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Not until he turned around did Sam notice how little of the church was filled There should have been close to 250 kids, leaving aside the day care and the people on guard in various locations There were closer to eighty present, half of those so young, Sa brothers or sisters looking for a bit of free babysitting

Astrid and Albert took seats in the first pew Little Pete was at the day care Now that Mother Mary had more help at the day care, Astrid could occasionally leave Pete there, although never for very long As long as Pete stayed lost in his video gaot upset…

Mother Mary Terrafino herself s back, too humble to insert herself in the leadership area of the church Saht loss Probably fro on the kinds of canned food that, in the old pre-FAYZ days, people had donated to food drives But she was quite thin, which was not an adjective normally applied to Mary Model thin

Lana Arwen Lazar slumped in a back row She looked tired and a little resentful Lana often looked resentful But at least she had come, which was more than could be said for most kids

Sary that soJust what exactly did they have to do that was more important?

“First off,” he said, “I want to say I’ood kid He didn’t deserve…” For a e of emotion welled up from nowhere “I’m sorry he died”

Someone sobbed loudly

“Look, I’ht to it: we have three hundred and thirty-two…I’m sorry, three hundred and thirty-one mouths to feed,” Sam said He placed his hands on his hips and planted his feet wide apart “We were already pretty bad off for food supplies But after the attack by the Coates kids…well, it’s not pretty bad off, anymore, it’s desperate”

He let that sink in But how ? Even the older kids looked lazed than alarmed

“Three hundred and thirty-one kids,” Sa time It’s not a lot of food And as you all know, the food we have is awful”

That got a response fro and retching sounds

“All right,” Sas are really desperate”

“How about the food in everyone’s house?” someone yelled

The light of the setting sun streaed façade of the church and stabbed Sam in the eyes He had to take two steps to the left to escape it “Hunter? Is that you?”

Hunter Lefkoas a year younger than Sahaired like just about everyone except the feho had taken the initiative of cutting his or her own hair He was not someone who had ever been popular in school before the FAYZ But then, Sas that had made kids popular in the old days didn’t mean much anymore