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She felt a flicker of doubt-she’d never killed a le uard and drew the blade and shoved it with all her strength into his lower back She felt a stiffening, the ht, like a bow; from deep inside his throat ca through the din, a voice froh above: Peter’s? "Theo, run!"

The pu confusion of levers and knobs Where were Michael and Caleb when you needed theuess, a lever as long as her forearm-and wrapped it in her fist and pulled

"Stop her!" someone yelled "Stop that woh-a strangely trivial pain, like the sting of a bee-she realized she’d done it The fla The croas suddenly backing away fro The viral had broken away fro light and eyes and claws and teeth, its s neck and massive chest bibbed in blood Its body looked swollen, like a tick’s It stood at least three meters, maybe more With a flick of its head it found Finn with its eyes, head cocking to the side, body tensing as it took ai, and then it did; it seeht, invisible as a bullet was invisible, arriving all at once where Finn lay helpless What happened next Mausalad that she did not, it was so fast and terrible, like the cattle but vastly worse, because it was a , and part of Finn went one way, and part of hi abruptly deepened-a wave of heat and light that bent her double The leg folded beneath her, sending her pitching forward Theo, I’m here I’ve come to save you We have a baby, Theo Our baby is a boy

As she fell she saw a figure sprinting across the ring It was Aues of fire were licking at her clothing The viral had shifted his attention toward Theo now A Theo like a shield Faced with the creature’s immense, bloated form, she seemed tiny, like a child

And in that instant, which felt suspended-the whole world brought to a halt while the viral regarded the sirl wants to say so to open her mouth and speak

Twenty h the vent with his rifle, followed by Alicia, holding the RPG She swung it toward the floor, pointing its barrel at the place where Amy and Babcock stood

"I don’t have a shot!"

Caleb and Sara dropped through behind theun from the floor of the catwalk and fired in the direction of the twodown the catwalk toward the headfirst to the floor below

"Shoot the viral!" he called to Alicia

Hollis fired and the second man dropped, face-down, onto the catwalk

"She’s too close!" Alicia said

"Around How long could she hold hione out; people were streae ju away from the viral, but his heart was nowhere in this; he had accepted his fate, he had no strength to resist Caleb and Sara hadinto the , children crying, a voice that sounded like Olson’s, rising over the din: "The tunnel! Everyone run to the tunnel!"

Mausa

"Over here!" She stu herself with her hands as she fell to the floor Her pants were soaked in blood On all fours, she tried to rise She aving, screaht, keep back

Too late The spell was broken

The viral rocked its face toward the ceiling and dren into a crouch, its body gathering energy like a coiled spring, and then it was flying, lofting through the air It rose toward the over their heads and seizing one of the ceiling struts, body rotating like child swinging on a tree lie-and landed on the catith a shuddering clang

I am Babcock

We are Babcock

"Lish-"

Peter felt the RPG sailing past his face, the scald of hot gas on his cheek; he kneas going to happen before it did

The grenade exploded A punch of noise and heat and Peter was shoved backward into Alicia, the two of the onto the catwalk, but the catasn’t there The catas falling Soed down hard, and for a hopeful ain, and with a pop of rivets and a groan of bending , tilting toward the floor like the head of a ha

Leon in the alley, face-down in the dirt Godda was in his le his feet, but they were tied, too It was the big one, Hollis; Leon re so Leon kneas all alone in the dark and couldn’t move

His nose was thick with snot and blood Probably the son of a bitch had broken it That was all he needed, a broken nose He thought he’d cracked a couple of teeth, too, but with the gag in his ue stuffed behind it, he had no way to check

It was so goddamn dark out here he couldn’t see two feet in front of his face The reek of garbage was co it in the alleys instead of taking it to the dump How arbage to the dus? A joke, sort of, since they weren’t pigs but as the difference, really? Jude was alwaysjokes like that, to watch people squirs-Babcock liked pork almost as much as he liked the cattle-but some kind of sickness had wiped them out one winter Orand decided, What the hell, I’d rather just lie down and die in theto look for Leon, that was for sure; the proble up was his to solve on his own He could sort of see a way to do it, by drawing his knees to his chest Itterrible, twisted back like they were, and pushed his face, with its broken nose and teeth, into the dirt; he gave a yelp of pain through the gag, and by the ti hard, the sweat popping out all over He lifted his face-uy done, tying his hands so tight-and raised his upper body until he was sitting up, his knees folded under him, and that hen he realized his ht he could push off with his toes, ju position But this would just send hiain He should have scooched over to the wall first, used it to shis ja du fancy, just the word "Hey," but it cah Already he could feel the circulation going out of his legs, a prickly nu wasthe mouth of the alley Beyond it lay the square, a zone of blackness since the fire barrel had gone out He peered into the dark Maybe it was Hap, come to look for hi Probably histricks on hiet a little juain The feeling was coh his knees

A shadow streaked above hi only stars, set in a liquidy blackness The feeling through his knees was stronger now, a rhyths What the goddaure darted into the alley Hap

Aaaaaaaaa, he said through the gag Aaaaaaaaa But Hap seee of the alley, panting for breath, and raced away