"They ran through the empty corridors to the Main Market in the middle of the station. Ferro spotted a crouching figure. Before he could say anything,...Kay had already shot the man. The target sprawled on the floor without comment."Get his weapon," Kay ordered as she trained her gun on the open space.Ferro ran over, snatching the black object as he bent down. He hit the floor and then noticed the whine of a pulse over his head. Kay fired.Ferro looked at the weapon and realized that he had no. .. anA-line, low-rise, blue colored, little cheer skirt with a zipperclosure in the back. He threw it on the bed like it carried aninfection, and, wearing nothing but the towel round his waist, randownstairs to find his mom."It's a skirt," he shouted when he found her in the kitchen, in heruniform as she always was every morning now. "You put out a cheer skirton my bed."His mom calmly continued setting the table for breakfast."Yeah, it's just like mine except it doesn't have pleats." But I. And the women I desired most were in my family.At nineteen, my younger sister, Ranya and I married Tarik. Then we lived in Palestine. But not long after, we immigrated to America. We lied to the U.S. Government, claiming I was the only wife. Once in the states, I gave birth to Sa’dia, then a year later Ranya had Ayesha, followed by me having the twins, Basima and Naila. As the years went by, Ranya and I drifted away from our husband, but remained trapped by custom and religion.But now I would. Then the morning air was rent by a piercing scream, just around the corner from them.Alex heaved a heavy sigh when he heard the girl scream. He and Pops stopped loading the wagon and exchanged glances. Nothing more needed to be said.Show Low had not been much of a city before the Sickness, compared to, say, Phoenix, and it was even less of one now. Most of the buildings were abandoned, and some had even started to collapse from neglect. Still, it had a store where one could trade for what was.