A frozen wind needles into me. All I have is the small knife in my pocket—no real weapon—which means my only option is to run. Dread fills my blood. I drop my sister’s books and am headed toward the closest bridge when something flutters from the pages.

I plan to ignore it, the need to escape overpowering, except that I recognize the bright yellow banner, the block letters spelling out NEW YORK CITY across a photo of this city as it used to be.

It was the object that gave my father hope when he was lost in the Forest as a child. Something my sister carried with her when she came looking for me. The last remnant of my life from the village.

I can’t leave it and I stoop to pick it up, to slip it into my pocket, when I remember standing on the roof in the Sanctuary with my sister as she tried to locate landmarks in the picture. When she told me about the secret histories of the buildings in the photo—underground rooms with hidden access to the tunnels.

Over my shoulder the Recruiters bear down on me, finding a way through the maze of broken bridges that leads to where I stand. Already I can hear snatches of them shouting for me.

The streets are filled with dead. The bridges will never take me across the island—too many of them have been cut and I’ll always be in sight of the Recruiters. If I want any hope of escaping them, there’s only one option: the subway.

I have to make it to the tunnels.

Sacrificing even a few moments is stupid, but even so I hold the postcard up, turning it back and forth. With each thump of my heart my fingers waver, panic-fueled blood racing through my body.

And then everything lines up perfectly. There’s the skeleton of what used to be a tall glass skyscraper and beyond that the building with the green roof and the arching windows.

But which one has the secret rooms? I clench my eyes shut, trying to put myself back in time with my sister as she was telling me about these places, but all I can recall is my frustration and skepticism.

I drop to my knees, tossing my sister’s books around me and flipping frantically for anything that will give me a clue as to which one has the access. Nothing.

The Recruiters race toward me but there’s no direct route; they keep having to detour when they encounter cut bridges. There are only a handful of them, and even though I might be able to take them, it would be insane to try. If I got hurt, if they overpowered me—I’d have no hope of finding Catcher again.