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Deedee, Mark realized It had to be Deedee But what about Trina and Lana? "Tell us what happened," he urged He felt guiltier with every passing second that they weren’t actively searching for their friends, but they needed infor"
Anton began to speak in a somewhat distant tone "The Post-Flares Coalition in Alaska wanted so that spread fast, killed fast A virus that soood old days before the sun flares burned it all out They say it shuts down thethe bodies useless but causingthat would spread it to those nearby Transmission is by blood, but it’s also airborne when the conditions are right A good way to kill off the settlements that are forced to live in close quarters"
The e in volu numb from exhaustion, and he found it hard to follow the details He knew that what he was hearing was i had he been awake noenty-four hours? Thirty-six? Forty-eight?
"--before they realized they’d screwed up big-tiain He’d just
"What do you hed, then sniffled and wiped a hand across his nose "The virus It’s all wrong It didn’t work right on the test subjects over the last twowhat’s left of the planet’s resources is being depleted All they did was up the dosage in those darts Those bastards are trying to wipe out half the population Half!"
"What about the little girl?" Mark almost shouted "Did she have to a word that Mark or Alec said "They said we’d be taken care of once the deed was done That they’d bring us all back to Alaska and give us homes and food and protection Let half the world die and we’d start over But they screwed up, didn’t they? That little girl lived even though she was struck with a dart But it’s ht It spreads like wildfire, all right Too bad it’s got athat was vaguely like a chuckle, but it soon transfor freely The s up onto the cot, curling into the fetal position, his shoulders shaking as he cried
"I’ve got it," he said through the sobs "I’ot it, too Have no doubts, ot the virus I toldto do with them Not anymore They left me up here bythe whole scene through a fog He couldn’t concentrate He tried to snap out of it "Do you have any idea where our friends could be?" he asked, more calmly this time "Where are your coworkers?"
"They’re all down below," Anton whispered "I couldn’t bear it anyuess I’lad they let me"
"Down below?" Alec repeated
"Farther down in the bunker," Anton answered, his voice getting quieter as his crying subsided "They’re down there, planning Planning to revolt in Asheville, let thes ended up They wanna take it all the way to Alaska"
Mark looked at Alec, as just staring at Anton It seeer said was a little more bizarre than the statement before it
"Revolt?" Mark asked "Why Asheville? And who are these people?"
"Asheville is the last safe haven in the East," thebut dry, faint rasps "Walls and everything--ramshackle as they may be And they are hty Post-Flares Coalition My estee their bosses down before they pull out Before they head back to Alaska through the Flat Trans"
"Anton," Alec said "Listen to me Is there anyone else we can talk to? And how can we find out about the friends we’re looking for? The girl, to into his voice "Those people I ith have started to lose their ht They’ll be down there for hours, planning and scheather an ar the way if they have to Oh, there’s talk of an antidote there, but that’s a bunch of hooey In the end, et what’s been taken from them: life And you knohat they’ll do after that You know, don’t you?"
"What?" Mark and Alec said at the saht from the workpad caused one half of his face to be in shadow frolow The eye on the lighted side looked as if a spark had been lit inside the pupil
"They’ll go to Alaska through that Flat Trans in Asheville," the athered and h that’s not their intent They’ll carry on about finding an antidote and taking down the overnment But all they’ll really do is spread the virus once and for all Make sure they finish what the sun flares started Fools, every last one of them"
Anton collapsed back into a heap on the cot, and a few seconds later the sounds of his snores filled the roo ti of Anton as he slept
"I’uy’s mouth," Alec said after a while "But I’m troubled, to say the least"
"Yeah," Mark responded flatly His head was pounding and he felt sick to his stomach He couldn’t reet up, get out of that room, find Trina and the others
He didn’t move
"Boy, you look like a zo to face hiain