Page 16

New York Alano

2:59 a.m. (Eastern Daylight Time)

I ’ m on my last call.

I couldn’t have done this without the assistance of the other heralds—including Andrea Donahue—who’d successfully gotten through

their contact lists. My parents were almost forced to get involved too after returning from their last-minute meeting with

security to debrief about the Death Guard threat from earlier, but it turns out that Fausto Flores is an excellent herald,

even if he was too slow sometimes for Andrea’s liking. I also had some tragic luck when I called one Decker, Leonor Pollard,

only to realize his brother, Levi Pollard, was next on my list so I spoke to them both at once. They hung up on me by the

third minute, ready to face their fate together.

Now I’m finishing my call with Morgane Kilbourne, a lovely young mother who I’ve aided in arranging urgent child care through a local shelter so her baby boys won’t be left unattended should she die in the next minute. All I can think about is the alternate universe where Morgane Kilbourne dies without warning and the infinite tragedies that could have happened to her sons.

I speak our passing sentiment for the last time tonight: “On behalf of Death-Cast, we are sorry to lose you. Live this day

to the fullest.”

“Thank you, Alano,” Morgane says before hanging up.

It’s 3:00 a.m. The call center goes quiet as we close the East Coast’s outreach window.

Heralds collect their things and follow Andrea Donahue back to the wellness room to decompress, but I stay in my seat, exhausted

by this day where so much has happened. Strangers threatened my life while the Death Guard threatened Death-Cast. I discovered

my best friend’s mother is another threat to Death-Cast. I called twenty-five people tonight to tell them they’re going to

die and the first took his life before I could hang up.

I remove my headset, envying the Deckers I’ve called.