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I nodded. “I know. ”
Someone was shaking me. I must have fallen asleep.
It was dark. The fire was out, but moonlight streamed through the drafty windows.
“Bense. ”
It took a moment for my eyes to focus, but I knew the voice. Becky was across from me, sitting up, touching my arm.
Someone was next to her. Carrie. And Curtis. Shelly was on my bed, by my feet. Lily leaned against the wall.
I looked back at Becky. “What’s going on?”
Shelly was the one who spoke. “We’re here to help. ”
I didn’t take my eyes off Becky. It was hard to get her facial expression in this light. She knew about Jane. She had to hate me, and I expected to see it on her face. It had to be there—it was just too dark.
“Is it safe to talk?” I whispered.
Shelly answered again, pointing to the room behind us. “I trust everyone here. And most people are asleep. That doesn’t mean it’s safe, but it’s the best we can do. ”
I turned to Lily. “I thought you weren’t involved. ”
Shelly smiled. “If there’s anyone who pesters me more than you, it’s Lily. She’s in. ”
“So you’re really leaving?” Becky asked.
“Yeah,” I said.
“When?”
I wished it was just the two of us talking. I had things I needed to say. They would have to wait.
“A couple days,” I said. “I’ve got some things to do first. ”
Curtis leaned forward, his elbows on his knees. “That’s what we’re here for. We want to help. ”
“Tell us what you need us to do,” Shelly said. “We could create a distraction or something. And I’ve been stockpiling supplies. ”
I took a breath. It was time to stop being scared.
“Not the forest,” I said. “I don’t even know which direction to run to get to civilization, and they’ve got too many cameras to hide from. ”
“How else are you planning to get out of here?” Shelly asked, exasperated. “A hot-air balloon?”
“No,” I said. “I’ve only got one chance. What are the odds I actually make it out of the forest alive? And if I do, what are the odds I will have made it out of there undetected? And if Maxfield knows I’m gone, then what are the odds that they’ll just sit here and wait for the SWAT teams to move in?
“Maxfield would evacuate you,” I continued. “Or kill you, so my escape wouldn’t mean anything. ”
“Maxfield might just escape and leave us here. ” Carrie’s voice was full of nervous hope.
“Or they might burn the whole place to the ground,” Lily said.
“If I escape, then I’m getting the rest of you out of here. ” I met Becky’s eyes. “Everyone. ”
Curtis scoffed. “How? You’re going to do surgery and take these things out of our heads?”
“Nope,” I said. “I’m going to turn them off. ”
No one said anything.
“Birdman has been keeping records of every little thing that happens in the underground complex,” I said.
Becky finally spoke. “No. You can’t. ”
“I’m not going into the forest, because I can’t save the rest of you that way. I’m going down the elevator in the commissary. They won’t see it coming. I’ve gone over the maps and I’ve read the notes. They don’t have a lot of guards down there, because—”
“Dude,” Curtis said, cutting me off. “We’ve been there. You can’t just walk around. ”
“You’ve been there when they’re ready for you,” I said. “They wait for you at the bottom of the detention elevator, and they take you to a cell, and you never go anywhere unescorted. And you’re not armed. ”
Carrie’s voice was almost pleading. “But you’ve seen what they can do. They’re too strong. ”
“I’ve killed dupes,” I said, trying to sound confident. “I killed Joel’s dupe with a pair of garden shears. Becky got Mason with a Taser. I took that guard out a couple days ago with Shelly’s hatchet. ”
“But could you fight more than one at the same time?” Curtis asked.
“How many have we ever seen at once?” I asked. “The other day there were three guards on four-wheelers. ”
“There could be a hundred,” Shelly said.
“No one has ever seen more than two Icemans and one Ms. Vaughn at one time. ”
“That’s optimistic,” Shelly said sarcastically.
Curtis shook his head, his voice rising slightly over our hushed tones. “That’s not optimism. That’s stupidity. ”
“No,” Becky said, her eyes fixed on mine. “I think he’s right. ”
Now it was my turn to be surprised.
“I think it’s genius. ” She turned to the others. “You guys have an implant in your heads so you can’t cross into the forest, right? Well, that implant didn’t hurt you when you were down in the complex, did it? You can’t go out, but you can go in. ”
I hadn’t thought about that, and my heart jumped; I was suddenly anxious. I didn’t want to lead another revolt.
But she was right.
Shelly was smiling now, too, and Curtis. Only Carrie looked scared, and she gripped Curtis’s hand. She’d just gotten Curtis back and now he could die.
I looked at Becky and sighed. “I come to you with a plan to sneak in alone and you suggest a war. ”
She just grinned.
CHAPTER NINETEEN
We agreed to meet in the morning, somewhere more private, to make the real plans. I wanted to stay and talk to Becky alone, but we were all together and there wasn’t a chance. We looked at each other for a few seconds before she turned and went back to her bed. I lay down in front of the fire and thought about the mess I’d created until I fell asleep.
I got up just before dawn and left the barrack. There were things I needed to do before the town woke up.
When I reached the stream, much of the water was crusted over with ice. That seemed to come and go almost every day.
I stepped across. I’d gotten used to it now, knowing exactly where to step to move quickly and stay dry. I hadn’t thought I’d be here long enough to learn those kinds of things about this town.
The fort was quiet. There was no fire in the pit, or even lingering smoke or embers. One of the rooms on the far side of the courtyard had a small sliver of light escaping through a crack in the door. Other than that, the entire place was still.
I didn’t walk on the boardwalk. It was too loud. I crept along the dirt and weeds of the courtyard, choosing each step with care and pausing at every slight sound. Finally, I had to step up onto the boards—one, two, three quick steps—and I was at the door of the meeting room.
It hung half-open. I stepped inside, peering through the darkness. No one was there.
It didn’t take me long to gather up every scrap of the cloth maps. Some were still rolled, and others were tossed carelessly on the floor. I spread out the largest and laid the others on top. There were around twenty or twenty-five, and when I finally rolled them all up together it was as thick as a bedroll. I slung the heavy cloth over my shoulder and stepped back outside.
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