They took off again, Yoon leading the way through a maze of fences and trees and rusted cars. They passed a subway entrance, a dark stairway down underground, and Kira looked in as they ran past: It was flooded halfway up the stairs. No cover there. They kept to the park, and soon a thick steel tower rose up ahead of them.

“That’s the bridge,” said Jayden. “Take the first entrance you see.”

Kira shook her head. “That’s not the same bridge.”

“Do you really care which bridge?” asked Jayden. “Just get off the damn island.”

“But the traps,” she insisted, glancing behind her as she ran. “The traps will still be in place on this one. It’s too dangerous to cross.”

A bullet flew by, and Jayden cursed. “We don’t have a lot of options right now.”

They burst out of the park and into a wide street. The bridge rose before them at an angle, up and southeast toward the river, and the four runners were now so tired that they staggered up the incline, panting with dry, scratched throats. A shot pinged off the cement barrier, and they collapsed behind it out of sight.

“I didn’t see who it was,” said Kira.

“Whoever it is,” said Yoon, showing her pistol, “the Partial’s effective range is a lot longer than ours. We can’t outshoot it.”

“You go on ahead,” said Jayden, grabbing Yoon’s gun. “Find the traps, defuse them or mark them or … whatever you can do. Haru and Kira will follow with the Partial. I’ll guard the rear.”

“She just said you can’t outshoot it,” said Kira. “Are you crazy?”

“I can’t outshoot it at this range,” said Jayden, and pointed back toward the base of the bridge. “I can outshoot it just fine from down there, if I get a drop on it. It has to come around that corner sooner or later if it wants to pursue us, so I’ll hide behind one of the cars and wait.”

“Then I’m waiting with you,” said Kira. “I’m your medic, you idiot, I’m not leaving you behind with a bullet hole in your arm.”

“Fine, just stay low.”

Yoon crawled forward, and Haru followed, dragging the Partial behind him. Kira crept back down with Jayden and took position behind a fat truck tire. Jayden crouched by the next tire over, keeping an eye on the edge of the barrier below. The truck’s driver, a weathered brown skeleton, stared forward blankly.

“Who do you think it’s going to be?” asked Kira. “The Partial, I mean: Nick or Steve?”

“You mean Skinny or Scruffy?”

Kira laughed emptily. “It’s not like they’re hard to tell apart, I was just too embarrassed to ask which was which.”

“I’ll guess we’ll see,” said Jayden.

Kira looked up at the bridge, then whispered softly, “The watchmen will see us crossing the river.”