Epilogue

This Is Now

MIDDLETON. NOW.

“You’re really going to stay?” Alana asks Carrie and Danny. “Are you serious?”

It’s two weeks after the reunion. The FBI and CNN have both left town. Once again, tragedy has struck in the heartland, and so on. Buzz and Carl were blamed for most of it, and the dead were buried quickly. Any outlandish stories were blamed on hallucinogens in the drinks at the reunion, or PTSD among the survivors. The world has moved on to the next atrocity. There’s never a shortage of distractions.

The three of them are at the park, standing by the swings and the play structure, watching Grace and Jeremy. They’re involved in some kind of game that involves running back and forth and yelling a lot. Beyond that, the grown-ups don’t have a clue.

“You’re both idiots,” Alana says flatly. “You don’t have to live here.”

“Every town has its own little quirks,” Carrie says.

“A lot of towns have cancer clusters, too,” Alana says. “People don’t move to be closer to them.”

“The city council has asked me to take over the police department,” Carrie says. “There’s a lot of work to be done.”

“I didn’t realize that was an inherited position.”

Carrie shrugs. “The last guy they hired was the head of a pagan death cult. They’re obviously not that picky.”

Alana looks at the cast on Carrie’s leg, and the cane she uses for support.

“I still can’t believe they let your mom operate on you,” she says.

“To be fair, it wasn’t like they had a lot of other surgeons on call.”

Carrie’s mom was being treated for the cuts and bruises she’d suffered at Wade’s hands when Danny came crashing through the doors of the emergency room, his jetpack finally running out of fuel. After the initial screams and panic were over, she took charge, and nobody thought to stop her. She snapped back into the years when she was a top trauma surgeon. She’d forgotten she’d surrendered her license, and apparently, so did everyone else. They were swamped with cases from the reunion anyway, and they were glad to have the help.

It was only when Mary was almost finished that the hospital administrator finally showed up. He freaked out, and they pulled Mary out of the room with some difficulty. Another surgeon checked Mary’s work.

She’d done a brilliant job. It was a miracle. She probably saved her daughter’s leg.

When Carrie woke up, she found Danny in the chair next to her bed. He’d been there all night, refusing to leave her side.

This time, he didn’t leave. Carrie decided that was good enough.