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Only then, somehow, the movie shifted in his mind Instead of a cro To, but To the boy’s face turn purple, killing Chris Prentiss for what he’d done This vision was so real, Tom could feel the frantic scratch and cut of Chris’s nails over his hands

You can’t get away, Chris; I won’t let you go I’ and I will kill you, I will crush you, I will make you pay for what you did to her

A deepChris would feel good, it would feel so good, and, Jesus, he wanted that This need to kill soe of Toling his mind fro on Pressing a tre fro was Jed’s froed to his son, Michael, who’d died in Iraq Torandmother used to clutch a rosary Got to stop this Can’t let ue ached froh flesh He spat a coin of blood, watched it ular stars from the birds A lot of aniated, five-fingered splays that had to be raccoons, and then to a single deep trough scalloped froh, and ing aof his blood, then spat again A lot of aniaze skated over a s’s Foxes have been busy, too No wonder All these bodies, the lake was practically a

"A buffet," he whispered, and at that, his thoughts stuttered to a halt because he’d suddenly realized what kind of prints weren’t there

Wait aover an anthill While a whole lot of Chuckies had died, the rest had dispersed, presu north toward Rule There’d been no activity at the mine since But he’d been in a war zone Survivors always cae what they could Yet his were the only human prints around the lake--whichto stop new Chuckies fro back Except no one had

So where the hell are they?

Hoisting hiht and left No huaze directly west The sun was alreadyto curdle to the color of a fresh blood clot His eyes touched first the debris-littered flat before shifting to the ruined trees The night the mine blew, Chuckies had come from that direction In his mind, he replayed what he’d seen as the mine deteriorated beneath their feet: those boys, black as ants, lurching across the snowpack Five came on foot, but two had been on skis Eventually, the Chuckies had opened fire and driven hiiven a lot of thought to hy those boys were headed this way in the first place Why run toward a disaster? More to the point, as up here that was nowhere else?

"Alex?" This was right; he could taste the tingle, feel the thrill work through his veins "Jesus You weren’t interested in us You came for Alex" That had to be it Hundreds of tasty meals to choose from, but they came for Alex and only her But how did they know? The whistle was his first clue, but he’d heard it after spotting the Chuckies, so it could only be

"Smell?" The word ca the flat, he ju the natural lie of the land and that flood of rubble "You were on skis You caht for her; you didn’t deviate, you didn’t hesitate So if you made it, if you were in time, if you were prepared because you knehere she was" He was shaking, his thoughts tu like those nuo down, you get her, and then you book, fast as you can Just point your skis, get yourself in the fall line, and boaze snagged on so froht What was that?

"Oh God, oh God, oh please, please," he sang as he slowly feathered the focus "Please, please, puh" So inarticulate, breathless, not quite a shout, juave a sudden hard knock he felt in his teeth "Jesus," he gasped "Oh Jesus"

Because there, fixed in the binocular’s sights, was the black handle and wrist strap of a ski pole

23

In winter, when someone died, there were three choices You could bury the body, burn it, or store it Burial was preferred; it was so for Hannah and Isaac For Ellie, it was like, okay, whatever But without backhoes, there was no way to dig deep enough for a proper grave until spring A shallow grave was like an invitation to scavengers and--no one would say it, but they all thought it--ot desperate Or if the people-eaters were like crows and would eat anything