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"Funny, that," said Mahir "I’ in to hide froe

"Okay One, two--" and I was out of the van, slingingover my shoulder as I ran for the house Doors slahtly faster than the other

There was no blood test required to get inside the house Once you were past the security on the driveway, you were clean--or that had always been the assu open the front door to find ency air lock, the kind that can be slotted into place to block any standard hallway or door frah into the front hall that it left room for the three of us, and not y door in the air lock Whatever was going on, the bulldogs weren’t being allowed out either

Mahir and Becks piled in behindat the air lock in dismay As soon as Mahir was past the door frame, the door sla "The bloody thing’s gone and locked on us," he said

"Sos," said the air lock

We all ju her throat before she said, "Hello, house What do you need us to do?"

"Please re and place them in the chute for sterilization" A panel slid open at the base of the air lock, displaying a metal box

"You want us to strip?" The words burst out before I could stop the," repeated the house, with the infinite patience of the mechanical "Once all potentially contaminated materials have been placed in the chute for sterilization, blood testing can begin"

Mahir cleared his throat "Excuse me, but--"

"Failure to comply will result in sterilization"

Okay, maybe not infinite patience "What about our equipment?" I asked "Our laptops can’t survive a full sterilization"

A second panel slid open next to the first "Please place your equip that is not contaminated will be returned to you All fabrics will be isolated and sterilized Any materials that test positive for conta in which to co with the creepy house and just do what it says, okay?" I slungchute "I don’t really feel like getting sterilized today"

"The things I do for journalism," muttered Mahir, and took off his shirt

In under athere barefoot in our underwear, trying to look at anything but each other Since ere crammed in like sardines, that wa’t easy The panel in the air lock door didn’t close until the last of our clothing had been shoved through "Please place your hands on the test panels," said the house, voice stillwill co hate talking machines," I muttered, and slappedMahir and Becks access to their respective panels practically required us to play a ga Twister in the hall I’d never noticed how narrow the da was until I was penned in it Finally, all three of us were in skin contact with the house security syste to cycle rapidly between red and green

"We haven’t encountered any contagions between here and the gate," said Mahir He sounded uncertain I didn’t bla all that certainvoice to the one thought I was trying desperately not to have "Maybe that’s why there was no one on the roads--why those one airborne"

"It’s already airborne," I said That was true--Kellis-Amberlee is an airborne virus with a droplet-based trans about the passive, cooperative version of Kellis-Amberlee, the one that protects us all fro about the live version, the one that turns us into sha zombies who’d eat our own fa our bodies

"I suppose we’ll know in a hts started settling on green Becks was the first, followed by Mahir’s Mine kept flashing for a few seconds ht Then the light settled on green, and the air lock hissed as it unsealed

"Thank you for your coers at the ceiling

Mahir and Becks pushed past o fk itself, stepping out of the air lock and into the living roo Alaric, while Mahir stepped off to one side, crossing his ar self-conscious I stepped out of the air lock, looking cautiously around

Inside the house, it was obvious that the shades weren’t just drawn; they were locked down, reinforced with sheets of clear plastic The floor was practically covered with dis, the entire pack forced inside by whatever eency was at hand