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I held the led frames and cracked-but-whole lenses up for Vida to see In a rare ave hiot them, Gran"

The driver’s-side door finally caainst et his left foot out froled dashboard All the while, he clutched his left ar jostled

"Da just beneath the surface His right hand twitched and jerked as he reached inside to help his brother "Daet yourself killed on ritted teeth "Christ, that hurts"

"Giveto suck, but--"

"Are you doing it?" Chubs was asking, "make sure you’re in the proper position--"

I don’t knoas worse: the sound of Lia, or his howl of pain that followed

"We need tothe SUV’s back door open "This piece of shit is totaled--we’ll have to get into the bed of the truck, but standing around here crying over each other is going to get us shot, and fast"

"Glasses?" Chubs called, holding out his hand in what he ht was h her ar the twisted wire frames from me I stopped her, just for a second, to ed-up, bruised, but not bleeding What a goddamn miracle this was--

Clancy I spun back around to face the truck, heart paralyzed for the instant it took to spot his dark outline through the truck’s backShit This is hoe’d lose him Chaos Carelessness I’d panicked--my mind had just blanked out with terror and I’d run I hadn’t even thought to take the keys out of the ignition If Cole hadn’t bound his legs, he’d be in the wind by now

Be better than this, I thought,into the palms of my hands You have to be better than this The adrenaline was slow to leave , not entirely

"You know, Grannie," Vida’s voice drew my attention back toward them, "you have actually not sucked in this crisis"

"I can’t see your face so I can’t tell how sincere that was" Chubs said

I slid the backpack fully ontoLiam around the bodies of the downed soldiers, toward the truck I couldn’t bring myself to look at thee Liaainst his chest I slid my hand around the small of his back to help steady him--but, really, to reassure myself he was fine Alive