فصل 7

CHAPTER 7

I woke up at four a.m. when my alarm began vibrating. Turning it off, I crept out of my bed for the last time. My nerves were buzzing. I pulled on the gray leggings of the compound and an old, long-sleeved gray thermal before grabbing my backpack. I looked around my room one last time. My compound blanket was coming with me, but everything else given to me upon my arrival to the Guardian Wing sat in a neat stack on my bed. Years of conserving and caring for our resources wouldn’t allow me to leave my things a mess. I glanced at my clock. Time to go.

I eased out of my room and closed the door behind me quietly. The tunnel was deserted, and I could just make out the faint light of the guardian’s desk at the end of it. My heart hammered as I crept down the dark tunnel, staying close to the wall. The last door before the lobby was the supply closet, and I pulled out my lockpicks. Shawn had trained me well, and it took only seconds to get the door open. I slid the padlock into my pocket.

The supply closet was pretty pathetic, with only a few of the bare essentials sitting limply on almost empty shelves. After surveying the soap, extra towels, bedding, and various cleaning products, I grabbed a bar of the compound-made soap and slipped it in my bag. I may not be able to shower topside, but if I survived longer than a few days, I was going to need to get clean somehow. That mission accomplished, I picked up one of the large metal buckets used to mop the floor and eased the door back open. I could see the guardian on duty. It was River, and she was awake, scrolling through her port screen. I took a deep breath, and with as much force as I could muster, I threw the metal bucket back down the tunnel toward my room.

I shut the supply door as the bucket clattered and banged loudly against the stone floors. The sound of River scooting her chair back echoed off the stone floor, and I held my breath, praying I wouldn’t get caught. As soon as I heard her run past the supply closet to investigate, I slipped out and ran. I waited to hear my name called, but I reached the end of the tunnel undetected and turned left, pelting toward the marines’ barracks. I slid to a stop outside door number twelve and stood in the shadows, chest heaving. Two minutes later a buzzer sounded, and five marines trotted out just like I knew they would. I slipped inside before the doors could slide shut again.

My eyes scanned the room; I was interested despite having only minutes to get what I needed and get out before the night shift came in. By compound standards it was luxurious. One wall held supplies, while the other had what looked like lockers flanked by thickly cushioned couches. It had a clean, bleached smell and the overhead lights were so bright they hurt my eyes.

Dashing across the room, I grabbed a coil of rope, large canteen, and a ration pack from the wall of supplies. The stun guns were locked inside a large glass-fronted case, and I rattled the handles hopelessly, knowing my lockpicks didn’t have a chance against a fingerprint-coded lock. I’d just have to make do without one. Along one wall was a long low table, and I stopped when I saw that three of the marines’ specialized, high-tech ports were plugged in to charge. I picked one up so I could see if any of the holes in the side would fit my dad’s port plug. I unscrewed the back cover of the compass and held it up to the port screen, but the plug inside was much too small for any of the available holes. It wasn’t until I’d tucked it back inside my shirt that I noticed the small security camera in the corner of the room, its red light flashing. Recording. I’d only ever seen cameras at the compound entrances. This wasn’t good. I bolted for the door.

Slipping out of the barracks was surprisingly easy, and I took off toward the topside entrance. Running uphill was a lot harder than running down, and my labored breath echoed eerily in the silent tunnels. I had an hour before North Compound awoke and my absence at school was reported, but only five minutes before the night-shift marines discovered my theft and the compound went into full lockdown. If I was still inside when that happened, it was all over. I was young, so I probably wouldn’t be executed—the usual punishment for jeopardizing the survival of the human race—but I wasn’t positive on that.

I was almost to the last turn that would lead me to the entrance I’d used the day before when the blare of an alarm sliced through the air. My heart stopped, and I hesitated for a moment before breaking into a full sprint. There should have been two minutes left before the marines even made it back to their barracks. How had someone already discovered the theft? The security camera? My careful calculations didn’t matter now. I was out of time.

