milk, and o<strong>the</strong>r necessities...And <strong>the</strong>n something had taken him away from all that and put him in some strange place, and <strong>the</strong> onlythings familiar were <strong>the</strong> boxes of cornflakes sitting on a shelf.<strong>Not</strong>-Tim offered him some rum, and he cautiously took a swig. H<strong>is</strong> eyes lit up. He smiled, got off h<strong>is</strong>chair, and did a happy dance just as <strong>the</strong> door opened and John walked in looking for a weapon.John Constantine does not like happy dances.He likes <strong>the</strong>m even less when <strong>the</strong>y are danced by people who look like him.John glared at <strong>the</strong> cornflakes guy, took h<strong>is</strong> cigarette out of h<strong>is</strong> mouth, and flicked ash into <strong>the</strong> cornflakesbowl.The cornflakes guy broke out of <strong>the</strong> happy dance and stared in stupefaction at <strong>the</strong> bits of black ashfloating in <strong>the</strong> milk. Tears once again started making <strong>the</strong>ir way down h<strong>is</strong> face. <strong>Not</strong>-Tim mentally swore.John couldn't find a gun. He settled instead for a lightsaber which someone had stolen from ano<strong>the</strong>rfloor, and activated it and waved it around a little."Look after him," <strong>Not</strong>-Tim told <strong>the</strong> recently-entered Ted, pointing at <strong>the</strong> cornflakes guy and taking <strong>the</strong>contaminated cornflakes bowl to <strong>the</strong> sink. He emptied its contents into <strong>the</strong> trash, glared at John,washed <strong>the</strong> bowl, poured some cornflakes in, glared at John, added milk, glared at John, nearly gotsliced up by <strong>the</strong> lightsaber, and returned <strong>the</strong> new bowl to <strong>the</strong> cornflakes guy.Sat<strong>is</strong>fied with h<strong>is</strong> new weapon, John left <strong>the</strong> room, ignoring everyone. Neo followed after.Luke Skywalker searched frantically around for h<strong>is</strong> most prized possession. "Have you seen mylightsaber?" he asked, meeting Han Solo in <strong>the</strong> corridor."The Keanu-spawn took it," Han informed him."And nobody stopped <strong>the</strong>m?" Luke asked incredulously."Apparently <strong>the</strong>y know kung-fu.""<strong>Not</strong> all of <strong>the</strong>m!"**"Why take <strong>the</strong> r<strong>is</strong>k?" Han asked, <strong>the</strong>n bolted off as Indiana Jones came running down <strong>the</strong> corridor loudlydemanding h<strong>is</strong> hat back."Where are you going?" Neo asked."Finding a way out.""Jack and h<strong>is</strong> friends already tried that."**John Constantine headed for <strong>the</strong> lifts without a word. Neo followed him in as he entered one and hit <strong>the</strong>button for <strong>the</strong> top floor.Exiting <strong>the</strong> lift car, John activated <strong>the</strong> lightsaber and plunged it into a random wall, carving out a roughsquare which he kicked in.He was met with <strong>the</strong> bewildered gazes of <strong>the</strong> Brit<strong>is</strong>h Holdout group, sitting in <strong>the</strong> next room having teafor <strong>the</strong> umpteenth time that day.The Brit<strong>is</strong>h Holdout group cons<strong>is</strong>ted of Brit<strong>is</strong>h folks who had d<strong>is</strong>covered, to <strong>the</strong>ir chagrin, that <strong>the</strong> actorswho had played <strong>the</strong>m were not Brit<strong>is</strong>h, but American or Australian or Canadian or Eskimo or of someo<strong>the</strong>r barbarian nationality. Few outsiders knew just what kind of activities <strong>the</strong> Brit<strong>is</strong>h Holdout engagedin, o<strong>the</strong>r than that it involved a lot of talking in Brit<strong>is</strong>h accents, remin<strong>is</strong>cing about England, d<strong>is</strong>cussingEngl<strong>is</strong>h culture, laughing at Americans, and mostly drinking tea.
