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The one by therose to his feet with a grunt "Why wait? Fuck this Let’s get back to the barricade with the others We’ll end up diseased if we stay any longer"

One of the subhumans screamed, a sound so awful Ramesh wanted to clap his hands over his ears Then the cry ended sharply

Gunshots rattled off in the street, lighting the sides of the abandoned buildings in brief flashes Ramesh moved to the , unable to stop himself "Reinforceunshots were co from outside Darwin, not toward the barricade Subhumans loped over the derelict cars toward the sound, their scrawny forms lit with each salvo from some unseen position down the street One’s head snapped backward in midair and it fell, lifeless, just outside the emptyframe Three ht, Ra his weapon in quick arcs, rattling off shots with unnerving calm The rifle sounded different than an AK Quiet, more refined

"Who the hell is that?" the soldier in the doorway said

Ramesh didn’t care Could be Jesus H Christ, or the Devil hi subs one after another, and that was all that mattered

A subhuman rushed toward the man from beyond the Aura, from his blind side Ramesh aimed and squeezed a shot off He missed, but it slowed the creature, and in the next second its body convulsed as bullets tore through it

"Help hiain Two bullets left

His squad an to provide cover fire

The ed toward their position while still shooting, one arh the doorway and slid to a seated position by the back wall His ribs felt as if on fire, and he wanted to faint as soon as he reached the wall

Three men in the storefront roo on my account," Skyler said

The one with the ain A Nightcliff guard, then The other two looked like street thugs One, an Indian man, crawled to Skyler’s position "I’m Ramesh You okay?"

"Just need a second," Skyler replied

"That was a," he whispered "What you did--"

"Won’t "

"Out of bullets," Ramesh admitted

Skyler pulled a Sonton pistol froun on his miserable trek home, from the corpse of a dead traffic cop He flipped the weapon around and stuffed it into Ra from the others subsided as the newsubs retreated

"Who are you?" the man asked, eyes fixed on the fine pistol

"Skyler--"

"Skyler?" the one by the door said He swung his AK-47 around and pointed it at Skyler’s chest "Blackfield’s got a huge reward out for you"

Before Skyler could say a word, a subhu who crouched there, slashing at his face even as they toppled to a heap in the center of the room

Skyler broke for a rear door that led farther into the building He had no idea where it went; he just knew he had to get away

"Conored it

To his dis up Skyler took theht The sounds of battle receded behind and below

At the fourth floor, Skyler stopped and ducked into a side hall The condition of the space was no different than the first floor--concrete floors and a grid of exposed support colu only the battle below

That would change, and soon Whichever side won, Skyler had to assued to the e the outer wall Skyler leaned out and studied the street below, just in time to see a burst of fire froun echoed through the deserted buildings along the narrow street, like a succession of thunderclaps

Gunfire also erupted from behind a pile of debris in the road Skyler couldn’t see well but guessed reinforcements had arrived to rescue theto and fro, dodging weapons they understood at so toward their attackers

Skyler looked left, toward the trash barrier that marked the outskirts of Darwin’s sluainst the night sky

Rooftops

He raced back to the stairs and continued to cli pain in his ribs He’d wrapped his chest in gauze two days earlier, but the dressing did little to help

After six h a badly corroded metal door Skyler skidded to a halt Numerous holes marred the uneven surface, caused by erosion from pooled rainwater that could not find an open drain He picked his way carefully across, to the Darwin-facing side of the building In the sky above Nightcliff, he saw a strange sight Fifteen cli up the Elevator into the clouds In all his life he’d never seen ht at once, well spaced out These were bunched together, less than a kilo the first froht He looked at the adjacent building, hoping for a spot narrow enough to jue, constructed of old stepladders bound together, spanned the short distance between his rooftop and the next Even without considering the height, the bridge looked terrifying

However, it was a path, the only path, so Skyler took it

He stepped over the edge of the rooftop and gingerly tested the ladder with one foot It bounced under his weight Skyler gulped and stepped back The route suddenly seemed like folly

Behind him the metal door creaked Decision e, rolling each footfall toeffect The ladder strained under his weight but held

"Stop there!"

"Hell no!" Skyler shouted, halfway across He could taste the other side

A shot rang out He heard the bullet whiz over his head A calculated uards were that skilled

Skyler paid no heed and leapt for the roof opposite He landed feetfirst on a loall that surrounded the edge His momentum carried him over and onto the roof itself, just before another bullet buried itself in the loall behind hiet cover behind the waist-high lip

Skyler heard the voice of the squad’s leader froh

"Get him?"

The other sounded confident "Think so, in the back"