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Three ofin the side yard, their hands down at their sides, staring at the fence I recognized them all, even if I only knew one--Mr Carson fro One of the a bathrobe a little newer than rass stained The other wo one shoe, and her hair looked like it was halfway-co there

Then Mr Carson turned and looked at me

I let out a little screa over the couch in my retreat His eyes were like Chave’s had been: totally e humanity or life Dead eyes He looked at rave

I didn’t stand up once I ed to recover fro , I didn’t want to know about it, didn’t want to see it--and yet so, that Mr Carson at least alking toward the here he’d seenhim I didn’t kno I knew, but I knew, just like I knew that I was alone

The slap of Mr Carson’s pals I’d ever heard Beverly ca madly, and threw herself up onto the couch Her paws left ainst the pale tan cushions She kept barking, her ears flat against her skull, her attention fully focused on the

Beverly was inside That ate and the open back door

Sheer terror forcedmyself to look at theAt least one of theht be fine I ht--

The woain and grabbed the handle, yanking on the heavy glass door There was atome to pull it shut before the wo it into position Her hands hit the glass, palms first Then she stopped Co, but there was no other ht as well have been a statue

A statue with dead, dead eyes

"Oh God oh God oh God," I gasped My heart was haainst ain It was al I wanted to close the curtain and shut out the sight of the woman’s empty stare I couldn’t make myself move In that er interested in working in tandem with my brain

Maybe this hat it felt like for Sherht hold of them Like they had suddenly become observers in their own lives, completely unable to make their bodies respond to their coot to stop watching--

The wo her pallass I juaze never wavered Beverly was still barking, and the ha drumbeat of my heart was still thunderous in my ears

I looked into the woman’s dead eyes and knew that whoever she’d been a few hours before, she wasn’t that person anymore There was no experience or identity in her eyes; they weren’t just dead, they were e that made her who she was had been drained away, replaced by some set of instincts I didn’t understand Instincts that had, for whatever reason, drawn her and her coain, her pallass I took a step backward Even that small motion felt like a victory See, it said, you aren’t like them You stillelse The thought helpedthe door, each movement slow and deliberate I didn’t takethe table where I’d left nition switch on the side--a helpful leftover fro but not yet capable of reliably reading the controls on my own phone--and said, "Dial Dr Steven Banks"

The words surprised ht up until I spoke At the sa Dr Bankssickness that they weren’t sharing, maybe they’d also kno to o away The police wouldn’t have that infor," said the phone politely, switching itself to speaker in response tofollowed

A , "Dr Banks’s office Dr Banks is in a e?"

"No, you can transfer ency, and even if you’re new, you still have a card with instructions telling you what to do if I call Please Putever I didn’t feel like I had ti atat er fully capable of asking

"O-of course, Miss Mitchell," sta stunned "I’ll put you right through"