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To start with, they had their sheriff A fiery girl from the down deep who see as Marnes had intimated Jahns saw her kind as the future of the silo People who thought long ters done There was precedence of sheriffs running for ht Juliette would eventually , the trip had fired up her own goals and a elections, however unopposed she ht be, and had even co the clis could run better, how she could perforently, and how the silo could have new life breathed into old bones

But the biggest change hatever had grown between herself and Marnes She had even begun to suspect, just in the last hours, that the real reason for hi a proh space between the her As sheriff, it couldn’t happen Too much conflict of interest, too much his immediate superior This theory of hers contained a powerful sadness and an awe-inspiring sweetness She squeezed his hand as she thought on this theory, and it filled her with a deep hollowness, a craut at all he had silently sacrificed, a massive debt to live up to noto the nursery, and had no plans for stopping to see Juliette’s father, to urge hied her o pretty bad," she told Marnes, embarrassed as a child to admit she couldn’t hold it Herfrom soover and done "I wouldn’tJuliette’s father, either," she added

Marnes’s mustache bent up at the corners with the excuse "Then we should stop," he said

The waiting roo thelass partition and saw a nurse padding through the dark corridor toward her, a frown beconition

"Mayor," she whispered

"I’ to see Doctor Nichols? And possibly use your restrooh "We’ve had two deliveries since you last stopped by Things have been crazy with this generator ruff and louder than theirs

The nurse shot him a look, but nodded as if duly noted She took two robes from the racks and held them out, told the room, she waved toward the benches and said she would find the doctor "The bathroon painted on its surface nearly eroded clean away

"I’ll be right back," Jahns told Marnes She fought the urge to reach out and squeeze his hand, as normal as that dark and hidden habit had lately becoht Jahns fumbled with an unfamiliar lock on the stall door, cursed under her breath as her stomach churned noisily, then finally threw the stall open and hurried to sit down Her stomach felt like it was on fire as she relieved herself Theheld it too long left her unable to breathe She went for what felt like forever, res shook uncontrollably, and realized she had pushed herself too hard on the cliht of another twenty levels mortified her, made her insides feel holloith dread She finished andtoilet to splash herself clean, then dried herself with one of the towels She flushed both units to cycle the water It all required fu in the darkness, unable to see and unfa and location that were second nature in her apartered out of the bathrooht need to stay oneto s as she pulled open the door and returned to Marnes in the waiting room

"Better?" he asked He sat on one of the family benches, a space left conspicuously beside hi in shallow pants and wondered if he’d find her weak to ado any further that day

"Jahns? You okay?"

Marnes leaned forward He wasn’t looking at her, he was looking toward the ground "Jahns What the hell happened?"

"Lower your voice," she whispered

He screamed, instead

"Doctor!" he yelled "Nurse!"

A forlass of the nursery Jahns laid her head back against the seat cushion, trying to form the words on her lips, to tell him to keep it down

"Jahns, sweetheart, what did you do?"

He was holding her hand, patting the back of it He shook her ar of footsteps running their way Lights turned up forbiddingly bright A nurse yelled so There was the faive her a bed He would understand this exhaustion--

There was talk of blood So into his whiteher shoulders, looking her in the eye

"I’m okay," Jahns tried to say

She licked her lips So dry Mouth, so damned dry She asked for water Marnes fu water against and into her mouth