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The air crackled with unfire The sound socked her back into her own head They’re heading straight for us Her stomach doubleclutched with dread Move, move, move!

She sprinted for the house Ahead, Penny and Bert were just scuttling inside, though Penny ard, slow Darth grabbed the girl’s arm and reeled her in As Alex tore up the last few steps, the big boy clamped a hand the size of a haave a startled yelp as she hurtled past the threshold to crash onto hardwood

"Wait!" Scraed herself between the door and jaht not understand, but speech was all she had Even Darth would get her"They’re almost here! Those shots are close Give Wolf a chance!" She could tell he didn’t want to do it, sh his pores, but his arm relaxed

A lance around the rooreat room was sparsely furnished: fireplace and woodstove on a brick pedestal to the left, leather couch and two upholstered ar in the center to catch the view froh to really barricade the door, and trying to take cover in this great room would be suicidal That sofa wouldn’t stop a spitball With that picture , they’d be like fish in an aquarium

Her eyes flitted past Penny, who’d retreated behind a long breakfast bar on which Alex had stashed the cairl had the right idea The kitchen was further back, and thatover the sink gave theerator, and she could take cover there

Second best would be up those stairs at the extreht, which emptied into an open loft and then a short hall, dohich was a bathrooht, one left Easier to defend, but just as easy to get themselves trapped

Kitchen, then It was closer and she liked the look of that backmore and more Without a weapon, she couldn’t help defend the house anyway She had a brief ether and then thought, Got a better chance with Wolf than the guys after hie but was otherwise rooted to the spot, she dashed into the kitchen There was a freestanding refrigerator on the left, an old retro model, aqua and white with a chrome handle She’d already searched inside and found only four toxic eggs and a gray-green jungle fuzz that the jar claiap between the wall and fridge, she braced her back, tucked her knees, planted her feet, and gave the fridge a hard shove The refrigerator lurched and then toppled, slauts ca of shelves; a second later, the gassy, fecal gag of fungus and gooey dead chick

"Penny, over here!" Springing for the breakfast bar, she grabbed the girl’s wrist With a startled eep, Penny tried twisting away "Stop it!" Alex panted, hauling the thrashing Penny the way she would a stubborn toddler "You want to get shot? Get behind the refrigerator! Get--"

Froes Marley blew through the front door on a blast of wintry air and a swirl of dreads Swiveling, he socked his rifle hoainst the spak and crackle ofPenny behind the refrigerator, she ducked back into the great roo drilled into the heavy oak door and showered splinters "Marley! Where’s--"

A second later and to her horror, she had her answer as the boys blundered up the steps A luht arered inside on a fresh fusillade of snaps, the drone of bullets whirring overhead, she got a good look Wolf ’s face hiter than bleached linen

And covered in blood

Chris didn’t turn He barely thought Maybe his h thewhatever lay behind would only waste tiht Out of his left ear, he heard a quick inhale, the sudden sto in fro, Chris raked the first chair he ca around He heard the clatter of wood on the floor and then the stutter of boots as whatever was back there bumbled into the chair But whoever--whatever--it was didn’t fall A second later, a huge hand snatched at his neck, got a fistful of shirt collar and the tight silk therone His heart began to pound as his vision reddened, first with panic and then lack of air Flailing like a fish hopelessly snagged on a line it could not break, he got his hands up, but the silk therers His flannel shirt ripped; buttons popped free, pattering to the floor like jurew tauter and tighter Whatever held hi him now, like a puppet Chris heard, but only di over the floor His knees buckled; Chris felt hiainst his forehead as he pitched forward Sos, bounced to the floor and sh his hips and legs were on the floor, his chest wasn’t flat The hardas still a half foot fro hi his head and chest to allow gravity to do its thing The Changed would let Chris’s oeight kill him, bit by bit

What happened next was an accident Chris’s right hand closed over soistered that it was sharp, and his last chance