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"Totally, brah," agreed Dr Skillz He bent and picked up two objects Toie!"
They ran toward the pits
As he ran, Chong suards fell to his assault Before thathad never hurt another person or raised his hand in anger to anyone but a zo his sword; he felt arms shatter
He knew that they would kill hih death’s doorway, but he didn’t care He was already bitten But he had seen Lilah die … he had nothing left to lose So Chong ran forward into his lastdeath because it had already accepted hi to follow Lilah down into the darkness so that she would never again be lost and alone
On the other side of the hotel, Carrie Singleton and Foxhound Jeffries, respectively the youngest and the oldest of the bounty hunters who had co of children into the woods at a fast run Carrie had a crossbow and picked out a path that es to hide their escape Foxhound had cross-belts of throwing knives Once upon a time he had been a circus perfor card tossed into the air Twice guards tried to stop them; each ti on up there?" Benny dele wave of confused noise: shrieks and gunfire and the clash of steel on steel "How could To there was a different cry--a weird whoop of what sounded like pure joy--and then a figure dropped down through the pit opening Tall, thin, wearing a football helmet and a carpet coat covered in pieces of license plates He landed feetfirst on the shoulders of a zom, and the impact snapped the creature almost in two He clutched three items in his hands: a spear that was almost identical to Lilah’s, and two curved wooden swords The rinned at Benny
"Hey! Little samurai dudes!" shouted Dr Skillz
"How … ?" demanded Nix
"Where …," began Benny
Dr Skillz tossed one of the swords to hiht it Nix dropped her shinbone and caught the other
"Surf’s up!" yelled the bounty hunter as he swung his broad-bladed spear over their heads He spun in place like a dancer, and suddenly two zo sidehile their heads fell in the opposite direction
A thousand questions burned on Benny’s tongue, butbut fight
Two of Solouards fro for cover behind the corner of the bleachers
"Let’s get that son of a hound," gru across the field, s panicked spectators into the open pits Pete fired a Winchester rifle fro an old-fashioned cavalry saber he’d long ago scavenged from a museum Guards and spectators fell before theas Pete uard’s head The second guard snatched up a pitchfork and ran at Little Bigg, but Little parried the thrust and ran the h
That left Preacher Jack stuck in the corner with the two trade guards grinning at him
"Now ain’t this a pickle?" asked Preacher JackHe should have been looking desperately for a way out He was fifteen years older than these men, and where they were packed with oons, old ht walk out of this with a whole skin"
"Well," said Little Bigg as he pulled his saber free, "I wouldn’t say a whole skin"
Preacher Jack’s lips twitched and writhed
"Glad you think this is funny," said Pete, "’cause we’re gonna--"
Preacher Jack kicked Pete under the kneecap and simultaneously chopped hie of his hand There was a sound like an eggshell cracking and Pete was backpedaling, fingers clawing at his throat as he tried to drag in air His face turned red and then purple and he fell
Little Bigg wasted no ti blow at Preacher Jack, but the oldHe head-butted Little, punched him in the chest and bicep, and snatched the saber out of his hand There was a flash of silver and then Little Bigg was falling, his eyes ith total incomprehension It was all over in three seconds
"Amateurs," sneered Preacher Jack He laid the saber within easy reach on the bleachers and set to work pulling at the alu reached the bleachers where he had seen Lilah fall He swore to himself that he would defend her body until this was over, and then--Oh God, he thought, then what?
He would have to quiet her But … could he do it? The thought of it s of ato reload a pistol Thethrust the blunt point of the sword into a guard’s groin The guard screa into a line of five zoms The creatures were already covered with blood, and two of theo
Chong kept swinging and swinging At one point he found hi almost side by side with Solomon Jones The bounty hunter had a machete in each hand, and they whirled like windmill blades Zoms and humans fell around him like harvested wheat
"Get to cover, kid!" yelled Soloe of battle swept hi her naht back-to-back, swinging their swords at legs and necks and heads Dr Skillz worked the other tunnel, and despite the young bounty hunter’s laid-back persona, he fought with the speed and precision of an experienced killer He shattered bone with the reinforced butt of the spear and cut off hands and heads with the blade
The burning zoround, but not before two others bu a real probleet out of here!" Benny yelled, then broke into a fit of coughing
"Waiting for a ride," Dr Skillz shouted back
"What?"
As if in answer, a length of knotted rope flopped over the edge of the pit, and J-Dog poked his head in "Unarly out here" Then he was gone; a second later souards dropped bonelessly into the pit