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The Boss s hted I’ve done my bit, and you look pretty fast"

He handed her the duffel bag It was heavy, but Tally had grown stronger since she’d co coht of the first day she had arrived there, seeing awith horror what humanity had once looked like The pictures had made her sick that first day, and now here she was ready to save them

"Here’s the plan," the Boss said "I’ll go first, and when that Special grabs ht and fast and don’t look back Got that?"

"Yeah"

"With any luck, we both h I wouldn’tfarther up on her shoulder "Let’s go"

"Onetwo" The Boss paused "Oh, dear There’s a proble lady"

"What?"

"You haven’t got any shoes"

Tally looked down In her confusion, she had stumbled barefoot out of the bunkhouse The packed dirt of the Sh to walk on, but in the forest

"You won’t make it tenaway fro"

"But I," Tally said "I don’t want to go back to the city"

"Yes, young lady, and I wouldn’tsome decent dental work But we all have to now !" On the last word, he shoved her out from behind the drum

Tally stumbled forward, utterly exposed in the middle of the street The roar of a hovercar seeht over her head, and she instinctively ducked, dashing toward the cover of the forest

The Special cocked her head toward Tally, cal littlies playing where they shouldn’t

Tally wondered if the pepper would do anything to the woht still make it into the forest Even if she was supposed to be the bait Even if she had no shoes

Even if it turned out David had already been caught and she’d never see hiht unleashed a sudden torrent of anger inside her, and she ran straight at the woman, the container clenched in both hands

A smile broke out on the Special’s cruel features

A split second before they collided, the Special seeician’s hand In her next stride Tally felt so Her body tu out to break her fall, the container slipping fro on her palli behind her The woman had simply ducked, invisibly fast, and Tally had tripped over her like so her head and spitting the dirt out of her mouth, Tally spotted the container just out of reach She scraht crashed down on her, driving her face-first into the ground

She felt her wrists pulled back and bound, hard plastic cuffs cutting into her flesh

She struggled, but couldn’t e from a boot flipped her over effortlessly The Special stood over her, sly," the cruel pretty said "You just calm down We don’t want to hurt you But ill if we have to"

Tally started to speak, but her jaw clenched with pain It had plowed into the ground when she’d fallen

"What’s so i the container and trying to peer through its translucent plastic

Out of the corner of her eye, Tally saw the Bosshis way toward the forest His run was slow and tortured, the duffel bag too heavy for him

"Open it and see," Tally spat painfully

"I will," she said, still ss first" She turned her attention toward the Boss, and her posture suddenly transfor ani

Tally rolled back onto her shoulders, thrashing out wildly with both feet Her kick connected with the container, and it popped open, a puff of brownish-green dust spraying out over the Special

For a second, a disbelieving expression spread over the wo noise, her whole body shuddering Then her eyes and fists clamped shut, and she screamed

The sound wasn’t hu et free of the handcuffs, her instincts de that she cover her ears With another wild kick, she rolled herself over and stu in the direction of the forest

A tickle grew in Tally’s throat as the pepper dust dispersed on the wind She coughed as she ran, eyes watering and stinging until she was half-blind With her hands tied behind her, Tally lurched into the brush off-balance, tu in the dense vegetation

She struggled forward, trying to drag herself out of sight

Blinking away tears, she saw that the Special’s inhuman scream had been some kind of alarm Three more of the cruel pretties had responded One led the pepper-covered Special away at arth, and the others approached the forest

Tally froze, the brush barely concealing her

Then she felt a tickle in her throat, a slowly growing irritation Tally held her breath, closing her eyes But her chest began to shudder, her body twitching, des

Shehad to cough

Tally sed again and again, hoping spit could put out the fire in her throat Her lungs deen, but she didn’t dare breathe One of the Specials was only a stone’s throay, scanning the forest with slow back-and-forth sweeps of his head, his eyes searching the dense trees relentlessly

Gradually, painfully, the fla a quiet death inside her She relaxed, finally letting out her breath

Over the thunder of hovercars and crackle of burning buildings and sounds of battle, the Special somehow heard her soft exhalation His head turned swiftly, eyes narrowing, and in what seele motion he was by her side, a hand on the back of her neck "You’re a tricky one," he said

She tried to answer, but wound up coughing savagely instead, and he forced her face down in the dirt before she could e another breath