Leaving the office for the day I had deleted about twenty-five contactsfrom my phone. I?d never hear from them again. That stung a bit, butthe pain wa... eased by how many people either accepted or supported whatI was doing.With them and Peyton it would be more than enough.EpilogueOne Last FirstI mentioned having my last first date. That life was full of firsts andjust as many lasts. The day Linda had released nuclear Armageddon on mylife was the last day I ever saw her. Following our divorce,. " She smiled as she took his ankle in one hand. "I didn't get but one present on my birthday." Mother had remembered, Jake had forgotten. And now a sort of present had just dropped out of the Jupiter-filled sky, wrapped in mysterious gray. The sharp little blade bit into the polymer and it parted as she drew it up the side of his calf. She nicked him once by accident before she got the pressure just right. It was easy. Skin the light tan of someone who didn't always live in well-enough shielded. She’d been only about eleven or maybe twelve, when she found that out the hard way. It had been just about the time that Kojima first arrived in Chicago…what would become a sprawling walled city, was then just an armed camp outside the old city. She, like many other survivors, had wandered in to see what was going on…to get vaccinated for the plague. Hopes abounded in those days…hopes that mankind would regroup and rebuild. But what grew up in the ashes of the old world was nothing so. "Gee, that's strange." She commented to Karen re-reading the note. "He left me a note saying he had an appointment. I guess he thought I'd be home earlier and couldn't wait for me." She shook her head questionably. "I can't even begin to imagine what kind of appointment he'd have at this late hour."Karen felt a strong premonition of something being terribly wrong. She couldn't put a name to it, but it was strong. She summarized that this alarming impression must have the reverend Bishop at its.