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and Mary Terror took one last hobbling lurch and hit her in the face with her right fist, the blow snapping Laura&039;s head back as Laura fell, her ed David close and swiveled her body so the iun left her fingers, and she heard it thud down so to pull David away Laura let go of hiernails raking across the big woman&039;s face Mary has of air, and as Laura gasped for breath she felt David being taken froain

Laura hooked an aro of the baby to beat at Laura&039;s ribs, and then she swung Laura up and around with fierce strength and both the woainst a ith David on the floor beneath theh the soft insect-eaten boards and onto the floor of another rooainst Laura&039;s splinted hand, and the pain was like incandescent light, startling in its power Laura heard herself ht fist, hit Mary&039;s shoulder, struck out again, and got her jaw a blow from Mary hit Laura in the sto to slaht back with the raw strength of the dooers in Mary&039;s eyes and tore at the away froh wound, splattered all over the floor Laura kicked out, hit Mary in the ribs, and drew a grunt fro away, blood dripping froered to her feet, and suddenly Mary turned on her again and grabbed her legs, lifting her off the floor and throwing her back into another wall Laura went through it as if it were dah the rotten tiled bellow of fury

Blood was in Mary&039;s eyes, her face a criot to her knees and desperately tried to protect her face and head with her arms She warded off one kick, was struck in the shoulder by another Freighted with pain, she fought to her feet and then Mary - half-blinded, her right eye white in its socket - cla her aran to crush the life out of her

Laura thrashed, couldn&039;t break free Her vision was fading When she passed out, Mary would beat her to death Laura rocked her skull back and brought it forward, sainst the wos The pressure on Laura&039;s ribs eased, and she slid down to the floor in a heap as Mary staggered across the floor, her hands pressed to her face She hit a wall, but this one was solid and then she shook her head, drops of blood flying, and she leaned over and breathed like a bellows as red drooled fro, her nerves and muscles almost used up She was about to pass out, and when she put her hand to her face it caore, and ca worabbed her hair with one hand and her throat with the other

Laura caritted, and she grasped the front of Mary&039;s sweater with her good hand and kicked with her last reserve of power into the woony burst froo of Laura&039;s throat to clutch at her leg, and she toppled backward off balance, her shoulders slaray wall break open, rusted nails popping like gunshots, and Mary Terror kept falling

There was a screaes of the hole she&039;d gone through, but ers The scream sharpened

Mary&039;s hands disappeared

Laura heard athuulls Mist, the silent destroyer, drifted through the broken wall

Laura looked out Mary Terror had gone through the side of the house and fallen to the ground forty feet below She lay on her stomach, amid rocks and weeds and broken bottles, the detritus of soraffiti artist had been at work on the larger rocks, adorning thee Twenty feet from Mary&039;s head was a spray-painted peace syht hand She opened it, and looked at the Smiley Face button that had been ripped from Mary Terror&039;s sweater Its pin had pricked her palm

She shook it out of her hand, and it clattered facedown to the floor

Laura staggered out of the room, and near the staircase she knelt down on the floor beside her son

His gaze found her, and he shrieked She knew she was no beauty She picked him up - a major effort, but a pleasure she would not be denied - and rocked hi subsided She felt his heart beating, and that miracle ofblood and tears

She thought she ain, her first thought was that Mary Terror was coot up and looked out and saw that the wo where she&039;d struck

She was afraid to find out But the thought passed, and her eyelids drifted shut again Her body was a kingdom of pain Later - and exactly when this was she didn&039;t know - David&039;s crying brought her back to the world He was hungry Wanting a bottle Got to feed a growing boy My growing boy

"I love you," she whispered "I love you, David" She zipped hienitals, everything He hole, and he was hers

Laura held hiainst her, and she crooned to him as the ocean spoke outside

It beca to do

She believed she could get the Cutlass out of the bog If not, on No, she couldn&039;t bear to drive that Couldn&039;t even bear to sit in it, because that woet the Cutlass out, she would have to walk to the rangers&039; station Could she do thati She thought so It et there eventually

"Yes ill," she told her baby He looked at her and blinked, no longer crying Her voice was froggish, and she could still feel the pressure of that woers on her throat "all over now," she said, shunting aside the darkness that kept trying to claim her "all over"

But what if she looked out and Mary Terror&039;s body was not therei

Laura atteer The light seeue probed around herteeth but so her, and she couldn&039;t take deep breaths Her broken hand well, there was a point in pain where pain no longer registered, and she had passed that When she got back to civilization, she was going to be a doctor&039;s delight

Getting to the rangers&039; station was not the real test The real test involved Doug, and atlanta, and where her life would go fro was in her future She had what belonged to her He could keep the rest

and there was another question, too The question of a woers rave and never know her story

Laura would make sure that didn&039;t happen, and she would ht Neil Kastle of the FBI s under her, held David against her, and tried to stand She al slowly and carefully, she descended the staircase Downstairs, she had to rest again "Your mama&039;s an old lady, kid," she told David "How about thati" He er, and his hand curled around it with a strong grip They had to get to know each other again, but they had plenty of time There were scrapes on his face; he wore his own ment, only a curious blue-eyed stare

Laura hobbled out of the house into the afternoon light The ainst the rocks as it had for ages Sos were steady, like a mother&039;s love for her child

The road beckoned

But not yet Not just yet

Laura went around the house, her heartbeat rapid in her bruised chest She had to see Had to know that she could sleep again without waking up screa, and that sohways of night

She was there

Her eyes were open, her head crooked a rock was her pillow, red as love

Laura released her breath, and turned aith her son in her aro

The End