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"He’s with ca out here Let’s go"

I nod jerkily andfrom the earlier blow I cup the back of my neck as if that will help Gil walks close tobetween us as if he’s prepared to support ain? My apartment’s not far I usually walk, but today" His voice fades, but I can hear his apprehension, see it in the way his eyes scan the parking lot, pausing on the doors in the distance where the first students start to exit I’m reminded that he’s been a student here before he was ever declared a carrier These were once his fellow classht He doesn’t need an i ho past will knoho he iswhat he is

And as Tucci pointed out, with the current events, anything could happen to hi the UNLOCK button He dives into the passenger seat

The parking lot is already crowded by the ti our exit frolance to the doors andfor one taller than the most An ink collar on his neck But he never appears

(FBI interrogation)

AGENT OALLEN: Why did you do it?

KEVIN HOYT: What are you talking about?

AGENT OALLEN: C’mon, man We’ve confiscated your computer Your phone I’ve talked to the other three They didn’t pull off the largestin this country’s history on their own We know you’re the brains behind this

KEVIN HOYT: That’s kind of you to say

AGENT OALLEN: So Why?

KEVIN HOYT: Why not?

AGENT OALLEN: You don’t even care? You feel no remorse? One hundred and twenty dead Over fifty injured

KEVIN HOYT: Pretty good We were ai for two hundred but, like you said Over fifty injured We et there yet

AGENT OALLEN: You’re aIt’s good to know they were right Isn’t it?

EIGHTEEN

IT DIDN’T TAKE TOO MUCH INVESTIGATING TO FIND out where Sean lived I still hadthe name of his foster mother A quick online search uncovered only one Martha Delaney in the area I plug the address intoat ho to do Four days of no school No friends No leaving the house Moo out It isn’t safe for imprinted carriers to walk the streets All over the country they’re targets for vigilante justice

She’s right, of course I should just stay home, but there’s only somy keys off the hall table, I abandon the empty house I haven’t seen Dad since the day I was imprinted Mom says work keeps him away, but I know it’s not that It’s me

Mom faces me every day, her sher hours at the office Mitchell’s Jeep sits out front and I’ late I heard hiht while I was in bed

With one eye on hborhood behind and getting on the highway that takes h School and keep going I pass the next exit that would take me to Gilbert’s apartment

I never would have visited anyone this close to the city before Not only would my parents have forbidden it, I would have been too afraid Bad things happen within the city limits Even on the outskirts, where I’ into what once used to be safe suburbs

The hills get ss appear as I head south Buildings that look like they’ve seen better days Graffiti is everywhere I exit the highway and take a right at the first stoplight The buildings aren’t rock here like where I live They’re mostly a mud-colored HardiePlank that re a stray cat that looks more like a skeleton Patches of fur broken by raw flesh cover it

The road narrows and I have to ease off the gas so that I can et shabbier, interrupted by an occasional house with cracked concrete porches and yards overrun eeds and s in the distance A h the cross street in front ofwhere they’re going, who they’re after A carrier? Like the ones splattered all over the news Shaking ain

Ifor house numbers that aren’t visible on most homes At a corner sits a rusted Du thatyouth

I slam on my brakes as a body bolts across the street in front of my car A split second later another person flies after the first He tackles hih the s of

I blink and gawk, unsure whether I’h-spirited horseplay Given where I a a couple of boys wrestling good-naturedly

I step on the gas and drive on, al Sean’s house, the nurown bush

I consider his home for a moment as I idle in the street It’s a little better than the neighboring houses The yard is mowed and there’s a pot of flowers in theI park directly behind his truck and step outside, taking s

From somewhere inside the house, music blares I standup the uneven sidewalk and stopping on a threadbare doormat I lift the chipped brass-plated knocker and let it fall twice

The door opens and the music hits uitar The vocalist is uy in front of ym shorts, and I almost don’t notice the imprint around his neck because I’ every spare inch of hirotesquely muscled Not even an ounce of body fat