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Skyler knelt before her, took out a fresh white handkerchief fro, and eased her hand down Ana closed her eyes and sat motionless as he cleaned blood, sweat, and tears from her cheeks and brow
"My face," she said, "feels like yours looks"
It hurt to laugh, but he laughed anyway "Noe’re twins, eh?"
He heard footsteps behind him
"Skyler, when you have a ard Skyler alave Skyler a nod "I’ to sit here a while," she whispered "Then I’ll find Davi and the others"
He brushed a stray strand of auburn hair from her face, offered the best smile he could, and went to Karl
The man had two black eyes, and the rest of his face hid under a mess of bruises, cuts, and scrapes "You look like hell," Skyler said as they embraced like soldiers
"I always do And anyway, speak for yourself," the man replied He sounded as if his mouth were full of marbles "Tania wants you at the climber, so we can start to sort out this mess"
"Later," Skyler said "There’s injured, dead People "
Karl took the rejection in stride "All but twelve towers are gone," he said "Looks like even those deployed as roads moved out"
"Already with the bloody towers? Secure the colony, treat the wounded Fuck the towers, we’ll find them later"
The battered man held up his hands in surrender "Cal in We need to think about what happens at dawn"
"What happens at dawn?"
"The caot a lot smaller, Skyler, and our plans for water and y"
Skyler had plenty of opinions but decided to wait until Tania ith them He swept his arm toward the climber and followed Karl to the center of Camp Exodus in silence
With the air now clear, the full extent of the devastation becah the ca trails of broken tents, overturned supplies, and broken bodies They had pushed vehicles and heavy steel cargo containers aside like they were toys
Skyler asked Karl to halt near a cargo container flipped on its side The gruff man waited as Skyler shimmied his way onto the roof, or what had become the roof
From the top, he could see beyond the crowded cae Paths of devastation The towers seeht formations, and in the distance Skyler could still see two of the groups working their way through Beléreen, moved north by northwest The other ran northeast The towers in that group shiht
Both demolished every structure they ca as a tower pushed by huely of shanty hovels built from plywood and laminate, and these fell before the towers as if they’d been roup looked to be on a path that would take it through don, and Skyler wondered if the skyscrapers there would provide enough resistance to halt the alien objects’ progress
He turned toward the east The reroups were hidden by the rainforest He saw their trails--swaths where no trees now stood Yet even with such destruction in their wake, the forest had consulow they emitted, which lit the trees from beneath
One moved east, colored with a yellow so brilliant it looked like sunlight
The last went northeast The scar it left through the forest left little doubt in his one Even fro to an area of the forest past the reservoir The cloud noed red
"Karl," Skyler said
TheTania and the others here instead There’s so they need to see"
By the time Tania reached the container upon which Skyler stood, a ladder had been found and placed against the giant metal box She took the steps slohile Karl held the base of it
When she reached the top, Skyler offered her a hand and helped her off the ladder
He was filthy, bruised, and s dust froed him to seek out one of the few doctors in camp, but he’d just shaken his head He looked like he had one foot in the grave already, his face bruised so "I can’t decide which of you looks worse," Tania said
"Skyler," Karl said
"Karl," Skyler said at the same time "Where’s Zane? Tim?"
"I left them in orbit," she replied "In case this was all soarded her for ashe’d done recently could be called s aside the compliment, she looked out across the camp Colonists already worked to re-stake the tents, and toward the river she saw a group of twenty or so people all huddled together, their aro container onto its side The sight of tea of hope, until she saw the body that lay beneath the metal structure Man or woman she couldn’t tell; the body had been crushed and pressed halfway into the mud Tania covered her mouth with one hand and forced herself not to turn away
At least, not until Skyler nudged her He pointed north, and for the first time she set her attention beyond the camp’s perimeter
Trails of devastation marked the paths the aura towers followed As she watched, one group ht and the dust thrown into the air as buildings collapsed in its wake The towers there rippled withthe instant that RPG hit one," Skyler said
"Four groups," Karl noted "Why four? And why didn’t they all go?"
"And where will they stop?" Tania added "At least they’ll be easy to track"
Skyler gestured east "Those two groups crossed water already, so that answers one question It would seem they don’t sink"
"Oh hell," Karl said "That means--"
"When they hit the Pará, or even the ocean, they "
The words left bothto for, and why Four groups, each at least forty towers in nuone without any concern or care for what lay in their path Was theand noise soets attacked and the rest instantly scatter to the four winds, in groups, on different paths?
She wondered if they would stop solobe and returning right back here That didn’t makeseemed to make sense