ARRRGH!!! crumpled a motor scooter in her fist and exhaled threateningly. In the foul-smelling gust, Gulager’s cap sailed away and his hairpiece spun around so that the back was in the front, covering his eyes. He used a free hand to whip the thing into the weeds and looked even more heroic: bristled hair disrupted by a nasty scar, face folded into a resolute frown, gun barely shaking at all.

“Now,” Jack hissed. “Follow me.”

From beneath the tangle I saw him crawl on his stomach toward one of the still-standing hills of junk. I disengaged from the scrap and followed, wincing at the razor edges that drew long scratches across my skin. Blinky had already made it to the safety of the hill and was beckoning with a dozen appendages. My sinuous path took me right beside ARRRGH!!!, who remained locked in a standoff with Sergeant Gulager.

I reached the safety of the junk heap and collapsed against a knot of tentacles.

“You’re bad luck,” Jack said. “You know that?”

“Fault lies elsewhere,” Blinky soothed. “The boy acquitted himself quite well.”

“No gallbladders? Again? We’re losing this war and it’s barely begun.”

“Let’s go back to the cave,” I panted. “We can come up with a better plan.”

“The cave? Those were rust trolls. The cave belongs to them. They’re following our scent there right now, and believe me, they’ll bring friends. We wouldn’t last five minutes if we went back.” Jack’s shoulders sunk in defeat. “We have no home.”

“Volumes twenty-three and twenty-four of my dissertation were left on the credenza!” Blinky gasped. “Those vulgar blackguards shall tear my heartrending prose to confetti just to watch it fall. True, true, it should not take me more than eight or nine years to rewrite. Nevertheless I feel a loss—my calligraphy today is not what it once was.”

“The weapons,” Jack groaned. “So many weapons, all gone. And we’re supposed to stop the Machine? Oh, this is bad.”

From several blocks away came the blare of police sirens. Jack crawled to the edge of the junk heap and snapped his fingers at ARRRGH!!!. The tacks on his gloves made loud clicks.

ARRRGH!!! snorted her understanding and ballooned her chest. By now I knew enough to cover my ears. The roar detonated like a bomb. Dozens of windshields shattered at once, and I didn’t have to look to know that Gulager had dropped to protect his body. The trollhunters made a run for it down a dark aisle. Somewhere up ahead was a bridge—there was always a bridge—but for once that was not part of the plan.

Jack grabbed me by the front of the shirt. My medallion tightened around my neck.

He searched the sky for signs of dawn.

“Shelter,” he growled. “It won’t be night for long.”

26.

Tub didn’t look happy to see me. He glowered from his bedroom window.