“How tough it’s going to be for the second-to-last guy.” “Why so tough?” McVries asked. “Well…” Pearson rubbed his eyes, then squinted at a pine tree that had been struck by lightning some time in the past. “You know, to walk down everybody, absolutely everybody but that last guy. There ought to be a runner-up Prize, that’s what I think.” “What?” McVries asked flatly. “I dunno.” “How about his life?” Garraty asked. “Who’d walk for that?” “Nobody, before the Walk started, maybe. But right now I’d be happy enough with just that, the hell with the Prize, the hell with having my every heart’s
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