Okay Tell Alaric I’ll call back if we’re not dead" I cut the connection over her protests, yanking the ear cuff off and shoving it intoa last run Once this door is open, you haul ass, and if the lava co you"

"Got it," said Becks, with a sht nod It wouldn’t actually be lava It would be a highly acidic chemical bath, followed by flash irradiation, followed by another cheanic in the corridor had been reduced to socan’t really happen in places where huular basis, since it tends to render the environment permanently toxic, but for a rarely used, last-ditch exit, it made perfect, if horrible, sense

I hesitated, and then offered heryou, Rebecca," I said

"The saers into et out of this alive, you and "

"Sure," I said She didn’t let go of led together like computer cables, I reached for the second door and pulled it open An aed one final look before stepping through the doorway, into the relative darkness on the other side

e door swung shut as soon as ere through, hydraulics engaging with a loud hiss that was alo; even if those syste so while fully operational Another aht clicked on to the left of the first one, and another, and another, until a line of tiny glittering beacons led the way deeper into the dark

There was no other way to go, and Kelly’s instructions said to follow the light We’d trusted her this far The worst that trusting her the rest of the way could get us was dead "Come on," I said We started in the direction indicated by the lights, er in the dark The greater the darkness, the longer the distance The auide us, not shohere ere going, and even h to beat back the shadows We probably traveled no more than a few hundred yards, but it felt like ten or twelve times that Our breath was impossibly loud in the confines of the tunnel, andon the floor, which wasn’t completely level After the third ti across the floor of an enormous shower, complete with drains every ten feet They’d be essential if the CDC ever needed to sluice the place down--say, afterwith h to want out of there as badly as I did

The ahts winked out about thirty seconds after we passed the on ahead of us at the same rate After the second ti darkness, I forced ood, and it was doing dae to my nerves that I really couldn’t afford

I’

The ahts led us around a corner and into a narrower hallith lights lining the walls on either side They were still sh to show the outline of Becks’s face and shoulders Being able to see her walking besideelse I saw her head turn toward ers relax around mine as the sa to be okay

The lights continued lighting up in front of us, finally circling a door frame directly ahead Becks and I broke into a sprint at the saot there half a step before she did, purely by virtue of having longer legs, and I grabbed the door handle withdeep and then--unlike every other blood test I’d ever taken--staying where they were as the light above the door flashed between red and green The light stopped on green, and then went out, replaced by a single green bulb off to the left The needles withdrew The door didn’t open

"Oh, those slick bastards," Ito let us out of here until we’re both clean"

"Yippee," she deadpanned, and stepped up to takedance, and a second green bulb ca inward, knocking us both back a sep Cool air rushed into the hallway like a benediction I took a deep breath, glorying in the taste of clean air, and let Becks pull ency exit let out on the edge of the e lot About a dozen people were already there,lab coats… and there, off to one side, was Director Swenson He was standing in a small cluster with two of the people in lab coats and Miss Lassen, the receptionist She was the first to see us Her shoulders went stiff as she straightened, whispering soently to the director He turned his head in our direction, and his eyes widened before he could compose himself