arm to get under the armband and shoved parallel with the bottom of the band until the tip came out the other side.

Pain burned through her, drowning out her friend’s shouts. If she didn’t finish this quickly, it would never get done. Gritting her teeth against the pain, she sliced toward her wrist, and upward, scraping the bottom of the armband until the blade emerged three or four centimeters from her hand, leaving the armband flapping from a bit of skin and flesh near her elbow.

“You are completely insane,” Brian said in her ear as he reached across her to grab the knife away.

She let him take it. “Getting that way,” she said as she grabbed the flapping armband with her left hand and ripped it away. More skin came away than probably would hav...

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