“Let’s go,” I breathed, trying to sound like I knew what I was doing. In truth, I was so tense and keyed up that it took all my concentration to not start babbling at any second. I was quivering with cold and fear—was I leading Cassie and this kid into certain death? Or was I seizing our only chance?
“And the plan is…?” Cassie asked.
“We’ve got the keys to get us through most of the hall doors,” I explained. “Everyone’s in the auditorium. So we’re going to search for this tunnel like our lives depended on it.” I gave a sardonic smile. “Because they do.”
Cassie looked at me. I was pretty sure she was remembering the time I dared her to jump off the rope swing into the river. She’d broken her collarbone. Or the time I’d convinced her to take the long way home so we could watch the last of the geese streaking southward as winter approached. We’d been late for dinner and had gotten our hides tanned by Pa.
If she was smart, she’d back away from me and sit down in our cell. And I wouldn’t blame her.
Instead she gave a glimmer of a smile and nodded. “I’m with you.”
And damn if that didn’t practically make me cry.
Nodding, I eased out of our cell. And of course we’d only gone as far as the very next prison room when Strepp sprang out at us, her face aglow with triumph.
“Not so fast,” she crowed.
83
CASSIE
I’M THE LEVELHEADED, SENSIBLE, RULE-FOLLOWING one. I had doubts that this tissue-paper-thin plan would work, and was pretty sure we’d all end up even more on death row. The smart thing to do was leap back into my cell and insist I knew nothing about any of it, they were making me, etc.
Instead I balled my hand into a fist, jumped forward, and slammed it into Strepp’s face as hard as I could. To tell you the truth, it probably hurt me more than her; I heard a snap and my hand exploded in pain.
Strepp went down like a shock of wheat in a windstorm. Her eyes fluttered closed and an angry red blotch appeared on her temple where my knuckles had left imprints. I dropped to my knees, staring at my hand in amazement: I hadn’t known anything that small could hurt that much. It dangled in front of me like a dead thing, radiating ungodly pain.
Becca gave the Kid a brisk order. “Search her. We need any kind of key she has on her.”
Hesitantly at first, the Kid started rifling through Strepp’s pockets. I got to my feet with difficulty. When the Kid pulled out a handkerchief, I took it and bound it gingerly around my throbbing fingers.
“Here!” The Kid held up a key ring and shook it excitedly.
“None of them are marked—that would be too easy,” Becca muttered, examining them. “We’ll have to try them all.” She gave me a grin. “Excellent work, Killer.”
I gave a tight-lipped smile.
“Kid, help me out here,” Becca instructed. They each grabbed a foot and dragged Strepp into our room, stepping out quickly and hauling the barred door closed behind them.
“You just signed your death warrant!” Strepp’s voice, angry but weak, floated out to us. Becca hurriedly began jamming key after key into the lock, trying to find the right one.
“More of a death warrant than being on death row?” Becca countered, working fast. She snapped a key sharply to the left, locking Strepp in, and stepped back triumphantly.
Getting unsteadily to her feet, Strepp put her hand in her pocket. “You forgot I have a panic alarm.” A slight frown creased her forehead as she tried another pocket.
“You forgot you was out like a light, lady,” said the Kid, and pointed to the contents of her pockets, piled on the hallway floor.
For the first time, Strepp looked scared. “You don’t understand,” she said, licking her thin lips.
“I understand that you’re lost in the weeds without a hoe,” said Becca, starting to stuff Strepp’s belongings into the pockets of her jumpsuit.
“No,” said Ms. Strepp. “Girls—be careful.”
That made Becca snap her gaze to the older woman. “Be careful? A bit late for that, isn’t it?”
Ms. Strepp pressed her face against the rusty bars, like we always did. “Think about this, girls—we aren’t drugging you. We’ve been getting you off drugs—the drugs they put in every cell’s drinking water.”
We stared at her. She looked oddly sincere.
“You’re only seeing part of the picture,” Ms. Strepp went on. “I promise that if you saw the whole picture, you would understand.”
“Mostly I sees you, stuck in that jail,” the Kid said.
“Really,” Becca said, crossing her arms over her chest.
I couldn’t listen to another minute. I didn’t want to stand here and yap with our enemy, I didn’t care what the big picture was. While they were still arguing, I faded off down the hall.
84
BECCA
WAS THIS WOMAN BATSHIT CRAZY or was she telling the truth? Was this a trap or was she possibly trying to help us? Jesus. Of course it was a trap! What was I doing, standing here?
“Come on, guys!” I said, and that was when I noticed that Cassie wasn’t right next to me.
I strained to see up and down the dark hall. “Cassie?” I hissed as loudly as I dared. To my shock, she didn’t immediately pop out of an empty room, didn’t appear out of the shadows.
“Shit,” the Kid said, looking left and right. “She’s gone!”
This was so totally un-Cassie-like that I froze for a second, thinking it through. Cassie was a girl who, even when she was at her most furious at me, would still care enough to shout at me to take the shortcut home so I wouldn’t get in trouble. There’s no way she would have left me. No way at all.
I looked at the Kid, who seemed small and very young. He was relying on me. I nodded at him.
“Let’s go.”
As we ran almost silently down the hall, Strepp didn’t say a word.
85
CASSIE
THE LAST TIME I’D BEEN to the infirmary—the only time—had been after Becca had wiped the floor with me in the ring. I wasn’t totally sure of the way there; I’d been unconscious going in, and then a mess coming back.
The halls were empty. Everyone was in the auditorium. I thought about what was happening right now, some kid getting hooked up to a machine, and it sent a cold chill down my back.
I turned into one hall and crept most of the way down before I saw it was a dead end. Swearing under my breath, I darted from doorway to doorway, listening for footsteps, the sounds of doors opening, anything that would force me to abandon my mission.
After I’d retraced my path, I went down the second hall I found, and my heart leaped when I saw the broken, unlit sign: INFIRMARY. Keeping below the windows of these doors, I made my way along the hall, sticking my tongue out as I passed the HEALTHIER TOGETHER AT THE UNITED! sign. Just as I heard footsteps coming, I ducked through into the infirmary. Unfortunately, instead of turning, the footsteps grew louder: they were coming here!
Scanning the room frantically, I saw a cupboard beneath a sink and sprang over to it. It held only a few bottles of cleaner, and I crammed myself inside as fast as I could. The infirmary door opened and voices became loud.