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Then they saw the girl She was at the edge of the field, a lone figure appearing out of the shadows At first, Hollis said, they all thought she was another viral, and everyone was coer-happy besides, all of the that moved As she broke across the field toward Main Gate, under a hail of arrows and bolts, one caught her in the shoulder with aher around like a top Still she kept on coht have beenat everyone as she raced down the catwalk, yelling at theodda ropes now! A moment of confusion: Soo was nowhere to be seen, and the order to go over the Wall could only coave Alicia no pause whatsoever Before anyone could say another word she hopped to the top of the ra the rope in her hand, and stepped out

It was, Hollis said, the da he’d ever laid eyes on

She descended in a rush, swinging down the face of the Wall, her feet skih the block at the top of the Wall while three pairs of hands frantically tried to set the brake before she hit As theend over end in the dust, and ca The virals were twenty meters away, still huddled over the Colonel’s body; at the sound of Alicia’s i, tasting the air

Fresh blood

The girl was at the base of the Wall now, a dark shape huddled against it A glistening hump sat at the center of her back-her knapsack, now pinned to her body by the bolt e with the glea wetness of her blood Alicia snatched her like a sack, hurled her over her shoulders, and did her best to run The rope was useless now, forgotten behind her Her only chance was the gate

Everybody froze Whatever else you did, you didn’t open the gate Not at night Not for anyone, not even Alicia

It was at thisfrom Auntie’s porch toward the co at Main Gate just ahead of hi place on the other side, only that Hollis was yelling from the catwalk

"It’s Lish!"

"What?"

"It’s Lish!" Hollis cried "She’s outside!"

Caleb got to the wheelhouse first It was this fact that would later be used to i Peter of blaate, it was open just wide enough for her to scrairl If they had been able to close the doors then, probably none of the rest would have happened But Caleb had released the brake The weights were dropping, picking up speed as they slipped down the chains; the doors’ opening was now ordained by the sirabbed hold of the wheel Behind and above him he heard the shouts, the volley of bolts unleashed fro down the ladders into the staging ground More hands appeared, fastening onto the wheel-Ben Chou and Ian Patal and Dale Levine With excruciating slowness, it began to turn in the opposite direction

But it was too late Of the three virals, only one h

He headed straight for the Sanctuary

· · ·

Hollis was the first to reach the building, just as the viral vaulted to the roof It crested the roof’s apex like a stone skipping on water and dropped into the interior courtyard As he tore through the front door, Hollis heard a crash of breaking glass inside

He reached the Big Roo by different hallways onto opposite sides of the room Mausami was unarmed; Hollis had his cross An unexpected silence met them Hollis had braced hi everywhere But nearly all were still in their beds, their eyes ith terrified incoed to scramble under their cots; as Hollis crossed the threshold, he detected a flurry of movement from the nearest row, as one of the three J’s, June or Jane or Juliet, rolled off her bed and scurried beneath it The only light in the roo kitty-corner, still quivering withover Dora’s crib

"Hey!" Mausami yelled She waved her arh? Where was Teacher? The viral jerked its face toward the sound of Mausa its head to the side on its long neck A wet clicking sound rose from somewhere in the taut curve of its throat

"Over here!" Hollis yelled, following Mausa to draw the creature’s attention "Yeah, look this way!"

The viral spun toward hi at the base of its neck, some kind of jewelry But there was no ti Leigh entered the roo in the office and heard nothing As Leigh broke into a screaood shot, a clean shot, dead center on the sweet spot: he felt its rightness, its perfection, the instant it leapt froht, a distance of fewer than fivekey on the lanyard; the look of ht cale word that arrived on his lips at the same instant that the arrow-the merciful, awful, unrecallable arrow-struck home in the center of the viral’s chest

"Arlo"

Hollis had just killed his brother

· · ·

Sara-though she did not remember this and never would-first learned about the Walker in a drea and unpleasant drea johnnycake The kitchen where she worked-she was standing on a stool, beating the heavy batter in a wide, wooden boas both the kitchen of the house where she lived and the kitchen in the Sanctuary, and it was snowing: a gentle snow that did not fall from the sky, because there was no sky, but seee, the snow; it almost never snowed and certainly not indoors that Sara could recall, but she had s to worry about It was the day of her release, Teacher would come for her soon, but without the johnnycake, she would have nothing to eat in the outside world; in the outside world, Teacher had explained to her, that was the only thing people ate

Then there was aat the kitchen table before an e to the girl sitting next to hiue alarirl was-she tried to look at her but somehow could not see her; wherever Sara looked for her was always the very spot the girl had just departed-and the fact reached her mind, slowly and then all at once, that she was in a new place now She was in the roo, and her parents were there, waiting; they were standing at the door "Go with theo Run and keep on running" "But you’re dead," said Sara, and when she looked at her parents, she saw that where their faces should have been were regions of blankness, as if she were viewing the with their necks There was a pounding sound noithout the roo her name "You’re all dead"

Then she ake She had fallen asleep in a chair by the cold hearth It was the door that had awakened her; so her name Where was Michael? What time was it?

"Sara! Open up!"

Caleb Jones? She opened the door as he was reaching to hit it again, his fist freezing in the air

"We need a nurse" The boy was breathing hard "So for her kit on the table by the door "Who?"