WAKE UP.” Her eyes opened. She blinked up at Sam. It was full daylight. Not even early morning, later. She had slept a long time. A sharp intake of breath. She jumped up and began patting her body, probing, pushing, feeling for anything that shouldn’t be there. The divot in her shoulder burned like fire. Her stomach growled. Her feet ached. Her scraped shins hurt. So did her back from sleeping on a rock. “I hurt all over,” Dekka said. Sam looked concerned. “I mean, that’s good. Hunter couldn’t feel much of anything, right?” Sam nodded. “Yeah. Yeah, that’s good. So I guess burning a hole in you was actually a good thing?” “Not quite ready to find that funny, Sam. Where’s Jack?” Sam pointed toward the top of a hill. They were in a very dry and empty place. The hill wasn’t much more than two hundred feet high and was more of a dirt mound than a mountain. Jack was at the top, shading his eyes and looking to the northeast. “What do you see?” Sam yelled to him.
