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Chapter One

No one survives beyond the fence At least that’s what my father always told irl anyer believe in the words of my father He told me the Lattimers were cruel and deserved to die He told meabout soabout my survival as well

If I want to live, I have to move away from the fence and head toward the river But even after I start that direction, ers still clench and release, clench and release, as if they are searching the air for the coht I was lucky, considering what could have happened while I was passed out and injured on the wrong side of the fence An animal could have found ain I need to reach the river, quench my thirst before the sun sets, and find soht

The river can’t be far, but it still takes what feels like hours for et there I lose count of how ed and ishly insideoverfor a moment of weakness I probably have a concussion from the blow to my head, but I’m not sure I remember what you’re supposed to do for one And it’s not like I can put rab a cold coh bubbles in my throat, but when it breaks free all it sounds is wild, just this side of insane, and I press ht

Keepingto Westfall takes al But I push the er mine will only lead to weakness that will be my downfall Instead, I concentrate on the si one foot in front of the other and continueforward even as part of me is left behind, beyond a fence I cannot breach

When I finally reach the river, it’s not a placid pool like Bishop showed h not raging, the current is running strong The water looks brownish in the afternoon sun, silt stirred up by the rush of water But when I kneel on the riverbank and cup it in ulp it down I reach with both hands and shovel it toward my open mouth as fast as I can I hadn’t realized how thirsty I was until the first drops hit ue

Once I’ve slackened my immediate thirst, I splash water onto my face I take off my sweater and set it on the bank beside erly at uards who threw me out were definitely not careful with me My lower lip feels puffy and raw, and the back of ers over it without sucking air in through gritted teeth My are my hands into the cold water and rub the blood away, try to work the dirt out from underneath my nails

The sun is beginning to sink lower in the sky, and a thin strip of light cuts through the trees and glances off hten lier, the wayoff, how foreign and confining it felt againstoff er It leaves behind a dent in my flesh, a smooth band of skin that feels naked without it But I can’t bear to wear it anys I have lost I hold the ring loosely in my palm, and then open my hand, let the river carry it away

I scoot back on the riverbank, content for the moment to listen to the play of water over rocks, feel the war sun on ht I try not to think about anything beyond my basic needs, afraid that if I do I will sirief There’s no roo the decisions I ht have been I don’t consider myself a victim—it wasinto one will be easy if I don’t stay focused

Behind ood a place as any to take refuge once darkness falls My more immediate worry, now that thirst isn’t at the top of the li

st, is finding so to eat My father, in all his endless lessons, never spared a single second talking to ht me how to start a fire or catch a small animal I suppose he never considered the possibility that all his planning ht need to giveIt is just one more time he has failed me

A slight ht catches my attention and I watch as a s to sun hih I’m not entirely sure what I’ll do with hier in ht onto ht hand closer At the last second the lizard must sense my intent because he tries to scuttle away, but I’ers close around his scaly back

I hold him in my fist, and he stares at me with dull black eyes I pick up a shts its way intothat coats my mouth It takes all my concentration to s, my eyes focused on a spot across the river My stomach wants to heave the lizard back up, but when I’h ers and turkey sandwiches are over Noill eat whatever it takes to stay alive

When I’ to stay down, I crawl forward and rinse my mouth ater I swish and spit until all I taste is river The sun has alauze through the trees The air is still warm, but there’s the promise of fall’s chill underneath The weather will not cooperate with

I pullmyself over to the stand of trees I curlto make myself invisible I haven’t seen another person since the children at the fence, and I don’t have the sense that anyone’s watching me But I still feel exposed, with no way to defendhours for me to find sleep, but my battered body has other plans, and almost as soon as I close my eyes, I’m sucked down into darkness

When I wake, it’s difficult to tell what ti or afternoon, whether I’ve slept twelve hours or twenty The sky is overcast, dark clouds rolling in fro stor that my sleep was closer to unconsciousness I don’t feel rested My body is sore and stiff, h a pane of dirty glass I pushin air at the sharp spike in my head

I need to find better shelter fro storm The day is waret soaked and the temperature drops I hate to leave the river, but proo far, just to the nearest available shelter My stoer, so before I head out I kneel by the river and gulp down handfuls of water to ease the ache a little