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They half ran, half staggered aeaving between tree trunks in the coolair, the experience for Billy crazy, surreal--froiant leechtheirtheir dirty,down, until he got somewhere near zero

He stopped, looked around as Rebecca also halted, breathing heavily They&039;d coh on a hill that overlooked the eastern Arklay forest

"Here looks good," Billy said He took a deep, cleansing breath and dropped, sprawling on the ground, hisRebecca did the same, and a few seconds afterward, the countdoas over

The explosion wasacross the forest, over the valley beneath the up over the treetops As tired as he was, as sore and hungry and e the smoke of that terrible place drift off into the new day Rebecca sat with him, also silent, her expression al that needed to be said; they&039;d both been there

He absently scratched at his wrist, at a tickle there--and the handcuffs fell off, landing in the grass with a muffled clink Billy smiled At some unknown point, the second cuffof how nice it would have been to have lost them about twelve hours before, he tossed them toward a stand of trees Rebecca stood, turned away fro her eyes

"Thatabout," she said Billy forced himself to stand, moved to her side There, e point, was a huge ainst theit a closed and empty look

Billy nodded, suddenly not sure what to say She&039;d be wanting to get to her tearasped his dog tags, tugging theave, popped free, and she fastened the tags around her own slender throat, looking out at the ood-bye," she said

Billy watched her, but she didn&039;t look at him, only stared at her next destination, that silent house half hidden by trees

"Officially, Lieutenant Williah, but it didn&039;t take "Yeah, I&039;m a zombie now," he said, a little surprised at the sudden wistful feeling in his chest, in his gut

She turned, aze, held it with her own He saw honesty there, and coth--and he saw that she, too, felt the saue sorrow that had dropped over his had been differentIf circumstances weren&039;t what they are

She nodded, ever so slightly, as if reading his htened, her head high, her shoulders back, and snapped a salute, still looking into his eyes

Billyit until she dropped her hand Without another word, she turned and walked away, heading for a gently sloping decline a the trees

He watched her until she disappeared, lost to the shadows of the woods, then turned, looking for a path of his own He decided that south sounded pretty good, and started walking, enjoying the war of the birds in the trees