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"We kill it," Pablo said

His tone left no rooest they try to walk past it, but she knew the danger was too great Once it noticed theth left it would try to attack "It’lla bullet," Pablo said Then, "You ht want to back up" He stood and slipped his rifle over his shoulder Face hard with grim deterap between himself and the creature in three quick steps

Tania couldn’t bring herself to look away She watched Pablo step in behind the creature In one swift ht shoulder, reached around its head with his left hand, and at once pushed and twisted The body counterclockwise, the head clockwise There was a sharp crack, then the subhuht, as if the thing weighed noHe eased the lifeless body to the ground and laid it on its side, facedown

Tania sed hard, willing away the luht, she si other than hulier He felt the saured out a way to bottle it It was there, though, in his narrowed eyes, the thin line of his lips

Pablo came back to them, pulled the rifle back down from his shoulder, and looked at each of them in turn "Not much farther now"

"How do you know?" Tania asked

"That thing was trying to get to the end, too It was drawn here, and it kneas close or it would have lain down and died already"

His voice held a certainty that left no rooht," Tania said

They looked at her

"If they are drawn into this maze, few must have made it to the end Perhaps none have and on’t find any like those transformed by the ship near Bele for the punch line

"A girl can hope," Tania offered

Pablo grunted "Only one way to find out"

Chapter Thirteen

Southern Chad

30MAR2285

Skyler placed his finger on the switch that controlled Russell’s external speaker, and held it there "You’re going to want to stay very quiet," he said in an even voice "Understood?"

Russell nodded once He looked pale, and not frorowing hungry and probably really did need to relieve himself He carried himself differently than before Slumped forward, shoulders turned in, head tilted down

"We’re going tothe speaker on "There’s a village, a few hundred ht about it for a second, then nodded A single shift of his head, as if it was all the energy he had He seemed a shadow of the htcliff, but then again he’d been a prisoner aboard Melville Station for weeks leading up to this Besides, Skyler re before that

Skyler flipped the switch "Once we secure the aura towers, we’lland take care of any personal business"

"Let’s hurry, then," he said "Enough talk"

"Fine withRussell so that Skyler could carry the gear He filled two duffel bags hat seemed like an obscene amount of weaponry and ammunition Two assault rifles with several extra clips A sniper rifle, as Ana had suggested And a otten about that last device They’d found it a long ti it in the bag now, the beginnings of a plan began to foruided Russell by the elbow Heto school on the day of a test His feet scuffed the dirt; his head remained down But he cooperated, and that was all Skyler cared about

The weight of the duffel bags had Skyler’s shoulders burning by the tie He dropped them in a roo his neck, Skyler left the arsenal on the floor and went to help her secure the man

His assistance wasn’t needed When Skyler entered theroom, Ana had already attached the cuffs to Russell’s wrists and looped them over a ainst the wall, eyes closed

"He asleep?" Skyler asked

Ana shook her head and led Skyler fro"

"SUBS?"

She shook her head "The suit shows green Butin Belem It’s not like SUBS is the only aillanced at Russell with new interest He crossed to hientle shove "Hey You awake?"

Russell ainst the back wall of the closet

"Exhausted is uess," Skyler said

Ana wrinkled her nose "Maybe Suppose he doesn’t survive to Darwin?"

Skyler shrugged, leading her from the rooht not even be able to help us if he doeshim around with us e arrive"

"How can you say that? He’s a hu He’s in our care--"

Skyler placed a hand on her cheek and forced her to look into his eyes "Would you say that if he was Gabriel?"

Her mouth clicked shut A few seconds later she shook her head

"See him as Gabriel," Skyler added, "and you’ll see hioal, his life is over I don’t have the patience for anything else"

The words tumbled out with more vitriol than he’d intended She searched his face for soave her a quick half smile and turned his focus to aited for them outside

They found the first corpse just a hundred e