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"Hallelujah!" a woh

"The tiin! For the Beast to rise and bring judgment to the sinners!"

"Hallelujah!" others joined in

"We are the faithful WeThe Lord will brook no weakness in his chosen" Pastor Algoode opened the book, finding the page he needed "And I heard the angel’s voice as a voice of thunder saying, ‘None of the faithful shall enter the kingdom of the Lord but that they have purified their flesh with oil and the flames of heaven Their sacrifice shall be the first, the sacrifice of the faithful, and the Beast will take from them the book and bathe in the s be un’ Hallelujah!"

Pastor Algoode passed around two jugs, which the faithful poured over the kerosene Her heartbeat sped up Pastor Algoode slipped his pendant around the boy’s neck and placed a hand on his forehead "Take of our flesh and make it yours Thus sayeth the Lord Go Do what youand et to honor us with tribute"

Cal it frooode continued praying while the congregation took up a plaintive hymn Evie smelled smoke Black wisps curled out from the cracks in the barn Fla, letting the ss "The Lord will brook no weakness in his chosen," he intoned over and over

Inside, the children screa Pastor Algoode’s voice was choked with pain; it et away, but she couldn’t She could not co, nor could she remember the code word She was too far under, with no idea how to get out or ask for help The screams had died to isolated hed; she was s up the mountain The boy opened his eyes quickly For a second, Evie thought she saw flalass of those eyes The boy walked cal out Suddenly, he stopped and turned toward Evie So about his face--cal right at her!

"I see you," he said, and his voice was not the voice of a boy; it was a terrible thing, more bestial than human "I see you now"

"J-Ja the code word "Help Ja she knew, Jericho was shaking her Her fingers were craone; Sam had taken it froulped in a huge breath, like a drowning wood!"

"We should have stopped, Will!" Jericho growled

"It’s all right," Will said rather automatically

"I saw hied but did not voan to throb and her vision swa for the kitchen

Evie held on to the edge of the desk even though she was sitting Her cheeks were pale and her forehead bathed in sweat The rooht at me! He said, ‘I see you, I see you’!"

"What the hell does that et Evie to drink, but she couldn’t

"It’s all right," Will said, shaken

"It’s not all right! You can’t do this to her She’s not an experiathered Evie in his arms, carried her to her room, and placed her on the bed

Evie had never felt so sick Her head pounded and her stomach roiled as she lay on sweat-drenched sheets in the dark roouely aware that she was having the dreaain, but it kaleidoscoped in and out of the i till she couldn’t be certain as happening any chess with Ja so fast it h the trees, calling for soe of the forest in her nightgown and a gas mask When she raised the mask, Evie saw that it was Miss Addie "Such a terrible choice," she said as the sky lightened and the first waves of the explosion came toward them all