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Malcolm had had a long night of searching for the three boys being hunted by the farmers. He rubbed his hands together to clean them as he walked down the hall wearing a camouflaged uniform. He entered the room to the nursery and immediately saw Mira’s crumpled body on the floor. He quickly closed and locked the door behind him and focused on the cribs and then the incubators. The cribs were empty and two of the incubators housed babies. He scanned the corners of the room for the last infant. Slowly creeping forward, he took a look behind a stack of boxes: nothing was there. Cautiously, he moved to another corner stacked with boxes, but again found nothing.
The last place to check was behind the incubator station. Once again Malcolm crossed to it carefully, looked – and found nothing. Before he could decide what to do next, the ceiling on the other side of the room caved in. When the dust cleared, standing before him was a wild looking young girl of about five years. Her hair was matted around her face and she wore no clothing. She snarled and charged him.
Malcolm stood his ground and raised his hand to her. In the palm of his hand was an emblazoned crest. It glowed, and light shone in the girl’s green eyes. Her scream fell silent, her charge halted. Malcolm walked over to her quickly while keeping his hand up in her eyes, then he touched her on the shoulder with his other hand and she stood straighter. He took his jacket off and put it around the young girl, leading her out of the room. Malcolm went back up front to speak with Bethany before going to his room to shower and sleep.
Chapter 9 Cavers