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"Anything to say for yourself?" Guilder couldn’t have cared less; the question was just for fun

Her wrists and ankles were shackled Her split and swollen lips gave her voice a thickened quality, as if she had a bad cold "I’d like to say I’io was sorry! "Tell me, what are you sorry for?"

"For what’s about to happen to you"

So, defiant to the end Guilder supposed it ca He wouldn’t haveher around a little more

"Last chance," the wo point of view," Guilder replied He stepped back fro tie of the bed, Lila watched her Slants of light fro face, blond curls flowing over the pillow For days she had been beyond the reach of co between hours of sullen refusal to speak and explosive, toy-throwing tantrums, but in sleep her defenses dissolved and she beca, at peace

What is your na of?

She reached out to touch the little girl’s hair but stopped herself The child wouldn’t awaken; that wasn’t the reason It was the unworthiness of Lila’s hand So many Evas over the years And yet there had only ever been one

I’irl You didn’t deserve this; none of them did I am the most selfish woman in the world What I did, I did for love I hope you can forgivethe covers around herself, and pivoted her face toward Lila’s Her jaw flexed; she made a little moan Would she awaken? But no Her palm slid under the curve of her cheek, one dream passed into the next, and the ht Lila Better that I should sierly from the bed At the door she turned for one last look, bathed in memory: of a time when she had stood at the nursery door with Brad, in the house they had irl, this swaddled newborn bundle, thisin her crib How Lila wished she herself had died, all those years ago If heaven were a place of dreams, that’s the dreaht Farewell to you, somebody’s child

The scene outside the stadium was one of ordered chaos, a human vastness on the move Peter slid into the stream Nobody even looked at him; he was one more anonys

"Keep it !"

In four lines they flowed up a raate into the stadium To Peter’s left, a series of concrete staircases ascended to lettered gates; ahead, a longer flight cli divided-two lines to the lower stands, two up the stairs The field was brilliantly lit; light poured through the gates Peter tried to catch a glimpse of Lore or Eustace, but they were too far ahead of him Maybe they’d already broken away The letters ascended P, Q, R, then: S

Peter dropped to one knee, pretending to tie his shoelaces His successor in line bu in surprise Whatever you did, you didn’t stop

"Sorry, go ahead"

The line bunched as it flowed around hiuard He was gazing vaguely in Peter’s direction fro to discern the source of the interruption Look away, thought Peter

A flick of the col’s eyes, and Peter darted into the crawl space underneath the stairs No shouts rose behind hione unnoticed or the crowd didn’t care, locked into their habit of obedience The entrance to the men’s room was ten feet away, at the base of the bleachers There was no door, only a celed for privacy Peter peeked around the stairs An obscuring barrier of shuffling flatlanders e On the right was a long line of urinals and stalls He moved briskly to the last and pushed open the door to see a fierce-looking woman with short, dark hair perched on the ri a heavy-handled revolver at his face

"Sergio lives"

She lowered the gun "Peter?"

He nodded

"Nina," she said "Let’s go"

She led him to a tiny room behind the lavatory: a desk and chair, wheeled buckets with mops, and a line of metal lockers Frouns of a type Peter had never seen before, sofrom the underside of the barrel

"Kno to use one of these?" she said

Peter drew back the bolt to show that he did

"Short bursts only and fire froet twelve rounds per second If you hold the trigger down, the clip will eazines, then pulled open a drawer-like panel in the wall

"What’s that?" Peter asked

"The garbage chute"

Peter stood on the chair, wedged himself inside, and dropped down feetfirst The corridor was tipped like a slide, cushioning his descent, but not enough He landed hard, his feet skidding out from under him

"Who the hell are you?"

There were two of the helplessly on his back, Peter could do nothing He was clutching the gun over his chest, but shots would be heard As he scrabbled away, si to rise to his feet, both men drew pistols from belt holsters

Then, Tifty He appeared behind the one on the left and swung the butt of his rifle upward into the man’s head As the second turned, Tifty kicked his feet out from under him, dropped to his knees to straddle his back, yanked hile his head upward, wrapped his neck with his free ar pop, then silence

"Okay?" Tifty glanced up at Peter The dead ed at an unnatural angle Peter looked at the other redeye Dark blood was seeping froed

A rattling from behind the her weapon to sweep it over the roo "You’re Tifty?"

For aat her intently

"You can let go of hiet any aze away He released the dead man’s head and rose to his feet He seemed a little shaken; Peter wondered what had thrown the man off

"We better hide these bodies," Tifty said "Did Eustace make it in?"

"We’d have heard it if he didn’t"

They were in soood-sized truck, led to the left, presuht was a smaller hallway An arrow painted on the wall bore the words VISITORS’ LOCKER ROOM

They dragged the corpses behind a pile of crates and moved down the hall They were under the field now, on the south side The hallway ended at a flight of stairs going up The light was barely enough to see by Overhead Peter heard the rumble of the crowd

"We wait here till it starts," Nina said

In the back of the van, Ao area from the cab, but the driver had left it closed Her body felt like she’d been dragged from a runaway horse, but her mind was clear and focused on the moment The van descended the hill and leveled out, the tires spitting up mud and snow into the wheel wells

"Hey, you back there"

Thehad opened The driver glanced at Aht

"How’s it feel?"