“Why? Don’t tell me you want to turn back now.”

He shook his head. Quickly. “No. That’s not what I was saying. I really was just curious.”

“Thinking of the worst-case scenario?”

“No, no. The worst-case scenario is dying.”

“Low bar.”

“I think it could be helpful to tell people that, when I go back. A version of that,” he said. “That you were all prepared to provide me with housing and a job. Just like that. I was dropped in here without warning and you were all just like, ‘Sure, we can hook him up with a place to live, a job, and medical care.’ ”

“Yeah, make us sound all good and noble. Hopefully that will help with the not-getting-blown-up thing.”

Maisie slowed as she peered ahead. The trees were thinning.

She did a quick survey of the sky. No drones in sight.

“Those were East Spencer drones, right?” Lennon asked.

“Yeah.”

“So hopefully they didn’t follow us west.”

“Only one way to find out.”

They walked out of the trees.

LENNON

GRASS STRETCHED BEYOND the trees. Lennon spotted an old road, overgrown and covered in weeds and grass. A deer trotted past several yards away.

Maisie’s gaze was fixed behind him, and he turned to see a patch of buildings ahead. She knelt down, pulling a map from the bag.

She studied it, then pointed to the old road. “Let’s follow that in. Looks like it will take us right along the outskirts of town. Hopefully we can duck in and grab a car.” She folded the map back up.

He raised his eyebrows with a smile. “We’re going to steal a car?”

“I’d really like to drive part of the way. It’s going to be tough to get the shipment and get you to the gate in time if we have to walk nearly thirty miles.”

“Good point.”

“I don’t know what their vehicle situation is like up here, but they have something that transports the shipments from the gate to the neutral zone, so there’s that at least,” she said.

“Our satellites showed more vehicle movement on the roads up north than in the south. Significantly more.”

“Huh. Interesting.” She swung the backpack over her shoulder. “Should be easy, then.” She sounded like she was trying to reassure herself as much as him.

They walked to the old road and started down it, darkness settling in as the sun finished setting.

Lennon’s shoulder burned a bit, but he got the feeling that anxiety and nerves were keeping him from feeling the full brunt of the pain.

Plus, he was distracted by Maisie.

She’d often walk just a bit ahead of him, and the view was…well, he shouldn’t have been looking at the view. He should have been keeping his eyes to himself.

But there wasn’t much else to look at out here.

Not that it would have mattered. He would have enjoyed that view in the middle of a crowded street.

A light breeze was blowing an occasional whiff of Maisie’s flowery shampoo his way whenever her ponytail flapped in the wind.