When I get back to the cafeteria, it’s deserted. I search under the tables for my notebook, but it’s not there. Maybe Topher grabbed it. I can’t really be bothered looking for him now. I’ll ask him in the morning.
Standing in the dim empty hall, I can hear the humming of the air circulators and the faint creaking of the walls and floors in response to the lower night temperatures. A shiver passes over me, from cold, and possibility. There are large sentry parties assigned to patrol the base entrances and perimeter fences, but internal security is limited to one or two civilians doing a turn of the corridors once an hour. If I’m careful, I could wander the base all night. Maybe I was longing for sleep less than I thought. I’m wide awake suddenly.
I figure if Liam and his gang can skulk around at night when we’re supposed to be in our own quarters or the communal areas, then so can I. There are parts of the base that seem to be off-limits, and if there’s one thing I remember from my old life, it’s that sometimes the nighttime concept of “off-limits” is as indistinct as the shadows. At least, that’s what I count on as I tiptoe through the door marked RESTRICTED AREA.
The weapons store would be the obvious place to start—we’re going to need weapons for our mission back to Calgary—but it’s the command level that beckons me. I know only certain things are shared widely among the inhabitants of our refuge. Topher has speculated that this is about morale, but I think it’s about control. We see what Kim needs us to see—the NKVs, the announcement of the surrender. But surely there are other things Kim and her inner circle have discovered from the transmissions. Maybe I can learn something about conditions on the coast or in Calgary. Maybe there’s some database of survivors. I could look for my parents’ names.
Above all, what we need to find out is where exactly we are. We can’t navigate over unmarked roads in high mountains without that. I suppose if we follow the sunrise due east we’d eventually find the foothills, then the plains, and could make our way to Calgary from there. But we could wander in the mountains for days trying to find a way out. And that would use up all our fuel.
The location is classified, Liam told us when we arrived. I should have realized at the time that this would keep us all in, as well as keeping any invaders out. There were maps on the table when Topher and I first spoke to Kim in the command center. Maybe one of them had our location marked. That’s a thin hope, but all hopes are these days.
I’m halfway up the long climb to the command level when I hear footsteps behind me. Cursing silently, I stop, pressing myself into the corner of the landing between stairways. There are emergency exits every five levels, but they’re alarmed. If I tried ducking out of one, the whole base would know about it. And anyway, they go outside onto rocky plateaus. There’s a spindly ladder down to the main entrance level, and up to command, but I don’t fancy being chased up it in the dark and freezing night. Probably easier to face whoever this creeper is.
I step forward, calling down the stairs.
“Who’s there?”
I hear a low chuckle. “I thought it would be you.”
I should have known. Liam.
He appears on the landing below me, looking swollen and vaguely menacing. I could outrun him maybe. He’s pretty tall compared to me, but he has recently had his face punched in. Maybe that will slow him down. But where would I run? Out into the snow?
“What do you want?”
“Nothing,” he says calmly. “I was going up to find my m—Kim. I have something to show her.” He lifts his hand, and I see he’s holding my notebook. “Maybe you should come with me. You can discuss why you’re in a restricted area after hours.”
“Or . . . I could finish beating the shit out of you.”
He smiles and with his free hand nudges back his hoodie, revealing a pistol in a holster.
“Jesus, Liam,” I say, taking a step backward. “Chill.”
“Walk.”
I turn and head up the stairs as he follows. We trudge in silence as I get used to having someone with a gun behind me. Apart from the time the police briefly chased us across the park, it’s never happened to me before. I can’t say that I’m enjoying it.
When we reach the command level, Liam points me to a chair by one of the wide windows.
“Watch her,” he says to a couple of uniformed lookouts. Liam disappears into central command, closing the door behind him.
“You’re in the shit now, Rave,” one of the guards says. I recognize him as one of Liam’s friends. It’s then I remember something else I jotted down in my notebook: a list of everyone who has committed to going to Calgary. Before I even complete this thought, Emily, Mandy, and Topher emerge from the stairway, huffing with the effort of their climb. Sawyer and Xander trail in behind them.
“Anyone know the way to Mordor?” Xander says, grinning at all of us.
Sawyer is less amused. He glares at me. “Why did I know one day you would be the cause of me being hauled out of bed in the middle of the night?”
I shrug. What can they do to us? We haven’t done anything but make a tentative plan to get out of this rattrap.
Kim doesn’t waste time when she calls us into the command center. I note that the long table has been cleared of maps.
“A rescue mission to Calgary?” she asks, a cool tone to her voice. Liam smirks in the corner like the stinking snitch that he is. Kim opens my notebook and reads. “A Humvee, half our weapons, and a weeks’ rations? A Humvee!” Kim shouts. “And enough fuel to get you there and back, I suppose, too. Or were you going to push it?”
“We will find fuel on the way,” I say. “We can recon a lot of ground that you haven’t set foot in for months. There are towns and farms along the way. We might find survivors. We’ll certainly find supplies.”
Kim falls silent for a moment, so I forge ahead. Nothing to lose, I remind myself. “You know as well as I do that we will likely run out of medical supplies before the winter is out. There are drugstores in each town. We can raid medicine cabinets. We can give you a complete rundown on where to look when we come back.”
Topher glances at me. I know that he knows what I know. We’re not all that likely to make it back.
“And if you don’t make it back?” Kim says. “The Nahx are still out there.”
“We haven’t sighted them in weeks,” Sawyer points out. “Not even transports. I’ve seen the lookout logs.”
“A million other things could go wrong.”
Surprisingly, Liam pipes in. “We could take a few of the drones with us. They don’t take up much space. We could send them back with data before we get to Calgary. At least that way . . . well, we would make it worth it.”
I blink and shake my head. Did he just say “we”?
Kim considers her son thoughtfully. “Do you want to go with them?” she says. There is something in her voice, a tinge of pride? It turns my blood cold. She must know it’s a death march too.
“I want more than to go,” Liam says. “I want to command the mission.”
Sawyer hangs his head and sighs.
EIGHTH