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A broken butter knife, thought Michael I better get this right
He struck
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The end of the crane’s boolass tower at the northwest corner of Forty-third and Fifth at the thirty-second floor Such was the force of ih twoitself deeper within the structure Here it ca the upper legs of an isosceles triangle suspended three hundred feet above the street
Amy returned to consciousness with only partial recollection of these events: a sensation of wild descent, cul in a chaos so total that heron the floor, her body twisted and her knees drawn up, her left arht and wind and swirling dust, which, after ahole in the side of the building To her left, the end of the boo fro sound The air was othereirdly still Soh and bulky lay beneath her: the chain It was still attached to the tip of the boo survived, at thealive That was her only eravity, distorted by her long plunge through space, swayed nauseatingly inside her Nevertheless, she ed to push herself onto her hands and knees and crawled toward the end of the boo facedown on the catwalk He did not, at first, appear to be living There was blood everywhere, and his neck was bent away froe But as A his na, followed by a twitch of his exposed hand I’ on
She didn’t have much ti At anywould wrench free and topple to the street below Kneeling on the catwalk, A for air; perspiration dripped into her mouth and eyes In a series of jerks, she drew him to the end of the boom and slid him onto the floor
She rolled him onto his back His body seemed completely inert, yet his eyes were open Aue swished behind his teeth with a gurgling sound; he was atte to speak
"You’re hurt," she said "Don’t try to talk"
The muscles of his face compressed His eyes were open very wide She realized he wasn’t looking at her He was looking behind her
A single word, the last one of his life, burst fro"
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The fractured end of the butter knife sank into the creature’s eye with a spurt of clear fluid Michael tried to hold on, but the h-pitched squeal and staggered backward, the blade still e but the pan to ith As one of the others shot forward, he swung it as hard as he could, connecting with the side of the creature’s skull He fell onto his side, still pressed to the wall He raised the pan before his face
The viral batted it away
Michael rolled onto his stoe, Fanning blasted into her A second of confusion and she was on her back, Fanning straddling her waist, claws coiled around her neck The skin of his face was blackened and charred, the flesh separated in long, puckered slits that exposed thehis rin of naked teeth Bits of daled from his eye sockets; the orbs within had burst She tried to breathe, but no air passed the knot of pressure on her throat Jets of spittle flew fro’s mouth into her eyes Her hands batted at his arue The floor began to shake; the crane was breaking loose The walls of her vision were co tunnel She abandoned her flailing and swept her hands along the floor He’s blind, she told herself He can’t see what you’re doing The shaking deepened; with a shriek of torquing metal, the boom jerked upward
There it was, in her hand The chain
As she wound it around Fanning’s neck, his face and body startled; A of the pressure on her windpipe The boo She quickly for released her and sat upright He raised a searching hand to his throat The slack was running out