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Brianna snatched up her shotgun, snapped off a quick, poorly aieneral direction of Penny--BLAM!--and cupped her hands beneath the eot a snake around its neck!" Brianna cried

Diana sat up--a up--and yelled, "It’s the umbilical cord It’s around the neck It’ll choke!"

"Oh, man, I hate slimy stuff," Brianna moaned She pushed the baby’s head back a little, which wasn’t easy, because it was really ready to come out, and yelled, "E!" a couple of times as she stretched and wrestled the u it

And now in a rush the baby came out It spilled out with liquid sounds and a hideous translucent sac attached and a pulsating snakelike thing leading to its belly button

Diana shuddered

"I a this," Brianna said fervently She shot a look to see if Penny was dead or alive and couldn’t see her at all

The Brittney body was gone as well, no doubt crawling off to look for its head

"You have to cut the cord," Diana said

"The what?"

"The cord" Diana gasped "The snake thing"

"Ah The snake thing"

Brianna took her h the u!"

"Tie it off!"

Brianna tore a strip from the waist of her T-shirt, twisted it to make it easier to handle, and tied it around the six-inch stump of the umbilical cord "Oh, man, oh, it’s all slimy"

Brianna worked her hands beneath the baby It was sli that irl," Brianna said

"Take her," Diana cried

"She’s breathing," Brianna said "Isn’t she supposed to cry? In a movie it cries"

She frowned at the baby Its eyes were closed So She see born

"Take her away fro froirl up and oh! Her eyes opened Little blue eyes But that couldn’t be, could it?

Brianna stared into those eyes Just stared And the tiny little girl stared back, eyes focused so clearly, not the squinty little eyes of a newborn baby but the eyes of a wise child

"What?" Brianna asked Because it al She wanted Brianna to take her over and lay her down in that crib

Well, of course, ouldn’t want to lie down in that nice, white crib?

There was a siren going off here at the hospital, an insistent screech that Brianna just ignored As she laid the baby down and…

But wait No That wasn’t a siren