1269_UgliesFreeBook

390 Scott Westerfeld
“I don’t know what to do, Tally.”
She took his hand. “We have to run. That’s all we can
do right now. Follow your mother.”
He looked into her eyes, his face wild. “Okay.” He
started to say more, but the words were drowned out by a
noise like huge fingernails scraping metal. The hovercar
door was fighting against the nanotech glue, setting the
whole roof shuddering.
Maddy, last out of the elevator, had jimmied its door
open with a powerjack. Its voice kept repeating, “Elevator
requested.”
But there were other ways onto the roof. Maddy turned
to David. “Glue down those hatches so they can’t get out.”
His gaze cleared for a moment, and he nodded.
“I’ll get the boards,” Tally said, turning to dash for the
edge of the roof. When she reached it, she jumped into
space, hoping her bungee jacket still had some charge.
After one bounce, Tally was on the ground running. The
boards sensed her crash bracelets and sped toward her.
“Tally! Look out!”
She looked over her shoulder at Croy’s shout. A squad
of Specials was headed toward her across the compound, an
open door behind them at ground level. They ran inhumanly
fast, covering the ground with long, loping strides.
The boards nudged her calves from behind, like dogs
ready to play. Tally leaped up, teetering for a moment with
one foot on each pair of sandwiched boards. She’d never