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this time.
    Right, time for food.
    As he headed for the door Edsel stopped; he was sure he heard something. He listened, trying to hear over the hammering of his heart.
    They're here. Damn.
    Then he felt it, and knew it was definitely time to go. It was that Bishop, he somehow just knew it, and here he was trying to get into his head. He would too, if Edsel didn't get away from him, and fast. He felt, rather than heard, Bishop talk to the acolytes, and knew they would be right beside him in seconds now. His only hope was to run once more.
    Out through the broken entrance and into the evening. It was still light, which was something: running through the littered streets in the dark wouldn't be fun at all.
    Yeah, like this is fun.
    Edsel winced as the backpack began to bounce around on his back. He needed to tighten the straps but it was too late now. He felt the intrusion into his mind weaken as he got some distance, but they knew where he was now and once they picked him up they wouldn't lose him so easily. His chase through the city had taught him that if he didn't get maybe half a mile, even a mile, away from them then they could pick up his presence. It was The Noise. Those that were Awoken, or Whole and on the cusp of becoming something more, had a serious set of skills. They included entering the minds of creatures and even people if they were close enough. Mostly it had seemed, during the early days when reports still came on TV and the Web, that it was easiest done on those with The Lethargy — less resistance, basically an empty space to occupy.
    But if you were powerful enough in The Noise then you could occupy human minds, even Whole ones, and for some Awoken it was a very strong skill. The acolytes that had tattooed and chased him were obviously not all capable of such things, but one of them was, and Bishop certainly was. They could search for him in The Noise now they knew what he would look like, although he had no clue how it actually worked, and if they were close enough they would find him. If they were very close then they could enter his mind, maybe even take it over and he would be helpless.
    So he ran.
     
    ~~~
     
    Edsel was lost. He didn't know this part of the city so well — away from the commercial center and heading out into the suburbs. Row after row of houses, mostly now unoccupied or home to those slowly fading to nothing or hiding from the madness, waiting for everything to be alright again, trying not to admit to themselves what they knew to be true: it never would be.
    He was free of his pursuers though, yet again. Spurred on by the water and the loaded drink he'd found himself running hard, setting a good pace. Maybe it was the new clothes — the looser fit meant he wasn't getting such bad chafing, although it still felt like every nerve was stripped bare. Or the boots, they were a good fit, sturdy yet comfortable. He wondered about the person that had worn the old Converse he'd taken not long after his escape.
    Stupid. To be thinking about such things when his world just came crashing down around him, but what was the alternative?
    To think of Kathy?
    I will have my revenge, and I'm sorry Kathy, sorry I couldn't be there for you, sorry that I can't, won't, do what you would have wanted me to.
    Landmarks began to become familiar; he must have skirted around a different way, but he had been heading in a certain direction there was no doubt about it. It may not have been a conscious decision but he was heading right back to where it had all started, back to where he had been held captive and given The Ink.
    He was running right back into the arms of The Church Of The Eventuals.
    This time it would be different though, this time it would be him that was the hunter.
    A crunch underfoot caused Edsel to look down and stop. A large apple tree, left unpruned for years, had spilled over the top of a fence and its unripe fruit was hanging low. A few apples had dropped to the ground. He jumped up and