6

You check your iPhone. It's broken. Touched by the Void as a member of Clan Lasombra, you have trouble using modern technology—it's like touch screens are never quite sure you're "there"—but this iPhone worked okay for some reason. But now it's dead plastic. You take out the SIM card and destroy it, then destroy the spares you carry. You wear a watch because sunrise is never far from your mind, and—yes, that's broken, too. Then you check your satchel, but the USBs are all there, all safe.

Your Hunger is still a dull ache in your teeth, and you're still in control. For now.

You can hear the wight in the empty convenience store, snuffling and moaning. You walk back to where you left your car, but it's gone except for a single hubcap. You check your reflection and wait for it to stop jumping around. There's blood on your hands and face and clumps of gore in your hair, and your shirt and jeans are in tatters. You have nothing to wash with, but you rub sand all over yourself to try to get as much of the blood off as you can.

You look like something that just crawled out of the earth for revenge—you can't show yourself anywhere civilized like this. Headlights appear on the highway, and you fade back into the scrub.

Instinctively you check the satchel one more time, but everything is there. Everything that just happened was a distraction—someone else's problem. You can reach the outskirts of Tucson before dawn, and from there make your way to the new Prince's court. Just deliver these USBs, and you'll make enough money for a new car. You'll be able to keep doing this.

Night after night.

You start walking.

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