There. Dorothy caught movement from the corner of her eye and turned as a soldier appeared in the trees. He crept up behind Ash without a sound, withdrew his gun from his holster and calmly pressed the barrel to Ash’s neck. Very slowly, Ash stood, lifting his arms. The soldier said something, but Dorothy couldn’t hear what it was over the sound of the wind rustling the tree branches. That was okay, she told herself. She didn’t need to hear their conversation. She’d heard it the first time around.

A moment later, another soldier appeared, along with a slightly younger, still-brunette Dorothy, Chandra, Willis, and Zora. Moments later, a large truck rumbled out of the trees, and the soldiers ushered them inside.

Dorothy exhaled. This was good. Everything was playing out exactly as she remembered it had. She crept forward, picking over twigs and rocks, careful not to make a sound as she ducked down behind the truck. While the soldiers were distracted, she tried the truck’s back door.

It wasn’t even locked. They were making it easy for her.

No one spoke as the truck lumbered through the trees. The only sounds were the rocks and brush crunching beneath the truck’s massive tires, and one of the soldiers clearing his throat again and again, like he needed a lozenge.

Dorothy was careful to remain hunched down in the back, and she kept her breathing soft and shallow, so she wouldn’t draw anyone’s attention. The woods were a green-and-black blur and rain slanted past her window, speckling the glass. If she craned her neck, just a little, she could watch their progress through the trees.

The truck followed a dirt path that curved out of the trees and deposited them onto a paved road lined by barbed-wire fences. Ahead, a line of soldiers stood guard in front of the Fort Hunter entrance, guns at the ready. Spotlights shone above them. The truck pulled to a stop, and Dorothy heard the slow rise and fall of voices. A moment later, the soldiers shifted aside, and the truck rumbled through.

Dorothy was just able to make out the words WELCOME TO FORT HUNTER COMPLEX on a far wall before the truck lumbered down a dark tunnel, the sound of its engine echoing off grimy brick as it slowed. Several more long minutes passed, and then they rolled to a stop in front of a white station that looked like an oversize tollbooth. The soldier guarding the station ambled over to their truck, gun at the ready.

Dorothy pressed her lips together. She didn’t remember the soldier searching the truck the first time she’d come through here but, still, she couldn’t help being nervous.

The driver rolled down the truck window, and he and the soldier talked for a bit before, finally, he nodded, stepping aside so they could drive past.

Dorothy exhaled through her teeth. She was in. Again.