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What is the deal with this bear?

Every few feet a choice: turn right, turn left, or keep going straight? And every few feet a pause to listen and to clear the blood fro in here: It’s the bread cruh, and throbs horribly with each beat ofout the minutes I have left before they find me, take me to Vosch, and he finishesbrown and s toward me, very fast, like he’s on an important errand A roach I’ve encountered cobwebs and loads of dust and soht be toxicI’ve seen Give me a spider or a snake over a cockroach any day And now he’s heading right towardinsideavailable to squash it My bare hand Yuck

I keep ray; in rate froh the slats into the roo it a rooe, easily the size of a football stadium, shaped like a boith rows and rows of computer stations at the bottom, manned by over a hundred people--only to call the real people an injustice They’re them, Vosch’s inhuman hu this round zero of the "cleansing" Aa reen spots--the source of the sickly green light Cities, I’reen dots must represent pockets of survivors

Vosch doesn’t need to hunt us down Vosch knows exactly where we are

I wiggle on, forcing low is as small as the dots on the map in the control room Four junctures down I hear voices Men’s voices And the clang of metal on metal, the squeak of rubber soles on hard concrete

KeepSammy’s not down there and Sauys says, "How oes, "At least two The girl and whoever took out Walters and Pierce and Jackson"

Whoever took out Walters, Pierce, and Jackson?

Evan It has to be

What the…? For a whole minute or two, I’ alone, sliding past their defenses unnoticed and snatching Sa on Of course, it hadn’t quite worked out that way, but Evan had no way of knowing that

Still The fact that Evan had ignored our carefully thought-out plan and infiltrated the base also means that Evan is here

And Evan does what he has the heart to do

I edge closer to their voices, passing right over their heads until I reach the grating I peer through the lobes into a large handcart I recognize what they are right away I’ve seen one before

The Eye will take care of her

I watch theht

A point will come when the cover isn’t sustainable When that happens, they’ll shut down the base--or the part of the base that’s expendable

Oh boy Vosch is going all Ashpit on Camp Haven

And the oes off

78

TWO HOURS

The ins to tick No, not a clock More like a ti to need every second, so where is the orderly? Right when I’m about to pull out the drip myself, he shows up A tall, skinny kid named Kistner; we met the last ti at the front of his scrubs, like the material irritates his skin

"Did he tell you?" Kistner asks, keeping his voice down as he leans over the bed "We’ve gone Code Yellow"

"Why?"

He shrugs "You think they tellanother bunker-dive" No one in the hospital likes the air raid drills Getting several hundred patients underground in less than three ht incinerated by an alien death ray"

Maybe it’s psychological, but the minute Kistner pulls the drip, the pain sets in, a dull throbbing ache where Ringer shot me that keeps time with my heart As I wait for my head to clear, I wonder if I should reconsider the plan An evacuation into the underground bunker et’s first air raid drill, command decided to pool all noncombatant children into a safe room located in the middle of the co hi every barracks on base

But I have no idea when--or even if--that’s going to happen Better stick to the original plan Tick-tock

I closeeach step of the escape with as much detail as possible I did this before, back when there were high schools and Friday night ga a district title see hts, the defender keeping pace besideupnot just the perfect play but the busted one, hoould adjust et to save the down

There’s a thousand ways this could go wrong and only one way for it to go right Don’t think a play ahead, or two plays or three Think about this play, this step Get it right one step at a time, and you’ll score

Step one: the orderly

My best buddy Kistner, giving soe bath two beds down

"Hey," I call over to him "Hey, Kistner!"

"What is it?" Kistner calls back, clearly annoyed with me He doesn’t like to be interrupted

"I have to go to the john"

"You’re not supposed to get up You’ll tear the sutures"

"Aw, coht over there"

"Doctor’s orders I’ll bring you a bedpan"

I watch hih the bunks toward the supply station I’h for the meds to fade What if I can’t stand up? Tick-tock, Zoht froht stretches the er’s bullet

I cut you You shootWhat happens on your next turn? You stick a hand grenade downa live grenade down Ringer’s pants On so many levels