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Riley came to a stop next to me, a frown on his face "We should put some people at the HARC watchtowers We’ll want to knohen they’re co back And they can keep an eye out for Wren and Addie"

"I know a feouldn’ton his heels

"Can we put people on the city side, too?" I asked "Chances are Wren will try to enter on that side She’d go back to the area where the tunnel is first"

"I haven’t been over to the rico yet," Tony said "You ht want to do a quick sweep of the area, see how many huo," I said I looked down at s in the backpack slung over rabSo for e before they moved on to the city

Tony held out a hand co you don’t want HARC to hear, this is their equipment But I’ll radio and tell you to come back if Wren shows"

I nodded and slipped the coo withthem They didn’t appear to want to talk to each other on the walk over and I didn’t try to push it Our alliance with the huuarded, quiet, and I dug ers into the brick and hoisted round He glanced over his shoulder, as if considering going back instead

"The death doesn’t rub off on you, I promise," I said as the other Reboots jumped over the wall One of them snorted

The human reddened and took my hand as he started up the wall I pulled hi on the other side of the wall I did the same with the next one and then hopped downoverbut didn’t want to be too obvious

We walked straight through the city and down Lake Travis Boulevard There were a few hu or eating like nothing rong It appeared HARC hadn’t touched this side of town, because everything was still pristine I wasn’t really surprised

I nodded to one of the humans "You want to talk to people over here, tell theet instructions if they’re staying?"

"Sure" He jogged away and I stopped, squinting in the sun at the part of tohere I used to live

"You guys going to the towers by yourselves? Things look pretty dead here" I pointed in the direction of my old house "I’m headed that way I’ll comb the residential areas, see if I run into any hu her coet into trouble"

The as chilly as I turned away frohter across my chest I wondered if Wren was outdoors If I was cold, she lance down at h any second Part of the reason I’d volunteered to co to stop , but now I sort of wished I was back there, angling for a shuttle ora lap around the Austin fence

I turned onto htly on the coo search for Wren, this was the next best thing Staying busy It’s what she would have told lanced at Eduardo’s house as I approached it, looking for signs of life He’d been one ofto help me even after I Rebooted, but I wasn’t sure how his parents felt The swing in front of their white house n of life on the whole street

I’d always been aware I lived in one of the poorest areas outside of the sluuy who lived in the blue house across the street used to telllike a weed" every time we ran into each other Even if he’d just seen n in front and I took in a deep breath as I stepped onto the front porch I hadn’t locked it when I left a few days ago, and the doorknob turned easily when I tried

It was empty, exactly as I’d left it The kitchen cabinets were still open froed down the hallway to htly and I pushed it open

I hadn’tmy eyes found The sheets were ru off the bed My chest tightened I’d barely slept that night, the first and only tiirl in ainst ed breath and tried to stopdown that path A corner of ht be gone, and I refused to listen Giving in for even a second was so painful I had to squeezeelse

I yanked open one ofclothes into my empty backpack I finished and meant to head for the door, but instead I found round and I sed as I closed one? Lead the Reboots into Rosa? Find the bounty hunters and exact revenge?

That night we’d spent at Tony’s, I’d told Wren she should help the huoing to live another day, and I was also pretty sure she had no intention of helping or fighting anyone She’d tried to reassure me, but I could see in her eyes that she didn’tback into the fight if Wren was dead was exhausting I would probably still do it, though, if only for vengeance

I rubbed a hand across my forehead If she came back--when she caht, whatever Maybe she’d been right about staying out of it Maybe I’d already done enough for the hue of the Reboots and leading the humans to side with us? Not sothe Reboots, and let the humans solve their own problems