As Duet reaches the driver's door, I catch another glint of movement beside me and dodge in time to catch the arm of my watcher. A boy's voice squeals, his body flailing and kicking as I jerk him forward and into the light streaming from the inside the SUV.

He's scrawny, filthy, stinks of old earth and decay. But he's normal, at least in appearance, just a boy trying to survive. I wonder how he's escaped the Sick for so long as I shake him gently.

"Don't be afraid," I ...