It doesn’t turn. She pulls it out and tries again. Still, it doesn’t turn, and Lynell begins pacing in front of the door. She’s about to try one more time when she realizes the key isn’t turning because the door is already unlocked.

He beat her here. She should leave. Go somewhere else. Go home. Leave the city. Hide for the next two weeks. Or perhaps she could go after Price herself and demand to know why. She could Register Alan and be sure to take him with her when she goes. She could write a letter to . . .

She shakes her head, stopping that line of thought. She probably just forgot to lock it after she left this morning. With a deep breath, she pushes the door open and disappears into the darkness of her apartment, only to be stopped by a tall man standing in front of her.

“Lynell.”

She doesn’t scream, but her entire body tenses up and her blood grows cold and her heart stops beating for a moment. She can’t make out the man’s face, but the stature is almost identical to Price.

The voice is familiar.

Too familiar.

“Lynell,” he repeats. And suddenly Lynell wishes it were Price standing before her rather than the man she thought she’d never see again.

“What are you doing here, Daniel?” Lynell’s body doesn’t calm, but she does get enough energy to storm past him and into the apartment. She brushes his arm and feels his fingers graze her skin.

“I came to . . . Lynell, you have to listen to me. You need to leave town,” he says, his voice shaking. Lynell spins around, almost bumping into her tattered green couch. The apartment is small. Lynell doesn’t have much stuff and what she does have is old and worn.

“Why?” she demands, despite agreeing with Daniel.

“I can’t tell you. But you have to trust me.”

Lynell laughs and the sound is filled with so much venom she’s surprised it doesn’t kill her—or him—on the spot. “You promised me you would never say that again. You promised me you’d never come back into my life. Go home, Daniel.”

“Lynell, please.”

“Leave me alone!” she screams. The words bounce off the walls as Daniel blinks and takes a step back. He seems to just have taken in her state. Her damp clothes, tangled hair, and red eyes. She must look crazed.

“Leave me alone, please,” she repeats, quieter this time. Lynell turns her back to Daniel and heads to her bedroom. She sets down her bag and pushes open the door.

She’s digging through the bottom drawer of her dresser when she looks up to see him standing in the doorway, arms crossed. Lynell seethes, her teeth grinding together until her jaw hurts.

A small trickle of her fear instantly evaporates as she picks up the gun from the back of the dresser. She opens the barrel of the gun to find it’s full, which is good since ammo is surprisingly hard to come by. Legally acquiring a gun is a long process and ammo is highly controlled: you have to provide a reason for every single bullet before purchasing them. As a result, very few Registrations are completed by using a gun.