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There was no way out, because the fla She knew she was screain to think how to stop, and the fla her like a lion with a wounded gazelle She could feel its eagerness, its hot-breath hunger, and she snarled out a challenge as she felt her skin sizzle and pop, and she turned and ran blindly through s torches of pines A bear was running with her, its fur on fire, ues of yellow and red like streamers, and suddenly someone was there, a shadow, and she felt a crack that hardly registered over the fury consu her body and soul, and then

Then she ran headlong into one of Jane’s soldiers, who had just shot her More than once, she supposed; she couldn’t feel it Couldn’t feel , as her nerves shorted and fried fro assault

She hit hiround, and as they rolled over and over down the rocky slope, they hit daround, and the motion smothered most of the flames, and then they rolled into the river itself, and steam exploded up in a cloud as the last of the fire went out on her body and clothing

She dragged hi, panicked, and she saw the wide, white-ried hi before the last silvery bubbles burst out of his mouth, and his eyes took on the dull, flat look of death

His blood was a rusty cloud in the water, and she needed it Needed it so badly

She was on him like a shark in the next, breathless second She needed to breathe, but she didn’t care except to note it as additional things to heal

For healing, she needed

She only needed

No thought

Just flesh

Chapter 15

She crawled out of the water and lay facedown on the riverbank, gasping for air Pain had come back--and come back way too fast for any kind of sanity--and she shuddered all over, unable to ony She felt so her Jane’s people, er knew, or cared

Death would have been a blessing

She didn’t get it

• • •

The nanites must have been merciful, at some point, or her brain simply blotted out the worst of it, because the next ti in the backseat of a car, with the road vibration steady beneath her back

I was dying, she thought Burning alive

But when she looked down at herself, she seeile, but it was healing Her clothing must have been a total loss, because she was naked, wrapped in a blanket that was soaked through with blood It smelled like smoke and disease, and even with the n in the car, the stench lingered

"Patrick?" she whispered

The speed of the car slowed dramatically, and she felt it veer over to the side and come to a stop Ten seconds later, the door opened at her head, and she saw hi sun haloed hiel "Bryn? Stay still You’re still healing"

She didn’t feel inclined to move no that she kneas safe She held out her hand, which shook, and he took it in both of his He pressed the back of her fingers to his lips, very gently There was a terribly haunted look in his eyes

She wasn’t the only one with permanent PTSD The people around her, the ones who had to watch what happened to her--it was just as bad for them And maybe worse

"Reynolds?" Her throat rasped, and when she sed she tasted greasy sh

"He’s fine He’s tied up in the trunk," Patrick said "I need to buy you clothes"

"Car?"

"Stolen fro to have a bad day Bryn--"

"Am okay," she said, and atte "Drive"