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This may be the first time anyone has spoken loudly since the Great Attack A wave of both fear and cheer is released into the crowd So

‘Wow,’ says Duht there’

‘Respect!’ Dum thumps his fist to his chest and bon to the audience

The noise goes on a little longer, then settles down People are jittery and anxious, but excited too Some have smiles on their faces, others have frowns But they’re all here – alert and alive

I settle into e and look around I’round crehich ht until there’s action on the ground I scan the horizon It’s getting harder to see in the thickening els

On the water, two boats are throwing buckets of chopped fish and venison innards into the water all around our chunk of the bridge A pool of blood spreads behind the boats

Onstage, the twins stand tall with goofy sentleories, I am your master of ceremonies, Tweedledee’ He bows ‘And here’s my co-MC, my brother and my bane, Tweedledum!’

The crohoops and hollers Either the twins are extreain The twins take deep boith a ht, we have the show of a lifetied, and certainly undeniably awesos that ht,’ says Dum

‘And take all the credit for the fabulous, fantastic, and fun-filled things that will definitely happen tonight,’ says Dee

‘And without further ado,’ says Dum, ‘let me introduce our First Annual World After Talent Show contestant The San Francisco Ballet!’

There’s a stunned silence as everyone takes a ht

‘Yup, you heard that right, folks,’ says Dee ‘The San Francisco Ballet is here to perfors’

‘I told you we had talent on the streets,’ says Du pink tights corace of professional ballet dancers One of the ballerinas walks up to Dee as the others get into their ready stances She takes the e until everyone quiets down

‘We are what’s left of the San Francisco Ballet A couple of o, there were over seventy of us When the world collapsed, many of us didn’t knohat to do Like you, we stayed with our families and tried to find the ones we loved

‘But for us dancers, the ballet co the rubble of our theater and dance studio for those of us who fell In the end, twelve of us found each other, but not all of uson the day the world ended This one is dedicated to the members of our fa It carries through the crowd like the wind caressing our necks

The ballerina gives the mic back to Dee and steps into position The dancers take what looks like random places in a line I can almost fill in the rest of the line in ht