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Quinn pulled the truck up in front of the McDonald’s

But just as Quinn was pulling up to park, he spotted sohts at town hall

There, spread across one wall, in letters two feet tall, was spray-painted graffiti Bloodred paint on the pale stone

“‘Death to freaks,’” Quinn read aloud

TWENTY-EIGHT

16 HOURS, 38 MINUTES

THE PICKUP TRUCK’S battery was dead It had been sitting for more than three months

But Herenerator and a charger for the battery It took an hour for Lana and Cookie to figure out how to start the generator and hook up the battery But finally Lana turned the key and after several atteine sputtered to life

Cookie backed the truck up to the gas tank

It took some hard, sweaty work to shift the tank into the truck’s bed

By the tiht Lana cautiously opened the warehouse’s door and looked outside In the shadow of the hills it wasn’t possible to speak of true dawn, but the sky was tinged with pink, and the shadows, still deep, were gray and no longer black

A dozen coyotes lounged in an irregular circle, a hundred feet away They turned to stare at her

“Cookie,” Lana said

“Yeah, Healer?”

“Here’s what I want you to do I’ht? You should hear an explosion Wait ten minutes after that I’ll be back Maybe If not, well, you need to wait until the sun is all the way up—coyotes are ht Then walk back to the cabin, and from there head home”