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While waiting for White Bear to come and take them to the pits, Benny and Nix had looked at what the roo plaster walls, dry laths, aon the ground in front of them they exaths of broken lath--thin, narrow strips of sorained wood; several yards of copper-cored electrical wire; and long pieces of jaggedglass wrapped in torn strips from their shirts--strips whose absence was hidden by their vests All their pockets were filled with plaster dust

There was a loud moan from around the bend One of the zoan cheering Benny hoped the wall of mattresses would confuse the zoms Every second mattered to Benny and Nix

"Hurry," breathed Nix

They worked as fast as they could They placed layers of jagged glass between strips of lath and used the wire to bind it in place Benny wrapped the wire around and around as tightly as he could While he did that, Nix used another piece of glass to slash strips fros and then poured the white plaster powder into pouches made from those strips When she was done, she and Benny swapped jobs She took the lass-bladed hatchets and used more strips of their jeans to bind the laths fro them the way an ancient weapons maker would wrap the haft of a war ax Benny took the pouches and tied loose knots in the them in his pockets

There was a soft thud as one of the mattresses fell into the rabbed the corner of the mattress wall, and then a lifeless face moved into view Black eyed and black mouthed, it moved past the temporary obstruction, then turned toward them and moaned The sound was answered by other moans behind it

Benny and Nix snatched up their weapons and began backing away There was another chorus offrom another tunnel Benny turned sharply and saw three zoer around the far bend, their dead faces painted yellow by torchlight

Far above the croled, and a co to those me up on round one, folks," he yelled in a fast-paced, high-pitched voice "And oh! Here’s a twist: Soed to sneak in soh theout of the side tunnel; but still only three in front of theht

"Benny," Nix whispered, "we have to try"

"Okay," he said, but his throat was dry "Let’s go!"

Hatchets in hand, they raced forward, screas There were two men and a wothe bullet-pocked reed at Benny, but just as the white hands were about to close on hirab with his left hand; then he pivoted and chopped down on the back of the zolass bit deep into the weak area at the base of the ood hit, a solid hit, and for once Benny’s aiht on the money The zombie pitched forward

At the same time, Nix broke left froht shoulder roll right under the reaching arht up out of the roll, pivoted on the balls of her feet, and slashed her hatchet across the back of the zom’s knee It was one of Lilah’s favorite co, and the zom started to fall Nix rammed it with her shoulder, and the creature crashed sideways into the third zo the shoulder of her vest and pulling her One zoood, one was crippled, and one would be able to get back up; but thewas that for a moment the three of the a te to explain this to the crowd, and his words were met by a mixed chorus of boos and applause

"Freaks!" snarled Nix

Benny saved his breath for running They rounded the bend and skidded to a halt as two ht, and Nix started to go that way, but Benny didn’t like it There was no light at all down there

The closest zoown He had al to break the man’s knee, but her aih It swiped at her and she had to leap backward to keep froht Benny tried the sa wouldn’t break As it wheeled on this new attacker, the second zoray hair in a bun and her intestines hanging out--threw herself on Nix

Nix screa the zoooey mass of its entrails The zoers and kept darting forward to try to bite

Benny was too busy to help The fat zo the narrow tunnel It pawed at hi bloodless chunks of flesh froe, Nix swung her hatchet and buried the long glass spike in the zombie’s eye socket Thethe handle out of Nix’s hand

Benny stopped trying to get away and instead put one foot on the wall and used it to launch hi it backith both hands The monster’s heels hit the other zo onto its shirt all the way to thefor him, and the creature was immune to the shock of the ih its layers of dead fat The creature bit down on Benny’s ragged shirtsleeve and began shaking it the way a terrier shakes a rat Benny hah the re tendons of the zoaped at the ht sideways and went into a sloppy roll that nonetheless brought hi her hatchet back and forth to free it frolup sound, and then the two of thele, crazy s this? The ied around inside Benny’s head

The croas going crazy up there, butnow People threw stuff down at the slips White Bear was laughing with a deep-chested ru the show As they ran past another opening, Benny shot a quick look up and saw Preacher Jack He did not know the h to be able to read the subtleties of his expressions, but what Benny saw at that moment required no interpretation It was a look of pure,

When they rounded the next bend, that question was answered in the most horrible possible way The next corridor was a dead end that ran twenty feet into a blank wall

There were at least a dozen zoms in there But that wasn’t what made Benny slam to a halt and stare in abject terror It wasn’t what pulled a screaed the world into absolute nighte creature that rose up before theer than any they had faced It was massive, corded with muscle and covered with scars from countless battles as a human It wore a leather vest from which the tips of hundreds of sharp steel nails jutted out like a terrible cactus Iron bands studded with steel points circled its neck and wrists, and a skullcap of glea steel covered its head and tapered down the neck to prevent any injury to the brain stem When its lips curled back, Benny and Nix could see that someone--some madman--had filed its teeth to razor spikes

Even all that, fro about it It was Nix who spoke the word that

She spoke its name

"Charlie …"

75

OUTSIDE THE HOTEL …

Lilah found a shed filled with old sporting equip rods, Frisbees She stared at the junk … and sht, this is perfect

Inside the hotel …

"To called fro all the captive children into another room