Again, I've got to learn to stop thinking.We were almost home, on a stretch of road that wasn't very busy any time, when in the middle of Megan's run-...n monologue about her desire to have at least ten of my kids, my truck sputtered and died.Wondering what else could possibly go wrong in my life, I pulled the flashlight out from under the seat and went to check things out under the hood. When I found nothing wrong, I climbed back in the truck and happened to glance at the gas gage. No gas.I. I felt them course through me, multiplying until their number spread to every point of my body, into my heart, my stomach and my mind. I felt my heart stop as they consumed it and felt hunger die as I had no means to satisfy it. My mind grew cloudy as tunnels were gouged through it, claiming memories and feeling or any control. I felt hollow inside as they made their sudden exit out of my body through holes in my flesh – out of my bowels and out of my mouth as they inched into the stream, a fat. I met Julia in the lobby, and my heart nearly stopped when I saw her drift toward me, the cotton dress of muted pastels billowing gently around her summer-bare legs. She was every bit as graceful as I remembered her from the second grade. I kissed her on both cheeks and hugged her tight. Gone were her horn-rimmed glasses in my pictures. She was fuller than the teacher I recalled and I loved how she looked and felt, pleasantly soft to my touch, womanly at the hips. Her hair was shoulder-length,. Sonja didn't want to believe it, that's why she left us and headed back to the valley. Once she was over the worst of her trauma from being captured by the Juicers, she set out to find out about the scheme for herself. Since she knew Greer is one of Bearclaw's chief allies, she suggested I make a show of allying myself with Greer. Letting him think I was acting on his behalf gave me much more latitude than I'd have gotten as just your escort. His thinking I was with him is why pretending to.