“Lemme see the map again,” I asked, and he took it out of his shirt pocket, creased and falling apart. I lined up the pieces and peered at them. “Weird. Look, here’s those two rivers we crossed, right? So we should be about here.” I pointed. “But the map shows other cells—cities—and roads. So where are they? There’s nothing here. No cities. No roads.”
“Yeah,” he said. “But still, that huge city must be Chicago, right? And since it’s the biggest city, it’s probably the capital of the United. There’s no other city it could be.”
“That isn’t sound logic. But we should go there anyway. Just in case. We have to get through that checkpoint,” I said, pointing out the extremely obvious. “Any bright ideas?”
He pinched his lips—the lips that he’d kissed me with days ago and never mentioned again. “I do,” he said slowly. “But you’re not going to like it.”
94
HE WAS RIGHT—I DIDN’T LIKE it. It was dangerous, would probably not work, and would most likely end up with one or both of us dead or in prison. Unfortunately, I couldn’t think of anything better that we could actually pull off.
So here we were at the city’s checkpoint, waiting in line like a lot of other people on foot. During our twenty-minute wait, he and I automatically catalogued our surroundings, noting places to run, where we could breach the razor-topped walls, how many guards there were and how we could take them out. My heart was thudding heavily in my chest and I was still worried about the lameness in my shoulder. I didn’t want it to let me down at a crucial moment. Because I knew that Tim would keep going without looking back.
“Metal detectors?” I asked, trying to see ahead of us in the long line of people.
He shook his head. “Weirdly, I don’t think so. At least, not that I can see.”
Across the road, a line of fancy cars moved more quickly. For just a moment my mind wandered away from the danger. I had relived his surprising kiss several times, but he’d been pretty distant since then. It felt like years since I’d seen Nate and with a flash of pain I realized I couldn’t remember the feel of his arms around me, his body, slender and strong, against mine. I didn’t even know if he was alive. Or if Becca was.
One thing I did know: if Becca was alive and in this city, I would find her.
We took another couple of steps closer, my gaze nervously darting here and there as I examined our options.
“So, razor wire,” I said quietly, and he nodded.
“Doable,” he said.
The thing about razor wire is that it’s super scary looking, and if you don’t know what you’re doing, you could get stuck in it, all cut up. But if you expect it to hurt, expect it to cut you up a bit but not kill you, and you’re really determined to just let it rip your clothes, well, you can usually make it over alive.
“I’m thinking razor wire, rooftop, sewer cap on the other side,” I said.
He gave me a look of agreement, but murmured, “Or guns blazing, take the guards out, hop the turnstile, run down the street, sewer cap.”
“Also a plan,” I said. Inside, I was trembling. It had been weeks since I’d fought, either practice or real, and I was still weak from the accident. Could I still function? Would it really come back so easily?
The people in front of us moved ahead, and it was in fact a tall metal turnstile they moved through, one at a time. I looked up at the guard with an open smile and waited for him to demand whatever thing I didn’t have to get into the city.
The guard snapped, “Your arm!” and I thought, no way am I giving up my gun.
“Your arm!” the guard said and held out his own arm. Mystified, I held out my actual arm.
He grabbed it, pushed my sleeve up, and held a small wand over the top, scanning it. He frowned, then moved the wand around.
“You’re not chipped!” he said, and stepped backward to press a red button on his comm. “INTRUDER ALERT! INTRUDER!”
95
BECCA
I’D SEEN SOME OF THE city with Nate and Blondie McMystery Man, but with Mia I was in an enormous, chauffeur-driven car. It had two backseats facing each other, and Mia rode in the backward one. I tried not to crane my neck at this part of the city, which looked like paradise. I was supposed to be from here. This was all supposed to be normal, business as usual. I kept my gaze low but peered out from under my lashes to drink everything in. There were buildings here so high that I could barely see the top of them. I’d never seen so many cars, so many electric lights, so many people. The street plan seemed to be a grid, and I started memorizing street names, landmarks, certain buildings, etc.
“Here, Mattias,” Mia commanded, and the driver smoothly pulled the car over to the curb. This building had huge glass windows full of fake people wearing clothes. Way creepy. I could barely take it all in as I climbed out of the car after Mia. About twenty feet away I saw a very tall, lean figure leaning against the building and stuffed down a gasp: It was the Loner, Blondie McMystery Man!
Why was he here? It was almost like he’d been waiting for the car, had known we were coming.
I kept my face still but inside I was glad to see him, this reminder of another life, a real plan, a purpose. It was only my second day working at the palace, but it felt like much longer than that.
Without acknowledging us in any way, he casually pushed off the building and walked in our direction.