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I’ht, as I ran I’m sorry, I’m so sorry, but you wouldn’t even have been here if it weren’t foryou in danger over and over again, and that et you out of it at least once I have to be the one who saves you That see He’d be sad if he lost me He’d still be able to help his ine roared to life in the parking lot behind ainst pave it touched Fang and Nathan had ed to reach the car They were in the car, they were safe, and they were going to get out of here They were going to back to the lab, and everything was going to be all right

Then I realized that the screeching tires were getting closer, and the burning feeling of hope intensified, becoly strained breath They were coet me They were in the car, and they were on their way, and all I had to do was keep it together long enough for them to somehow open a door and pull me in I’d probably have a panic attack after a stunt like that, but under the circuoing to be okay We were--

Lights ca, all too aware of ould happen if I stopped while the sleepwalkers were this close onwhen the dart sla out like soa I ran for as long as I could, and then the black spots on the edges of ht, du me to the paveo, but ht as I toppled down into the dark was that I had co

This isn’t fair, I thought, and the world went black, and there was nothing

I was down in the dark, in the hot war could touch nized the dream for theonly abstractly how I could re that had happened before I had a mind to remember with

You always had a mind, I scolded ht Beverly thinks Minnie thinks Everything with a brain can think You just had shts, hot ware to me, here in this place, that any of us would have chosen to leave it voluntarily Being a human was hard It was sharp and cold and filled with choices that had no good outco shades and shapes of badness Nofor someone Better to stay down in the dark, where there were no choices and no challenges, just food and warmth and the contentment of simplicity

But there was no Nathan either, was there? No love, no kisses, no anger born froainst each other There were no chances to change down there in the dark There were no chances to grow I’d enjoyed those parts of being hu a body If I stayed down here in the dark, I wouldn’t get to enjoy those things anyht sadly, and I didn’t knohether I was talking tooutside ht either way

I opened ot nize A wo a s it into ain Her voice followed ajubilantly, "Movement and pupil dilation! I think she’s okay"

I cracked my left eye cautiously open The wo ood look at her profile She was pale-skinned, with hair that was either bleached or the palest blonde I had ever seen, and her lab coat…

Her lab coat had the USAMRIID logo on the sleeve My ht, the druhts and tranquilizer dart had come from I tried to sit up, and discovered that I couldn’t As with the gurney from before, I was strapped to the surface that I was on top of I opened both , and this time the motion attracted the wo a smile so patently fake that it was almost painful across her face

"Hello, Sally," she said, speaking slowly and clearly "My name is Dr Crystal Huff I ith the team that extracted you from the hospital You may feel a little disoriented That’s perfectly normal, and does not indicate infection You have been checked thoroughly, and I alad to be able to tell you that you’re not sick Do you understandbrightly down atto make herself understood by a slish, and if my hands hadn’t been strapped down, I would probably have hit her

My mouth was too dry to letto convince lands to do their job Finally, after several seconds of silence and sing, I ed to croak, "Why am I strapped to this table?" How do you knoho I a the ID bracelet with the fake naet me into the hospital