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And Dekka had not

THIRTY

10 HOURS, 4 MINUTES

"RING THE BELL,��� Sa the bell atop theto do?" Edilio asked

"Why didn’t you tell ay?" Sam demanded

Edilio looked like he’d been punched But he recovered quickly, to go to an expression that was half-wary, half-eh stuff to deal with"

"That’s not soirlfriend lost, the world ending, having to go out there after Drake, that’s stuff I have to deal with Me finding out you’ve got so I have to deal with?"

"I don’t know, I just… I ure it out You know"

"Does everyone except me know?" Sam asked He realized this was a stupid concern; this was hardly the ti out of touch But no one had been closer to him than Edilio, almost from the first day It bothered hi he didn’t It hurt his feelings

"No, , you know, ashamed or whatever It’s that … look, I have a lot of responsibility I have to have people trust ot or whatever"

"Seriously? We’re about to be plunged into eternal darkness and you think those kids out there are going to worry about who you like?"

Edilio didn’t answer And Sa o

"I gotta tell you the truth,his head slowly, side to side, as he spoke "I don’t see a way out of this I don’t even see the starting point for a way out of this I don’t expect us to survive this"

Edilio nodded Like he knew this Like he was ready for it to be said

"So in case this is it, Edilio, in case I go out there and don’t come back, I want to say thank you You’ve been a brother toat Edilio

"Yeah, well, we’re not done for yet," Edilio said gruffly Then,you said before is right," Sa killed Not in the short run But once I turn on sohts we’re still done for if we don’t find a way to turn this around We can’t grow crops or fish or survive living in the dark Next thing that happens is people will start setting fires Perdido Beach will burn all the way down next ti Kids won’t live in the dark"