3
The rover was taller than the wall, and even from inside the town Scout could see it was parked just where she had left it, off to one side of the road near the gateway. Still, there was something about its dark silhouette against the bright blue of the midday sky, like a bad omen. Something in the way it hovered over that part of the town, not letting the sun reach the wall to reflect blindingly back from the sheets of metal. Like it was creating its own little patch of darkness.
But some of that darkness was her own vision. Just a few days ago she had nearly died when someone pulled all of the air out of the room she had been hiding in. She had recovered, but she still had headaches and nightmares. She wasn’t well enough to be running again and her brain seemed prepared to knock her
