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Chelsea Handler Chelsea Chelsea Bang Bang (epub
Brit Brinson [Dia of the Dead Dia of the Dead (epub)
Cody Goodfellow [Radiant Dawn Radiant Dawn (epub)
Cate Tiernan [Immortal Belove Immortal Beloved (epub)
C J Busby [Deep Amber 01] Deep Amber (retail) (epub)
Drew Hayes [Super Powereds 02 Super Powereds Year 2 (epub) i
Beth Harbison [Shoe Addict 02 Secrets of a Shoe Addict (epub)
Cara Lynn Shultz [Dark World The Dark World (retail) (epub)
Buck Rogers 01 Buck Rogers in Addison E Steele (v1.0) (epub)
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.“This is the place.”Inside, they found a table by the window.A server soon approached, his long blond dreads swinging behind him like soft spines.“And how are you two today?” he asked.“Good,” Cathren and Donovan said in unison.Turning his attention to Cathren, Donovan said, “You should get the vegetarian frittata.Fantastic.”“Yes, excellent choice.” The waiter proceeded to recite the ingredients in a slow monotone, pausing between each component.“Fresh mushrooms.Tomatoes.Avocado.Cheese.Topped with our most tasty, house-made salsa.”“Yum,” Cathren said, smiling.“Two of those, then.” Donovan looked at the waiter again.“And two coffees, too.”The waiter stiffened, his eyebrows pulling together.“Haven’t you heard, dude? You can’t drink the water now.No way.We can’t serve water, coffee, or any other water-based drink.” He stared at the couple as though offended.“We’re sold out of bottled water, but have no fear, I can find you a bottle of juice or natural soda or—”“No, thanks,” Donovan said.“I’ll take a juice.Whatever you’ve got,” Cathren said, most likely only ordering the juice to make up for Donovan’s borderline rudeness.“Cool.Two veggie omelets, one juice,” the waiter said as he walked away, scribbling on his pad.Outside the window, an army tank and two military Hummers sniffing its rear crunched their way down the block.Soldiers—guns loaded, raised to their shoulders, and pointed straight ahead—stomped in close formation on both sides of the street.“Something’s not right,” Donovan said, deciding it was time to leave without eating.He dropped a couple of bills on the table and poked Cathren with his other hand.She turned to him, smiling.He tipped his head toward the escalating militarization.Cathren’s smile disappeared.She nodded, grabbed her purse, and together they stood up and left.* * *People were stopping along the sidewalk in bunches.They looked as if they were watching the start of a parade.Donovan and Cathren strolled uptown, walking in the opposite direction of the troops’ movements.At the corner, the couple made a left.Then, hoping for a successful evasive maneuver, they took a right at the next block.They began to relax, convinced they had gotten away from the mounting craziness.Instead, they walked right into hell.A large group of people formed a circle in the middle of the road, their backs to Donovan and Cathren.The couple stopped, transfixed, and studied the people in the crowd.Oozing wounds dotted the beings’ flesh.Open sores pocked their necks, arms, backs.Rotting skin dripped to the ground.A couple of them had bits of bright white bone showing through, like headlights in a tunnel.“What’s going on?” said Cathren.“Who are they? They look so sick.Are they lepers? Are they hurt? Should we help them?”“Water drinkers,” Donovan said darkly.“Unfiltered tap water drinkers.”One of the people in the crowd turned their empty gaze on Donovan and Cathren.Then another turned around.And another.And another.Until they were all facing Donovan and Cathren.Growling, they gnashed their teeth and walked toward them with shuffling, limping, broken determination.“These poor, poor people.” Cathren said, her hand snapping up to cover her open mouth, her eyes misting over.“No, they don’t need our help,” Donovan said, barely able to deliver the sentence.“We need our help.”Chapter 5Burkhart Egesa straightened in his seat as the makeup person touched up his face, powdering his nose and forehead.When she finished, she spun him around in his chair to confront the cameras and the burning lights.Egesa’s stomach roiled at the very idea of doing an interview, especially for a show with as large a viewership as Investigation Nation.It wasn’t stage fright.He loved being on stage.The bigger the crowd, the better, but only when he had complete control.Giving a speech, a presentation, yes.Not, most certainly, when giving an interview.Too much could go wrong.Egesa had wanted, almost from the moment he was born, to make his mark on the world.To bring to the masses a wondrous thing, like the cure for cancer or blindness.However, his genius and his passion didn’t exist in either of these fields.His dream was to bring to humankind not merely improved longevity but, if possible, immortality.The public did not understand him.They even mocked him.His brilliance.His greatness.Which was why appearing on a show like this—specifically now, with all that had gone so wrong—was necessary.A necessary evil.Chapter 6Donovan grabbed Cathren’s hand, and they dashed up Powell together toward California Street.As they ran for their lives, someone called Donovan’s name.“Hey, Donny-boy!”Donovan turned his head in response, out of habit rather than common sense.An Indian guy, or perhaps he was Pakistani, sat in a small, orange car waving at them.The voice, the mustache, the big smile all seemed familiar, but Donovan couldn’t place him at this distance.The man had a car, however, which was good.So Donovan stopped and turned around, pulling Cathren with him.Donovan recognized his friend at last as they drew nearer.“Rudra Adhamark, how’s it going?” he said.Rudra and Donovan sailboarded or surfed together at least once a month.He’d known Rudra since college.Now Rudra ran his own security firm, which he’d taken over when his father had retired.Out of character for Rudy, he was making a success out of it.Always seemed to know the right jobs to take and the right ones to walk away from.“Give us a ride, man,” Donovan went on.“Need to get back to my car and get out of here.It’s an emergency.”“No can do, Donny-O.”“What do you mean, ‘no can do’? What are you talking about?” Donovan asked, stopping at the car.“Just let us in.This shit is serious.”“Sorry,” Rudra said.“I’m not driving out of town.I just got here.See? I’m parked here.Outstanding spot, too.Got things to do.” Rudra snapped his fingers to indicate speed and determination.For a second, Donovan said nothing, but soon got back on topic.“Rudy, there are things happening in the city today.Strange things.We witnessed the aftermath of a horrible massacre or something and these people, these—I don’t know what they were.The insane wounded is what they looked like.Now, I appreciate you have other plans, but this is important.I need to get Cathren out of here.”Donovan beamed his best smile and waited.He could hear the sirens all around them, followed by the sound of rapid gunfire.A jet roared past high overhead.“What the hell is going on?” Rudra asked, fidgeting in his seat like a startled bunny.“Trouble [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]