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Everyone had begun to gather around the tables The volume of conversation settled to a iant vats, platters of bread, pots of butter and pitchers ofthe with children, wo at an exposed breast, he realized that what he was seeing was roup of survivors; it was a family For the first ti for ho to be so suspicious Perhaps they really were safe here

And yet soht; he felt that, too The croas inco He couldn’t say what this e of his consciousness, seeer he looked Alicia and A the tall in his leather boots-nearly everyone else was barefoot-the man seemed to tower over the her on the arh

These thoughts were interrupted when Olson rested his hand on Peter’s shoulder "I do hope you choose to reth in nued

"Of course," said Olson, leaving his hand where it was "There’s no hurry Take all the time you need"

Chapter FORTY-NINE

It was simple There were no boys

Or almost no boys Alicia and Hollis claimed they’d seen a couple But when Peter questioned them more closely, they were both forced to confess that they couldn’t say for sure if they’d seen any or not With those short haircuts all the Littles wore, it was difficult to tell, and they’d seen no older children at all

It was the afternoon of the fourth day, and Michael was finally awake The five of theer of the two huts; Mausami and Amy were next door Peter and Hollis had just returned from their trip out to the fields with Olson The real purpose of this trip had been to get a second look at the perimeter, because they had decided to leave as soon as Michael was able There was no question of taking this up with Olson; though Peter had to admit he liked the man and could find no outward reason to distrust him, too much about the Haven siht before had left Peter more uncertain than ever of Olson’s intentions Olson had given a short speech welcoun to find the crowd’s e There was a funda, Peter found he couldn’t recall anyone in particular; all the faces and voices seeether in his le question about the Colony or how they’d coer he considered it, made no sense at all Wouldn’t it be the , to wonder about another settlement? To question them about their journey and what they had seen? But Peter and the others ht just as well have materialized out of thin air No one, he realized, had so much as told him their name

They would have to steal a vehicle; on this point, everyone was agreed Fuel was the next question They could follow the train tracks south, looking for the fuel depot, or if they had enough, drive south to Las Vegas to the airport before heading north again on Highway 15 Probably they’d be followed; Peter doubted Olson would let go of one of the vans without a fight To avoid this, they could head straight east instead, across the test range, but with no roads or towns, Peter doubted they couldlike it was around the Haven, it didn’t look like the kind of place where they wanted to get stranded

This left the matter of weapons Alicia believed there had to be an ar she’d uns they’d seen were loaded, no matter what Olson said-and she’d done her best to feel out Jude on this question the night before Jude had stayed close to her all evening-just as Olson had stayed close to Peter-and in thehe had taken her out in a pickup to show her the rest of the colean o undetected, was one they had to take

But if there was an arht be Perhaps Olson was telling the truth, but it wasn’t anything they could risk And even if he was, the weapons they had brought with them had to be somewhere-by Peter’s count, three rifles, nine blades, at least six renades

"What about the prison?" Caleb suggested

Peter had already thought of this With its fortresslike walls, it see away But so far, none of theet inside For all intents and purposes, the place seemed abandoned, just as Olson had said

"I think we should wait till dark and scout it out," Hollis said "We can’t know for sure e’re up against if we don’t"

Peter turned to Sara "How long do you think until Michael can travel?"

She frowned doubtfully "I don’t even knohat’s wrong with him Maybe it really was heatstroke, but I don’t think so"

She had expressed these h to make him seize, Sara had said, would almost certainly have killed him, because it would have meant the brain had swollen His protracted state of unconsciousness ht follow fron of brain injury at all His speech and motor coordination were fine; his pupils were normal and reactive It was as if he had fallen into a profound but otherwise ordinary sleep from which he had simply awakened

"He’s still pretty weak," Sara went on "Some of that is just dehydration But it could be a couple of days before we can move him, maybe more"