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Maggie walked calmly over to me, slappedat her in confusion, throwing her arht you were dead," she hissed, through gritted teeth "You didn’t call, and you didn’t call, and we thought you were dead You assle Next tie"

"How about there’s not a next tiie wa clothed I essentially wasn’t, which waseven more aard than it would nor around the rooain "I knoe said to close the s, but I didn’t o quite this far"

"Wait--what?" Alaric pulled away fro utterly bemused "What do you mean? After you told us to close the s--don’t you knohat’s going on out there?"

Maggie studiedin her expression "Oh, my God," she whispered "You really don’t know You have no idea, do you?"

"No idea about what?" I shook ht it was just the stor people inside--"

"It’s not just the storm" Alaric walked across the roorabbed the television re the TV on He hit another button and the info disappeared, replaced by CNN

The picture showed a flooded street, helpfully labeled "Mia in a low, anxious tone, saying so survivors I didn’t really hear hi to accept what rasped the reality of the situation first, and her understanding allowed me to understand Oh, ue

The street was choked with debris and abandoned cars, brown-and-white water swirling everywhere as it tried to force itself down clogged sewer drains They should have been cleared before the flooding could get this bad, and the city had tried to clear them; that much was obvious froe shirts ere sha with the rest of the mob I had never seen that many infected in one place I counted fifty beforeto process any overnment has declared the state of Florida a hazard zone Uninfected citizens are urged to stay in your homes and await assistance Anyone found on the streettheir home will be assumed infected and treated with the appropriate protocols Please stay in your homes and await assistance Please…" The newscaster faltered, losing the rhythe of the flood was silent Even recordedhimself, the newscaster said, "Reports of si in froe, and Houston We don’t have numbers yet, but the death tolls are esti steadily" He paused again, longer this ti to the event as the second Rising God forgive ive us all"

There was a rattling noise, like so a microphone down, and then the sound of footsteps The silent footage of the flood, and the infected, continued to play

"That’s what’s going on," Alaric said His voice was toneless, and I remembered with a start that his fa You drove right through the middle of it, and you didn’t notice"

"Oh, e’s earlier statement The picture on the TV ju to "Huntsville" The newscaster didn’t return "Is this for real?"

"It’s real," said Maggie