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Back Ruins Save as PDF
Chapters (62)
  1. Dedication
  2. Contents
  3. Part 1
  4. Chapter One
  5. Chapter Two
  6. Chapter Three
  7. Chapter Four
  8. Chapter Five
  9. Chapter Six
  10. Chapter Seven
  11. Chapter Eight
  12. Chapter Nine
  13. Chapter Ten
  14. Chapter Eleven
  15. Chapter Twelve
  16. Chapter Thirteen
  17. Chapter Fourteen
  18. Chapter Fifteen
  19. Chapter Sixteen
  20. Chapter Seventeen
  21. Chapter Eighteen
  22. Chapter Nineteen
  23. Chapter Twenty
  24. Chapter Twenty-one
  25. Part 2
  26. Chapter Twenty-two
  27. Chapter Twenty-three
  28. Chapter Twenty-four
  29. Chapter Twenty-five
  30. Chapter Twenty-six
  31. Chapter Twenty-seven
  32. Chapter Twenty-eight
  33. Chapter Twenty-nine
  34. Chapter Thirty
  35. Chapter Thirty-one
  36. Chapter Thirty-two
  37. Chapter Thirty-three
  38. Chapter Thirty-four
  39. Chapter Thirty-five
  40. Chapter Thirty-six
  41. Chapter Thirty-seven
  42. Part 3
  43. Chapter Thirty-eight
  44. Chapter Thirty-nine
  45. Chapter Forty
  46. Chapter Forty-one
  47. Chapter Forty-two
  48. Chapter Forty-three
  49. Chapter Forty-four
  50. Chapter Forty-five
  51. Chapter Forty-six
  52. Chapter Forty-seven
  53. Chapter Forty-eight
  54. Chapter Forty-nine
  55. Chapter Fifty
  56. Chapter Fifty-one
  57. Acknowledgments
  58. About the Author
  59. Back Ad
  60. Credits
  61. Copyright
  62. About the Publisher

“They don’t care if we escape?”

“Where you gonna go?” he asked. He scooted toward her, and after a moment she held out her wrists for him to unlock. “You’ll understand when you look outside. But be careful—if they see you awake, they’ll come back.”

He unlocked her, and she rubbed her wrists while he opened the cuffs on her ankles. “They want us unconscious?” she asked.

“They don’t care either way,” he said again. “But you’re new—if you’re awake, they’ll come for you. We may as well put that off as long as we can, right?”

He unlocked her ankles, and she drew her legs in close, suddenly chilly in the damp air, her clothes wet and her body soaked to the bone. She took a moment to feel for her equipment—all gone—and looked around to see that she was in a house, just like any other wealthy pre-Break home; the damp, squishy surface that had disgusted her so much was just a carpet, completely saturated with water, and indeed the entire building seemed suffused with extra moisture—the corners were shaggy with moss, the walls were ringed with mold stains, and even the ceiling seemed to sag and drip.

“Where are we?” she asked.

“Come take a look.” He crawled across the floor to a set of squishy stairs and led her up to a second and then a third floor. It was drier up here, though it still showed signs of water damage. The room at the top of the stairs had windows on three sides, all covered with blankets, and a hallway on the fourth led to more rooms. There was a low wall around the open stairwell, and Kira glanced over to see a long drop down to the second floor. The wooden furniture had all been broken down, stacked like firewood in the corner, and it seemed like every mattress in the house had been shoved against the walls. Kira guessed it was for insulation; it was colder here than she’d expected.

“I live up here,” said the Partial. “So did the others, before they were taken. You can peek out the windows, but be careful—move the cloth too much and they’ll see it. With a newbie in here, they’re bound to have someone watching.”