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It was a freakish moment, as if there had been no disconnect in Lilah, as if she had been strong and in charge all the time Benny and Nix shared a covert, worried look

Don’t say anything, warned Benny’s inner voice She’s ready to break Push now and she’ll shatter

Benny tossed his second bottle to Nix and dug the extras out of his pocket

"Will it be enough?" Nix asked as she smeared the noxious chemical on her coat

Benny didn’t answer They each used a full bottle The inside of the way station reeked as if it was stuffed to the rafters with rotting flesh

"Weapons and water only," said Benny

"Good," agreed Lilah

Nix nodded, but she grabbed her journal off the table and stuffed it into a big pocket inside her vest Then she belted the carpet coat tightly around her The coat protected her body and arh, stiff collar to shield the throat, but it was not a suit of arh zo his canteen over his neck and pulled his bokken from its sheath

At the door, Lilah paused, took a deep breath, and without turning said, "We go slow Don’t fight unless you have to Run only if you have to"

"What if we get separated?" asked Nix

There was only one answer to that question, and Benny’s inner voice whispered it to hiets lost in the dark … is dead Aloud he said, "We won’t"

It was soa it in its frame

"Me, Nix, Benny," whispered Lilah "Ready?"

Nix and Benny both lied They both said they were Lilah opened the door

A zolass He was broad-shouldered, his once brown skin bleached to the color of es of white bone jutted fro step forward It did not sniff the air--Benny had never seen zoh whatever senses it did possess, the creature took the irl with the white hair … and then shuffled past her into the rooe her as prey She reeked of the dead, and the dead passed her by

Benny could see that Lilah’s whole body was tre This wasn’t like that tiry Forest Back then she was on her hoh those woods No … this was beyond Lilah’s experience, and maybe that hat crippled her She had no plan and lacked either the iination or optimism to believe that some line of escape would present itself

OrBenny wished with all his strength that he could step back in tied breath and stepped cautiously outside Nix went next, turning to squeeze by a lu fat man with bullet holes in his stomach As Benny stepped into the doorway his shoe scuffed the floor, and the fat reen teeth The zoer and menace dropped away as if a curtain had fallen Its dusty eyes slid away from Benny, and the monster turned aardly and trundled inside, followed by another zo his bokken to his chest as if it was a ic charm, Benny slipped outside Lilah had not waited for hiht into the sea of sha corpses Nix wasback for Benny Lilah never looked back at all--she kept going Did she see a way out? Benny wondered She wasfaster and faster, and soon he couldn’t see her at all

Move or die, growled his inner voice Benny began walking,to imitate the artless shamble of the zoms so as not to attract attention

Don’t stop

He didn’t … until he reached the edge of the concrete pad by the gas pule he could see almost all the land around the way station What he saw punched the air out of his lungs and nearly dropped hi mass of zoms--an arure with hair even whiter than Lilah’s,froth of black pipe clutched in a nearly colorless hand It was too far away to see his eyes, but Benny was sure--dead certain--that one would be blue and the other as red as fla

The zoure They did not attack hias station, toward Lilah and Nix Toward Benny Then the sea of zoht

It didn’t matter Benny had seen it

Seen him

"No …," he whispered to himself "No"

He turned and ran Not walked, not shuffled like a zom Benny Imura ran for all he orth He ran for his life As he ran he could feel those eyes upon hi like cold fire into his back God! Where was Toh the ht he heard the deep, ruhter of theamid an army of the dead

Charlie Pink-eye

FROM NIX’S JOURNAL

When I was real little, Moh ration dollars Before First Night she’d been a production assistant in Hollywood (a place where they eles) She didn’t kno to far and cleaning people’s houses It was hard, but she never complained and she never let me kno hard she had to work Then she was sick for a feeeks and fell behind on all the bills

Then she o out with him, but she wasn’t interested AT ALL Then Charlie told her there was a way for her to make a month’s worth of ration bucks in one day It wasn’t sex stuff or anything like that He said all she had to do was quiet a zom

Of course, he didn’t tell her that she would be thrown into a big pit with a zom with only a broom handle as a weapon It was at a place called Gameland, hidden up in the mountains People caames

Mom was desperate to earn the money, so she went into the pit

She never told me about this, and I don’t know the details All I know is that Charlie kept Mom in the pit for a week I was real little, and Benny’s aunt Cathy took care of ht Mohbors told me later He smelled of smoke and had bloodstains on his clothes I learned a lot later that Tom had rescued Mom and destroyed Gameland I think he had to hurt some people to do it Maybe kill some people Shame Charlie wasn’t one of theoing to take me to Gameland The new Gameland

God … how can people be so cruel?

36

TOM WAS FAST, BUT SALLY TWO-KNIVES WAS DOWN BEFORE HE GOT to her He knelt beside her and checked her pulse, found a reassuring thuently eased her onto her back and brushed dirt and leaves from her face