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Becks started up the van engine and turned on the headlights I didn’t need thehts were turned up so far that it practically looked like noon out in the yard I walked over to the bike and swungmyself "Go," I said, into the ht behind you"

The van pulled out of the garage I let thenition and followed

The trip down the driveas harrowing We h that I had to walk the bike about two-thirds of the ti to keep froood And I’d be dealing with it alone either way, since there was no way I was letting the others stop the van to help ates stood open, allowing us to keep h as ound our way toward the street below Maggie’s security guards flanked the open gates, their guns held at the ready I’ until we’d passed the third gate That hen they started locking things down behind us, each gate sliding shut and sealing itself with a clang that was audible even through ates closed, refor

They stayed behind as we passed the last gate One of them--Officer Weinstein, most likely--raised his assault rifle in salute Then Becks hit the gas, speeding off down the road in answer to the instructions in the van’s GPS, and I had to gun the throttle in order to catch up It took only a few seconds for the house to recede entirely out of sight The view of the hill that it was on lasted for a little longer, slipping in and out of sight as we followed the curve of the road

The lights from the house stayed visible even after the house itself was out of sight They blazed up into the night, painting the clouds with tiered bands of light and shadoas relieved when they finally faded They re behind

The speaker incall I nodded to activate it "Go"

"We’re heading for I-5 toward Portland," said Becks, right in hway for about forty et past the worst of the forest"

"Got it" Under hould have been the safest thing to do It ell-guarded, ell-ency services, including bolt holes we could flee to if things took a turn for the worse It was also the single routeto see if ere on the n, would be relatively easy to isolate frorid It was possible that soned to target the five of us… and after everything we’d been through, I no longer had any illusions that the people ere running from would care

"Watch yourself out there," said Becks Then the connection was cut and the van sped up, racing away fro into the darkness up ahead

The only thing I could do was follow her

I-5 was eerily deserted Even the guard stations were dark, proving once again that, when faced with a true national eet people to leave their ho the road were likely to be charged with treason if they were caught, and right now, they had absolutely no reason to care Treason wasn’t as bad as infection and death At least treason was so We took the automated blood tests and rolled on