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quickly and end it as painlessly as possible, if painless still applied to the undead.  He frowned as he wondered if she would forgive him if it came to such a thing.  He just hoped that she would understand.  While watching Nikki speak with Veronica, Tony thought about a practical question of space.
    “If they’re okay, where are we gonna put ‘em?” he asked.
    “Damn,” Jack whispered, “help me get my bike down; we’ll hide it in the trees.”
    “You sure?” Tony asked knowing how much the Kawasaki meant to him.
    “Don’t have a choice really.  We need the room and it’s too damn loud to ride into town.”
    They moved back to the rear of the truck as a trickle of gunshots sounded once again in the town.
    “We need a solid plan, and a contingency.” Jack said.
     
    Inside the truck Nikki rifled through the contents of the glove box.  She quickly found a pen and was now sorting through paper items in search of something with enough blank space to draw on.  She found two white envelopes and her flurry of movement quickly faded.  Veronica saw her turn ghastly white.
    “What is it?” Veronica asked.
    “These are their prize checks for the match.”  Nikki said quietly, “Andy had me bring these to the boys at their camp.”  She looked at Veronica sadly.
    “If he hadn’t asked me to bring these, I wouldn’t have been with you guys.” Nikki said holding up the envelopes.  “I’d probably be dead right now.”
    Veronica watched Nikki begin to sketch out a small map on the back of one of the envelopes.  Nikki spoke.
    “I can’t stop thinking about it; shooting Lance.” She said without looking up from her drawing, “I killed someone, a real person,” Her voice was beginning to crack and become deeper “Someone who wasn’t sick like the others.
    “Try not to think about that.  Stay focused on what were doing.” Veronica said.
    “Trying to...” Nikki flashed a fake smile, “But it keeps coming back.  I mean, I’m not sorry, because I know it was self-defense but I feel like I’ve sinned or something.  Like people will be able to look at me from now on and tell what I’ve done.”
    “What you did was a hard thing, but it wasn’t the wrong thing.” Veronica said, “You saved my life.  I wouldn’t be here now if Andy didn’t send you to bring those checks to the boys.”  Veronica touched Nikki’s arm.  “I’d probably be dead if you weren’t there when I needed you.”
    Nikki looked at her map and nodded, “I still have this bad feeling that I wish I could just wash off somehow.”
    Veronica breathed deep and sighed as waves of pain grated over her injured flank.  She steadied herself and spoke.
    “I did something really horrible once.”  Veronica found herself saying.  “I’ll never forget it but it was the right thing to do.  You do learn to live with it.”  She hadn’t meant to go as far as she had but Nikki needed to know that she wasn’t alone.  Veronica wasn’t one for confiding in people but she found herself trusting the young woman.  Nikki stopped and looked at her.
    “What was it?” Nikki’s voice was low and scratchy.  Veronica shook her head and frowned.
    “Something no one should ever have to.  Something I’m not ready to talk about.” Veronica said looking away into the night, “When all of this is over and we have time to just talk, maybe then I can tell you but not now.”  Veronica looked back to Nikki.
    “You can learn to live with almost anything.” Veronica flashed a contrived smile of her own, “Right now your parents need you to be strong for them.  You can’t afford to be distracted from that.”
    Nikki nodded and her face took on an aspect of resolve.  Veronica touched her arm and continued.
    “Imagine putting your doubts in a box in the back of your mind and locking it up tight.  You can deal with it later.  Now, right now, it’s about your parents.”
     
     

 
    Two
     
    Margaret McCormack ignored the