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"Telltold Riot an abbreviated version of Lilah’s story
Riot turned and stared at hi me"
"Nowhy? Don’t tell , son, I heard ten different versions of that tall tale" She laughed and shook her head "Boys are funny They’ll al"
"You think I’ this up?"
"Oh, no Not at all But e’re done here I’ll introduce you to my uncle, Daniel Boone He keeps a chupacabra for a pet and has a fresh-raised gray ue, to explain that Lilah was real and that he knew her, but Riot kept laughing and shaking her head Finally he gave it up
Riot gave hirin and ticked her chin toward the arrow "So, unless you got o, shall we?"
47
BENNY AND NIX STARED AT THE ZOMBIES ON THE T-BARS THE CREATURES twisted and reached for them, their moans softer than the desert breeze Red streamers were tied around their ankles
Around the neck of each was hung a se on each was the same
I DIED A SINNER
DARKNESS IS DENIED TO ME
"What’s it supposed to htened voice
"I don’t know and I don’t want to know"
Nix nervously touched one of the streamers tied to the nearest zo"
"Yeah Letwant to knohat thisthe crap out of me We need to find Lilah and--"
"We need to look inside that plane"
He smiled at her "You’re actually nuts, aren’t you? The desert sun’s baked your brains and--"
Nix just looked at him Benny felt suddenly detached froirl he’d risked his life for, the girl he’d left his home for Nix, with her wild red hair and explosions of freckles and brilliant green eyes Nix, who had a scar on her face that Benny actually thought looked sexy Nix, as everything to hiirl he’d come to know less and less ever since they’d seen that jet
This Nix laughed less often This Nix was less kind, less
Soft?
He considered that word and its ientle, open, receptive The Nix he’d known all his life was soft, but was she ever weak? No, absolutely not Not before and not after the jet Okay, then what about the other entle?
Mostly no Life had been so hard on her that she had becoain,or even debating points as trivial and varied as the species of a butterfly or the politics of the Nine Towns, this new Nix seldohts
Was this Nix receptive?
That was the hardest call She seemed open to new experiences, and would readily listen to advice or infors, the best routes, safety in the Ruin, all sorts of things But that was only receptivity along the lines of a file cabinet--infor processed
Was this the Nix he’d fallen in love with?
No That Nix was gone If not forever, then at least for now There was hardly any trace of her left
That left a final and dreadful question One that he had been debating for a couple of weeks now
Was he in love with this Nix?
Benny searched and searched inside his head and heart, and he just simply did not know The only consolation was that he didn’t understand this Nix Maybe when he did, things would get better
He knew that Nix had alanted to leave Mountainside He and Chong both considered her a visionary; she had big, but practical, drea beyond the fence line to make a new home out here in the Ruin But that was before her mother was murdered and Nix was abducted It was before Nix had been forced to fight in the zombie pits at Gameland, where she’d encountered the reanimated zombie of Charlie Pink-eye It was before Toed
Now, standing in front of the crashed plane, with proof of ugliness and madness out here in the Ruin, Benny looked into those enized
All this, all these juh his hts were rehashes of issues that had been hanging unresolved on the walls of his brain
Benny turned away froer The Nix he kneas not there, and he didn’t want this new Nix to see the agony that must be in his own eyes
He walked to the base of the T-bars and looked up at the zoms
He cleared his throat "I think they were the pilots," he said
"Why?"
"The uniforms There were pictures in some of the books"
"Should wequiet them?"
Benny looked up at the dead, who looked down at hiryand closing on nothing
"No," he said "They’re not hurting anyone"
Benny felt her co to climb up into the plane," she said
Benny cleared his throat "It’s not safe"
"Safe?" Nix echoed faintly "When are we ever going to be safe?"