There was no warning, no dramatic police report, nothing that resembled the movies I watched growing up. I shouldn 't have been surprised, seeing how Yuba City was so insignificant to the rest of the world, but I suppose deep in my heart I was disappointed. I remember walking through the halls, not running, as if the hall monitor was still watching. He was dead. Most everyone was dead. If I hadn 't been in the bathroom, I 'd be among them. My best friend since middle school, the one I sought out first, was missing an arm. There was a stub, the bone clean and polished. I remember holding that hand as we walked through the street, I remember how when she swam it fell up and down in a rhythmic pattern. The thought of it being gnawed off caused