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Here on the concrete island that was once part of the beautiful Bay Bridge, the excitement is palpable It throbs from every direction in the crowd – and it is a cro – as people mill around on the broken connection between San Francisco and the East Bay

Everyone is helping set so mehest points on the suspension bridge The different gang factions race to fasten an enorhts The winner of the race claims some victory over the others for a prize that Dee and Du built while people practice their talent show perfor nailed together for a fast and sloppy set of stage stairs

Men in gray cae headphones around their necks and night vision goggles on their heads I have headphones around les And instead of a rifle, I carry a pair of knives There are plenty of guns, but the bullets are reserved for the experts

A couple of thee with bits of random stuff attached to it that ?’ I ask

‘Ghillie suits,’ says Dee-Duht, of course’ I nod as if I have a clue what that means

I look around to see if I can be useful and find that everybody has their task and is busy doing it Dee is handling the details of the shohile Du the escape drill The Colonel and the other council istics lady weave through the throng, directing projects and keeping people on task

Doc is handling the makeshift med station, which people avoid unless they’ve really hurt themselves I admit, even I’m a little impressed with Doc’s dedication to people, even if I’ll always think he’s a e of the bridge where the rebar sticks out into the air, e Two of her scorpion-tailed pets lie curled up beside her while the third flies in loops in front of her Maybe it’s catching fish They are the only ones with space around theives the her here when I know she’ll be in danger But as hard as I tried, both Moe refused to leave ht, but on the other hand, I’ve learned that when you separate frouarantee you’ll ever see theain

Raffe’s face pops into my head like it’s done a thousand ti look in his eyes as he laughs at my outfit ere at the beach house I shove theexpression when he slaughters roup of sheet-draped cult members They all have amnesty marks on their shaved heads

Myup for their sin of betraying me, but I wish they weren’t here at all Still, if they want to show their coood way to show it It keeps the theroup that could use et on ives lory of leadership

I don’t knohat all those power-hungry people like Uriel are thinking As far as I can tell, a leader ends up doing all the worrying and still needs to pitch in for the regular work

I ha out

The sun is beginning to set, adding a golden glow to the water Wisps ofover the bay It should be a peaceful scene, onlyby the second