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The Morning After

SAM COULD NOT face the town and the kids there If he went into to, there ht Later Not now Not yet

He had seen the sudden and cos One minute the creatures that had hatched inside Dekka had been floating in the water and the next second they were gone

He thought he knehat had happened Only one poas great enough to cause theainst all odds, Jack s Only Petey could have done it Sam’s desperate, lunatic plan had worked, had actually worked

But once Astrid knew that he was the one who had ordered Jack to do it, she would never speak to hiain

The toas saved But Sam was lost

You ordered the death of a five-year-old autistic boy, Mr Te tribunal was back

That’s right, he told theination That’s what I did

He walked until he found himself at the cliff The last ti Taylor seeht And because I did the bugs were destroyed And lives were saved

You don’t get to make those decisions, Mr Temple God decides life or death

"Yeah?" Sam said aloud "Well, I don’t think much of His decisions"

He stared out at the sea He was standing just where Mary had stood when she jumped But he was not tempted to follow her Mary had been driven to insanity

"That’s right," Sam said to no one "I did it And it worked"

"Sam"

He spun on his heel Astrid stood there Jack was a hundred feet back and showing no desire to come any closer

"Astrid"

Her eyes were red and swollen She was looking past hi at the barrier with an expression he couldn’t read

"It’s still there," she said

He glanced at the impervious wall "Yeah"

"Butbut Petey’s dead," she said "It should have stopped It shouldn’t be there It should all be over"