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I&039;M WOKEN BY A crash and a muffled cry of pain I sit up quickly and look around the dark roo for a second to decide where I am The combination of the acrid chemical smell and the stench of decay helps li back toward the rab a knife from my backpack and run after him I&039;ve barely taken two steps out of the chemical storeroom when I hear other voices up ahead There are people around the front of the cull site I drag Ada only e&039;re both pressed up tight against the outside wall at the back of the ed," he whispers, voice full of nervous excitement "I saw them"

"How ines"

What the hell do I do now? Despite what Ada the There could be hundreds of them here, and if they&039;ve dared come out into the open like this then they&039;re probably arht What do they want? Maybe they&039;ve coet this place restarted? Shit,for us?

"Wait here," I tell hi him toward an alcove "Keep yourself under control and don&039;t do anything until I coet a better look"

Adam nods and does as I say I take a couple of steps away fro and see that there&039;s a round level to an access hatch up high Before I can talkto lis I pause when I&039;h a grubbyThe earlyone side of the slaughterhouse and the hole in the roof, filling it with light, uncovering every gruesoht The Unchanged are inside the building now I can see a couple of theh the bodies and debris

At the top of the ladder I open the hatch and carefully easearound the edge of the vast rooh the rilles I move toward the side of the rooht above one of the intruders now Looks like he&039;s wrestling with a corpse, trying to pry a rifle fro soldier Fortunately he&039;s preoccupied, and I keeptoward the front of the site undetected Farther ahead I notice that this ay&039;s loose Several brackets and supports have co less secure I&039;m less worried aboutof the ers below to look up They don&039;t look like typical Unchangedodd, hed doeapons, far more than they need They look more like mechanics than soldiers

A sudden noise makes me catch my breath I look back over my shoulder and stare doorried they&039;ve found Ada hiun

I turn around to try to get off this unstable ay, but stop when I glie dust- and cobweb-coveredathere has suddenly becoaze of five ar wo their way along the nearest pile of corpses, stripping the of value Inhuman bastards There must be a hell of a blackthis, but the fuckers look well organized, and they knohat they&039;re doing Wearing yellow dishwashing gloves, the three of the at different heights, snatching rings and watches from the dead hands that stick out of thebuckets with their stolen booty A teenaged boy grabs each bucket when it&039;s full, replacing it with an eht What I&039;er, but what can I do? There are too h Ada I still think ofalone) All I can do is wait for theht the attention of the grave-robbing bastards belowand calls to his pals Carrying several weapons each, they head toward the door in the corner we exited through last night I run back along the gantry, but before I get to the hatch I know it&039;s Adah theShould have known he&039;d struggle to keep hi straight for hiressively toward the stick held out like a bayonet Fortunately the rest of this gang are either unaware or too interested in their haul to get involved I clih the door and down the ladder Adaht now, but I can still hear thes left I jump down and run around the corner to help, knife in hand Ada from two of them To his credit he&039;s already taken the other one out The scrawny little fucker is slu, irab the shoulders of one of his attackers and slaround His body rattles with the impact, and the look on his face is one of surpriseelse Before he realizes what&039;s happening I stabfor his heart The blade&039;s stuck in his breastbone No ti the side of his head with enough force to knock him over He scrambles back up, shakes his head clear, and rushes atit around like a club I duck his first clumsy strike, then, while he&039;s still off balance, thump my axe into the base of his spine I shove his face down into the dirt to muffle his screaet under cover We&039;re out of sight and there&039;s no sign of the for their people before long Ada this one-sided fight have just been slashed even further All I can do now is get out of the way and wait for the rest of these fuckers to move on Trouble is, I realize as I shovehim back toward the chemical storeroom, when they find the bodies of three of their own they&039;re not going to go anywhere Then, as I reverse through the door and look back, I realize the tracks Adaravel and dust will lead the bulk in the space on the floor where I slept last night There&039;s a dribble of blood running from the corner of his mouth, but I can&039;t tell if it&039;s just his mouth that&039;s cut or whether his injuries areinto him, I wouldn&039;t be surprised if his insides ell and truly fucked

I stand up to lower the roller door back down, but it&039;s too late There&039;s already another one of the over the bodies, and this one looks like he actually kno to use the powerful rifle he&039;s carrying He&039;s calling for reinforcements, but he hasn&039;t seencheap between taist-high piles All I can see is his boots As I&039;, another two pairs of feet approach I don&039;t think they&039;ve seen the tracks in the dirt yet, but it&039;s only a matter of time It&039;s not like there&039;s anywhere else around here I&039;d be hiding I try to stay cal out which one I should attack first and which way I should run Maybe running is the only option? Sorry, Adaood-byes Can&039;t see any way of getting him out of here now Poor bastard&039;s three-quarters dead anyway

Another two of them join the first three Five to one-those are bad odds in anyone&039;s book I&039;d have been better off takingflat on a pile of corpses Wish I&039;d thought of that sooner Perhaps I can still get over to that open grave?

Here they co Christ, I don&039;t even have ut of one of them Maybe I can reach my backpack from here

Wait They&039;ve stopped

So to lose, I slide across the floor to try to get a better viehat&039;s happening They&039;re starting tonow Can&039;t see why, but their weapons are raised This is rab my backpack, and run back outside, then stop when one of the ene past the front of the che doll, eventually landing in a heap in the dust a few yards fro backward, trying to fire his rifle and at the same time retreat and defend hiht out in the open again now,common sense to take a backseat, and I can finally see what&039;s happening The cavalry have arrived Halle-fucking-lujah At precisely the right moment a van full of our people has turned up at the site, and they&039;ve got terful and incredibly aggressive fuckers in toho are h to stand in their way The way these two are fighting is savage and brutal in the extreility and speed that belie their otherwise ordinary appearance Totally focused on the kill, they are oblivious to everyone and everything else around the corpses is hobbling toward me, a look of absolute fear plastered across his weathered face He runs straight atto kill him

"Get out of here," he tries to warn me, barely able to breathe "They&039;ll-"

I end his sentence before he has a chance to I grab his shock of white hair, yank his head back, and punch hi I snatch a knife fro fired up and alive, I sprint doard the battle that&039;s raging at the front of the building, desperate to kill again

By the tiht ended with incredible speed, force, and brutality by seven other people like Adam and me None of them questions me There&039;s an immediate, unspoken trust between us, and within ed with the thousands of others already here