There were a lot of hard parts about being a Jack, but you took most of them in stride. Bobby Mantell would tell you that if you asked him.

The long, hot days in the Breaks, the weird burns you got when you messed up calibrating the gear, occasionally getting shot at…. those were all things you learned to accept. It was an honor to serve with the Hunters, at least Bobby thought it was, and he wouldn't trade any of those things, or the thousand other tough bits of the job, for a more normal life.

Two things were really hard.

The first was watching your Hunter leap high in the air to attack a large God. No matter how much preparation you did, you could never really be sure how it would go. Bobby held his breath when Holden soared into the air, every single time.

The second thing was what he was doing right now.

Bobby was member of a group of seven Jacks, who had informally dubbed themselves the Club. It was their job to deal with the bodies of dead Hunters.

There were certain procedures that needed to be followed. You couldn't leave the remains out in the Breaks, and you couldn't bury them in the ground. If you did, they wouldn't stay there. Bobby had never seen what happened if you didn't follow protocol, but he had heard stories.

They worked in teams of two. That meant that, if you were lucky, you might go years without getting called for Club duty. Today he was partnered with Graham, an F Hall Jack who belonged to Jonah.

Time was an issue. She'd been out here two days already, and they didn't know exactly where she was. Typically, someone would show them, but Max had said that Rafferty didn't have to come.

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They walked the canyon for an hour before they saw her. Katrin's white gear still gleamed in the sunlight, but everything was broken and twisted.

Holden didn't think much of Katrin, and Bobby understood why. She was the top rated Hunter, and that inspired a certain amount of jealousy. Katrin didn't do herself any favors, either, the way she strutted around in her all white gear, or how she hardly ever practiced with the other girls, or the fact that she flouted so many of the rules everyone else had to follow.

But there was another Katrin too. The one that always greeted him with a big smile when he passed in the hallway, very early in the morning, her face still creased with sleep, and her hair pulled back in a ponytail. He had seen her one time, before the sun even came up, jumping over and over again, trying to be able to jump to exactly 47 feet without thinking, the exact height of the vulnerable elbow joint of a Class 2 Jigsaw.

It was hard to get most of the other Hunters up before breakfast.

Once, when his mother was sick, Bobby had a hard time getting time off to visit her. Katrin had pulled up to him outside in a car she had borrowed from the motor pool, and told him to get in. She said that some things were more important than rules, and that she would take all the heat for it. They were gone for three days, and Katrin hadn't been allowed to hunt for a month after that.

This one was going to be hard.

Even standing over the body, he couldn't believe she was gone. You knew hunting was dangerous. You knew things go could wrong, and you tried to prepare yourself. Every time your Hunter suited up, there was a risk. Gods were monsters built for battle, and sometimes the bullets of desperate men found their way home.

You didn't expect them to die like this. He couldn't imagine what Caleb was going through.

Bobby picked up her sword, and put it in a special case. The sword was a masterpiece, too well made to give up on. Lots of girls would want it. He knew Holden would be one of them, and she'd have a solid claim, but he would convince her to pass. Bobby didn't like rehomed weapons. The Engineers could laugh at him all they wanted, but they never performed as well for their new owner. It was like they were heartbroken.

He was supposed to salvage as much gear as he could, but it just didn't feel right to strip off her boots or chest plate. He decided to tell them that the rest was too mangled. The Abbey's White Queen deserved to move on intact. As far as Bobby, was concerned, she'd earned it.

He stepped back, and nodded to Graham, indicating he was done. Graham stepped forward and poured the gasoline. It was a special mix that burned very hot, and wouldn't leave anything behind.

They would have to sit for a long time while the body burned down. The smell of cooking meat would make them want to puke.

Bobby lit a match, and looked down at her, one last time.

"Goodbye, Katrin" he said, and dropped the match.