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"Can I fill a jug before I head out?" Lana asked

Dahra winced She had an old water cooler in one corner with a clear glass five-gallon jug on top But there was nowhere near five gallons in there

"How about half a gallon?" Dahra said

"Deal," Lana said "Albert needs to keep you better supplied Me, too, while we’re at it He’s supposed to send one of his people up with a gallon a day It’s been two days It’s not srind ain, back toward her lonely eyrie

She took a shortcut that took her up the hill to Clifftop It was a bare trail through the brush, a place where a hungry coyotebefore she walked into a coyote And in any case Lana carried an auto

Suddenly Patrick growled and Lana had the automatic out and aimed with both hands in a split second

"Step out where I can see you," she said

There was no coyote Instead there was Hunter Lurking Looking ashah he was allowed to coht

Lana liked Hunter First because he often saved her sos And he brought stomachs and intestines for Patrick to eat

Second because even though he was brain daed he at least had the sense not to waste her ti for her there was a reason

"T’sup, Hunter?" she asked She stuck the gun back in her waistband "Whoa I see: bad scratches there"

"No," he said "It’s so else"

He pulled on his T-shirt neck

Lana didn’t breathe for a few seconds "Yeah," she said "That is so else"

Chapter Six

61 HOURS, 26 MINUTES

NO ONE KNEW quite how to deal with Hunter He wasn’t supposed to coo to hihway

No one had ever cleaned up the crashed and abandoned cars on the highway They were all just where they’d been since the co FedEx truck was still on its side Kids had long since broken into the back and rifled through the packages The wrapping, torn paper, plastic packing peanuts, curls of tape, and packing slips had mostly drifted into a section of construction barrier on the side of the road