Page 7 (1/2)

"No No has Arrin’s, and his lips grow thin "Bring hi to do a scan"

Aof men ary eyes, to the center of their ca cabin--with a row of ehts huet a pure read," Gray Hair says There are lines shaved into his hair above his left ear Six of them He has a star on his brown coat Embroidered above the star is the na with my cuffs, and then the cuffs snap free ofcasually atfor an escape The other man, Rory, steps in front of me and aims a Taser at my chest There are only three lines shaved into his blond hair

Mickle a metal box the size of my palm Rory turns from me, hand out held for the metal box And I run

Micklemoore yells Rory turns and clutches my shirt, but I tear away fro cabin’s door, and I know it’s ht into dark and slaround, and the unpleasant sh hands grapple againstun findsmy head explode, I hear a low, huht place at the right ti He crouches beside ht hand, and holds out theblue that ht touches h the layers of dirt and blood andsiren

Micklemoore drops the box and lurches away froray hair should be able to move And then I can’t see anyone, because a hundred auto my view

Like Arrin’s brother, I wait to explode

Chapter 8

"Bowen!" The nanetic wrist cuffs and ankle cuffs! Now! We got us a Ten!" Mickleuns part and a square-shouldered man fills the space Darkness hides the features of his face, but his voice resonates deep and soft and soothing, just a tremor above a whisper "I won’t hurt you if you hold still," he says, kneeling beside me

What he doesn’t know is that I couldn’t move even if I wanted to My whole body has turned nuht down to h-mountain lake settles behind iant pine trees that encircle the lake and sway in the wind and smell … just like this man I stare at him and breathe, and a teot a na onto it, so that stretches froainst my skin "I’ onto my forearm I open my eyes and lift my head to look atin my direction, and the devices on nets attracting each other I try to pull my arms apart but can’t

Bowen kneels beside me once more and lets out a deep breath of air "Don’t Move" His voice has turned hard and cold "I will kill you if you do" With damp, unsteady hands, he lifts my ankle and pushes the pants up aroundaround , and when it clamps into place, he scrambles away from me like I’m liable to explode at any ain My legs slide together and fuse into one

The crowd sighs and gasps, and then so, like they just witnessed a lion ta his fiercest beast

"That eso Bowen on the back "First Ten we’ve ever caught! Must be beginner’s luck" The hundred guns disappear, replaced by the starry sky, as men move away But not Bowen

"Kid, if you h you that’ll stop your heart before it can finish a beat Got it?" he warns

I don’t dare answer Don’t dare to move my jaw--just shift my eyes to stare at Bowen’s silhouette

"Unless you need to talk Or grunt, or whatever a Ten does," Bowen says, like he can read my mind He leans a little closer to ?" He overenunciates each word

My story," I whisper

Bowen juht "Whoa You can talk?" He looks from side to side, then reaches into his pants pocket "You bite me, I shock the crap out of you," he says "Open your ue It dissolves into foah and close my eyes, and the world wavers beneathwith my hazy dreams