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Katie turned her gaze back to the road just in ti to wave the violently She started to slow the truck, but two small children suddenly leapt onto the o," the stranger next to her said in a dead voice "Just go"

Katie drew in a shivering breath and nodded "Yeah You’re right"

She drove on, leaving theas blood spurted into the air and the children rode hiaze froh the suburbia hell she was caught in

The wohter around her treht ahead Her eyes were as dark as her black hair

Katie slowed down just a tad to a quick, but more reasonable pace The street they were on seeether She forced herself to take several deep breaths She had to keep calm She knew that much

"Listen, I need you to take my cell phone and call the first nuht now, but hopefully we can get through to the police depart and call"

Just then she had to swerve again This ti toward the truck frohout the neighborhood It was getting worse by the second The pack tried to pursue the truck for a few seconds, but was drawn off by another car tearing out of a garage in an attempt to escape

The dark-haired woman nodded and took the phone from Katie She flipped it open and stared at the tiny screen On it was a picture of a lovely woman with short-cropped brown hair and amber eyes

"She’s pretty," the woht the hot tears suddenly stinging her eyes "Yes, she is" She brushed her mouth with her hand and tried her best not to cry She couldn’t think of Lydia right now She just couldn’t She had to find her way out of this hellish neighborhood and to safety

The woh the nal

"Keep trying, okay?"

"Okay"

Katie drove on past a school bus It was empty and the open door was smeared with blood The rest of the block looked peaceful, but she kneas not Whatever was happening in the rest of the city was happening here

They had to be very careful Katie had seen tooto think they could be safe

"I’m Jenni With an "i", not a "y" I like it spelled that way," the wo "Hi, Jenni with an "i" I’d say I’m happy to meet you, but under the circum-"

"The little boy, that wasto hihtly as the harsh, brutal ed little boy and his blood splattered father passed through her mind’s eye

"I’m sorry" It was all Katie could think of to say

"It’s still busy," Jenni answered changing the subject She stared at the phone

"Please, keep trying"

Jenni nodded and pushed the button again

Katie spun the steering wheel and headed around a corner, barely avoiding two cars racing past her She saw frightened families inside and whispered a silent prayer for theo She and Lydia lived ten miles from this new, modern cookie-cutter suburb Their honed It was tucked into a hillside overlooking the lake and the city It should have been safe there It should have been, but the terror of thisin her high heels and she wished she had found better shoes in the truck The oldand warrandfather and smelled of fresh tobacco

How had this happened? What did itin her brand new convertible, top down despite the coolherself for a long day at her job as a prosecutor The next she had been fighting off a rabbed the jacket of her brand new Ann Taylor suit and tried to drag her out of the car She had slipped out of her jacket, grabbed her briefcase and battered him with it She struck him so hard she had heard his skull crack

She had leapt froht when she saw that his throat was torn out and he trailed a long train of intestines behind hi to cli horror, she had seen h the earlyrush hour traffic that always snarled up the narrow road leading down into the city She had turned and started to run blindly, past honking cars, vehicles with music so loud her teeth throbbed, and SUVs packed with children going to school All of the toward them

"Hey,at her, a shotgun clutched in his hand "Get in my truck! We’ll off road it! Hurry!"

She hadn’t needed to look behind her to know she was pursued She had heard the slap of their feet against the pavement