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"What happened to you?"
She shrugged sheepishly "I’m sorry I left After what happened in the feedlot, I just panicked One of the kitchen workers hid ot me out on one of the delivery trucks"
Sara slad to see you What seeirl hesitated "I think I nant"
Sara exa pregnant got you a spot in the first evacuation She filled out the form and handed it to her
"Take this to the census office and tell theirl stared at the slip of paper in her hand "Kerrville I can’t believe it I barely re out a duplicate evacuation order on her clipboard Her pen paused in midair "What did you say?"
"That I can’t believe it?"
"No, the other thing About reed "I was born there At least I think I was I was pretty small when they took me"
"Jenny, why didn’t you tell anyone?"
"I did I told the census taker"
Flyers, how had they lad you toldfor you What’s your last name?"
"I’ar"
Chapter 68
The day of departure arrived with a hard, bright dawn The advance teaathered at the stadium: thirty men and women, six trucks, and two refuelers Eustace and Nina had come to see theathered, fa Sara and the others had already said goodbye to Michael the night before, at the hospital Go on, he said, his face red, get out of here How is a guy supposed to get his rest? But the card Kate hadI Love Youe Unkle Michel, Get Whell Aw, flyers, he said, get over here, and gripped the little girl tightly to his chest, tears rolling from his eyes
The last supplies were loaded into the trucks; everybody climbed aboard Peter would ride in the lead pickup, with Hollis; Kate and Sara were riding in one of the large transports at the rear As Peter fired the ignition, Greer stepped to hisIn Peter’s absence, the reed to serve in his stead as Eustace’s second-in-coe of the evacuation
"I don’t knohere she is, Peter I’ain, Lish had left hi at the altar "I’ht"
"She went through a lot in that cell I don’t think she’s told us even half of it She’ll bounce back-she always does"
There was nothing more to say on the subject Nor on the other, which in the days since the uprising had hung over theical explanation was that Amy had been killed in the explosion, vaporized with the other virals, and yet part of hihost limb, an invisible part of him
The two men shook hands "Be careful okay?" Greer said "You too, Hollis It’s a different world out there, but you never know"
Peter nodded "All eyes, Major"
Greer allowed himself a rare smile "I confess I like the sound of that Who knows? Maybe they’ll takewas at hand Peter ground the truck into gear; with a throb of heavy engines, the line of vehicles drew clear of the gate In the rearview s of the Ho into the winter whiteness
"I’m sure she’s somewhere, Peter," Hollis said
Peter wondered who place in the culvert, Alicia watched the convoy drive away Forto prepare herself Hoould it feel? Even now she couldn’t say Final, that was all It felt final The line of trucks cut a broad arc around the fences of the city and turned south For a long ti s She was still watching when it disappeared
There was one thing left to do
She’d taken the blood fro plastic pouch beneath her tunic when Sara’s back was turned It had taken all her resolve not to claue in its earthy richness But when she’d thought of Peter, and Ath to wait
She had buried the pouch in the snow,it free: a block of red ice, dense in her hand Soldier atching her froo, but of course he wouldn’t; they belonged to each other till the end She built a fire of crackling scrub, melted snow in a pot, waited till the bubbles rose, and dipped the bag into the stea tea Gradually the contents softened to a slush When the blood had thawed co its war lay a destiny deferred Since the day the viral had bitten her on the e of her fate had lain inside her; now she wouldsun was cli into a cloudless winter sky The sun Alicia squinted her eyes against its brightness The sun, she thought My enemy, my friend, my last deliverance It would sweep her away It would scatter her ashes to the wind Be quick now, Alicia said to the sun, but not too quick I want to feel it co to her lips, pulled the tab, and drank
By dusk the convoy had traveled sixty miles The toas named Grinnell They took shelter in an abandoned store at the edge of town that apparently had once sold shoes; boxes and boxes of the to, someday They ate their rations, bedded down, and slept
Or tried to It wasn’t the cold-Peter was accustomed to that He was simply too keyed up The events in the stadium had been too enormous to process all at once; nearly a ht up in their ees
Peter pulled on his parka and boots and stepped outside They’d posted a single guard, as sitting in a ht out from the store; Peter accepted the , the air like ice in his lungs He stood in silence, drinking in the night’s stark clarity For days after the uprising, Peter had tried to will hinitude of events-happiness or triumph or even just relief-but all he felt was lonely He re words: It’s a different world out there It was, Peter knew that; yet it did not see, the world felt even more like itself Here were the frozen fields, like a vast, becalmed sea; here was the immeasurable, starlit sky; here was the aze, like the answer to a question nobody had posed Everything was just as it had been, and would go on being, long after all of theround like their bones into the dust of tih the door, toting Kate on her hip The girl’s eyes were open and looking about Saraon the snow
"Couldn’t sleep?" he asked
She made a face of exasperation "Believein the truck"
"Hi, Peter," the little girl said
"Hi, sweetheart Shouldn’t you be in bed? We’ve got another long day toether "Mm-mm"
"See?" Sara said
"Want me to take her for a while? I can, you know"