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Funny, Lana noticed: it looked al with a leaf blower and scooted all the garbage off the road

The town council was now Dekka, Howard, Albert, Ellen, and Edilio Sam was entitled to attend but he usually didn’t Astrid had made it clear she wanted no part of it anymore, but Lana had sent Brianna to tell her to be there She wanted Astrid’s eyes on this

So Astrid was there Sort of Lana had seen Astrid in a lot of different situations and moods, but this was a new Astrid: withdrawn, preoccupied Like she was so her fingers together, then catching herself and wiping her hands on her jeans

Lana was sure she saw Astrid start guiltily when she noticed the trash blown against the barrier Butaround about Sae Which was fine with Lana Almost everyone else had shown so herself, she acknowledged wryly

Edilio seemed like the last sane, decent person left in the FAYZ The undocule most trusted person around And yet, if the barrier ever came down, Edilio and his family--if they were still alive out there--would be kicked out of the country

Of course, Lana thought, if the barrier ever came down, half the kids would be shipped off to juvie and the rest would be sent tokicked out wasn’t so bad

Hunter looked like he wasthe president He stood tall and tried to smooth his hair down--a hopeless effort Lana hid a smile as he picked a tick off his arm and flicked it away

"Hi, Hunter," Edilio said "First up, ht? You’re helping to keep everyone fed and healthy, so thanks"

Hunter searched for soht, and finally down "I aood hunter," Edilio said "Lana says you have a little medical problem"

Hunter nodded "Mouths"

"Yeah Well, do youus look? We don’t want to e"

"Just take off your shirt," Albert said a bit abruptly He considered Hunter an employee But then Albert considered almost everyone an employee

"He can take it off or not, it’s up to hirowl

Hunter was confused by the back-and-forth So Lana said, "Would you ht as well take off your jeans, too"

Hunter pulled his T-shirt over his head He dropped his jeans to his ankles

There was a collective gasp

Lana stepped up beside Hunter She pointed to the protruding mouthparts on Hunter’s shoulder It looked exactly like a very large ant’s head, ormouthparts "This was the first one I tried to cure it You’ll notice it didn’t work"

She pointed to a smaller silvery, almost metallic, mouth on his calf "Do us a favor and raise your arms up, Hunter"

He did Albert looked away

There was a thirdits teeth in Hunter’s ar Hunter Her ice blue eyes flickered