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All at once, his strength evaporated He felt hih the tender flesh of his neck What should have been a surge of bright pain was only the tiniest blister of a faraway firecracker, sputtering fast Hisas it had when Hannah’s poison streah his veins An insidious blackness oozed over his vision as the edges of his world collapsed

Just before he lost his sight co to euts of the earth A voice, very distant, as wispy as smoke: "Over here!"

But then, that was it All at once, Chris was falling, all thought disintegrating, and where there should have been a floor or the ground or the earth to hold hiether in a swar, but he was , Toap The nearest Chucky, a beefy kid in stained jeans and a too-large camo-jacket, had a knee in the dark-eyed boy’s back and a rope in one hand Toone; the kid’s body quivered, his face was black, and his eyes rolled to show the whites going crili at another Chucky, a very large girl raining punches

"Over here!" he shouted Flinching, the beefy Chucky relaxed his hold on the boy, who collapsed in a heap and didn’t move Tom fired, a quick three-shot burst, a soft pfft-pfft-pfft The Chucky’s chest ruptured in a cri back even as To fast The girl was still whaling away on the ser, and she was rearing back, beginning to turn

"Stay down!" To herself to one side as To shots in the front and storlass splashed to the floor, and then the sun!" Toirl pivoted; heard the bolt being thrown as the barrel of a long gun swung around Dropping to one knee, he ducked under her line of fire and aiirl’s head was there, and the next--

"Who" The second boy was panting, trying to roll, get to his feet Blood streaked his face Tom couldn’t tell if it was all his, but at least this kid was breathing "Who are"

To, he raced back to the dark-eyed boy The kid--seventeen, eighteen, he thought--was still down, not ing, blood on his throat, that rope cinched tight God, no Tom dropped to his knees, stripped away the rope, then drew a hissing breath through his teeth at how deeply the kid’s neck was cut

"No" It was the s He knelt by the body "No, no, he can’t be dead, he can’t--"

"Quiet" Turning his head, Toainst his cheek Kid, co his eyes, he put his head on the boy’s chest Silence Don’t do this, kid, don’t

Beyond To drywall Startled, still on his knees, he jerked up Hurtling out of the pantry, swarh which he’d slithered only irl: a silent, deadly horror with a h which he could see teeth and pink guest, sharpest corn knife To the sed for his Uzi with his left She was so fast, all he had ti around the barrel of his Uzi, and then he inging up, ai and dropped in a lunge, like a fencer co in under a blade, as the Uzi whizzed past Pulled off-balance by his ownin a fast, sidelong chop for his exposed left flank, and thought that ht just be the last irl from behind There was a clash of teeth, and then the Chucky was screeching, surging to her feet as the dog cla free, the corn knife whirred past To by a fraction of an inch, to bury itself in the opposite wall Out of the corner of his left eye, he saw the s for his rifle Not three feet away, the Chucky whirled like a dervish, and the dog, jaws snapped tight, sailed round and round like a shot put

And when he saw the dog, Toht, the kitchen door suddenly crashed wide open Flipping the Uzi to the ready, Tom jammed the stock into his shoulder and whipped his weapon around just as a corn-tassel blonde-- to be a Chucky; Toh the door

"Mina!" the girl screae to her shoulder "Release!"

At that, Tom felt his heart burst with a shock of disbelief and a swift, sweet, stunning joy For him, and only for a split second, the world si he wanted more than to sweep her up, hold her close, but then he was breaking his stance, pivoting back for the Chucky, trigger finger taking up the slack

"Shoot her!" the brown-haired boy screaed to Toether, his Uzi still quiet but the boy’s rifle roaring and even the Savage un

Then, still on his knees--because, all of a sudden, he couldn’t find his feet; he would fall for sure--To his arms wide "Ellie! Honey! Ellie, Ellie!"

She’d been so focused on the dog and the Chucky, he doubted she’d registered anything else At the sound of his voice, she turned, her eyes going huge and incredulous and so very blue, and then she was flying across the roo hysterically, darted for him, too