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"When did you find it?" he asked, aht and started poking around I figure it’s soo straight to a crawl space on the roof"

Peter gestured toward the crates with his lantern "What’s in those?"

"That," she said, sged one of the crates out onto the floor of the storeroo and half as deep, with the words US MARINE CORPS printed on the side Alicia knelt to undo the hasps and lifted the lid to reveal six sleek black objects, cradled in foam It took Peter a few seconds to understand what he was seeing

"Holy shit, Lish"

She passed hi faintly of oil It was shockingly light in his hands, as if ravity Even in the dileauns he’d seen were all little more than corroded relics, rifles and pistols the Army had left behind; the Watch still kept some in the Armory, but as far as Peter are, all the ao Never in his life had Peter held anything so clean and new, untouched by tiuns apiece, a little over a thousand rounds There are six more crates up in the crawl space"

All his nervousness was gone, replaced by a lusty hunger to use this wonderful new object in his hands, to feel its power "Show un froer Then she took a azine of bullets frouard, pushing forward until it caught, and gave the base two hard taps with her palm

"Aim it like a cross," she said, and turned away to demonstrate "It’s basically the saer off the trigger unless you mean business You’ll want to, but don’t"

She passed the rifle back to hi for so in the room that seemed worthy of his aim, and finally selected a coil of copper wire on the far shelf The urge to fire, to experience the explosive force of its recoil in his ar it required an alht away

"Just reer," Alicia warned "You’ve got twenty rounds per azine Now, load this one so I know you kno"

He traded the loaded rifle for a new one Peter did his best to recall the steps: safety, bolt, charger, ave the clip two hard taps, as he had seen Alicia do

"How’s that?"

Alicia atching hiainst her hip "Not bad A little slow Don’t point it down like that, you’ll blow your foot off"

He quickly raised his barrel "You know, I’ht you didn’t believe in these things"

She shrugged "I don’t, not really They’re sloppy and they’re loud, and they azine for his waist pouch "On the other hand, the sht" She tapped a finger against her sternuh the sweet spot Closer than three meters you have a little slop, but don’t count on it"

"So you’ve used these guns before"

"Did I say that?"

Peter knew better than to press Six crates of Aruns are they?"

"How should I know? As far as I can tell, they’re the property of the United States Marine Corps, just like it says on the box Quit asking questions and let’s go"

They reentered the hatch and began to climb He felt the temperature rise with every step of their ascent Ten meters up they reached a s over their heads was another hatch Alicia rested the lantern on the platforan to turn the wheel They were both sweating hard; the air felt almost too thick to breathe

"It’s stuck"

He reached up to help her With a rusty squeal, the mechanism released Two turns, three; the hatch dropped open on its hinges Cool night air tu of desert, of dry juniper and mesquite Above, Peter could see only blackness

"Me first," Alicia said "I’ll call you up"

He heard her footstepsHe listened forThey were up on the roof sohts to protect them He counted to twenty, thirty Should he follow her?

Then Alicia’s face appeared above hi over the open hatch "Leave the lantern there It’s all clear Come on"

He ascended the ladder and found himself in a small crawl space, with pipes and valves andhis eyes adjust He was facing an open door He took a deep breath and stepped forward

He stepped into the stars

It hit hi the breath fro of pure physical panic, as if he’d stepped onto nothing, onto the night sky itself His knees bent beneath hi to hold on to, to give hi dimensions of the world around him The sky above was a vault of blackness-and everywhere, the stars!

"Peter, breathe," Alicia said

She was standing beside hi on his shoulder In the dark Alicia’s voice seemed to come fro deep gulps of night air fill his chest Bit by bit his eyes adjusted Now he could ness They were in the southwest corner, he realized, near the exhaust port

"So what do you think?"

For a long, quiet er he looked, the h the blackness These were the stars his father had spoken of, the stars his father had seen on the Long Rides

"Does Theo know?"

Alicia laughed "Does Theo knohat?"

"The hatch The guns" Peter shrugged helplessly "All of it"

"I never showed hi Zander does, since he knows every inch of this place But he’s never said a word to me about it"

His eyes searched out her face She seemed different somehow, in the dark: the same Alicia he had always known, but also someone new He understood what she had done She’d saved it for hi thisIf Arlo had woken up first, it’d be hi here"

That wasn’t true, and he knew it "Even so," he said

She led hi north, across the valley Not a breath of as blowing On the far side, the shape of the ainst a shi side by side with their bellies pressed against the concrete, still ith the heat of the day

"Here," Alicia said, reaching into her pouch "You’ll want one of these"

A night scope She showed hiain Peter placed his eye to the viewfinder and saw a landscape of shrubs and rocks, all washed in a pale green light, with a pair of hatched crosshairs bisecting his view At the bottom of the scope he saw a readout: 212 METERS The numbers rose and fell as he swept the rifle back and forth A

"You think they’re still alive?"

Alicia took a moment to answer "I don’t know Probably not It can’t hurt to wait, though" She paused again; there wasn’t much else to say on the subject Then: "You think I was too hard on Maus today?"

The question surprised hi as he’d known her, Alicia had never been one to second-guess herself

"Not the way it worked out You did the right thing"

"She’s a loss You can’t say she isn’t"