DEATH IN THE MORNING

Bonner and Clara were working their way up the overpass. Miss Colt spoke with authority a couple of times, throwing the dead Snowmen around like confetti.

Bonner's hands dropped to his knives and two blades streaked through the morning sunlight. The first caught the fleeing Snowman mid-back. The second, more carefully aimed, chunked into his neck. He died instantly, his legs seeming to turn to rubber as he fell.

There was just sporadic fighting going on around the cloverleaf now, as the other Sisters mopped up the remaining Snowmen.

Clara looked around her and the broken bodies of her enemies. "That," she said to Bonner, "was refreshing."