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Once he had found a measure of self-control, he scraood climber, her injuries had taken a toll on her, and the horror and stress of the past hour had drained her last reserves It took a lot for her to climb up, and she was totally spent when she finally reached the spot Benny had picked--a nook for outward from almost the same point

Benny crawled down to the lower branch for a last co forest There were no zon of Lilah or the Greenman

He reh one of the sleeves and Nix’s through the other The effect was to create a kind of sling that, while probably not strong enough to serve as a haive them some protection if they started to fall He and Nix positioned it under theainst the trunk of the tree It wasn’t exactly comfortable, but it was safe, and that was all that it needed to be to get thereedily from their canteens Benny asked how Nix’s face was, and she said that it was okay; however, when he held his wrist to the line of stitches, he thought he could feel solyto haunt them?

He took his little bottle of antiseptic and a cloth and dabbed at her stitches as gently as he could He knew that he was clumsy, but Nix endured it Then he soaked a piece of clean bandage in water and placed it inside his shirt over the burn It was too dark to see how bad it was, but it hurt worse than anything he could remember When she asked hoas, he lied and said that it was nothing

Gradually their panic seeped away As it left, it was replaced by a wave of deep exhaustion Nix leaned her head on Benny’s good shoulder and said, "How ridiculous is it that after everything that’s happened, we can actually say that this wasn’t the worst day of our lives?"

Benny knew that she was thinking of those three terrible days last year The day herdays when Nix had first been a captive of Charlie and his men, and then had helped Benny, Lilah, and Tom lead an attack on the bounty hunters’ cah there had been no choice at all, those dreadful actions haunted both of them It had marked them, scarred the to keep the sadness out of his voice

Nix found his hand in the dark and laced her fingers through his "I guess," she said, "that this does qualify as the worst cahed "No question"

They sat and listened to the woods There was a constant and co trill of crickets

"Lilah’s out there," Nix said "She’s soht?"

"Absolutely," said Benny

"To and they’re in a tree so for dawn"

"Yup" The forest pulsed with the crickets and the soft swish of branches in the breeze "Look, Nix," Benny said, "I’uess I was freaking out, you know?"

"No kidding"

"I was being a total jerk"

"Yes you were"

"And a major butt-wipe"

"Uh-huh"

"Ju with ht to have your butt royally kicked"

He sighed Then Nix nudged hiood in a crisis, Benny," she said, "but you can’t take waiting at all, can you?"

"It’s not the waiting, Nix … it’s the not knowing Drives y"

"Me too"

"Doesn’t show," he said "You and Lilah were doing pretty good until I openedto need to make it up to Lilah," she said

Nix was kind She didn’t point out how easy a target Lilah was or how much Benny had probably hurt her Somehow her kindness made Benny feel even more like a creep

So to be"

Benny wasn’t sure if that was a statement or a question Either way, his ansas the saers He squeezed back Then her hand relaxed, and Benny realized that Nix had drifted off to sleep Just like that Even though he could not see her in the dark, he listened to the slow, deep rhythht and began to deconstruct the day in order to make a plan for tomorrow, but three seconds later he was asleep too Above and around theround on its axis toward dawn

42

LOU CHONG WOKE UP

He was still in hell … though he was is of hell They had taken his vest and shirt and shoes, leaving hiround on which he lay was hard-packed dirt Cold and da sat up and wrapped his arms around his body He had a lot of wiryto keep hih light to see, but it was shadowy and gloomy The walls were alsoraised his head and saw that the walls rose twenty feet above hiet to his feet but immediately cried out in pain and dropped to his knees His whole body seeether into a tapestry of searing pain The worst hurts here he had been punched in the jaw, raun, and kicked in the groin while he lay gasping on the ground Chong tried not to cry

Even as he huddled there, fighting the tears and fighting the pain, Chong’sHe knehere he was Gameland In a zombie pit

He had never been here before, nor had he ever seen a zom pit before It didn’t ie many times over the last few months To One of To warrior s the words in a fierce whisper through gritted teeth "What would Tom do? What would Lilah do?"