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"With the news vans out there," suggests Lizbeth, " People will re"
"Maybe," Hayden says "That’s a good thought, Lizbeth Hold on to it"
It’s 115 degrees 8:40 a it harder and harder to breathe, and he realizes the heat en He wonders which is lower on the list of bad ways to die
"I don’t feel so good," says a girl across froo, but he can’t think clearly enough to remember it He knows it’s only minutes now
Beside hi about a vacation Sandy beaches, swionna be mad" Hayden puts his arm around him and holds him like a little brother "No passports," Tad says "No passportscan’t get back home"
"Don’t even try, Tad," Hayden says "Wherever you are, stay there; it sounds like the place to be"
Soon Hayden feels his eyesight starting to black out, and he goes places too A house he lived in as a kid before his parents started fighting Riding his bike up a ju his arht his parents had over custody in the heat of their divorce You’ll have hiht! You’ll have hi, because it’s his only defense against the prospect of his fa their decision to unwind hi the other to have custody Not so much a decision, but an impasse
Fine!
Fine!
If that’s the way you want it!
If that’s the way YOU want it!
Don’t put this on ned the unwind order just to spite each other, but laugh, laugh, laugh, Hayden, because if you ever stop laughing, it ht just tear you apart worse than a Chop Shop
Now he’s far away, floating in the clouds, playing Scrabble with the Dalai Lama, but wouldn’t you know it, all the tiles are in Tibetan Then for a moment his vision clears and he coh to realize he’s in the Coine He looks around him The kids are awake, but barely They sluround
"You were talking about stuff," so, Hayden We liked it"
Then Es his pulse His eyes are still half-open, but he’s no longer babbling about tropical beaches
"Tad’s dead, Hayden"
Hayden closes his eyes Once one goes, he knows the rest of theun next to him It’s heavy It’s loaded He doesn’t even know if he can lift it anyh he’s never used it, it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure it out There’s a safety, easily reer
He looks at the suffering kids around hiun fire" falls on the list of bad ways to die Certainly a quick death is better than a slow one He considers his options a uys I’m sorry I failed youbut I can’t do this"
Then he turns the un toward the cockpit and blasts out the windshield, flooding the ComBom with cool, fresh air
82 - Connor
He wakes up in a comfortable bed, in a comfortable room, with a computer, a late-y enough to think he actually h to know he’s not
"I know you’re pissed at me, Connor, but I had to do it"
He turns to see Lev sitting in the corner, in a chair that’s painted with footballs and soccer balls and tennis balls to match the decor of the room
"Where are we?"
"We’re in Sunset Ridge Hoht ured we both deserved coht It’s a trick I learned fro for thieves, not squatters They roll past but never go intosuspicious So as long as you don’t snore too loud, you’re fine" Then he adds, "Of course, we’ve gotta be out by ten; that’s when they open I stayed too late at a model once and nearly scared a realtor to death"
Connor pulls hie of the bed On TV is a news report Afterraveyard
"It’s been on the news since last night," Lev tells hih to preempt the info it"
"Why would they hide it?" Connor says "It’s their stinking lory"
On TV, a spokesperson for the Juvenile Authority announces that the count of AWOLs killed was thirty-three The nuht in alive is 467 "With so many, we’ll have to divvy them out to various harvest ca the word "divvy"
Connor closes his eyes, which ot aith about a hundred fifty, that leaves ed to escape on foot Not nearly enough "You shouldn’t have taken o along with their collection of Unwinds? If they find out that the Akron AWOL is alive, they’ll crucify you TrustI know about"
"The captain is supposed to go doith the ship"