“The IMAX was dark when Shay awoke. She knew Ryan was beside her—even after only a day of being together, she could sense his body as a discrete element in the universe.”
“Mike pulled his T-shirt off, spat onto it, then came at Ryan. “Lemme get that,” he said in a faux mommy voice. Ryan smacked him away. “I’d rather let my face burn.”
“Why were Mike and Drew listening to this guy? A week ago, they’d been trying to, no-joke, kill him. The change was freaky.”
“Normal temp.” It was a woman’s voice. “Asymptomatic.” The baton lifted.”
“No,” Mike said. “You go talk to the Tarrytown guys. They should all be on the first floor catching lunch. See if you can’t convince them to join our cause.” “How convincing should I be?” Drew said, swinging the bat. Mike grabbed the bat. “We want them to help us, not join the guys trying to kill us.” Drew seemed deflated at having to leave his bat in the pile. “I don’t think I want your help,” Shay said. She was like a different person, all in-your-face and shut-the-hell-up. Mike”
“A second person jammed something into Marco’s ear. “What the hell?” he asked. “Normal temp.” It was a woman’s voice. “Asymptomatic.” The baton lifted.”
“No,” Mike said. “You go talk to the Tarrytown guys. They should all be on the first floor catching lunch. See if you can’t convince them to join our cause.” “How convincing should I be?” Drew said, swinging the bat. Mike grabbed the bat. “We want them to help us, not join the guys trying to kill us.” Drew seemed deflated at having to leave his bat in the pile. “I don’t think I want your help,” Shay said. She was like a different person, all in-your-face and shut-the-hell-up. Mike slid the radio back into his cargo shorts. “I don’t think you have a choice.” “I”
“She gave herself over to their ministrations.”
“These people you let escape? They smashed the front windows of the Jessica McClintock store and were caught defacing the mannequins. How do I explain this to the other mall residents? This makes it look like we don’t have control.” “You don’t have control.” Marco wondered why this was such a revelation. “If we don’t provide the illusion of control, we’ll have anarchy. Your job is to help me project this illusion. And if you can no longer manage your job, I am going to have to relieve you of your card key and all privileges of non-compliance that up until now you have enjoyed.”
“Maybe he got busted at the party?” Ginger, always trying to be helpful.”
“When she came out, Preeti was waiting by her cot. “You coming to breakfast?” she said accusatorially, as if Shay had already abandoned her for a second time.”
“Shay looked at him like he’d just peeled off his skin to reveal the alien hide beneath.”
“It was separate from the other theaters, which were being used by the school during the day for child placation and in the evenings for general entertainment of the masses, and he’d confirmed with a guy on security that the IMAX was abandoned.”
“Why didn’t you run?” Lexi asked. “When you first saw the bomb, you could have just grabbed me and Dad and left and none of this would have happened.” Dotty didn’t yell, which was in itself a surprise. “You’re right,” she said. “I could have run, we could have escaped. But what if one of us was infected? What if we brought this flu out into the world? This is the deadliest flu virus anyone’s documented. Millions—and I’m not exaggerating, millions of people in the tri-state area alone would have died. Around the world, who knows? Billions? So I made a sacrifice. I made a very hard choice to choose the whole planet over the individual needs of myself and my family. I hope you can understand that, if not right now, then someday.” Lexi”
“People did not react well, it seemed, to interruptions in their routine.”
“The hero returns!” Drew shouted, arms akimbo, beer sloshing from his cup. The girls in the audience turned to see what fresh meathead had arrived. “I”
“Ryan grabbed Marco’s arm. “I have to see her.” Marco glowered back at him, not sure if Ryan could see in the dim light the amount of pissed-off-ness he felt. Ryan didn’t back down. “It’s your funeral,” Marco said, and continued to walk. Ryan stumbled slightly, trying to keep up—aftereffects of the flu? “So Shay’s your girlfriend?” he asked, panting as if walking was too much for him.”
“Guess you’re not the golden boy anymore, Shrimp.” Marco slipped by like a fart in the wind and joined Mike in his skybox. •”
“She tried to sleep—she was exhausted, it should have just happened—but closing her eyes did not stop her mind.”
“How much of an idiot was she? She’d morphed into one of those girls she’d sworn never to become: hanging on a guy who was a total jerk. But then a voice inside her got all offended, He’s not a total jerk. He helped you investigate the ice-skating rink. He liked you. He kissed you. Like this amounted to anything other than a desperate rationalization for having fallen for the wrong guy. God,”
“Shay’s mind, though, scrabbled around, restless.”
“The mood lightened significantly with this fortuitous event.”
“Maddie brushed her hands over her shirt. “Excellent. I want to use the bathroom.” She replaced her mask. “You just came from the bathroom.” “Oh,” she said. “Right.” She laughed. No, cackled. Lexi was not sure how to respond, so she kept silent.”
“There was no more ice-skating rink. There was merely a gigantic pile of bodies. It was like a garbage dump, just heaps of bodies tossed one on top of the other. The glassy eyes of one man seemed to be staring right at Lexi. She whipped back around the wall and threw up on the cement.”
“Ginger was afraid to breathe for fear of alerting the woman to their presence. Maddie too stood uncharacteristically still and quiet. The”
“There had to be a Plan B. Plan A sucked.”
“Ginger staggered to walk straight. “What can’t you believe? That Lexi’s lost?” Maddie gave her that I’m-sorry-you’re-that-slow look she often flashed. “Lexi disappearing I can believe. She went after Marco, obviously. What I can’t believe is that I was right. From the beginning, I was like, they’re just going to blow the mall up with us inside it, and I was totally right!” She laughed. What she said was not remotely funny. “No.”
“Second, Lexi was not the kind of person who would run blindly through the halls. Lexi thought stuff through. She would know that stumbling around the halls after a lockdown was utter idiocy. She would hide out. So exploring the stockrooms was both a defensive maneuver and part of the overall plan. They”
“Voices echoed down the hall, from where, Shay was not sure, but they scared her. She did not like being alone in this hallway, and definitely did not like the idea of not being alone in the hallway.”
“the law of the subconscious mind works for good and bad ideas alike. This law, when applied in a negative way, is the cause of failure, frustration, and unhappiness. However, when your habitual thinking is harmonious and constructive, you experience perfect health, success, and prosperity.”
“Alice jumped from flagstone to flagstone, her face caught in the rainlight glow, her hand grasping for a touch of gold. The towns excitement was contagious, and the air was so thick with promise Alice could almost bite into it.”
“I feel these forbidden thoughts creep in sometimes without warning. Slow thoughts that always start quietly, like whispers you're not even sure you're hearing. And then they get louder and louder until they become every sound in the entire world. Thoughts that can't be undone.
Would anyone care?
Would anyone even fucking notice?
What if one day I just wasn't here anymore?
What if one day it all just stopped?
What if? What if? What if?”
“People like you always choose to absolve yourselves. You are complicit even if you do not actively contribute to the problem because you do nothing to solve it.” I”
“She’d shed tears until there were none left.”
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