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When he startled awake, it felt but aslick again with condensation Joel must’ve felt him jerk to consciousness, as he quickly shushed Mission and told hi up on Central

Mission’s heart pounded as he ca It felt difficult to breathe The slits he had cut were lost in the folds of the plastic He wanted the zipper cracked, just a slice of light, a whisper of fresh air His arms were pinned and numb from the straps around his shoulders His ankles were sore fro hiasped

The others shushed hi So over his head, a series of tiny clicks fro a dozen notches

Mission sucked in cool gasps The world resu the stairs in the distance--a cohting More dying He saw bodies spinning through the air He saw Ca the farm sublevels just the day before, a coroner’s bonus in his pocket, no thought of how little tiht fro

They rested at Central Dispatch Mission was let out in the ly e her finger into a hole in the wall surrounded by a spiderweb of cracks There were hundreds of holes like the and continued past

"What ti his voice down

"It’s after dinner," Joel said It ood time

Down the hall, Lyn studied a dark patch of what looked to be rust "Is this blood?" she hissed

"Robbie said he couldn’t reach anyone down here," Mission said "Maybe they scattered"

Joel took a sip from his canteen "Or were driven off" He wiped his ht? You two look beat"

Joel frowned and shook his head He offered Mission his canteen "I think we need to get past the thirties Security is everywhere Hell, you could probably dash up hat you’ve got on the way they’re running about Might need to clean up your hair a bit"

Mission rubbed his scalp and thought about that "Maybe I should," he said "I could be up there before the dim-time" He watched as Lyn disappeared into one of the bunk rooed almost immediately with her hand over herup fro her

She threw her arms around him and held him away from the door, buried her face into his shoulder Joel risked a look

"No," he whispered

Mission pulled away from Lyn and joined his fellow porter by the door

The bunks were full Sole of their li useless from bunks or were twisted beneath the

They discovered Katelyn a her like that, which cemented Mission’s plan to dash up on his own Lyn shook with silent sobs as he and Joel retrieved Katelyn’s body and loaded her into the bag Mission felt a pang of guilt to think that it was nice how s the straps and zipping her up when the power in the hallent out, leaving theroped for one another, even the light spilling through the doors leading out onto the landing suddenly gone

"What the hell?" Joel hissed

A h an unsteady flame burned in each bulb Mission wiped the sweat from his forehead and wished he still had his ’chief

"If you can’t ht," he said to the others, "stop and stay at the waystation and check on Robbie"

"We’ll be fine," Joel assured him

Lyn squeezed his arm before he went "Watch your steps," she said

"And you," Mission told thereat stairway beyond Overhead, the lights flickered like little fla

•32•

He hurried upward a of smoke and rumor, and Mission’s throat burned from the one, his mind from the other An explosion in Mechanical hispered to have been the reason for the blackout Talk swirled of a bent or broken shaft and that the silo was on backup power He heard such things from half a spiral away as he took the steps two and soood to have hisstill, to be his own burden

And he noticed that when anyone saw his, even those he knew At first, he feared it was fro men just like hi everyone They were yesterday’s farht order with their strange and dark weapons<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>