Free The Becoming: Revelations by Jessica Meigs Page A

comes after them. End of argument.”
    Mrs. Washington deflated at Ethan’s words, her shoulders slumping. Ethan sighed and looked at the papers on the table in front of him, studying the figures listed on them and trying to see if there was anything he could do. Finally, he said, “Look, I’ll take a glance over it a bit later, okay? Maybe I can work something out. But I can’t make any guarantees.”
    The woman was reasonably satisfied with the promise. She nodded shortly and stood, her face still grim but not as angry as she’d initially been. After she’d disappeared down the hallway to the stairwell to return to her own rooms on the twentieth floor, Ethan groaned and dropped his head onto the table, rolling it from side to side as he tried to relax, just for a moment.
    “Long day?” a woman’s voice asked above him. Ethan raised his head to see a woman with short blond hair standing beside his table, her hands clutching a manila folder. It took him a few seconds to recognize her—it was the woman who’d helped him and Dominic and Alicia with their mop-up in the parking garage earlier in the week, during the attempted invasion by the infected.
    “You don’t even know the half of it,” Ethan said tiredly. “Does Alicia put up with this kind of shit every day?”
    The woman sat down in the chair beside him and shrugged. “For the most part. Some days are a lot better than others.” She paused and offered her hand to Ethan. “I don’t think we’ve been properly introduced. I’m Kimberly Geller.”
    Ethan shook the woman’s hand and gave her a curious look. “Geller?” he repeated. “As in …?”
    “Avi Geller?” Kimberly nodded. “Yeah, she was my younger sister.”
    “I’m sorry for your loss,” Ethan said sincerely. “She was a good woman.” Kimberly waved her hand at him dismissively, as if she didn’t want to hear his condolences, so he continued. “Well, it’s nice to meet you, Kimberly. I’m Ethan Bennett. But I’m pretty sure you knew that already.”
    Kimberly gave him a winning smile that he found very attractive. “Yes, I did know that already,” she confirmed. “Just about everyone here knows who you are. Those who don’t have basically been living under a rock.”
    Ethan raised his eyebrows. “Really? Am I that well known?”
    “You have no idea,” Kimberly said with a small laugh. She shook her short blond hair out of her eyes. “There are a lot of people here that you and your friends have saved over the past year. They got our radio broadcasts and made their way here after you pulled them out of whatever sticky situations they were in, and after that, word just started to spread. It’s surprising how fast news travels under these kinds of circumstances.”
    Ethan perked up and turned in his seat to face Kimberly more fully. “Radio broadcasts?” he repeated, intrigued. “What do you mean by broadcasts?”
    “Broadcasts,” Kimberly repeated, as if Ethan should have known what she meant. “You know, on the radio?” When Ethan continued to give her an odd look, Kimberly stood and motioned for Ethan to do the same. “You obviously don’t know anything of what’s going on. Come on. I’ll enlighten you.”
    Ethan stood obediently, curiosity eating at his insides, and followed Kimberly as she wove among the tables and chairs and the bustle and movement of the several other people in the short hallway. As he passed another table, his eyes brushed over the map of Georgia, and he wondered yet again why it looked so familiar. His hesitation over the map distracted him long enough that he nearly lost sight of Kimberly, and he raced to catch up with her. She waited for him by the stairwell door, looking surprisingly not irritated by his lag.
    “See something interesting back there?” she teased. She waved for him to enter the stairwell. He stepped onto the landing, and she followed him, letting the door fall shut behind her before flicking on her