Hollowgirl by Williams Sean

Author:Williams, Sean [Williams, Sean]
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Publisher: HarperCollins
Published: 2015-08-31T07:00:00+00:00

[31]

* * *

AS CLAIR WALKED back to the hub, she turned over in her mind everything she had just learned. It sounded preposterous, dangerous, borderline insane, but it was an opportunity she couldn’t turn down. She had thought splitting up was a good idea, and she still thought so now, even though it meant leaving everyone else behind. If she could get to the exit on her own, with no loss of life, Clair Two would have to admit that she was right. When or if she woke up . . .

Clair had told Mallory and Nobody that she would meet them back in that office in one hour, but she hadn’t promised she would come alone. She could bring the full force of WHOLE behind her, if she wanted to. Maybe they could all work together and still achieve the same goal.

It could go either way. Two people might succeed where an all-out assault would fail. It certainly hadn’t worked when WHOLE had attacked the VIA building in the real world. But the thought of being alone with someone like Mallory, far from her friends, made her nervous.

“How did you manage with the ripping?” Ronnie bumped her. “Any luck sending that grenade?”

Clair hefted it, feeling slightly guilty. She hadn’t tried, not even once. “Still here.”

“Don’t worry. It was a long shot.”

“Maybe I’ll try again later.”

“I’m not sure that practice makes perfect in this case,” Ronnie said. “The connection’s either there or it isn’t, you know? Besides, Jesse’s dad is now telling everyone to stop killing the hollowmen. If we can take one alive, that’ll give us a different way to get to where they come from.”

That plan made sense, but there was an obvious downside.

“What if they don’t agree to help?”

“Doesn’t matter. The connection will still be there.”

“And when we don’t need them anymore . . . ?”

Ronnie hesitated. “It’s horrible, I know . . . but it’s for the greater good.”

Clair didn’t mention the two live “connections” sitting in an office not far away. Or remind Ronnie that some of the people trying to get into the prison weren’t hollowmen at all, but innocent people who thought they were doing the right thing. She was sure Ronnie already knew that last bit and was trying her best not to think about it.

War had turned Clair Two into an emotional cripple, a monstrous version of who she had been. Already, Clair could see her friends falling under the same spell.

It was time that stopped.

Instead of going into the hub itself, she took a sudden left turn and headed for the hospital.

Sargent was sitting in the open door, pistol at the ready on her lap. The picture of vigilance was ruined by the way she leaned against the jamb, sound asleep. Clair tiptoed past her, heart in her throat. The room was full of tables. On the tables were mattresses, and on the mattresses were unconscious people. The air stank intensely of blood and medicine, but that wasn’t the only thing urging her to run.

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