There had ex<strong>is</strong>ted for a time an American Holdout group, but people made fun of <strong>the</strong>m and <strong>the</strong>y soond<strong>is</strong>banded.Unperturbed, John left down <strong>the</strong> corridor, reached <strong>the</strong> end, and cut out a portion of <strong>the</strong> wall <strong>the</strong>re. Th<strong>is</strong>time it couldn't be kicked in. With <strong>the</strong> help of <strong>the</strong> lightsaber, he managed to get <strong>the</strong> wall portion onto <strong>the</strong>floor, and beyond <strong>the</strong> hole was darkness. John stuck h<strong>is</strong> head through, looked down in <strong>the</strong> darknesspast <strong>the</strong> sheer window-less side of <strong>the</strong> hotel, looked up in <strong>the</strong> darkness past <strong>the</strong> sheer window-less sideof <strong>the</strong> hotel, and took h<strong>is</strong> head out of <strong>the</strong> hole."Yeah, we're screwed," he concluded, deciding that Jack and h<strong>is</strong> friends had been right after all at leastabout th<strong>is</strong> much."...Is that Keanu Reeves' bank account?"**Neo jumped. Alex was standing behind him, with Ted, both of <strong>the</strong>m munching on popcorn."Oh... that. Yeah." Neo ran h<strong>is</strong> fingers through h<strong>is</strong> hair, making it stick up at odd angles and lookvaguely like someone else's hair. "Uh," he said. Then he closed <strong>the</strong> Internet window, as well as <strong>the</strong>ones showcasing h<strong>is</strong> attempts hacking into Matrix fansites to make <strong>the</strong>m d<strong>is</strong>play <strong>the</strong> message 'Neo washere' whenever <strong>the</strong>y logged on."Want some popcorn?" Ted asked, offering him <strong>the</strong> bowl."No."Neo closed ano<strong>the</strong>r Internet window that showed that all four of h<strong>is</strong> Neopets were satiated with food. Hebet that Smith didn't have any Smithpets, and that bit of info made him unreasonably happy. He shutdown <strong>the</strong> computer."I don't suppose you've got any escape ideas, huh?" Alex took more popcorn."What?" Neo asked."Just in case you did.""No," Neo said again.
- Page 5: "Your behaviour these past few mont
- Page 9 and 10: Neo sank down on the sofa.He looked
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- Page 14 and 15: Next morning62nd Floor. Arrival Lob
- Page 16 and 17: It is in fact at the cafeteria that
- Page 18 and 19: 'There is no exit here', read the h
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- Page 24 and 25: Alex looked up."...That's Paul, tha
- Page 26 and 27: The floor hackers stared at their l
- Page 28 and 29: "Okay," Conor continued. "Situation
- Page 30 and 31: "We want to get out as much as you
- Page 32 and 33: Yawning, Paul pushed open the door
- Page 35 and 36: Jack lunged at his neck. Both of th
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- Page 39 and 40: "I did you a favour, Jack," Griffin
- Page 41 and 42: "That's one," Neo said helpfully, p
- Page 43 and 44: New guy gave a start. "Uh," he said
- Page 45 and 46: His mom made better waffles than th
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- Page 49: It is after a day or two living at
- Page 53 and 54: he was pretty sure was a broken nos
- Page 55 and 56: Night. A shortage of actual beds me
- Page 57 and 58: Neo yanked his finger away to safet
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- Page 61 and 62: Splash.The sudden rush of cold shoc
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- Page 67 and 68: Human beings have a strange tendenc
- Page 69 and 70: Jack shrugged. "Suit yourself." He
- Page 71 and 72: "-but we won't know for sure either
- Page 73 and 74: **"We were just trying to get home!
- Page 75 and 76: "It's John, assholes."John Constant
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- Page 81 and 82: At the rear, not-Tim turned to face
- Page 83 and 84: The lift dinged and opened its door
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- Page 87 and 88: "Nah," Jesse said. "Might n-... - h
- Page 89 and 90: The teen shrugged. "I don't know."
- Page 91 and 92: "NO!" Shane yelled, running towards
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"D'you have any food to spare? We'r
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Group C: Griffin, Kevin, Scott, Jul
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"...Er," said Dem. He put the most
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Group D: Neo, EddieStanding about d
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The cornflakes guy looked at him.Je
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"At least it meant we had heat," Ha
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Group B: Shane, Perry, Tommy, Chris
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"I can't bring them back to life,"
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Someone running after him from behi
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Then a ripple in the air; and sudde
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Nelson smirked and walked on to the
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"Yes sir," Ludlow hissed into his e
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Alex got slowly to his feet. He dim
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The face that looked up at him held
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First Combined MeetingThomas Ludlow
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- Reeves clears throat.- Utah shuts
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Griffin isn't the only one in the r
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He realised that he was not standin
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Ludlow smirked. "Thank you. Now I k
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Seventeen suspicious-looking, mostl
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Scott emerged from the alley he had
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Julian finished the stitches, close
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Stuck in House: Chris Townsend, Mat
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Loose in Kenselton Holding Facility
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Paul and the kids stared back at hi
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"Arctor, Robert," Dem said. "Get on
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With measured reluctance he tries t
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0704270/006/GRA"There are two kinds