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held no hty

and beat feet and you could not pay hi turned to Sauys to put Dale in

a cell, all right? No ive hi you say, boss," Sa with

sarcas hio faster"

Kincaid shook his head "That poor ht You let those boys string hi"

"Yeah?" Greg said "Askand no one could have prepared Alex for this

She lost it "Help, help!" Spitting and blowing, she tried turning

her head but couldn’t ht was terrible, wouldn’t let up, and then she ailing

incoherently, a shriek that wanted to go on and on

Stop stop stop! She

You’ll run out of air and only kill yourself faster

But so what? She was alone She couldn’t reach her whistle No one

to hear it anyway Her heart boo to die in here Pulling in air was getting very hard, like sucking up the last dregs of les were starting to ache, and she was already gasping Three

seconds later, she realized that her eyelids had shut without her realizing it

No, no! She fluttered them open in another spasm of panic Not

ready to die yet NotBut her lids slipped again, and so did her mind

Below, so far away, it was so dark

notready

"You ready?" Boy A voice Not his Whose? Chris didn’t know Hison the brink, like the s over the edge and into oblivion and ood

"Pull," the boy said A second later, a blowtorch went off in his back and scorched its way froh his chest The pain was enormous, like an atom boone, but now he sla red tide of agony "Aaahhh," he moaned

"Is that hiirl’s voice, young, and very close, almost at his ear "Wait, stop! I think he’s awake! Hello? Are you there?"

ThereyesHe lost the thread Had he even spoken? Blacked out, maybe He just couldn’t tell

"Probably just reflex" The boy, again "Eli, let’s try--"

"Wait" A second girl, older, her voice deeper, gently insistent "Are his eyes open? Did they move?"

The boy: "What does that an

"No, his eyes are still closed" The younger girl, again, and now he realized that she was very close He could feel the hisper of her breath "But when you guyshim more?"

DoorwhatwhereHe couldn’t hold the thought He faded in and out, his consciousness like the bob of a lost balloon high above the distant lights of a faraway carnival He thought hehe reuys have a better idea of how to get him out from under there?" When there was no response, the older boy said, "Okay, then let’s do this You ready in there?"

"Just a sec," the little girl called Her voice dropped "You need to go, girl Go on"<ins class="adsbygoogle" style="display:block" data-ad-client="ca-pub-7451196230453695" data-ad-slot="9930101810" data-ad-format="auto" data-full-width-responsive="true"></ins>