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Now it was Ray’s turn to lower his voice. “I know, I’m a girl, just go along with it. Call me Raven.”

“Raven. Right. Right, of course. What are you doing in here?”

“I came to see you. I had Todd pretend to arrest me.”

“You jackass! Don’t you realize there’s about to be a holy war? Dixon’s people are crazy!”

“Why do you think I came? I got your note-are you okay?”

“I’m all right, considering some nutball tried to stick a knife in me. I’m fine. You really shouldn’t have come in here.”

“I had to do something.”

“I know.” Sandoval spoke urgently in Ray’s ear: “Listen, if things go the way I’m hoping, we won’t have to be in here much longer anyway.”

“Why? What’s going on?”

“You’ll see. Just play it cool.”

The women were fascinated and suspicious. “Who’s this, Jim?” one of them called. “You never told us you had a girlfriend on the outside. Why don’t you introduce us? And maybe fetch her a drink. She looks like she needs it.”

“She’s not my girlfriend, Chandra,” Sandoval said. “She’s my… niece. Raven.”

The woman looked unconvinced. “Raven. Really. Well, it’s quite the jolly little family reunion, isn’t it? What a fortunate coincidence that you both survived the plague!”

“Not such a coincidence. Raven and I both escaped on the submarine.”

“Oh, is that submarine of yours back in town?”

“Just long enough to drop her off, apparently.”

Ray said, “That’s right. They didn’t want any women on board, so they put me ashore.”

“Well, that’s just terrible. You’re certainly welcome with us.”

“Thank you.”

“Now there’s just one thing. As you can see, dear, most of us here are old enough to be your mother… or even your grandmother. That suggests that you have an unusual resistance to Agent X for someone your age. You can bear children-possibly immune children. This places you in a very select minority. Has Jim explained to you what that means?”

“Uh, well-”

Sandoval jumped in, steering Ray away toward a table of sandwiches and drinks. “All right, all right! Get your minds out of the gutter!”

The women cackled in their wake.

“Fucking biddies.” Sandoval poured Ray a glass of lemonade. “Unbelievable.”

The sound of women’s laughter almost made Ray weep. Taking a bite of a ham sandwich, he asked, “What did you mean when you said we might not be in here much longer?”

“My people are staging a coup against Chace. If all goes as planned, by this time tomorrow, we’ll all be set free.”

Ray swallowed. “Are you sure? It looked to me like Chace has the popular vote.”

“They’ve just known him longer; he’s a celebrity. People always like a charismatic yokel, but they’ll jump ship as soon as he stumbles. Which he already has. He thinks they’re all fired up for this war on Washington, but I guarantee you that most of them will bail out at the first opportunity.”

“What if he kills you first?”

“He doesn’t dare kill me.”

“Why not?”

“Because these women won’t permit it. They remember what these nuts did to them during the Agent X panic. Female survivors were almost exterminated. They’re not about to let that happen again.”

“But if Chace has all the weapons you mentioned, what’s to stop him from just marching in here and doing whatever the hell he wants? These women are helpless prisoners.”

“Are they?”

“What do you mean?”

“Well, look around you. Who’s out there in the city doing all the grunt work, and who’s in here on the lawn, playing cards and drinking Margaritas?”

“I… don’t get it. Are you saying these women are somehow in charge?”

Sandoval grinned.

“But how?” Ray asked.

“Because the Evians hold the Sacrament. They are the Munies-the truly immune, not just resistant to Agent X infection, but actually counterinfectious, able to neutralize Xombies. Make them human. In fact, Xombies shun them-I hear you’ve experienced this yourself at one of Chace’s little demonstrations. Well, it’s a tincture of immune blood that makes it possible. That’s how I was restored to my humanity

… and how we will eventually restore the whole human race.”

“Oh my God.”

“At present, however, that goal of Xombie salvation is limited by the small number of available donors. The immunizing effect of the blood serum is temporary, which means there has to be a reliable supply. The living come first, and obviously the supply of vaccine can only increase if the number of Immunes increases. That means having immune babies-as many as possible, preferably females.”

“Hence your harem.”

“Now don’t jump to conclusions. I haven’t touched those girls. In fact, I can’t touch them-nobody can. Not without their full consent.”

“Why not?”

“You’ll see. As a presumed Immune, you’ll be staying with them.”

“I still don’t understand what’s to stop Dixon from marching in here and taking charge of the whole operation. Making the Immunes his slaves.”

“It’s all under control, trust me. Do you think I wouldn’t have it covered?”

“You? How could I doubt?”

“Damn straight.”

They talked for hours about old times, until the sun fell below the mall. A blustery wind kicked up, and the women stowed their cards and went inside their trailers. Finally, Sandoval said, “Phew, I hate to let you go, but I can tell you’re beat. Come on, I’ll take you to your trailer.”

“Can’t I stay with you?”

“I wish. The others would never stand for it. No, you have to bunk with the Evians. Don’t worry-you’ll like them. They’re some of the nicer people in camp.”

He took Ray to a fence within the fence-a smaller enclosure containing a single trailer. The gate was locked shut, but Sandoval waved at the camera, and they were buzzed in. He sighed. “Well, this is as far as I go.”

“Really? You can’t even just introduce me?”

Sandoval shook his head no, choked up with emotion. “But I’m really glad to see you, Ray. I should kick your butt for risking your fool neck like this, but I’m grateful you came. ”

“Me too.”

They hugged, clinching tightly. A nearby woman’s voice shrieked, “Get a room!” and they hurriedly broke apart.

As the fence shut between them, Sandoval called, “Don’t you worry, everything’s going to be all right!”

Ray went up the short walk and knocked on the trailer. When he looked back, Jim Sandoval was gone.

The door opened, releasing a torrent of music-Fiona Apple’s “Criminal.” A sour-faced young woman stood in the doorway, looking Ray up and down. She was wearing what looked like an orange life vest over a peasant skirt, army boots, and an oversized knit hat with dangling earflaps. “Who’re you?” she asked.

“Hi. Sorry to bother you. My name is Ray Despineau-uh, Raven.”

The woman ignored his outstretched hand. “What do you want?”

“I guess I’m staying here tonight.”

“Why?”

“Because I’m immune. So they say.”

“Oh. Great. Well, c’mon in. I’m Fran.” The woman stood aside to let him pass.

“Hi, Fran. Nice to meet you.”

“Seriously?”

Ray stepped into a very cluttered room. Heaps of clothing, shoes, games, books, magazines, cookware, food garbage, and all manner of random electronic paraphernalia were scattered on the floor or piled on the furniture. The music was very loud. For a second, he didn’t realize there were people hidden amid the mess: two teenage girls, both wearing life vests similar to Fran’s. One girl was on the couch, and the other sprawled on the carpet. All three were pale to the point of translucence, with dark circles under their eyes. Cancer ward, Ray thought.

He introduced himself again.

“I’m Ashleigh,” said the one on the couch, who was decorating her huge artificial nails.

The one on the floor was reading an art magazine called Hi Fructose. She said, “Deena.”

“Hi, Ashleigh and Deena. Looks like I’m gonna be staying with you guys.”