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“You crazy? Just use a bloody knife He’s probably got one in his pocket!”
Picker is still twitching when Freckles searches his pockets and stands back up with a vibroKnife She ies as she cuts me free
Wincing froers, I pull my hand from the ropes and bolt to my feet Blood rushes to my head When I blink the spots away, Freckles stands shivering over Picker I pull the gun froazine Twelve rounds left
“Where are the other girls?” I ask
She blinks as if co back to herself “Don’t know I saw them take you, out the ” Her hand rubs at the blood on her dress again “Came soon as I could W-what do we do?”
There’s no right answer Who knows if enough guards drank the swill in the h haea could convince the others to help her overpower those guards left standing? What should I do?
Even with a pistol, I’m no freelancer Hell, I’irls I need someone built for war
The township is in turmoil as Freckles and I slip out onto the ay Up the town’s tiered stone levels, es outside their homes Their friends, many drunk, run to help them, but then push them back in fear that the acid will spread to thee and sends six h the air to land five levels down on the mine floor One splits his head open on a table Several others lie calling for help, unable to move Drunk men rush to help them
Several childwives I know are running up the levels toward the mine’s entrance Red Hand irls into a tunnel several levels up Is she carrying a pistol?
Har a unshots froirl just died because of me woulda once put me on my heels, but all it does now is make me focus on the Can, the fortress the Grays would have used as barracks back when the
Its metal walls squat over the mine, and it’s connected to the township by cable ladders hammered into the stone four levels up Freckles and I rush to the ladder and begin to cli down I hiss at Freckles to follow me into a house as aa newborn as we shove in I make a quiet motion, and she doesn’t screaes
“We gotta get to the next level,” I say
She leads us to the second floor of the hoestures out theto a cable “Connects with the one above” She glances at ers “Can you climb it?”
“We’ll find out”
“What are you doing?” she asks