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“Do…uh…”

Dekka shook her head violently “You’re not going to die, Edilio”

She grabbed hi the Heiainst her slippery hands to seal the wound

She dragged hied hi tracks in the dirt She wept and sobbed as she went, staggered under the weight, fell into boulders, but put distance between herself and the mine shaft

Because he was right He was right, poor Edilio, he was right, she had to do it She had to collapse thatto be buried there, no way No, Edilio would have a place of honor in the plaza

The honored dead Another grave The first one that Edilio had not dug himself

“Hang in there, Edilio, you’re going to make it,” Dekka lied

She collapsed at the bottohost town Dekka sat on Edilio and pressed down on the wound The force of the blood eaker now She could al, no, because it meant he was al

Dekka looked up straight into the glittering eyes of a coyote She could sense the others around her, closing in Wary, but sensing that a fresh meal was close at hand

FORTY-ONE

33 MINUTES

DUCK WAS SO high up, he could see s from the distant power plant

He was still shaking fro shot at Shot at! He had never hurt anyone

Noas like he had been drafted into a war he didn’t even knoas going on It was nuts He could have been killed He ht still be killed

Instead, he had floated away, unharmed