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Run! Come on, run! You know you can do it

I gulped deep lungfuls of air My brain was on hyperdrive; I was racing forelse mattered

My arh? No biggie

My bare feet hitting every sharp rock, rough root, pointed stick? Not a problem

My lungs aching for air? I could deal

As long as I could put as much distance as possible between me and the Erasers

Yeah, Erasers Mutants: half-ht now they were after me

See? That snaps everything into perspective

Run You’re faster than they are You can outrun anyone

I’d never been this far from the School before I was totally lost Still, h the underbrush, ht I could outrun theh space for me to—

Oh, no Oh, no The unearthly baying of bloodhounds on the scent wailed through the trees, and I felt sick I could outrun el, and she’s only six But none of us could outrun a big dog

Dogs, dogs, go away, let me live another day

They were getting closer Dih the woods in front ofcould save me

I burst through the trees, chest heaving, a thin sheen of cold sweat on my skin

Yes!

No—oh, no!

I skidded to a halt,in the rocky dirt

It wasn’t a clearing In front of me was a cliff, a sheer face of rock that dropped to an unseeable floor hundreds of feet below

In back ofbloodhounds and psycho Erasers with guns

Both options stank

The dogs were yelping excitedly—they’d found their prey: moi