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She hit the highway and cranked a left toward the sound of gunfire, passed a fleeing kid, noticed that the entire northas on fire and the air sh tio bad, before she saw Gaia and Orc

Gaia had a hand on Orc’s throat, and Orc, forced to his knees, was punching air as Gaia twisted her head this way and that to dodge blows Gaia was laughing Her blue eyes were alight

Brianna blurred to a stop

"Hey Gaia Rehed no more than a toy

TWENTY-TWO

17 HOURS, 25 MINUTES

THE FIGHT LASTED six seconds

In that ti hera fist as powerful as Jack’s and caught just a corner of Brianna’s shoulder, spinning Brianna away to sprawl on the concrete

Brianna was up in a flash, snapped her shotgun up, fired, and hit Gaia in the chest with a load of buckshot that knocked Gaia staggering back with seven s, "Die!" stuck her shotgun into the stunned Gaia’s er

And there was no explosion Dud shell

Brianna’s one good eye widened and Gaia’s hand was on her neck Ile was all wrong, so she caught Gaia’s neck, too low and too weak Blood was everywhere

But Brianna’s head oozy The weakness was spreading through her

She struck again, and Gaia easily blocked this blow, ripped Brianna’s machete from her hand, and threw it aside

Gaia’s face, those cold blue eyes, were all Brianna could see But she felt Gaia’s hand pressing palainst her heart and knew

"NO!" Dekka screah Brianna A s hole where her heart should be

Brianna’s body fell limp Suddenly so small

Gaia fell back, touched the buckshot wounds, but then realized the arterial spray froer probleain, and charged, with Orc at her side, with Jack suddenly yelling, rushing up froht at Gaia

Gaia fired the killing light but missed, and now retreated in confusion, her already weak vision blurred by her own blood

She tried to turn on her speed, but she felt it ebbing Of course: she had just killed the girl with the power of speed! She’d had no choice: another few seconds and she herself would have been dead

Gaia turned to run, but the gray monster would be on her in seconds She kicked wildly and hurled herself through the air, canceled gravity to slow her descent, touched down, and kicked off again into the darkness, trailing an arc of blood behind her