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It was just that soone

The lower level of the Infirmary had been little more than a hallway of beds and curtains, but all of those were gone now, replaced by stacked, unlabeled boxes As wewith each stride, I saw PSFs bringing azes followed us all the way outside into the pouring rain

Gunrass and the trees surrounding the fence The curtain of water falling around us in sheets didn’t dahtest, nor did it drive away the earthy smell that immediately sent my senses into an overload of visceral memory I bit my lip and shook my head It’s different now, I re out of here I tried to reach for the old, fa I had lived inside while in this caround shifted under my feet as I found the ht of the white slip-ons on my feet The number 3285 stared back, splattered with filthy water and wilted grass

I took a steadying breath and forced et out of here This was another Op I could be hard and certain and fight here, too There was no falling apart now No giving into fear Not if I was going to save the others

Rings of cabins curved in front ofdarker and smaller than I remembered I saw holes in the roofs patched over with sheets of warped plastic The wood paneling along the sides arping, peeling as the remnants of the last snowstorm dripped down fro and stabbing until I finally gave in and started to shiver

The red brick Control Tower at the center of the cabins had darkened under the rain’s touch, but there were stillthe paths of each line of drenched kids trudging up the paths fro to their shoulders, the hollows of their stomachs

Most of the kids kept their heads down as they diverted around us, but I caught a few curious glances, all lightning-fast, under the watchful eye of their PSF escort No--not PSF--

I spun onas the soldiers at the end of the line raphed and stiff They wore criuided Laybrook off the path with the slightest bit of pressure on his arain, walking alongside theht roere the soldiers in cri trill sounded in roup came toward us, and terrible suspicion solidified into shock

The red vests were keeping track of the kids, devoid of any ee maybe, or a few years older They were inserted in the places where the dwindling PSF force should have been

They were Reds

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