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And she thought, No, no, it can’t be

She’d waffled over this all the way up the tunnel: whether to ed to reach the top, or stay Her ankle wasFro experience, she kne to splint it, if needed But the fact that she was soaking as a , and she was treet war hot to drink Wet, with no supplies and nothing to keep her alive except Leopard’s knife and the Glock 19, she o of that rope and saved Wolf the trouble of rescuing her from the tunnel She would probably die if she ran now

On the other hand, Wolf had coo with hiain, and probably just as stupid, but she’d nearly talked herself into it

Until now, this nized by sight and scent: Ben Stie, before Spider and Leopard took over The fact that Acne was here, on the surface, actually frightened her just as htmare But there was no mistake Acne had made it out of the mine Had he left before the attack, the explosions? Maybe slipped out when everyone else was in the chow line because he’d smelled Wolf earlier in the day, just as she and Spider and Leopard had? She would never know The i was that Acne ith Wolf now That otten out, too

That decided her She was not going through this again

Her eyes clicked to the quivering snow To her left, maybe fifty feet away, she spotted a scatter of cross-country skis and poles--and rifles One, lying near a pair of skis staked in the snow, caught her eye: scoped, a bolt-action with a carry strap She darted left, digging in with her aching right ankle and launching herself toward the weapon She saw Wolf start; saw the others trying to get at her; spotted a kid with very long dreads, the tallest of the six, suddenly reaching for her; felt his fingers whisk her hair

"No!" she gasped, twisting, dancing out of the way The sudden twist sent a spike of red pain froh that tears started She cla past her teeth Keep going, come on, it’s not that far Snowy slabs slipped and rocked beneath her boots like dinner plates on ice; a sudden skid to the right and she nearly lost her footing, her right boot kicking free Her left jarabbed at her calf, but then she was hopping free, nearly there, thirty feet, twenty-fiveshuck a round into the chambernoup on an arc, because they’reshe’d practiced with her dad, hitting a un Don’t duck down

The earth shivered She could see the skis waggling back and forth The rifle began to scoot and skip But she was close now; it was almost over; she could do this The rifle was to her left, two feet away And if Wolf got to a weapon or pulled a pistol? Could she shoot hiun into Chris’s face She didn’t want to have to make that decision

She slid the last foot--and then felt the snow tre whack as soround The sensation was nearly indescribable, but it was as if she were a glass on a white tablecloth that a ician had tried to snatch away, only he’d s out from under; she felt her knees buckle and her feet leave the snow With a yelp, she came down hard on her butt A white sunburst of pain lit up her spine For a second, her consciousness dropped out in a stunned blank She couldn’t move Her chest wouldn’t work Electric shocks danced over her skin, tingled down to her toes and fingers Gagging, she finallyto her stoed in air, shook the spots from her vision

All the boys were down Most were crabbed on their sto the earth like rodeo cowboys on bucking broncos That kid with the dreads was lower than the rest, his fall taking hie of the rise and far away fro to claht up For her? That was stupid, a mistake He should move out of the fall line and then up before the snow collapsed

But that hen it dawned on her: the kid with the dreads wasn’t coain--and then she sahere he was going

Wolf was maybe fifty feet away, close to where they’d popped out of the ht He was still flat on his back--but notGod, was he unconscious? He’d lost a lot of blood Maybe it wasn’t the fall Maybe he’d fainted She almost shouted to hiue Doesn’t rimly: At least this way, I don’t have to decide whether to shoot hi, trying to shake her off its skin Panting, she pulled her left knee to her stoot her hands planted, pushed up The skis had toppled to the snow, and the rifle--where was it? Her gaze snagged on a gray-green glint of ht, just beyond a ski pole, reflected from the rifle’s scope Yes On hands and knees, she spidered for the weapon, fighting the quaking earth, working her way around the skis Stretching for the rifle, she felt her fingertips brush the cold black steel of the barrel

Fro ht: Wolf ? No, this wasn’t a natural sound at all It was too deep, as if so awake The sound was big

That was the ground That was rock, breaking open She was afraid to look back The rifle was right in front of her Another inch, she’d have it and et out of the fall line and out of danger, but get away