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fate she was giving them. So far nothing had happened. This was a small town. Things didn’t happen. Her mother was probably overreacting, but something inside her was also telling her to run.
    To leave everyone behind, though? That seemed cowardly.
    She decided to wait on the steps until everyone came back out. They’d laugh about it later on the ride home. Tomorrow they’d pack their bags and drive west to Seattle to check on Heath. It would be a good story to tell him.
    A car’s engine roared to life and headlights switched on, bathing her in blinding white light.
    “Well, well, well, we’ve got ourselves an escapee.”
    She knew that voice. It belonged to her neighbor Sam Anselm. She took a few steps forward until she could see through the headlights’ glare.
    The town hall was surrounded.
    There were at least twenty men and women, armed and ready to ambush. They had positioned their cars around the building so that no one would be getting out. Clementine took another step, painfully aware that Sam had his gun tracking her movements.
    “What’s going on, Sam?” Her voice sounded taut and strange in her throat. She swallowed hard but it didn’t help.
    “I think you need to go back inside, young missy,” Sam said. “That is, if you really want to know.”
    “And if I don’t?”
    “Then we’ll have a little party out here. Just the two of us.”
    Sam was on her before she had time to react. Grabbing hold of her arm, he dragged her away from the town hall and toward his truck. She yanked hard, trying to break free, but his grip was too strong.
    “Sam. Sam, stop it, please,” she said. The others were beginning to descend on the town hall with their weapons raised. “Don’t do this.”
    “But I enjoy it,” he said.
    She stumbled over the walkway and almost fell, eyes filling with tears from the pain of him dragging her along. The muscles in her arm flared, and she was afraid he might tear the ligaments if she continued to fight. So she allowed him to pull her a few more feet, until he stopped at the edge of the parking lot.
    His hand abruptly let go of her arm, and he stared at her as if he didn’t know who she was. His eyes grew wide and confused.
    “Clem?”
    “Sam?”
    “I didn’t hurt you, did I? Please say I didn’t hurt you.” His hands reached out and grabbed her shoulders.
    “No, I’m fine. I—”
    “You’ve got to get out of here. Now! Before I go back. I go in and out. My brain. The voices. White noise. They’re so loud. I can’t stop them. They’re telling me to do things.”
    “What are you talking about, Sam? I can’t go. My parents are inside.”
    “Leave. You have to go or they’ll kill you. I’ll kill you. Once it takes over I can’t stop it.”
    “What? What takes over?”
    “I don’t know. The voices. The things inside my head. They’re real. Curled up against my brain. Fighting me.”
    He gave her a shove backward and she thought about how her mother had done the same thing moments ago. Everyone kept telling her to run, but no one was saying where they wanted her to go.
    Gunshots fired against the night. They came from inside the town hall. Someone screamed.
    Everyone she knew was inside that building.
    “Run,” Sam said, reading her mind. “You can’t save them. Don’t go home. That’s the first place they’ll look for you.”
    “But where will I go?”
    Sam dropped to his knees, clutching at his ears and screaming. His gun dropped to the earth beside him, and she thought about trying to grab it. But she didn’t know anything about weapons; it would be useless in her hands.
    When Sam raised his head, his eyes were clouded and there was no recognition when he looked right at her. He’d bitten his lip or cheek when he fell. He smiled; she could see the blood on his teeth. Her heart pounded and skipped a beat.
    Sam no longer appeared to be home.
    She decided to do what she was told. She turned and ran.

MICHAEL
    “I can’t take this anymore. Toss in