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He felt it then, a sudden awareness at his extre his face

Standing before hiirl

A Walker

He couldn’t have said how old she was Thirteen? Sixteen? Her hair was long and dark, and thick with aps cut off at the ankles and a T-shirt stiff with dirt, all of it too large on her boyish frath of electric cord; on her feet she wore a pair of sandals with plastic daisies poking between the toes

Before Peter could speak, she raised a finger to her lips: Don’t speak She moved briskly toward the center of the platform and turned to wave him on, to tell hi in the hall, the rattle of rates on the shuttered storefronts

The virals were coirl’s eyes were very wide Hurry, her eyes said She took his hand and pulled him to the center of the platfor in the floor A trapdoor, flush with the wooden decking She cli

Quickly, quickly

Peter followed her down the hole and sealed the trapdoor above him They were under the carousel now, in soled with dustover their heads, revealing a dark bulk of machinery and, on the floor beside it, a rumpled bedroll Plastic bottles of water and tins of food stacked in rows, their paper labels long since worn away Did she live here?

The decking shuddered The girl had dropped to her knees A shadowhim what to do

Lie down Be still

He did as she asked Then she climbed on top of him, onto his back He could feel the heat of her body, the war his body with her own The virals were all over the carousel now He could feel theirin their throats How long before they discovered the trapdoor?

Don’thi for the sound of the door being ripped off its hinges The rifle was on the floor beside hiet off a shot or two, but that would be all

Seconds passed More shudders above, the sharp, excited breathing of virals with hu the blood in the air But soirl was pressing down upon hi hione? A minute moved by, and then another His sense of expectation shifted froirl would do next At last she climbed off him He rose to his knees Their faces were just inches apart The soft curve of her cheek was like a child’s, but her eyes were not, not at all He could s sweet to it, like honey

"How did you-"

She shook her head sharply to silence hiers to her lips again

They’re gone But they’ll be back

She rose to her feet and opened the trapdoor A quick turn of the head to show hied onto the decking of the carousel The room was empty, but he could feel the virals’ departed presence, the air swirling in unseen eddies around the places they had stood Moving quickly, the girl led him to a door across the atriue of concrete They stepped inside and she let the door close behind the them inside; he heard the click of a lock

Blackness

A new panic gripped hi of co his hand Her grip was tight, meant to reassure; she pulled hiht

He tried to count his steps, but it was useless He could feel in her grip that she wanted hi the in his path and the rifle fell away, lost in the darkness

"Wait-"

A wang fro low of daylight; his surroundings began to eed hallway; sli skeletons, their li Another crash froes The hallway ended at another door, which stood open A stairwell Froht, and the sound and sn: ROOF ACCESS

He turned The girl was still standing in the hallway, just outside the stairwell door Their eyes irl stepped forward and, rising on her toes, pressed her closed ainst his face

Just that: she kissed hiirl backed away, into the dark hall Go now, her eyes said

Then she closed the door

"Hey!" He heard the click of the lock He gripped the handle, but it was immovable He pounded on the sealed one, a departed spirit He saw the sign again: ROOF ACCESS That’s where she wanted hi, nearly asphyxiating with the gas of pigeon Long streaks of guano s the stairs and banister like layers of paint The birds see here and there as he made his ascent, as if his presence were nowith exertion, the taste in hisin its foulness, his eyes stung as if splashed by acid