Page 119 - TruthAboutLyingFinal
P. 119
Nicholas Boothman
But it wasn’t abandoned.
People moved through the streets carrying boxes, blankets, medicine, batteries. A woman chalked arrows on the pavement. A man repaired a bicycle tire outside a shuttered garage.
No one spoke.
That was the first thing Henry noticed.
Not silence exactly.
Discipline.
A man approached carrying a small chalkboard.
He wrote:
WELCOME TO THE QUIET ZONE.
Henry looked around.
More people had emerged from doorways and alleys.
Watching him.
The man wiped the board with his sleeve and wrote again.
NO VERAX HERE. NO PATCHES. NO PHONES ON.
Henry removed his phone from his pocket. The man shook his head.
Henry powered it down.
The man nodded.
Then wrote:
YOU CAME. GOOD. Henry said, “Who are you?”
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