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Peter: "Lish, whatever you’re going to do, do it now!"

How Alicia ed it, Peter would never fully coed It wasn’t anything she’d thought about, she told him; she had simply followed her instincts In fact, there would come a time, not s froht, in the howling space between the Humvee and the train, what Alicia did see Nor could any of theine’s aft coine and the first boxcar Not even Michael knew about that Perhaps Olson did; perhaps that hy he’d told Peter to take his daughter to the engine, that she’d be safe there Or so Peter reasoned in the after about this, and under the circumstances, in the brief time they had left with him, none of them would have the heart to ask

As the first viral launched itself toward the Hu Sara’s wrist off the steering wheel, and pulled Sara swung out on Alicia’s ar from the vehicle as it swerved away For a horrible instant her eyes round-the eyes of a wo to die and knew it But then Alicia pulled again, hard, drawing her upward, Sara’s free hand found the ladder, and the two of the into the cab

Which hen it happened An earsplitting booine lurched violently forward, free of its weight; everything in the cab was suddenly airborne Peter, standing by the open hatch, was slapped off his feet and hurled backward, his body slaht: Amy Where was Amy? And as he tumbled to the floor he heard a new sound, louder than the first, and he knehat this sound was: a deafening roar and a screech ofinto the air and careering like an avalanche of iron across the desert floor, everyone inside them dead, dead, dead

They came to a stop at half-day The end of the line, Michael said, powering down The maps Billie had shown them indicated that the rails petered out at the town of Caliente They were lucky the train had taken theive or take, said Michael See that h the slitted windshield That’s Utah

They disembarked They were in some kind of railyard, with tracks all around, littered with abandoned cars-engines, tankers, flatbeds The land here was less dry; there was tall grass growing, and cottonwoods, and a gentle breeze was blowing, cooling the air Water was running nearby; they could hear the sound of birds

"I just don’t get it," Alicia said, breaking the stillness "Where did they hope to get to?"

Peter had slept in the train, once it was clear no virals were pursuing them, and awakened at dawn to find himself curled on the floor beside Theo and Maus Michael had stayed up through the night, but the ordeal of the last few days had eventually caught up with everyone As for Olson: perhaps he’d slept, though Peter doubted it The round outside the engine, staring into space When Peter had told him about Mira, he hadn’t asked for any details, just nodded and said, "Thank you for letting me know"

"Anywhere," Peter answered after aThe events of the night before-the whole four days at the Haven-felt like a feverish dreaetanywhere"

Aroup, into the field For a rass

"Do you think she understands what she did?" Alicia asked

It was Amy who had blown the coupler The switch was located in the rear of the engine compartment by the head-end unit Probably it had been connected to a drum of diesel fuel or kerosene, Michael surh to do it A fail-safe, in case the cars were overrun It ht about it

Peter supposed it did But none of them could explain how Amy had knohat to do, nor what had led her to actually throw the switch Her actions see else about her, beyond ordinary understanding And yet it was because of her, once again, that they were all alive

Peter watched her for a long rass she appeared al the feathered tips Many days had passed since he’d thought of what had happened in the Infirrass, he ashed by the ht He wondered what she had told Babcock when she had stood before him It was as if she were part of torlds, one that he could see and one that he could not; and it ithin this other, hidden world that the ht," Alicia said

Peter drew a breath Despite the sun, he felt suddenly cold He was still watching Airl’s body pressed to the roof of the train, the viral’s hand reaching for her, pulling her away The empty space where she had been and the sound of her screa ti’s for sure, we can’t stay here Let’s see e’ve got"

They inventoried their supplies, spreading theine It didn’t auns, a couple of pistols with a few rounds each, one automatic rifle, two spare clips for the rifle plus twenty-five shells for the shotguns, six blades, eight gallons of water in jugs plus allons of diesel fuel but no vehicle to put it in, a couple of plastic tarps, three tins of sulfur matches, the med kit, a kerosene lantern, Sara’s journal-she had removed it from her pack when they’d left the hut and stashed it inside her jersey-and no food at all Hollis said there was probably game out there; they shouldn’t waste their ammo, but they could set so edible in Caliente

Theo was sleeping on the floor of the engine co of events as best he could recall themented memory of the attack at the mall, then his time in the cell and the dreale to stay awake, and the taunting visits of the man whom Peter believed was al was clearly difficult for him, and he’d eventually fallen into a sleep so profound that Sara had to reassure Peter that his brother was still breathing The wound to Mausa orse than she’d clai The shot had blasted through her outer thigh, cutting a grisly-looking bloody trench but exiting cleanly The night before, Sara had used a needle and thread from the med kit to sew the wound closed and had cleaned it with spirits froine’s tiny lavatory It must have hurt like hell, but Maus had borne all of it with a stoic silence, gritting her teeth as she clutched Theo’s hand As long as she kept it clean, Sara said, she’d be fine With luck she’d even be able to walk in a day or two

The question arose about where to go It was Hollis who raised it, and Peter found hiht had never occurred to him that they would fail to press on Whatever lay ahead of thely than ever that they had to find out what it was, and it seemed far too late to turn back now But Hollis, he was forced to concede, had a point Theo, and Finn, and the woman whom first Alicia and now Mausami claimed was Liza Chou-all had co with the virals-and obviously so-it appeared that they wanted people alive Should they go back and warn the others? And Mausaht, could she really continue on foot? They had no vehicles and very little in the way of ammunition for the weapons they possessed; they could probably find food on the way, but this would slow the the mountains, where the terrain would be nant wo these questions, Hollis said, because soht On the other hand, they had co way Babcock, whatever he as still out there, as were the Many Turning around brought risks of its own

Sitting on the ground outside the engine, the seven of the in the train-discussed their options For the first tiroup The bunker and its bounty of supplies had given them a sense of security-a false one, maybe, but adequate to propel them forward Now, stripped of their weapons and vehicles, with no food but what they could find, and having been cast four hundred kilometers into an unknoilderness, the idea of Colorado had become much more tenuous The events at the Haven had left them all shaken; never had it occurred to the their obstacles the other hu like Babcock-a viral but also so a power to control the others-could exist

Alicia, unsurprisingly, said she wanted to press on, as did Mausaher than she was Caleb said he would do whatever the group wanted to do, but as he voiced these words his eyes were fixed on Alicia; if it came to a vote, Caleb would side with her Michael also spoke for continuing, re batteries That’s what this all coe from Colorado was the only real hope they had-especially now, after what they’d seen at the Haven

This left Hollis and Sara Hollis plainly believed they should turn back That he had coested that he believed, as Peter did, that the decision had to be unanis folded under her, Sara appearedacross the field, where Arass Peter realized it had been many hours since he’d heard her voice