Z 2134

lips, tasting the memory. “Ice cream is like sweet, creamy, frozen milk, but soft, not hard. Like snow, if it tasted good, and was creamy and thick. And as the cream fills your mouth, it turns your teeth as cold as your cheeks. There are a ton of flavors, at least in the arcade, but in regular cafes it usually comes in mint or chocolate chip. The chips melt on your tongue, and the mint is like spicy if spicy was cold. Regular rations are always vanilla. But even that is good.”
    “How do you eat it?”
    Jonah laughed again. “Like anything else, I suppose. You can’t eat it fast. When you set the spoon in your mouth, the cream melts on your tongue, all over your tastebuds, almost like it’s kissing them. The world looks different when you have ice cream in your mouth.”
    Something inside Calla softened enough to draw a smile on her face for the second time. It quickly turned into a laugh. She pulled the knife from its sheath, then went to Jonah. Because he was still tied to a chair, he flinched, thinking for a second’s thin slice that the girl might have changed her mind and was on her way to slit his throat like he deserved. Then he saw her big blue eyes and all the missing hate. He wondered if it was possible to outgrow anger.
    Could she forgive him?
    And if so, could her father forgive him as well?
    Most importantly, would he ever be able to forgive himself?
    Calla cut the ropes from Jonah’s wrists, and his restraints fell to the floor. As he stood up, his body felt on fire with a million tiny needles. He stretched his muscles, preparing for whatever lay beyond the door.
    He said, “Thank you, Calla. I promise you won’t regret it. Now, can you tell me the best way to get out of here?”
    “Everyone is eating lunch right now,” she said. “Well, except for me. I’ve been gone too long, and I need to get back.” She pointed at the door. “As long as you stay on the tunnel path, you should be fine. Take your first left, then head down the stairs. When you reach the bottom, you’ll see the old tracks. Take those until you find the branch. Go right, then walk until you reach the ladder. Take that above ground.”
    “Are you going to be OK?” Jonah said. “What will you tell your father?”
    “Don’t worry about me.” Calla shook her head. “I’ll be fine.”
    Calla then said, “Thank you.”
    “For what?”
    “Treating me like a grownup and telling me the truth.”
    Jonah wiped his other eye. “You’re welcome,” he said. “And thank YOU.”
    Calla turned without another word and ran out the door and down the hall. He waited for her footsteps to fall silent, then opened the door and turned left as instructed.
    The hallway was dark and narrow, lit by sporadic blinking light tubes not unlike those in the room he was being held in. The tunnel was cold, eerily silent, and felt like an ever-present weight surrounding him on all sides, waiting to come crashing down.
    As he followed the directions Calla had given, he listened intently for any sound that his escape had been detected. As he moved farther from his cell, he allowed himself to move faster, ignoring the sound of his footsteps echoing back at him.
    He reached the ladder Calla had mentioned and noticed a small pile of debris to his left — broken crates, old books, old empty tin food cans, and a metal pipe that was thin and light enough to wield but long and strong enough to swing at an enemy.
    It wasn’t a gun, but it was better than nothing.
    He grabbed the pipe and put the end of it in his boot temporarily as he climbed the ladder, lifted the hatch, and then crawled into the impossibly bright light of a new day.
    I’m here, Ana! I’m coming!
    The hatch opened into a snowy clearing surrounded by woods on all sides. There was no other sign of the train station, its entrance, or underground tunnels within sight. But if he could find his way to the station while avoiding being seen, he could then locate where the underground tracks came up aboveground. Then he could follow those back to where The Games were being held.
    First, however, he had to get out of sight.
    He ran toward a tree-lined ridge in the distance, figuring once he was out of sight, he could double back and find the tracks. He’d made it maybe 40 yards when a gunshot cracked like thunder on the dry, cold air.
    Jonah turned and saw Egan behind him, running in angry pursuit.

CHAPTER 28 — Adam Lovecraft
    A dam sat before Keller, terrified.
    “Why so worried?”