“I think they’re in here!” Lights flicker back on nearby. Shadows dance farther down the corridor. They’re coming.

Grace jumps, Ify extends herself, then grabs Grace’s arm just as it looks like Grace will fall again. Without losing any time, Ify pushes herself off the wall and swings Grace with all her might onto the other rope, to which Grace clings.

“Okay, Grace,” Ify says in a hushed murmur, out of breath. “Listen to me. We don’t have time, so I’m not going to repeat myself. Take your time. Pull yourself up by bending at the elbows. At the top of the lift, reach up to a higher part of the rope with the lower hand. Keep going like that. Keep the rope close to your nose. And just keep going. Okay?”

Grace nods nervously.

Ify is steady with her climb and tries to clear her mind. Anything to keep from looking down and seeing how deep the drop has already gotten. Anything to keep from worrying about how Grace is doing. She doesn’t permit herself a single glance down the whole way up, hoping that if Grace were to look her way, Grace would feel empowered to climb the way Ify climbs. She would see Ify doing this impossible thing, and it would become just a little bit less impossible for her. It would anchor her when it begins to sound like their pursuers are right beneath them. Ify holds on to that hope all the way up.

Still, her arms and shoulders burn. It takes her forever, but eventually the light grows brighter, and she can hear sound. Shouting, cursing, crying.

The riots.

She pulls herself up, eventually reaching a ledge, and with her last remaining strength, she swings herself up and over, landing on her back in a field of grass. A moment later, Grace rolls onto the grass on the opposite side of the hole.

Trees tower over them. The air is cool against Ify’s face, with a hint of moisture from nearby water. Then she smells it. Smoke.

After she catches her breath, she pushes herself up, first onto her elbows, then fully upright. Then she looks eastward, where fires rage.

“I can’t move,” Grace says to the smoke-filled sky.

An aerial mech streaks overhead. Ify closes her eyes against the memory of enemy mechs soaring over the camp where she was raised. When she opens them again, she climbs to her feet, takes her rifle in her hands, and tells Grace, “Hug the shadows.”