Ashen Winter (Ashfall)

across the camp, rehashing the stories of our individual journeys as we went. A row of field kitchens was set up outside one of the fences. Black Lake mercenaries wearing winter camo were filling bowls and passing them through hatches in the fence in front of each kitchen. Unlike Camp Galena, the refugees here were organized in neat lines. Flash waved at us from one of the other lines, and Mom beckoned him to us.
    Alyssa and Ben came over with Flash. Mom gave each of us bowls and spoons. “Be careful with these,” she said. “It’s hard to get more. I’ve got to go be The Principal.” She walked off to talk to people in the other lines.
    “I’ve got to get out of here,” I muttered.
    “Why?” Alyssa asked. “Flash said it’s not too bad. They get enough to eat, sort of. Everyone has a tent—even if some of them suck.”
    “Are you crazy? Not too bad?”
    “Anything’s better than being chained to a bed in the Anamosa prison.” She glared at me, and I had to look away.
    “I guess it would be,” I said softly. “I’m sorry.”
    “Why are you in such a hurry to get away from me, anyway?”
    I didn’t reply.
    “Darla,” she said, scowling.
    “Yeah. I’m going to escape. I just don’t know how yet.”
    “I can plan an escape,” Ben said. “The guard pattern is suboptimal.”
    “You can?” I asked. “How?”
    “I have several ideas. I need to observe the guard patterns for at least a week to confirm their effectiveness.”
    “A week? I’m leaving tonight.”
    “You just got to us!” Dad said.
    I didn’t reply. He was right. But finding my parents hadn’t fixed anything. It only made Darla’s absence even more painful.
    “If you attempt to leave without adequate preparation,” Ben said, “you will likely be caught or killed, and your mission will fail.”
    He had a point. Getting myself killed wouldn’t help Darla. But I couldn’t sit around, either. Couldn’t wait while she was . . . while the Peckerwoods—I didn’t even want to think about what might be happening to Darla. Why they were keeping her alive. “I can’t wait a week. She’s in danger.”
    “Maybe I could devise a preliminary operational plan with two days’ observation. More time would be necessary to confirm and optimize it. How many people would be escaping?”
    “Shh,” I said. We were approaching the front of the line, where a bored Black Lake guard slopped wheat gruel into my bowl. They didn’t mark my hand. “How do they keep track of who’s gotten food?” I asked Dad.
    “They don’t. We do,” Dad said as we walked away, eating our gruel. “That’s part of what your mom is off doing. They cook the same amount every meal. If someone takes seconds, someone else goes without.”
    “How many people must I plan for?” Ben asked me again.
    “I don’t think Mom and Dad want to leave,” I said.
    “No,” Dad said, “not until I know the people we’ve promised to protect are safe.”
    I’d helped strangers on the road, helped Uncle Paul and Aunt Caroline on their farm, and saved Alyssa and Ben. But now, when I needed help, everyone except Ben seemed to be allied against me. I wanted to punch something in frustration but knew it wouldn’t do any good. Instead I said as flatly as I could manage, “I’m leaving. Darla needs me.”
    “Absolutely not,” Dad said. “We just found each other. We’re not splitting up now.”
    “Just a second,” I said, glaring at my father. “I found you, not vice versa. And I owe Darla. My life, if it comes to that.”
    “If we could put a stop to the disappearances, be sure the people we promised to protect are safe, we could all try to break out together. But you’re too young to—”
    “I’m not some kid.”
    “Wait, what’s this about people you promised to protect?” Alyssa asked.
    Dad explained the girls’ disappearances to Alyssa. He seemed relieved to change the subject.
    “You need to catch whoever is kidnapping girls?” Ben asked.
    Dad nodded.
    “The goal of an additional operation is to catch the unknown people kidnapping girls?” Ben said.
    “Yes,” Alyssa said.
    “That is an easy tactical problem,” Ben said. “Prepare an ambush. Use whatever the unknown persons want as a lure. Would the Sister Unit suffice as a lure?”
    “No!” Alyssa said. “No way. Forget it. I’m no one’s bait. Not anymore.”

Chapter 62
    By that night, we’d worn down Alyssa’s resistance. She wandered up and down a deserted corridor