The group dashed out, backpacks slamming up and down against their spines, their feet slapping furiously across the asphalt. The edge of the road was cracked and broken, as the plants struggled to reclaim their ancient territory, but the road was so wide that the center remained smooth—covered with dead leaves and windblown dirt, but still one piece. They ran behind a delivery van, and then in front of a pickup. Three lanes across. Four lanes. Ariel was almost to the center barrier when she heard a shout, and looked up to see figures on the nearby bridge.

“Partials!” she screamed. “Keep running!” She crouched down by the rusted hulk of an old SUV and started firing, trying to force the soldiers into cover. The figures disappeared, but Ariel kept her eyes on the bridge, ready to fire at the first head that popped up. “Just keep going!” she called. “We have to move south!”

Xochi reached the barrier first and launched herself over it, then reached back to hold Arwen as Madison passed her over. Both girls ran for the southern trees, while Kessler, close on their heels, found more cover in the lee of a moving van and laid down another burst of fire.

“Ariel,” she shouted, “I’ll cover you! Catch up!”

Nandita jumped nimbly over the barrier, then paused to help Isolde clamber over with Khan still strapped to her chest. Ariel heard the baby scream, probably woken by the shooting. She reached the barrier just as Isolde cleared it, and leaped over without pausing.

A voice called out from the bridge during the brief moment of quiet. “Don’t shoot!”

“The hell we won’t,” snarled Ariel, running past Kessler to take cover behind a faded white sedan skewed sideways in the road. A skeleton slumped over the wheel. Ariel drew a bead on the bridge and shouted for Kessler to move up. “Get into the trees!” She fired another burst. “We can lose them in the houses on the other side!”

“There’s a chain-link fence!” Xochi called back. “You’ve got to buy us more time to knock it down!”

Ariel gritted her teeth and fired again. “Come on, you little bastards, stick your heads out.” She fired again. “Come on, I dare you.”

“Don’t shoot!” shouted the figures on the bridge. “Madison!”

Ariel frowned in confusion. Madison whipped around. “Did it just say my name?”

“How do all these things keep knowing our names?” Kessler demanded, reaching the far side and throwing her weight against the fence.

“Madison,” the voice shouted, “it’s me! Madison, we’ve found you!”

Madison ran back into the street. “That’s Haru!”

“It’s not Haru,” Ariel snarled, “it’s just a trick. Get your head down before you get shot!”

“We’re through the fence!” shouted Xochi.

“Madison, tell them not to shoot.” The voice echoed through the tree-lined gully. “It’s me, I’m standing up!”