“Work at the garbage plant, I know.” She turned away, resisting the urge to flip him off as she went. She might have done it if they were still together. But he probably wouldn’t let her get away with it anymore.

She walked out of the garage and down the street. If her father were still alive, he probably would have said the same thing. No one will ever respect you if they don’t fear you. He said it all the time when she was younger. Not so much as she got older, though. Not after it became obvious that Declan was going to be the next second-in-command, not Maisie.

Maybe she’d volunteer to go north with Lennon after all. Just as a screw you to Declan.

LENNON

LENNON SNUCK OVER to a window when no one was looking.

They were on the tenth floor of the comms tower, and he could see a large expanse of the quarantine zone from up here.

There were buildings he recognized from pictures of Austin before the virus. The capitol, and a couple of skyscrapers. Others were long gone. Aerial shots had shown the change in the area in the twenty years since they were all put in here. He’d spent time poring over them with the rest of the quarantine zone team.

The people inside had left Austin mostly untouched until the walls went up. But after the walls were erected, the people inside stopped thinking of themselves as Americans and the area around them as Austin. It was just the Q, and they were allowed to do whatever they wanted with it.

They’d torn down some buildings—no one wanted a huge football stadium—and built others. All law-enforcement buildings were demolished. They kept the libraries. Ransacked all the homes in the suburbs, then bulldozed them down and built farms. They picked a few important roads to maintain, and let the rest fill with potholes and weeds. From the satellite images, it looked like the north had demolished more of the old Austin than the south had. The north had been suburbs and large shopping centers before the quarantine zone was established. Now, the satellite images showed fields, open space, and new, smaller buildings.

The comms tower was at the edge of what had once been downtown Austin. He was facing north, so he couldn’t see most of the old downtown. He could see the big highway leading out to buildings and homes. An apartment building on the side of the highway had a big flag on the side of it that said KEEP THE Q WEIRD.

“Mr. Pierce.”

Lennon turned. Dr. Lopez gestured for Lennon to join him at the table.

“Lennon is fine,” he said as he walked to him.

“Let’s call the FBI, Lennon.”

“Right.” He sat down next to the doctor. “Did they say what was going to happen to me after I get to the northern gate?”

Dr. Lopez was reaching for the phone, but he pulled his hand back and turned his attention to Lennon. “You’ve seen the northern gate? From the other side, I mean?”