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"What else?"

"He said: Town hall, south side Six am Five others"

Julia looks at her for a second, absorbing what she&039;s been told Then she nods her head

"Thanks Get soht still be some food left downstairs Ask one of the others and they&039;ll show you"

Sophie heads back doithout question, leaving me with Julia Parsons hovers behind us nervously

"What did herlike I&039;m the only one who&039;s not in the know

"It onna be It ht ahead, deter

"South side?"

"South side of the town hall is where he wants us to base ourselves," she answers, looking through the binoculars again "It&039;s where I thought he&039;d want us to be, close enough to the h out not to be suspicious"

"And five others? What was that all about?"

"Five other groups like ours That&039;s not so good We were hoping for double that Should still be enough, though"

"And where will they be?"

"Don&039;t know, and I don&039;t care All I know and all you need to know is that we&039;ll go where we&039;re told to and cause fucking chaos when the tiroups of us, their military won&039;t knohich way to turn The panic will spread fast, and before you know it the whole city will be fighting And if we do it right, before long there won&039;t be a city left"

"There won&039;t be anything left," Parsons e of the roof and stare into the distance The Unchanged camp looks like a ray s exhaust fuh the air like flies around a corpse There&039;s no point denying it, being this close to the ene Or it would if I didn&039;t feel the odds were stacked against us It&039;s probably just me Perhaps I&039;m at fault? Maybe I should haveine it," Julia says wistfully, looking deep into the distance "Iht and they start to run, when they panic and try to get away froht into the next battle Christ, it&039;ll be beautiful It won&039;t take much, you know; just the h to start it off, and they&039;ll do the rest themselves It&039;ll be a chain reaction We&039;ll be able to sit back and watch the each other"

I know I should keep my mouth shut, but I can&039;t

"Except on&039;t, e?"

"Won&039;t what?"

"Once we&039;re in there, there&039;s no way back out"

"Doesn&039;tout the enemy"

"But at what cost?"

"We can&039;t coexist, end of story The cost is irrelevant"

I&039;s worse for ood is winning if you&039;re dead? What did they used to call that, a Pyrrhic victory?"

"A what?" Parsons asks

"A Pyrrhic victory," Julia sighs "It&039;s when you win the battle, but the end result leaves you fucked, too"

"Great," he grunts

"You&039;re wrong," she says toup, "and you need to stop talking like that"

"How a? Once we&039;re in the city, there&039;s very little chance of any of us getting out alive, is there?"

"It&039;s a sacrifice we have to make"

"And where will your pal Sahota be when all of this is going on? Watching froone, who&039;s left? Just kids and Brutes?"

She shakes her head "You come up with an alternative and I&039;ll listen Do you want the Unchanged to survive?"

"Of course not, but-"

"But what?"

"But there&039;s got to be a better way"

"If there was, don&039;t you think someone like Sahota would have come up with it by now? If there was any alternative, don&039;t you think we&039;d have tried it? None of us wants to die"

"My point exactly"

"But if your death results in the death of hundreds of the enemy, thousands even, then it has to be worth it"

I don&039;t bother to respond She&039;s bought into this completely, like a brainwashed old-school terrorist about to embark on a jihad Even if ed being killed, I still don&039;t want it to happen And what about Ellis? I&039;d rather fight steadily and have this war drag on for years than sacrificeher again

Julia&039;s not going to let this go

"You need to focus on what&039;s co tone in her voice "Craven said you were looking up inforet theiance now is to us Nothing else et back into the city"

She stares intobefore she disappears down the stepladder

"If you scree&039;re in there," she warns, "then so help me, I&039;ll kill you myself This is too important for an idiot like you to fuck up"

I watch her go, shaking my head in disbelief Parsons quietly takes her place in the now eot he was here

"Thanks for the support"

"I&039; his eyes froh sense to keep my mouth shut"