Doomsday Rebirth novel · Chapter 11 of 24

Chapter 11: The Census

Lacey got out of the van in a clean county vest and a yellow rain slicker, with a clipboard held to her chest.

Two guards in vests got out behind her, with batons and the Commissioner's seal on their sleeves.

She smiled, saw me in the shop doorway with the axe, and pressed her free hand to her heart.

"Gill," she said. "Oh, thank God. Oh my God, you're alive."

It was the third day since the rain.

The street behind her was empty of everything but wet leaves and one overturned bus.

That morning I had driven a hollow off our stoop with the axe, and I did not move out of the doorway.

"Hi, Lacey."

"I've been looking for you for two days."

She came up the steps with her hands open, so I could see them.

"I swear I thought you were gone. Then I saw your Jeep outside, and I came as fast as I could."

"Did you."

"Is Gordon's wife here? Are the kids okay?"

"They're fine."

"Oh, thank God," Lacey said again, and her eyes filled up.

I had watched those eyes fill up in front of four hundred people, and I knew exactly how real they were.

They were real.

That was the part nobody told you.

She believed every word while she said it.

"I'm doing the census for the Commissioner," she said, wiping her cheek with her wrist.

"Everyone who's living through this gets a card. A card means a bed at the Terminal, three meals and a nurse."

"It also means we can send help to the places that need it. Can I come in?"

"We're full."

"I won't stay. I just have to count." She smiled. "You know me. I love a list."

I did know her.

I knew she kept a list of everything, including what her friends owed her.

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