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Peter raised his head

"Would you please kill her?"

--

Michael pushed backward fro a wide trail of blood on the floor There was more than one viral out there, he could sense it; they were like wraiths, there and not there, shadowy figures gliding and shifting in the dust

Searching Hunting

Once they found him, he wouldn’t make it two steps He scooted to the rear of the roo counter and, behind it, a doorway half-hidden by a curtain As he slipped behind the counter, the floor began to shake again The feeling gathered in intensity like a revving engine Clothes racks toppled Mirrors shattered and burst outward Chunks of plaster severed fro and detonated on the floor Curled into a ball, arht, God, whoever you are, I a to kill et it over with

The shaking subsided From all up and down the street, Michael heard the crack of s popping free of their fra on the pavement The virals still lurked out there, but maybe the co in some dark corner, as he was Maybe they were dead

He peeked around the counter The place looked like a wrecking ball had hit it, nothing left intact except for a free-standing, full-length ht side of the rooe of sohtly toward the front of the store, the ave hied in thearound as if lost Michael willed his body into absolute stillness If they couldn’t hear him, maybe they’d pass him by For several seconds they continued their confused wandering, until one of the in profile, the viral rotated its face froulate the source of a sound Michael held his breath The creature paused and angled its chin upward, holding this position for another several seconds before swiveling toward the storefront Its nose itching like a rat’s

--

Peter stepped toward her There was no point in trying to get away; the outcoiven up its custo seeish; her vision had narrowed, the city around her fading to a collection of shadows

She was crying, though not for herself She couldn’t have said what she was crying for; her tears possessed an abstract quality of sadness, though so else as well Her trials were ended In a way, she was glad How strange, to put down life like a heavy load she had been too long forced to carry She hoped she would go to the farmstead How happy she had been there She re forth, Peter’s hands resting on her shoulders, the joy of his touch How happy they had been, together

"It’s all right," she murmured Her voice felt distant, not quite her own It spilled froht, it’s all right"

Peter positioned the sword so that the tip was pointed at the base of her throat The gap narrowed, then stopped, flesh mere inches from steel His head cocked to the side; in another second he would strike

"Well?" Fanning said

Their gazes met and held To know and be known: that was the final desire, the heart of love It was the one thing she could give hi open inside her It was a kind of light She would have beaht into his heart if she could

"You’re Peter," A, so that he would be hearing these words "You’re Peter, you’re Peter, you’re Peter…"

--

The blood, thought Michael

They can smell my blood

He wasn’t sure he could stand, let alone run He had painted a road of red on the floor, leading theainst the counter and drew his knees to his chest The virals had entered the store He heard a kind of wet snuffling, like the noise of hogs rooting inthe blood off the floor Michael felt a weird surge of protectiveness Hey, leaveSo intense was their focus that Michael began to think about the curtained door What lay beyond it? Was it a dead end or was there, perhaps, a hallway that led deeper into the building--to the street, even? The dooras only partially concealed by the counter For soo, he would be exposed