Author's Note: This is it! The day of the big drawing for our walk-on contest. One lucky entrant will be chosen (completely at random) and will have their name and likeness appear in an upcoming chapter of PLAGUE ZONE. Who will it be? Will it be you? I'll let everyone know as soon as I've gotten in contact with the winner. UPDATE! We have a winner, and it's Sandi Carron. Congratulations, Sandi, and thanks to everyone who entered. Sandi will appear in an upcoming chapter. Given the choice of whether she wanted to be a drooler or a survivor, she picked... well, you'll just have to wait and see. Meanwhile, back in Seattle...

Sasha and Mikey left to get the boat ready. Tony retired to his bedroom and most of the looters went to their own parts of the house—the pool room, the den, the kitchen if they were still hungry. A few remained in the front room playing video games or just hanging out. A joint went around, its red cherry leaving trails in Tim’s vision. He was tired—he’d been up since early that morning, and he’d put in a full shift digging clams, which had left his back sore and his arms feeling weak and trembling. He would have loved to go lie down for a while before they had to leave.

Buzzard wasn’t about to let that happen. He grabbed Tim’s arm hard, his thumb digging right into the inside of Tim’s elbow. He all but dragged Tim deeper into the house, into a corridor that lead to a large bedroom that would have once faced the water. Now all its windows were covered over with sheets of plywood. Otherwise it hadn’t been altered much. There were still pictures on the walls of children at various ages. There was one picture of a teenaged girl holding the reins of an enormous horse. She had a green ribbon pinned to the front of her Western shirt and her cowboy hat was tilted back on her head. She was smiling with a grin toothier than that of the horse.

Jake had been afraid of horses, Tim thought. He sat down on the bed and waited for Buzzard to check the hallway then close the door.

“You’re a fucking idiot,” he said, first.

Tim just shrugged.

“You heard what I said, I know it. You heard what I said and then you had to go fuck everything up. This was just a meet-and-greet! An informational session. I should knock you unconscious and drag you back to Camp Romeo myself. Better yet I should take you halfway there and then dump you in the Sound.”

“I would just try to swim to Seattle,” Tim told him.

Buzzard fumed a while longer but he clearly was at a loss for words.

“I know,” Tim said, “that this isn’t what you wanted. You need me back in my bed by dawn so Helena never knows we left. I’m sorry, but that’s not going to happen. Not when I’m so close.”

“When she finds you missing she’s going to call Horne and tell him you ran off in the night. Horne will still put the clamp on us but if we volunteer the information it’ll go easier on us. For you it’ll be all over, anyway. He won’t take a second chance on you, he’ll throw you in his stockade instantly and probably swallow the key.”

“Not if I’m in Seattle. His troops don’t go up there, so they won’t be able to capture me again. Once I’m inside the city I can do what I need to do without any more interference.”

“And what about when you come back? Or do you not plan on coming back?”

Tim stared at the shag carpet while he thought about what to say. “Listen, Buzzard. I want you to go back to the Camp and talk to Helena. Do whatever it takes to convince her not to call Horne. It’s still a couple of days until the next medical check, right? Horne won’t know I’m gone until then. I think I can finish what I need to do and get back in that time.”

Buzzard’s eyes narrowed. “Once you get your revenge, this is over, right? You won’t go sneaking off again?”

Tim nodded agreeably. To himself he admitted that he didn’t know what he would do once Phil Nero was dead. Maybe he would kill himself. Maybe he really would go back to Olympia and play nice with the other survivors. If Buzzard covered for him, though, it could forestall a possible problem. Horne would go ballistic when he learned one of his evacuees had escaped, Tim knew. There was no telling what the Colonel would do to get him back. He might even send helicopters up to the Plague Zone. He might send teams of boys in military uniforms to come look for Tim—which would mean the boys would be in danger, and possibly get killed. Tim didn’t want that on his conscience.

“You’re going to owe me such a huge favor if I agree to do this stupid thing,” Buzzard said. His voice sounded like it was a long shot but Tim knew the reporter was already on his side.

“There’s a very real reason why I have to go tonight,” Tim said.

“You’re worried I’m going to double cross you?”

“No,” Tim said, “I’m worried about the looters. They’re going to start medicating Tony’s brother right away. It could be as early as tomorrow morning that they realize I just sold them a box full of thorazine.”

Buzzard’s eyes went wide. “But that’s—”

“A sedative. It’ll calm the drooler down, maybe. Make him less violent—I hope. It might kill him for all I know. Or it could have no effect at all. I have no idea, but I don’t want to be here when Tony finds out.”

“Jesus love a duck,” Buzzard said.

It was less than an hour later that Sasha came for them. The boat was ready, fueled up and sitting in the water. He could leave any time he wanted. “I’m not going into the PZ with you,” she said, as if he had thought otherwise. “I’m going to ferry you over and then skedaddle my ass away. But I’ll come back for you. How much time do you need?” she asked him.

Tim glanced at Buzzard, who was pacing around the living room, anxious to go home himself. “Twenty-four hours,” Tim said. “That should be enough.”

She shrugged. “Better check your watch, make sure it’s working okay. I don’t intend to sit around very long waiting if you’re late.”

Together they headed back down to the beach. No one molested them on the way there. Tim climbed into the boat first and reached for an oar but Sasha shook her head.

“No need—we can use the motor all the way. Ain’t like the droolers care if we make a little noise, and they’re all that’s left over there.”