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the tab with his life.
    Liam was prepared to get Ana to the Final Battle unharmed, then kill himself before it started. But keeping the child alive would be impossible. The Darwins had one winner. If Ana lived, the girl died. So what was the point in prolonging the inevitable?
    As he stared at the child, still beneath a heavy sleep, Liam wondered about the cruelties that had draped her life in City 2. Liam had never been to any City outside of City 6 and had no idea if their Dark Quarters were similar, but human cruelty knew no bounds, and he suspected that if someone cut her tongue out, the evils were similar and possibly worse.
    Liam felt a chill, wondering how many atrocities had been visited upon people he loved because of his betrayal. He fell asleep wishing he’d been more faithful to The Underground.

    Though Liam tried staying awake until one of the girls opened her eyes, his lids grew too heavy to lift and he finally fell asleep not long before dawn. He was asleep for maybe an hour, though it felt like seconds, when he woke to the hum of several orbs growing suddenly louder. Blue light bounced everywhere as Kirkman’s voice echoed through the bottled air.
    What the hell?
    “Are you ready to wake up, contestants? I hope so, because it’s tiiiiime to play! And we’ll be starting this morning with a brand-new mini-game!”
    Liam sprang to his feet and looked around. He was standing in a clear plastic box in an old barn that must’ve been older than the Walling.
    Morning light poured through the open roof, illuminating the heavy vegetation creeping across it. Liam looked for his companions and found another pair of plastic boxes, one in the middle and the other at the far side of the barn, holding both Ana and the child.
    “No!” Liam screamed, pounding his fist against the plastic wall. He was trapped; they all were — likely gassed and dragged from the cave before getting tossed into the old barn. Liam had never seen Producers get so involved in a show. At least when watching from the monitors, the Games seemed to unfold naturally enough, but this was an outright manipulation of events.
    He wondered if the audience had seen what had happened, or if they were lied to, seeing Liam, Ana, and the child waking in the boxes and thinking they had somehow stumbled inside the barn on their own.
    “What did you do?” Liam screamed into the monitor at the top of the box.
    Kirkman smiled, then said, “Are you prepared for another challenge? We have a BRAND new mini-game, added to the Darwins THIS SEASON! And you’re lucky enough to play it first! The new mini-game is called The Killing Choice . Are. You. Ready?”
    The barn doors slid on their tracks, opening wide and spilling bright light inside. Beside the light fell dozens of rapidly moving shadows, immediately followed by a horde of shuffling zombies.
    Liam looked up at the monitor, screaming.

CHAPTER 24 — Jonah Lovecraft
    T he rope bit deeper into Jonah’s flesh as he pulled harder against his restraints. His wrists felt like raw meat. He tugged with more force, sending a shock of pain through his body as the cord bit into his tender skin. He winced, then hung his head in defeat as he realized he wasn’t going to break free of his bindings.
    Again, it seemed that working on Egan was his only chance of freedom.
    When he looked up, Jonah was surprised to find himself staring at Egan, though he’d not heard the man enter the room.
    Egan sat in the chair across from Jonah and stared at him for minutes without words.
    Jonah’s head screamed as his flesh burned. “What?” he snarled, daring Egan with his voice.
    “Have you given any thoughts to your defense?”
    “I don’t even know the crime I’m charged with.” Jonah swallowed, trying to keep from covering Egan in spit.
    “Murder, of course. Someone must pay for the deaths of my wife and son.”
    Jonah said nothing, certain Egan wasn’t searching for apology. He was on safari for something else, though Jonah couldn’t begin to guess what that might be, and he felt too beaten to try. He sat quietly, waiting for Egan to give words to thought.
    “I’ve been thinking,” Egan finally said, nibbling on a fingernail while narrowing his eyes at Jonah. “You said you were set up for your wife’s murder, right?”
    “Yes,” Jonah nodded.
    “And you’re sticking with that story?”
    He nodded again.
    “So, how was The State able to manufacture such damning proof against you? I mean, the