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Lilah remembered that She’d seen it, and she’d screamed and screa her with a whisper of a voice

For years after that George had been the only adult Lilah and Annie knew He raised theht theht Then Charlie Pink-eye and the Motor City Hairls to Gaain He had looked for the girls Looked everywhere he could He went a little crazy, Tom said; and somewhere out in the Ruin, Charlie or the Hammer hadpits at Gaht for their survival Annie was little, but she was tough Lilah had been older On one rainy night she had escaped from the locked cabin where they kept her She stole some weapons and came back to the camp to find Annie, to free her so they could both escape But Annie had also tried to escape, and the Hammer had chased her Annie fell, hit her head, and died; and she’d been left there in the mud like trash

When Lilah found her, little Annie was just coo and from which only zoms return Lilah almost let Annie bite her Almost

It had come down to that, to a moment when the only pathway that seemed to lead out of hell was the one where she would beco like her sister It seeive in Then she looked into Annie’s eyes … and Annie was not there Her eyes were not s into her sister’s soul They were dusty glass through which the only thing that could be seen was the emptiness where Annie had once been

Lilah had done what she had to do She had quieted little Annie

For years she lived alone in the woods She had no conversations She spoke to no one She didn’t even speak aloud to herself She found books and read the weapons She became a hunter and a killer

Then she ether they destroyed Charlie and the Haether they saved other children, kids ould not die in the rain like Annie, or be left to grow strange and wild like herself Nix, Benny, and Tos welco her like one of their own

Now Chong was gone Lost and probably dead in the woods And ht was like a knife in her own head

Benny and Nix walked into the east, their bodies seeht about what Benny had said, and about her oords--to Benny, and to Chong The tears would not stop

Ti and di sound behind her A day ago she would have turned cat-quick, her senses as sharp as the blades she carried Now she ignored it--aware but uncaring If it was a zom, then it was a zom The most it could do was kill her Worse had been done to her over the years

A figure moved from behind her and walked slowly around her

Not a zoure was dressed all in green Leaves and sprigs of floere stitched onto his clothes She looked up at hilaze of tears His face wasShe had seen theh always at a distance Benny had a Zolittered on the hard length of so the Green

The Greenround, where it alrass and shadows Then the e netting hung froreen cloth hat Beneath the mask was a face that was seamed and suntanned Bald on top and bearded below, the hair as white as Lilah’s Laugh lines were etched around sad eyes

Lilah stared at the man’s face There were scars, old and new The Greenman bent and touched the tear tracks on her cheeks She alin inside her muscles, but she didn’t Maybe because she was too tired fro Or maybe because this ertips together, feeling her tears, working the moisture into his skin

"I … I’m sorry," she said in a pale whisper

He ss and lowered hi He did not ask her any questions He sat in front of her, the sunlight low, and he sonflies of spring Lilah caved forward onto her knees and crawled toward him She collapsed a few inches away The Greenman did not touch her He did not try to pull her out of what she was feeling

He allowed, and that was enough

PART FOUR

HIGHWAY TO HELL

To conquer fear is the beginning of wisdom

--BERTRAND USSELL

48

LOU CHONG YELPED IN FEAR AND BACKPEDALED AWAY AS THE ZOMBIE tuainst the cold dirt wall and threw an arround with a crunch of brittle bones The crowd above hi a clown act People were calling fresh bets based on whether they thought the zo Chong

Chong hesitated, looking down at the zoet to its feet

He wanted to run and hide, but he was in a fifteen-foot-wide pit Running and hiding were not options He racked his brain to decide how to survive this Theto do?

What would To wasHe launched himself off the wall, raised the iron pipe over his head, and brought it doith all his force on the back of the zoround The crowd above hile ration dollar fell doard, seesawing through the hu A trerowled deep in his throat and hit it again Harder This ti

The croild Cheers and applause

Chong lowered the pipe and looked up at the crowd The Burned Man crouched on the edge of the pit, grinning like a ghoul

"Well, well … I’ll be double daot us a bona-fide zombie killer Yes sir, that’s e have here"