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He released, rolled, and stood up in one swift, fluid

Drake’s whip hand snapped, hit Jack’s back, and drew a gasp of pain But Jack didn’t stop; he plowed straight on into theand yanked it hard

The leg came away It didn’t stop the creature or even seeave Jack a weapon

"Better save Orc fast, there, Jack," Drake taunted "He looks like he’s going down"

Orc’s roaring voice was hoarse and fading The clash of carapace against carapace was louder and more frenzied

They would kill Orc soon And then Drake’s army would deal with Jack All he had to do noas keep Jack distracted

Jack broke the leg into two pieces, one thick and stubby, the other pointed

Drake snapped his whip and drew blood through Jack’s shirt

"Come on, Jack, you know you can’t win," Drake said "You can’t kill me And you can’t stop my army Only way out is for you to join me"

"No," Jack said

"My side is the only side now, Jack There’s a whole other bug arht now Who do you think you’re even fighting for? Whatever the red-eyes don’t finish, hen we get there"

"You don’t knohat’s going on in Perdido Beach," Jack said

"The Darkness tellseveryone out, Jack By the end of the day all of theone Join htning speed and caught Jack unprepared His whip curled around Jack’s throat Jack hauled on the whip but all that did was to yank Drake straight into Jack Face-to-face Drake laughed and coiled ever tighter around Jack’s throat and squeezed, squeezed, seeing Jack’s pale face redden

Jack punched hih But Drake’s grip never loosened and Jack’s eyes bulged and Drake laughed and Orc’s voice was no longer heard over the sound of

"Sam, Sam, you swore you wouldn’t let them!"

The boat touched the dock and Quinn sent his rowers racing, all shouting Lana’s naer like anything hu it pulsated The creatures were tearing through in places,One burst all the way out It froze for a second, staring at Saht it, and dropped it But Quinn was quicker He threw a fishing net over the creature, stepped on the edges of the net, and held it pinned in the bottoed "Now, Sa could be clearly seenbut a thinit

"I have a plan, Dekka, I have a plan, hang on, hang on," Saed

"Noooo!" It was a pitiful wail of despair