Events, such as Halloween, always started at noon. I awoke at eleven, the kid, it seemed, had been up long before that. She was wearing a plain white dress, which she probably found in the closet and seemed to fit her fine. I rummaged through what clothes I had left and the clothes left behind. I decided on a pair of blue jeans and black cotton t-shirt and a brown leather jacket. The jacket wasn't mine but I wasn't going to complain, it fit me almost perfectly. It hung slightly awkwardly over my shoulders; I had always had narrow shoulders. I dug through the pockets for anything useful. There was some paper money, scrap paper now. Paper money hadn't been in circulation for nearly twelve years. Nothing else important just an old lighter, and some candy that looked like it was as old as the money.

After I was dressed and we had both eaten the kid and I set out for the Halloween party. I didn't have anything really important to bring but I stuffed a backpack full of whatever useless junk I could find. I was sure that I could find someone who needed a dull knife, some old dish towels, a tarp, and a few cans of beans. I never really got the hang of these events; I just went to hang out with people who weren't infected.

There was much more activity on the streets today. People from all over were making their way to the old Rec. Centre. It had a full arena which made a half decent spot for town gatherings. In the recent years there had been less and less people showing up to participate and more and more had be hauled off because of infection.

The police were always at these events ready to remove anyone that had been infected. They were always dressed in their Biofiltered Exoskeletons. This served two purposes, to protect them from Epic and to protect their identities. I would have to say that in our destroyed little world the police had it the worst. They had to go out daily and search for infected and remove them to the powerline. Towns were no longer based on physical limitations but on electrical ones. Each major town or city generated their own power and therefore was on their own grid. Along the perimeter was an electronic scanner that told the police whenever someone entered or exited the town limits. A search party was then deployed and they were texted for Epic. If they had it they were marked and removed. The mark was an electronic device set to electrocute the bearer. Imagine if you had to do this everyday sometimes to people you knew and friends of yours or worse family. Imagine how mad they would be.

As we got closer to the Rec. Center I noticed something about the colour scheme of the town. Every major building seemed to be painted a neutral grey. Possibly it was to keep people calm when coming to events like this. If the buildings were painted to keep people calm then the police were dressed to make people nervous.

They stood seven feet tall, great insect like monsters. They had a giant round black head with red filtered cameras positioned at the front, back, and both sides, most likely so that the user could see in all directions. Their arms were lengthened and ended in claw like mandibles. The legs looked like they were two sizes too big for the whole outfit. The feet were broad, for stability and yet when they moved they were nearly silent. You can always count on nessicity to inspire the strangest inventions.

I looked around for a familiar face in the crowd. I was quite regular at these events and had gotten to know almost all of the other regulars. At least what was left of them now. I didn't see anyone but the kid and I were late and I wasn't all that shocked. When we approached the doors I could see Marie just on the inside, she was wearing what looked like a cotton pants suit. It was forest green from head to toe, even the buttons were green. It somehow suited her perfectly. The green suit and her red hair seemed to make me feel more festive.

At that exact moment I made the worst decision of my life. I walked through the doorway. It was instantaneous, the alarm, the mandible around my arm, my hand around the kids. A flurry of panic and screaming. I could hear people frightened in the background, Marie screaming my name, and the kid, silent as always, staring at me. I felt cold steel slam into my back and the kid slam into me. I opened my eyes and saw that we were in the back of a containment van and promptly passed out.

When I awoke from my 'sleep' I found that we weren’t alone. Marie was in the van too, along with a cop still in his exoskeleton. There was something strange about the situation. I couldn't quite put my hand on it, and then it put its hand on me.

"Leaping lemurs!" was the only thing I could say, because that’s exactly what it was, a lemur. Suddenly I realised what was wrong with the situation, the back of the wagon was open.

"I'm sorry, leaping what?" said the voice from behind the exoskeleton.

"Lemurs" Said Marie in a calm yet knowing fashion. "That’s what is in the van with us a ring tailed lemur. It is a little startling I suppose."

"So..." I looked at Marie questioningly. Although time had obviously passed and Marie and this Cop had become friends I was still in the dark about the whole situation. "What's, uhh, what's going on?"

"Well" started the cop "it seems that we have a problem, and yet we have a solution to the problem. See, the kid is infected with Epic."

"Yeah I guessed that, I mean I didn't think the alarms went off because we were the ten thousandth customer!"

"Well the problem is that a lot of people saw her at the Halloween party. She isn't exactly the most common looking person is she?"

"Well no, but I don't see how that gets us from the there to here. I mean shouldn't we be ejected from town lines somewhere with a chip implanted in us?"

The cop only nodded his head. He reached up and started to undo his helmet straps. I heard the suit depressurize. Then I saw why we were sitting in a paddy wagon with a lemur and the back door wide open. I saw the reason why we weren’t outcasts. I saw Frank. A thousand questions ran through my mind but I could only ask one.

"You can talk?!"

"Of course I can talk. I'm not an idiot. I chose not to talk when I was running the movie store just in case anyone recognized my voice. Cops aren’t exactly the most welcome people in the world."

"Well what the hell is all this about anyway? Why did you save our necks? Why is Marie here?" I turned and looked at Marie "Why the hell are you here?"

"That's not a nice way to show your gratitude. I had poor Frank here risk his life to save you and the only thing you say is 'Why the hell are you here'?"

"She’s right" said Frank, calmly. "We are all in a lot of trouble. Especially the kid, for her its life and death. See what you have to understand is that, the town doesn’t eject people. There are no microchips. That would be too costly."

"So what are you saying? That you just drag people out to the city lines and kill them?" Frank only looked away and Marie sank her head. That was all the answer I needed. "That’s horrible! You were going to shoot me! You were going to shoot me and the kid! You were going to shoot me, the kid, and this lemur! You sick bastard!"

"I'm not any worse than you! We both dragged that old womans body outside that day in the store. We both threw her out like yesterdays trash, and by what Maire was telling me you were going to do the same with the kid!"

"I was not! I just thought that living with infected would be a problem is all. It's not like I was going to just shoot her in the streets, like some people, Frank."

"Boys!" Yelled Marie "This isn't getting us anywhere." She looked wonderfully beautiful against the sunrise that day. Her face shone like a pearl and her hair was made of fire. It was then I realised it was sunrise not the middle of the night.

"Wait a minute! It's sunrise, that means I've benn out for almost a day. I think its time I was told what the hell happened"