My leg muscles were on fire when I finally skidded around the last corner that would lead me to freedom, just in time to see the emergency gate come crashing down. The bars sizzled with the high-voltage electrical charge designed to prevent a dinosaur from entering the compound, and I barely stopped before colliding with them. Ten feet away, just beyond my reach, sat the compound entrance. My eyes raked over the gate, but I knew there was no way through. The blue electricity that raced over the iron bars would stop my heart if I touched it. For a system designed to keep monsters out, it was horribly effective at keeping me in. I balled my hands into fists as angry tears pressed against the backs of my eyes. Swallowing a scream, I slammed my closed fist against the side of the tunnel wall. Stone bit into my knuckles, sending white-hot pain up my arm, but I didn’t care. It didn’t matter. Nothing mattered now. I’d failed before I’d even begun.

The sound of running footsteps came up the tunnel behind me, and I whirled, my jaw clenched, my feet braced. A figure emerged from the shadows, and the flashing emergency lights illuminated Shawn’s familiar face. I felt a momentary rush of relief, followed immediately by gut-wrenching fear.

“What are you doing here?” I cried as Shawn dashed past me to the holoscreen embedded in the concrete of the tunnel wall.

He began typing something, his forehead scrunched in concentration. “I’d ask you the same question, but apparently I know you better than you know me.”

“You don’t understand.” I could hear the desperation in my voice, and I glanced nervously back down the tunnel, wishing there was somewhere for us to hide. “You need to leave. They’re going to think you stole stuff.” He gave up on typing and ripped the entire cover of the holoscreen off the wall, letting it fall to the stone floor with a crash. He began pulling at wires. “Sorry, can’t do that. Give me a second.” “You might not have a second,” I warned. I could hear pounding feet and shouts getting closer. I flicked my eyes up to the security camera. The red light winked at me, and my stomach clenched. Someone had fixed it. I turned back just as the gate suddenly flickered and then powered off. I blinked in shock. Without the snapping electrical charge that made it so deadly, it was nothing but widely spaced iron bars.

“Hurry up,” Shawn said. “I could only deactivate it for thirty seconds.” Before I could say anything, he’d ripped my backpack off and shoved it through the bars, pushed me after it. Turning myself sideways, I held my breath and squirmed through. As soon as I was clear, Shawn’s pack flew through the bars, and he threw himself into the same gap I’d used. He got about halfway through before he got stuck, his chest and back wedged tight between the unforgiving iron. He grunted and squirmed, his eyes wide with panic. Lunging forward, I grabbed his arm and, bracing both feet against the bars, I yanked with all I was worth. If the gate came back on now, we were both dead.

“Come on, come on,” I pleaded through gritted teeth as I strained backward. My joints creaked as I pulled with all my might. Suddenly, with a pop, Shawn came free of the gate, and we both flew backward, landing in a tangled heap on the rough stone floor. The gate reactivated. My heartbeat hammered in my ears as I untangled myself from Shawn and darted for the tunnel entrance. With a flick, I turned on the holoscreen. Shawn rushed up beside me and together we began frantically scanning the ground above.

“It looks clear,” Shawn said.

“Looks can be deceiving,” I said, biting my lip so hard I tasted blood. “Those things stalk compound entrances.”

Shawn adjusted his pack. “They’ve seen lunch-on-legs pop out of the holes in the ground too often not to. We will have to risk it. I’ll go out first and signal if it’s safe.”

“You aren’t coming,” I said, pulling him away from the ladder. I glanced back at the holoscreen. Still clear. “Stay here. Claim I tricked you into this or something.”

“Stop!” The shout came from behind us, and I whirled to see three of the compound’s marines trapped behind the sizzling gate that had almost killed us. One of the marines was messing with the same holoscreen Shawn had. I looked back just in time to see Shawn’s feet disappear through the compound hatch. Gritting my teeth in frustration, I followed.