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"Thanks for that little ray of sunshine, Maggie" I turned to Kelly "So, Doc, was there any way to know that alking into a deathtrap? I e can throw you, but it still see a whole installation to take out two reporters"

Kelly frowned "But Georgia is--oh" She stoppedher expression "No I didn’t I’ to realize that my… my former employers"--she spat out the word "former" like it tasted bad--"s, but I never suspected they’d do anything like that I wouldn’t have let you go if I knew"

"The sad part here is that I bet they have more nasty surprises for us Just wait" I sippedThe Doc was holding up better than I expected; all I saw in her eyes was exhaustion, both physical and mental The rest of us were tired, but ere also trained for this sort of shit--or as trained as you can be for soot out alive That’s so Alaric, how’s our market share?"

"Up four points last time I checked, with the expected uptick in our closest co a beat "Three of theering our licenses by behaving recklessly in hopes of increasing our ratings"

I snorted "Because ‘behaving recklessly’ is suddenly not in the job description? Aovernie picked up a stack of plates and began putting theh at any given time, and since they have a tendency to spread, I’ all over us, too"

"Fair enough" I tossedbin "You said there was a potpie?"

"Yes, and you said you’d tell us what happened" Maggie put away the last of the plates before taking down the ovena covered ceramic dish that smelled like it was less than half a mile shy of Heaven She set it down on one of the open spaces at the table

"Caffeine, then food, then exposition" I grabbed a fork fro to sit down The potpie sreed: two pro bypositions "Reo?"

"Because I live in the middle of nowhere, and that isn’t actually an asset for anyone who isn’t a pure Fictional" Maggie went back to putting dishes away "Now talk, or I’ but that" I stabbed uys watched?"

"Enough," said Alaric grimly

I nodded "Okay, then" I took a bite of potpie, sed, and began talking, starting with the point where Becks and I drove away from the motel Moledur time at the CDC had been fairly well-documented by the cameras we carried, but they’d been simple recorders, not full-on field deploys they missed, likein the e feeds cut off as soon as you went through that second door," said Alaric "They picked up again once you were outside"

"Really?" I glanced to Kelly "Did you know that was going to happen?"

"No, but it makes sense Those tunnels are heavily shielded, to prevent contamination if there’s ever need for an actual flush We’re not even supposed to stay in the drills, if we can help it"

"Radiation?" asked Alaric

Kelly shrugged "I really don’t know I’e of their brief side-conversation to shovel another few bites of potpie intoFinally, I said, "Okay, so you didn’t get any of that footage It wasn’t bright enough in there to getfried our electronics--" I glanced at Kelly She shook her head, indicating that it shouldn’t have done anything of the sort Thatdevices of their own in the tunnels They’d need to knoent wrong if there was ever an ee "You should be able to extract the audio track"

"Don’t forget the pretty ahts Those are probably worth a screenshot or two" We all turned toward the sound of Becks’s voice She earing one of Maggie’s bathrobes, knotted loosely around her waist, and her hair was still half-wet, tousled froie? I’ie "It’s hard enough to socialize the them think that people will decide to randoel" Becks arrowed for the oven, dis the rest of us in favor of food

I stabbeda chunk of chicken as I focused ood job you did, getting us to the tunnels Pretty quick thinking, too"