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Peter turned at last to Alicia She had relow of her eyes, ht of the fire It was her consent he needed

"Yes," she said, nodding "I’m sorry to say it, but yes"

There was no reason to wait Too much tie could dissolve He led them to the empty house he had prepared-the last one, at the far end of the trace It was little more than a shell; nearly all of the interior walls had been re the joists exposed The ere already boarded up, another reason Peter had selected it-that and the fact that it was farthest away Hollis took up the ropes Peter had moved from the barn; Michael and Greer carried a ht the lantern While Hollis tied the ropes to the joists, Peter stripped to the waist and lay down on his back He was suddenly very nervous, his awareness of everything around hi very quickly in his chest He raised his eyes to Greer A silent bargain, struck between them: if it co the ropes to his arled on the floor Theto cal the box with the virus; in her other hand was one of the syringes, still sealed in plastic Peter could see that her hands were tre

"You can do this"

She passed the box to Michael "Please," she begged

"What am I supposed to do with this?" He held the box away froive it back "You’re the nurse"

Peter felt a blast of exasperation Any longer, and his resolve would fail hiet this done"

"I’ll do it," Alicia said

She took the box from Michael, and opened it

"Peter"

"What is it now? Flyers, Lish"

She turned it in her hands to show theht A by the fire pit as she was dropping the last vial into the flaainst her shoulder, wrapped in a blanket A sizzling pop flew up as the liquid inside the last vial expanded to a boil, shattering the glass

Peter crouched on the ground beside her He was too stunned even to feel angry He didn’t knohat he felt at all "Why, Amy?"

She did not look at him but kept her eyes focused on the fire, as if to verify that the virus was really gone With the fingers of her free hand she was gently stroking the baby’s cap of dark hair

"Sara was right," she said finally "It was the only way to make sure"

She lifted her eyes from the flames And when Peter sahat lay inside them, he understood what she had done-that she had chosen to take this burden from him, from them all, and that this was a mercy

"I’m sorry, Peter," Amy said "But it would have made you like me And I couldn’t let that happen"

They did not speak of that night again-of the virus, or the flames, or what Amy had done Sometimes, in odd ely, as if it had been a drea like a dream, with a dream’s texture of inevitability And he came to believe that the destruction of the virus was not, in the end, the catastrophe he had feared but, rather, one ether, and that what lay ahead was so he could not know, nor needed to know Like A he would take on faith

Theof their departure, Peter stood on the porch with Michael and Theo, watching the sun come up His brother’s splints had come off at last; he could walk, but with a pronounced limp, and he tired quickly Below the up the Huear A Caleb one last time before they set out

"You know," Theo said, "I have the feeling that if we ever came back here, it would be just as it is now Like it’s apart fro Like no time ever really passes here"

"Maybe you will," Peter said

Theo fell silent, letting his gaze travel over the dusty street

"Oh, hell, brother," he said, shaking his head "I don’t know It’s nice to think it, though"

Aathered around the Huood wishes, tears Sara climbed behind the wheel, Hollis beside her, Theo and Mausao coiven to Peter Just deliver thee

Aive baby Caleb one last eine over, Greer stepped to the open driver’s

"Rehway 191 You should be able to pick up Route 60 in Eagar That’s the Roswell Road, takes you straight to the garrison There’s fortified bunkers about every hundred kilometers I marked them on Hollis’s map, but look for the red crosses, you can’t h Gas, ammo, whatever you need"

Sara nodded "Got it"

"And whatever you do, stay away fro Hollis? All eyes"

In the passenger seat, the bigspace for Peter to approach

"Well," Sara said, "I guess this is it"

"I guess so"

"Take care of Michael, all right?" She snuffled and wiped her eyes "He needslooking after"

"You can count on it" He reached in to shake Hollis’s hand, wished hiood luck, then lifted his voice to the rear of the Humvee "Theo? Maus? All set back there?"

"Ready as we’ll ever be, brother We’ll see you in Kerrville"

Peter backed away Sara put the Hu the vehicle in a wide circle, and pulled slowly down the street The five of them-Peter, Alicia, Michael, Greer, and A pluone

"Well," Peter said finally, "the day’s not getting any younger"

"Is that a joke?" Michael said

Peter shrugged "I guess it was"

They retrieved their packs and hoisted them onto their backs As Peter took his rifle froe of the porch, her eyes tracing the drifting cloud of the Humvee’s departure