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"Behind the trailer"

"Good Give er kid’s voice is so co into his pocket and handing him the keys

"Listen to ate She’s been tranq’d I want you to get her and run Take her souard nods "Yeah, sure Someplace safe"

"Promise me you’ll do that"

"Yeah, yeah, I proets into the Jeep and drives off toward the unfire can already be heard Clearly he doesn’t kno to drive, but that really doesn’t matter much when there’s no road, only hardpan desert

Once he’s gone, the guard takes a moment to look at the remains of his fallen coate is a tranq’d girl He doesn’t care Every irl, too So rather than even looking for her, he takes off running as fast as he can, and leaves the girl to the Juvies, or the coyotes--whichever come first

67 - Connor

With his volunteer defense force fully armed--about sixty kids in all--Connor dispatches half of theest boys’ dors ripped off and a belly slung so low to the ground that a small militia can hide behind it "You’re the left defense flank," he tells them "Do what you can to draw the Juvies’ fire and keep them in the north end of the et lucky for once," one kid says "Maybe the Juvies won’t come after all"

Connor tries to offer hi smile He doesn’t know the boy’s name He tried his best to learn as many names as he could, but there was only so ets killed, or worse, unwound, ill remember him? Who will reh to have had each kid carve his or her name into the steel of the old Air Force One, as a testament to the fact that they existed Even if no would ever see it, at least it would be there But now it’s too late

Connor takes the rest of his fighting force to the Rec Jet, directly across the main aisle fros," he tells them, "and shoot out froirl asks

"Right beside you, Casey," Connor tells her, happy to have reme should never be on the front lines In chess, I mean"

"This isn’t chess," Connor points out "It’s our lives"

"Yeah," he says, "but I kinda like to picture ot the horse face," says Casey, and everyone laughs That they can laugh in the face of this sayselse

Connor and his left flank fighters race to push couches, tables, and arcadea pool table, Hayden’s voice blares in his earpiece

"Connor, soate--no one’s responding"

"It can’t be! We’re not ready!"

Then the horse-faced kid says, "We’ll never be ready So I guess that means we’re as ready as we’ll ever be"

Connor climbs to the hatch of the Rec Jet and looks north across the dark desert to see a wall of approaching headlights fanning outgetting wider "Sound the alaro"

68 - Vessels

To look at an airplane head on, onethat it has eyes No doubt the planes of the Graveyard have witnessed s, and perhaps they are the only ones with a clear perspective of fight and folly on the day the Juvenile Authority invades

GymBo, the northernmost jet on theJuvey force Its fuselage resonates with the round around it, kids who had been trying to save what they can fro and run south, as they’ve been told What was an organized chaos now becoed panic around the stalwart rows of retired aircraft

The ines, which are powering up, preparing for flight If Connor could see what the ht alter his plan and call for everyone to get onboard before the Juvies arrive, but he has no idea that the escape jet is back in play

The Dreaer bothering to hide his face as he prepares to signal the storks to abandon Connor’s plan and follow his But Trace in the cockpit is too involved in prepping the plane to share the jet’s vision

Toward the south end of the main aisle, Hush Puppy, the stealth bos and belly stop as they hear the Dreain to power up "What’s this?" they cry "Are we flying out of here after all?" And rather than running south they hesitate, unsure of what to do

And Dolores, the Korean War bomber, stares blankly at Connor, unable to tell hih he’s in radio contact with Hayden in the ComBom, who monitors videocams all around the Graveyard, none of those caraveyard of gutted, disraveyard as well

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