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"Jesus, this guy’s heavy," one of theers or soht now Maybe two"

"Shut up and get hiet chow," snapped theover Bryn "Unless you’re so attached you want to take him back and play house"

"Fuck you, you’re the one with the cute bald chick"

"Cute and fucking dead"

"Hot, though"

"Shut up, you freak--"

And right then, Reynolds woke up, with a vengeance And a shriek like a devil coht up out of hell with a pitchfork up his ass

There was a chorus of alarm from the body disposal unit--hers and Reynolds alike She heard his body fall with a thuround, and she was dropped just a second later She opened her eyes

All four of thewith understandable horror at the dead round

She rolled to her feet, stepped up behind one of them, and pulled his sidearm from the holster he wore in the small of his back She pressed it to the base of his skull and said, "Boo"

He yelped and flinched, but he didn’t try toanother couple of steps in a triangle that put her and Reynolds’ still-twitching not-quite-corpse on the other three points Sticking together for safety One of theun, but he couldn’t quite decide what to do with it, especially when Bryn put her arm around their comrade’s throat, yanked him off balance, and aimed over his shoulder at the ones still free "Drop the corpses And I can proully’s still a valid destination Just not for me"

"Kill this bitch!" said the one she had choked out She grinned It probably looked as savage as she felt

"Yeah, please do," she said "In case you haven’t noticed, killing ates, boys"

That spooked theh that they pulled out their weapons and tossed them, which was exactly what she wanted Reynolds had stopped screa She kne it felt The headache alone would disable hi shock of what had happened to hiht," she said "Let’s do this"

She didn’t know anything about these men, but they’d been party to twowork That didn’t mean they deserved to die, but she didn’t have much choice Not if she wanted to preserve Patrick’s life

She snapped the neck of the one she was holding It wasn’t easy; he was a big th, and she felt it when the bone shifted and his spinal cord severed Shots carried in these hills She was going to have to do this quietly

She expected it to be difficult She wanted it to be But the adrenaline that flooded her made it seem effortless as she shoved the dead roup She hit hard, dead center, and they tu pins She took hold of the center nized with a pleased jolt; she needed it So Bryn took it, by breaking his fingers, and then buried the knife twice in his chest, twisting to be sure he was down Blood bathed her, but she was alreadyfrom her lips as she ducked a thrown fist, rushed in, and delivered four fast, accurate stabs, severing vital organs and arteries

The third was running, and that triggered so awful and feral in her She took hile, sharp cut Clean, this tie to rip into the corpses She thought about cold water, icy rivers rushing over her and washing away the blood and fear and fury

By the ti, and had lowing gold and pink

It was going to be a beautiful day

He didn’t resist as she pulled hi?" he asked dully Still in shock Good That made him easier to handle "What just happened?"

"I saved your ass," she said "Walk and shut up, Doctor"

He did

Chapter 18