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"I think it ht be safer out there for us than if we stay I knoill happen if we stay I want to see if it’s better if we leave"

"You hope it’s safer," someone said

Juliette didn’t search for the voice She let her gaze drift across the crowd Everyone was thinking the saht I hope I have the word of a stranger I have whispers frout, in my heart I have these lines that cross on a ree with you I’ve livedwhat I can see I need proof I need to see results And even then I need to see thelis truly are But this is a case where what I know for certain – the life that awaits us here – is not worth living And there’s a chance that a better one can be found elsewhere I’h of you are with me"

"I’m with you," Raph said

Juliette nodded The room blurred a little "I know you are," she said

Solo raised his hand With his other, he tugged on his beard Juliette felt Elise take her hand Shaw held a squiret there if we don’t ai?" one of the rab so at her feet While her head was down, she wiped at her eyes She stood and lifted one of the cleaning suits, held it in one hand, a hel outside," she said

60

The food dwindled while they worked It was a gri cans and what had been rounded up from the farms Not everyone in the silo participated; many never ca they could grab row plots if they hurried Several mechanics asked for permission to head back down to Mechanical and round up those who had refused to make the climb, to try and convince them to come, to see if Walker could be stirred Juliette was overjoyed with the prospect of gathering o She also felt the pressure mount as everyone worked

The server roo like you’d see down the halls of Supply Nearly a hundred and fifty cleaning suits were laid out, all of the to be sized and adjusted Juliette was sad to see that it was more than they needed, but also a little relieved It would’ve been a problem the other way around

She had shown a dozen ether like she and Nelson had used to breathe in the Suit Lab There weren’t enough of the valves in IT, so porters were given samples and sent down to Supply, where Juliette was sure there would be more of these parts otherwise useless for survival Gaskets, heat tape, and seals were needed They were also told to secure and haul up the welding kits in both Supply and Mechanical She showed theen and said they wouldn’t need the acetylene

Erik calculated the distance using the chart hanging on the wall and reckoned they could put a dozen people to a bottle Juliette said toon the suits – the fallen servers acting as workbenches as they knelt or sat on the floor – she took a srim job Just her father, Raph, Dawson, and two of the older porters whoured had handled bodies before On the way up, they stopped below the farms and went to the coroner’s office past the pus and pulled out five dozen From there they climbed in silence

••••

There was no airlock attached to Silo 17, not anymore The outer door remained cracked open from the fall of the silo decades before Juliette reh that door twice before, her hel stuck the first time The only barriers between them and the outside air were the inner airlock door and the door to the sheriff’s office Bareone

Juliette helped the others rele of chairs and tables from around the office door There was a narrow path between theo, but they needed more room to work She warned the others about the bodies inside, but they knew fros what they were in for A handful of flashlights converged on the door as Juliette prepared to open it They all wore loves at her father’s insistence Juliette wondered if they should’ve donned cleaning suits instead

The bodies inside were just as she reray and lifeless li both foul andfetid soup on herself to drown the outside air This was the stench of death and so besides

They hauled the bodies out one by one and placed thehed off bones like a slow roast "The joints," Juliette cautioned, her voice hot and muffled by her ether barely and enough, the tendons and bone doing most of the work Black zippers were pulled shut with relief Coughing and gagging filled the air

Most of the bodies inside the sheriff’s office had piled up by the door as if they’d crawled over one another in an atteet back inside, back into the cafeteria Other bodies were in a state of more serene rest A man slouched over on the tattered re cell, just the rusted fraone A woman lay in the corner with her ar Juliette moved the last of the bodies with her father, and she saide her father’s eyes were, how they were fixed on her She glanced over his shoulder as she shuffled backwards out of the sheriff’s office, staring at the airlock door that awaited the off in chips of paint

"This isn’t right," her father said, his voiceup and doith theand zipped it up

"We’ll give the hehandled – stacked like bags of dirty laundry

He reloves and his mask, rested back on his heels, and wiped his broith the back of his hand "No It’s these people I thought you said this place was practically eot here"

"It was Just Solo and the kids These people have been dead a long time"

"That’s not possible," her father said "They’re too well preserved" His eyes drifted across the bags, wrinkles of concern or confusion in his brow "I’d say they’ve been dead for three weeks Four or five at the most"

"Dad, they were here when I arrived I crawled over them I asked Solo about theo"

"That simply can’t be--"

"It’s probably because they weren’t buried Or the gas outside kept the bugs away It doesn’tisn’t right like this There’s so you" He stood and headed toward the stairhere Raph was ladling hauled water into scrounged cups and cans Her father took one for hiht, she could tell "Did you know Elise had a twin sister?" her father asked

Juliette nodded "Hannah told me Died in childbirth The mother passed as well They don’t talk about it much, especially not with her"

"And those two boys Marcus and Miles Another set of twins The eldest boy Rickson says he thought he had a brother, but his father wouldn’t talk about it and he never knew his mother to ask her" Her father took a sip of water and peered into the can Juliette tried to drown the ue while Dawson helped with one of the bags Dawson coughed and looked as though he were about to gag