Thirty-OneI retraced my steps of that first night, skipping from one wrecked building to the next, groping my way in the darkness until I stood in the freezing cold room where they'd beaten me and coerced me into going to the Protector. Just as then, right now my options were limited. I'd made the decision to come here, to the place where it had all begun, but I doubted there was anything in that abandoned place for me. It was just an old, derelict house.
I heard the tramping of marching feet and I instinctively crouched down in the darkness, a futile action, of course, as a Sandman's scanner could penetrate any material and would be able to find me within seconds. I held my breath. This was all so utterly stupid. They'd pick me up, interrogate me, then the Unit Commander would scold me a
