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She held up one hand as if blessing him

He heard her voice He was surprised that she spoke in English He’d always thought of God’sSpanish

"Run, Edilio," she said

He started to repeat the prayer Santa María, Madre de Dios

But she grabbed him by his outstretched arm and said, "I know you’re sick but run RUN! I can’t save you!"

For soin Mary had Brianna’s voice

Edilio stood up The sudden ed bolts of pain into his head For a moment he couldn’t even see, but he plowed ahead on leaden feet Fell and rolled and got back up, blind, staggering He ran and ran and coughed until he doubled up on the ground

He sat there for a while Waiting to find the strength to follow Brianna’s orders, to run

He looked up and saw that he was across the plaza He saw the desperate sick and the peaceful dead on the steps

And he saw dee monsters, armored cockroaches with impossible red devil eyes

They swarmed onto the steps

• • •

Brianna saw Lana cos were swar

Edilio had run, thankfully, now here was Lana Brianna cursed and yelled, "Lana, run! Run Out the back of the building!"

Lana drew her pistol "No way," she said She took ai she saw and fired three times One of the ruby eyes drooled white and red pus, but the bug never stopped eating a girl who, Brianna could only pray, had already died

"Don’t be an idiot We need you alive Get out! Get out! You"--she grabbed Sanjit by the neck--"get her out of here; we need her alive!"

Brianna had seen the s, but she wasn’t Caine She didn’t have his powers

But she had her own

Brianna stuck out her chin Caine had been crushed beneath the collapsing house It was on her now

The knife flashed in her hand She was not going to win this fight, but she wasn’t going to run, either

Dekka had seen the beasts within her

Death, oh God, let me die

Too much to bear Death, she had to die, to end it, to kill the to her

The container had slipped from her In blind panic, in sheer terror, she had lost control

She tried to regain it now, but she was falling, hipped, twirling like a top She couldn’t even tell which as up or down