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"Nice," Trina ot to her feet

A few ain

Soht of another settlement It was off the path Alec had scrawled on his makeshift h the trees, big ones His heart lifted at the idea of seeing large groups of people again

"Should we go over there?" Lana asked

Alec see the pros and cons before he answered "H and follow ourabout these people"

"But ht actually know so the place the Berg ca all their options

"I think we should check it out," Trina said "If nothing else, we can warn them about what’s happened to us"

"Okay," Alec relented "One hour"

The smell hit the the first buildings, ss with thatched roofs

It was the same smell that had assaulted Mark and Alec when they’d approached their own village after chasing down the Berg andflesh

"Whoa!" Alec called out "That’s it We’re turning around right now"

Even as he said it, it beca from Farther down the path several bodies had been stacked on top of each other Then a figure appeared A little girl alking toward them from the direction of the dead She must have been five or six years old, with matted dark hair and filthy clothes

"Guys," Mark said When the others looked at hiirl She stopped about twenty feet from them Her face was dirty and her expression sad, and she didn’t say anything Just looked at the in the air

"Hey there," Trina called out "Are you okay, sweetie? Where are your parents? Where are the others froe? Are they …" She didn’t need to finish--the stack of bodies spoke for itself

The girl answered in a quiet voice and pointed out toward the woods behind Mark and the others

"They all ran into the forest They all ran away"

CHAPTER 18

Mark didn’t knohat it was about her words that e to look over his shoulder tohere she was staring There was nothing back there but the trees and the brush and the sunlight dappling the ground

He turned to face the girl again Trina walked toward her, which of course made Alec protest

"You can’t do this," he said, but even his gravelly rebuke didn’t have any strength It was one thing to leave adults behind, people ere able to fend for theer--almost an adult--out of his or her misery, like Alec had done to the Toad But this was a child, and thatdifferent "At least try not to touch her, for the sake of all of us"

The girl flinched and took a few steps back when Trina got close to her

"It’s okay," Trina said, stopping She got down on one knee "We’re friendly, I proe just like yours, where they had lots of kids Do you have friends here?"

The girl nodded, then see She shook her head sadly

"They’re gone now?"

A nod

Trina looked back at Mark, heartbreak in her eyes, then returned her attention to the girl

"What’s your name?" Trina asked "Mine is Trina Can you tell irl said, "Deedee"

"Deedee, huh? I love that name It’s really cute"

"My brother’s na to say, and for so to the forefront of Mark’s thoughts His heart ached He wished this girl were his little sister And as always, he tried his hardest to keep hiswhat ht’ve happened to her when the sun flares struck

"Where is Ricky?" Trina asked

Deedee shrugged "I don’t know He ith the others Into the forest"

"With your ot hit by the arrows from the sky Both of them They died real nasty" Tears welled up until they spilled over and washed down her dirty cheeks

"I’m so sorry to hear that, sweetheart," Trina said, her voice full of the deepest sincerity Mark was sure he’d never liked her as ht then "Some of our friends were … hurt by the same people Nasty, like you said I’ back and forth on her heels, soain reminded Mark of Madison "It’s okay," she said, so sweetly that Mark didn’t kno much more of this he could take "I knoasn’t your fault It was the bad reen suits"

Mark pictured that day, re Or friends of the sa around with dart guns full of who knehat Why, though? Why?

Trina kept digging, as tenderly as she could, for o with theht arm, the hand balled into a fist She pulled up her ratty sleeve to reveal a circular wound near her shoulder, scabbed over but looking poorly cared for She didn’t say anything, just held the arht out for everyone to inspect

Mark took in a quick breath "Looks like she was shot by a dart!"