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The woman cut him off with her own chant "Yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes"

"Shut up!" the leader said Definitely the leader "Shut up shut up shut up!"

Tho on his skin He didn’t know if this exchange had anywhatsoever or was just ," the woman said, her words broken by a sob She sounded like a child left out of a game

"Me too, me too" This from the other man

"Shut up shut up shut up shut up!" the leader yelled, this tio away!"

The sudden repetition of words creeped Thoe had snapped in their brains

Brenda was squeezing his hand so hard it hurt Her breath was cool against the sweat on his neck

Shuffles of feet and swishing of clothes outside Were they leaving?

The sounds decreased sharply in volume when they entered the hallway, tunnel, whatever The other Cranks in their party seeain Thomas only heard the faint sounds of his and Brenda’s breath

They waited in the darkness, lying flat on the hard ground, facing the s The silence stretched out, turned back into the buzz of absent sound Tho they had to be absolutely sure As much as he wanted to leave that little compartment, as uncomfortable as it was, they had to wait

Severalbut silence and darkness

"I think they’re gone," Brenda finally whispered She flicked on her flashlight

"Hello, noses!" a hideous voice yelled froh the doorway and grabbed Thomas by the shirt

CHAPTER 33

Tho at the scarred and bruised hand His eyes were still adjusting to the brightness of Brenda’s flashlight; he squinted to see the fir Thoainst the wall His face smashed into the hard concrete and a burst of pain exploded around his nose He felt blood trickling down

The ain Pushed and pulled again And again, sla Thomas’s face into the wall each tith of the Crank―it seemed impossible based on how he looked Weak and horribly injured

Brenda had her knife out, was trying to crawl over hiet in position to slash at the hand

"Careful!" Thorabbed theto loosen that iron grip Nothing worked, and theThomas’s body as he hit the wall

Brenda screamed and went for it She swept across Thoht into the Crank’s forearo of Thoh the doorway, leaving a trail of blood on the floor His shrieks of pain continued, loud with trailing echoes

"We can’t let hiet out there!"

Thoht and was already squiret his body in position If the man reached the other Cranks, they’d all coht have heard the coot his ar; then it becae and pushed hilued to the Crank, waiting for another attack The ainst his chest Their eyes met, and the Crank snarled like a wounded animal, bit at the air

Thoed into the bottom of the table "Shuck!" he yelled, then scraht on his heels, and soon they were both standing over the Crank, who lay on the ground in a fetal position, whi Blood dripped fro a sht in one hand, the knife in the other, its point aione with your psycho friends, old man Should’ve known better than to , theout with shocking speed and strength He hit Brenda first, sent her crashing into Thomas, and they both cruht clatter across the ceered to his feet, ran for the knife, which had come to rest by the door to the hallway Tho into the backs of the round Thean elbow as he did so It connected with Thomas’s jaw; he felt another explosion of pain as he fell, his hand naturally flying up to his face

Then Brenda was there She ju hie of the brief ain so that he lay on his storabbed his ar up in a way that looked incredibly painful The Crank wrenched and thrashed, but Brenda had hi, a horrific, piercing wail of pure terror

"We have to kill hiotten to his knees and was looking on in a stupor of inaction "What?" he asked, drugged with exhaustion, too stunned to process her words

"Get the knife! We have to kill hi, a sound that made Thomas want to run as far away as possible It was unnatural Inhuman

"Thomas!" Brenda yelled

Thomas crawled over to the knife, picked it up, looked at the crioo on its sharp blade He turned back to Brenda

"Hurry!" she said, her eyes lit with anger Soer just for the Crank―she was

But could he do this? Could he kill a man? Even a crazed lunatic of aout loud?

He sha the knife as if it were tipped with poison As if just holding it onizing death