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Talen

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I don’t think about my next action. No plan forms in my head. I simply raise my right hand to my shoulder and fling the knife forward. It spins end over end through the air silently before embedding itself in Becker’s skull, right between his eyes.

He drops to the ground, and Aerin lets out a squeal as she jumps away. She stares at me, open-mouthed, as I race up to her side, pull the blade from the guard’s head, and grab her by the hand.

“Move.” I grab Ae

rin’s hand and tug at her.

“Talen, how in the hell—”

“Move!” I drag her along behind me, racing as fast as I can to the room we’ve shared since we arrived inside the complex.

“You are going to have to tell me how you learned to use those knives so well,” Aerin says as she grabs both of our packs from the side of the bed. She hands mine to me, and I start to fill it with food and water, refusing to acknowledge her words.

Aerin loads her pack with candles and matches, and I shove two of the towels from the bathroom into mine before I grab her and start toward the doorway.

“What about the other stuff?” Aerin pulls back and shakes my hand free of her arm.

“There isn’t time. They know about us now, and we have to get out of here.”

“And go where?”

“For now, just out.”

“Out where?” It’s Aerin’s turn to grab my arm. “Think for a minute, Talen. It’s a twenty-mile trek underground to the western exit, and nearly a hundred miles to walk over the mountain from that exit to Plastictown. The only other way we’ve been is the shaft, and it’s blocked from the outside.”

“We can hide there,” I say. “That would at least give us time to think. Right now, we have to move. They know who I am, and I can’t risk them finding us!”

“Moving without thought is idiotic!” Aerin glances toward the door and then lowers her voice. “We could end up stuck in that shaft with no way to get out. We can’t risk it. I studied the map. I knew there was another shaft somewhere in the north, and I think I can locate it now. It will at least get us closer to town.”

She’s completely correct, and I still myself long enough to start thinking outside of pure flight mode.

“Can you find it in the dark?” I ask. “We have to move without light. If they see the flashlight, they’ll know where we are.”

“I think so,” Aerin replies. “The corridor is straight, and the shaft is in the room at the end of it. Once we get there, we just turn left and head to the end of that one.”

“How far?”

“That, I don’t know. It looked like at least five miles, but I couldn’t tell scale from the map. That’s just based on how far it looked compared to the exits we know.”

We gather up as many supplies as will fit into our packs. I can tell how much it pains Aerin to leave her books behind, but we need to stick to the essentials. Before we leave, I notice her slipping her journal into the back pocket of her pack.

Out in the corridor, I look left and right quickly. I don’t see or hear any signs of other people, so I look back to Aerin.

“Do you hear anything?” I ask.

“No. I think we’re good.”

“All right,” I say, “Let’s keep a low profile then, shall we?”

Aerin nods, and I turn off the light. The darkness is overwhelming, but it’s something I’m used to. I give my eyes a moment to adjust, but it doesn’t really help. With one hand grasping Aerin’s and the other touching the wall of the corridor, we make our silent trek down the hall.

It doesn’t take long to reach the bend in the corridor, and I don’t hear anything to make me think we’re being followed. We turn left and continue down the corridor to the north, remaining in darkness for another hour before finally feeling comfortable enough to switch on the light.

Once my eyes adjust, I see this area isn’t drastically different from the others we’ve explored. The dusty, unused rooms on either side of the hall are devoid of anything useful, so we continue on for another hour or more before we see the abrupt end of the hallway with doors on the right and left.

“Which side?” I ask.

“Right, I think.”



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