A Plague on All Houses Read Free Page B

removed from her soul, and fell sound asleep. I felt her forehead; it was hot and clammy. She'd been really sick for the last three days despite having gotten the flu vaccine. If she weren't any better tomorrow, I'd get Matt to help me drive her to see Dr. Albert.
    With all the fuss this year about the latest flu, I thought maybe, what, around six hundred people actually died from it so far? Yeah, six hundred is not exactly a small number, but given the population of California, let alone the entire U.S. of A., it didn't seem too alarming. So while I was a little concerned about Zara, I pretty much assumed she'd get over it like I did. Still, I'd keep an eye on her in between classes until Matt picked me up for our date tonight.
    Speaking of class, I was going to be late for Pandemics in History if I didn't leave now, taking into consideration my cappuccino/muffin stop, so I grabbed my bag and dashed out the door.
    There was only one other person in line at the coffee kiosk: an androgynous-looking hipster with the mandatory asymmetrical pixie cut, American Outfitters hoodie over distressed jeans tucked into L.L. Bean boots. The smell of cloves tipped me off to his (at least I thought it was a he) cigarette before he raised it to his mouth for a long inhale. He started coughing right after the puff, a deep, rattling cough that made me step back a foot. I didn't think I could catch Walkers again, but still.
    While I waited for the girl manning the kiosk to make the hipster's grande, foamy, double, extra-hot vanilla latte, I looked around me, seeing surprisingly few people. True, we'd had a lot of people out sick the last two weeks, including Gabriel (and you can bet I planned on razzing him unmercifully about his Vegan immune system letting him down as soon as he returned to class), but the campus resembled a ghost town this morning.
    I ordered my usual double cappuccino and blueberry muffin. “Is it just me or is it kind of dead today?” I commented.
    The girl tamped down two shots of espresso with an expert hand. “It's crazy dead today. You're, like, my fifth customer this morning. Normally we have a total mad rush by eight.” Frothing non-fat milk, she made my cappuccino as automatically as a robot would. Total android barista.
    “Weird,” I said. “I mean, I know a lot of people have gotten sick the last couple of weeks, but you'd think they'd be back in class by now.”
    She handed me my cap. “I heard the ER's been hopping with cases of Walkers.”
    “Seriously?”
    She nodded, using tongs to pull out a fat streusel-encrusted blueberry muffin from the case. I tried not to drool.
    “Yup. And I guess some people have been getting kind of crazy.”
    “Crazy like how?”
    She shrugged, putting the bag on the counter. “Fights and stuff. Sick people attacking other people.”
    “Wow.”
    “Yeah.”
    “I haven't heard any of this stuff.”
    “My brother works for the Redwood Grove PD. They're trying to keep it quiet so people don't freak out. He says it's no big deal, but you know how people get.”
    My turn to nod. “Yeah, I guess that makes sense.” Forking over four fifty, I stuffed a buck in the tip jar and headed to D.B. Patterson Hall. I hoped Gabriel was back today. I couldn't wait to ask him how his diet of fruit, nuts, soy, and whole grain had let him down.
    Granted, my student/T.A. relationship with Gabriel was slightly better than it had been that first contentious day, but we still sniped at one another as if it were second nature. His sanctimonious attitude definitely brought out the worst in me. And if I behaved badly, well, he started it.
    I made it to Room 217 five minutes before eight, plenty of time to have my pick of seats. I probably could have arrived at eight-thirty and still picked a seat pretty much wherever I wanted, though. The classroom was only half full.
    Jamie (who I still thought of as Miss Hot Topic) was in Gabriel's usual spot at the lectern, getting the projector set and