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So hihts he should have been dead, and yet they found hi was shredded and seared; otherwise he appeared untouched It was as if the force of the blast had h him but around hi esture, he raised a hand to his chest, patting it cautiously; he lifted it to his face, tracing his cheeks and brow and chin

"I’ll be damned," he said

Eustace, too, would live At first they believed he was dead; his face was drenched in blood But the shot had gone wide; the blood was froone, shorn like a plant plucked from soil and replaced by a puckered hole Of the detonation itself he had no memory, or none he could fully asse blast of noise, and a scorching wave of air passing above, then so down, and a taste of sht with only this one additional disfigure plentiful scars of war and a per in his ears, which would, in fact, never abate, causing him to speak in an overly loud voice that would ry even when he wasn’t Over time, once he had returned to Kerrville and risen to the rank of colonel, serving as military liaison to the president’s staff, he would coard this as less an inconvenience than a remarkably useful enhanceht of it before

Only Nina would depart the field unscathed Hurled away by the viral that had killed Tifty, she’d been thrown clear of the blast zone She had beenupfield when the bo her backward off her feet; but in the preceding moment she’d been the only one to witness the death of the Twelve, their bodies consuht All else was a blur; of A at all

But one of theun still in his hand He lay in the ht arathered around hi At last his lips formed words: "Where is she?"

Greer alone see He turned toward Nina "It’s you he wants"

Perhaps she understood the nature of the request, perhaps not; none could tell She lowered herself to the ground beside hi effort, Tifty lifted his hand and touched her face with the tips of his fingers, the gentlest gesture

"Nitia," he whispered "My Nitia"

"I’ave a tearful smile "You looksofroun to choke on the blood that poured from his ht in his eyes went out and he was gone

No one spoke One of their own had slipped away, into darkness

"I don’t understand," Alicia said She glanced at the others "Why did he call her that?"

It was Greer who answered: "Because that’s her name" Nina looked up from the body "You didn’t know, did you?" he said "There was no way you could"

She shook her head

"Tifty was your father"

In due course, there would co A pickup would race onto the field; they would watch three people e a little girl in her arms

But for now they stood silently in the presence of their friend, the core of his life laid bare The great gangster Tifty Lamont, captain of the Expeditionary They would bury him where he’d fallen, in the field Because you never leave it, Greer explained; that’s what Tifty always said You ht think you can do it, but you can’t Once you’d stood there, it became a part of you forever

No one ever left the field

Chapter 67

The weather failed to cooperate January in Iohat had they expected? Bone-nu day Food, fuel, water, electricity, the co a city of seventy thousand souls running-the joy of victory had quickly been subsuency had assuh Eustace, by his own admission, had no particular knack for the job He felt overwhelmed by the voluovernes, did little to lighten his load; it was bloated and disorganized, half the roo Eustace to throw up his hands andthe population re in the market before Eustace was able to secure it, and every day there were more stories of reprisals; many of the cols had tried to slip anonymously into the populace, but their faces were known Without a justice system to try the ones who surrendered, or those who had been captured by the insurgency in advance of the mob, it was hard to knohat to do with the at the sea the Project-it was certainly secure enough and had the additional advantage of isolation-but this would take ti to address the problean toWell, so be it, Peter thought What was a little cold?

He had formed a close friendship with Eustace Some of this was their shared bond as officers of the Expeditionary, but not all; they had discovered, as the days passed, that they possessed compatible temperaments They decided that Peter should lead the advance team that would travel south to prepare Kerrville for the influx of refugees Initially he’d objected; it didn’t seeical choice, and in the end, Alicia sealed the case Caleb is waiting for you, she reminded him Go see to your boy

The exodus itself would have to wait till spring Assuh vehicles and personnel, Eustace planned to roup determined by a lottery The trip would be arduous-all but the very old and very young would have to walk-but with luck the Homeland would be eo, you know," Eustace said

The two of them were seated in Eustace’s office, in the back roo thes in the overnment to serve various functions The latest project to occupy the of a census With all the redeyes’ records having been destroyed in the Dome, they had no idea ho, or even how enerally accepted number, but there was no way to know precisely unless they counted

"Why wouldn’t they?"

Eustace shrugged The left side of his head was still bandaged, giving his face a lopsided appearance, though balanced by his clouded eye Sara had removed the last of Peter’s stitches the prior day; his chest and ar, pinkish scars In privatethem, amazed not only by the fact that he’d inflicted these wounds upon himself but also that, in the heat of the

"This is what they know They’ve lived their entire lives here But that’s not the whole reason It’s good to right a wrong I don’t knopeople south, but some will"