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The shouts were alh the e of the plateau He froze and tried to melt into the landscape, as if he was just another lu, wet, muddy mountain

The shouts increased in volume, and he risked a quick backward look

The tent was ablaze

Vin Trang and Joey Duk stood staring at the blaze Other bounty hunters ran fro Nobody was firing a gun No one see out into the woods or down the slopes Vin turned to Joey and yelled so very loud in Vietnamese, then shoved his friend violently in the chest Joey went staggering back, slipped in the mud, and fell hard on his ass The others burst out in uproarious laughter Vin, not content with knocking Joey down, snarled like a cat and ju at him while behind them the tent burned

This was even better than Benny could hope for Vin obviously thought Joey had left so lost all of his possessions

"There is a God," Benny said to himself as he slipped away into the shadows, "and apparently He has a warped sense of humor"

He moved off into the darkness and circled halfway around the camp Even with the heavy downpour, he could still hear the shouts and laughter He had a sudden flare of panic Had Nix heard it too? Would she think this was the diversion that Benny had planned? If so, she was going to start too soon!

He ran faster

Then his foot ca in a puddle that was deeper than it looked, and Benny pitched forward, sliding face-first through the mud His hands opened, and he watched in absolute horror as the little tin of ht

"NO!" he shouted

It was s that no one heard him It almost didn’t matter, because without thoseto die

Nix cut open the side of the tent and crawled quickly inside The pen was just outside, and she knelt, knife in hand, and peered out into the rain The twelve-year-old girl had the other kids clustered together, and they were as calm as they could be under the circumstances She must have told the Each of thee eyes that were filled with tears and hope

One of the guards walked past, and Nix watched as he went several paces down the center path of the ca on over at Vin Trang’s tent She’d hoped he would have gone all the way over, but he stayed relatively close to his post

"Here goes," Nix whispered to herself and then crept out of the tent and crabbed sideways in a low crouch, until her shoulder buasped, but Nix shushed theh the wood slats of the pen and touched several of the the pen rail to the back corner and watched the guard He was still craning to listen through the hahtened and then climbed quickly and quietly over the rail She dropped down in the loouard cut a quick look over his shoulder, all he saere children hunkered down in a bunch He grunted to himself and turned back to watch the fun Vin and Joey were beating the hell out of each other, and everyone was yelling and cheering theirl’s eyes ide, but she understood Nix gritted her teeth and attacked the bundle of ropes, and in less than a minute the whole bundle of ropes was cut

Nix pulled the twelve-year-old girl close "Go over the rail and down the slope There’s a path down there Follow it all the way down to the creek Don’t leave the path and don’t stop You understand?"

"Yes! But, who are you?"

"Doesn’t irl scrae of the pen and reached out to pull the first of the children over

Then so and dark moved out of the rain, and they all looked up in horror

Charlie Pink-eye stood there above the straight at Nix’s face

52

"WELL, I’LL BE A ONE-EYED SKUNK," YELLED CHARLIE PINK-EYE SO LOUD that Benny could hear hiht All of thetent stopped and turned to see their boss standing by the pig pen, pointing a gun at the red-haired girl who had escaped the day before They laughed as if this was some new form of entertaino share in the fun Vin pushed Joey away froot to their feet and staggered along as well

Benny ca and ran low and fast to the shadowy cleft between two of the wagons There was a big bonfire that had been sheltered from the rain by a thick stand of tall pines He craned his neck to see as happening

"Move one muscle, little darlin’," said Charlie, "and I’ll cut my losses and leave you for zom meat Don’t think I won’t"

Benny’s heart froze in his chest at those words He clion for a better view Despite the rain, his mouth went dry at what he saw Nix, covered in mud, stood inside the pen, and Charlie stood on the other side of the rail, his pistol held in one rock-steady hand Stark terror and raw hatred co her beauty into a mask equally as feral as Lilah’s, but in soe Perhaps it was because Lilah had never been civilized, and any thought she felt was ily displayed on her face, whereas Nix had always been controlled and self-aware What Benny saas her unguarded, naked emotion

Two of the men climbed over the fence and closed in on Nix from either side It was clear they did not consider her a -bladed hunting knife she held Charlie used the barrel of his gun to gesture to the knife Nix held clutched in her fist "Drop that pig sticker, little darlin’"

Nix did not drop the knife She clutched it to her chest, cutting desperate looks to her left and right for so the barrel of the pistol away froirl, or I’ll put a hole in this little cutie"

The girl, seeing her death, straightened and held her head high Then she spat into the mud at Charlie’s feet

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