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The zoed forward to take a bite

Benny threw himself backward, and the zom’s shattered teeth closed around a pocket of the vest instead Benny heard a bottle of cadaverine crunch to stinking fragments inside the pocket

The creature did not notice or care, and Benny was positive now that the network of wires bolted to its face somehow cut off its sense of smell Maybe the scientists had done it as part of some experi sense Not that it ht nowthe zom could see and it could still bite

Benny fell backith the creature, and as he fell he brought his knee up between its legs, hitting it square on the bottoave Benny the power he needed to hurl thethud and iht his sword around into a two-hand grip but only got as far as his knees before he realized that he was in worse trouble than he thought

As the zoain, it snatched up a broken branch fro it full force at Benny’s head

There was a moment of red-black blankness Benny never actually felt the blow One second it was about to hit hi inexplicable

The zo too

It crashed down a yard away face-to-face with Benny Thethere No aniest part of all was that there see out of its te up his sword in a last desperate defense against soreen-juer," said a faest ti?"

It was Chong, but as Benny struggled to get to his feet, he saw his friend’s face And froze

Chong’s skin was gray, and a pale fil was a zom

87

ALEXI TURNED TO SEE TWO STRANGERS--A MAN AND A TEENAGE GIRL-- cliuns in their hands, barrels raised He saw adressed in spiked ar zoms Bullets burned past hiirl yell, "NIX!"

And he heard the voice of the red-haired girl yell, "LILAH!"

Then zoered backward

Alexi roared and shook his body like an angry bear, flinging the dead off hi his hammer to crush heads and chests

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw the little redhead swinging her toy sword like she actually knew so and twisting

She’d ht If she lives through this, I’ dead around him, from those he sunshots, and fro

He’d never seen anything fight like that, and he wondered why it had never occurred to his to ith the reapers This one was a cunning fighter, clearly trained to fight the dead It did not bite at all, but instead used its horned helmet and spiked arainst it Those who tried to bite it shattered their teeth on its chainto tear down an armored personnel carrier

Suddenly Alexi realized that everyone in the clearing was engaged in fighting the dead except hilanced at the uns They were totally absorbed in their own personal wars

He hefted his ham legs could carry him

He vanished into the woods to find Mother Rose

88

"CHONG--?" BENNY GASPED

The dead-pale face split in a rueful grin "What’s left of hi stood bare-chested, wrapped in bandages He held a sophisticated bow in his hands, and there was a quiver of arrows slung low across his hips He did notabove them When Benny reached up to touch his forehead, he felt swollen flesh Blood dripped like red rain across his eyes

The pain caught up to hi an inch fro, but the words didn’t seem to make sense

Benny asked him to repeat it, but he heard his oords

They were ht flared too white and too bright, and then the hinges fell off the world and Benny was falling

Falling

Falling

89

BENNY COULD NOT MOVE HE COULD BARELY BREATHE HIS HEAD FELT LIKE it was actually on fire

He heard several sounds happen all at once, colliding into one another so hard and fast that it was hard to separate theirl scream in fear Nix?

Did she say his na it over and over?

He heard a dog barking

So weird He didn’t have a dog

He heard the unshots

He closed his eyes for a ed And now there was a ring of faces around him Benny raised a hand and touched one of theh a field of freckles

"I love you," he said

The face, grave with concern, flushed, and that made Benny smile

"Benny," said Nix, "you’re hurt You hit your head"

"A zom hit ht that was funny and laughed, but laughing hurt, so he stopped

The other faces swa

"Are you dead?" he asked Chong

Chong tried to smile, but it didn’t suit his face "That’s open to debate," he said

Nix said, "What’s that supposed to , but Benny didn’t understand it Thinking was so hard His head felt like it was in a hollow ht he heard Nix screa?" asked a tiny voice, and Benny realized that his eyes had closed He open them to see a lovely little face

"Eve?"

"You found ht it didn’t make sense, but then he realized it did

"Yeah, just like a bunny rabbit" He touched the tip of her nose "You’re a little bunny"

She giggled

That sound seees back into place

A strange voice said, "Kid’s a mess Skull fracture, concussion"

Benny looked toward the sound of the voice A big ive when they don’t want you to kno bad things look through their eyes It was almost a wince

"I’m Joe," he said