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"Solass shattered in the living room

Manuel said, "But the immune factor has been isolated Soon there’ll be a vaccine, and a cure for those already infected"

I thought of thechildren, but I didn’t ," I said

"And we’re learning there’s only so e they’re able to tolerate"

I strove to resist the flood of hope that ht have swept me away "Only so much? How much?"

"There’s a threshold… They beco place in them Then they’re overcome by fear An intolerable fear of themselves Hatred of theically iical implosion? What the hell does that mean?" Then I understood "Suicide?"

"Beyond suicide Violent…frenzied self-destruction We’ve seen…a number of cases You understand what this means?"

I said, "When they self-destruct, they’re no longer carriers of the retrovirus The plague is self-li a suessed that the other deputy eeping Sasha’s bottles of vitamins and herbs off the shelves in the study They were dutifully teaching us a lesson--and respect for the law

"Most of us will get through this all right," Manuel said

But who a us will not? I wondered

"Aniardedindications What have you seen?"

I thought of the birds The veve rats, which had been dead a long ti the threshold of tolerable change

"Why’re you telling me this?" I asked

"So you’ll stay the hell out of the way Let the right peoplePeople with credentials"

"The usual big brains," Bobby said

Manuel poked the club in our direction "Youin the way"

"I’m no hero," I assured him

Bobby said, "Me, hell, I’m just a surf-smacked, sun-fried, beer-whacked boardhead"

Manuel said, "There’s too enda of his own"

"What about the troop?" I asked "The monkeys haven’t self-destructed"

"They’re different They were engineered in the lab, and they are what they are They are what they were made to be, what they were born to be They can still become if they’re vulnerable to the mutated virus, but maybe they aren’t susceptible After this is all over, once people are vaccinated and this outbreak self-limits, we’ll track them down and wipe them out"

"Not much luck at that so far," I reer proble work"

Ignoring hiet the rest of this cleaned up, then the troop…their days are nu roo rooh the connecting doorway

The second deputy appeared at the hallway door, and he was not anyone I had seen before I thought I knew all the police in town, but perhaps the financiers behind the Wyvern wizards had recently provided the funding for a larger force

"Found souy said "No weapons"

Manuel called to Frank, who appeared in the dining-room doorway and said, "Chief?"

"We’re done here," Manuel said

Feeney looked disappointed, but the newthe hall toward the front of the house

With startling speed, Manuel lunged toward Bobby, swinging the baton at his head Equally quick, Bobby ducked The club carved the air where Bobby had been, and cracked loudly against the side of the refrigerator

Bobby caht he was eleaainst Manuel’s throat