“Listen, son, I wish things were—”
“The longer we sit here talking, the better the chance someone sees us.”
Wade put his shoulder to the door and stepped onto the gravel. Ellie came farther out onto the porch, backlit in the lantern light from inside. I could see her trembling.
“It scares me sometimes,” Wade said. “The things I’d do to keep her safe. Maybe one day you’ll understand.”
Wade shut the door, and the driveway crackled under his boots as he rejoined Ellie on the porch. She was crying when he put his arm around her and led her back inside. The door closed behind them.
I moved Bear into my lap and slid in behind the wheel, leaving the shotgun on the passenger seat. The gearshift clicked into reverse and I backed slowly out of the driveway and onto the road.
I sat there, engine idling, looking back at the house. It was like an island glowing in the dark. I let go of the steering wheel and drew Bear up to my chest, hugging him tight with my eyes closed. He draped his head over my shoulder, breathing in short puffs that warmed my back. In that moment, the boundary between us felt as thin as a wisp of smoke.
14
We stole through winding back roads, watchful, headlights out wherever we could, following Wade’s instructions to the letter. A few times we saw Path vehicles, but we managed to pull off and go quiet in the dark. Every muscle in my body hummed, tight as steel, until they passed us.
We drove until just before dawn, when exhaustion forced me to find a place to pull off the road and hide the truck. We ate as much of Wade’s food as we could and then slept through the day. Bear snored with his head in the palm of my hand, heavy and warm. When night fell, we set out again.
An hour into the second leg of our trip, we came around a turn in the road, and I could see a line of lights miles out on the roadway. A checkpoint. This was it. Wyoming lay on the other side. I put the truck in reverse and hid it behind the bend in the road. Bear looked up at me when I cut the engine.
“We’ll have to go on foot again if we want to cross. You up for it?”
Bear curled around and began to chew at his paw. I tried to take a look but he snatched away with a throaty growl. I looked out the window, imagining the hard miles lying out there in the dark.
“As soon as we’re across the border, we’ll find a place to lay up for a while,” I said, rubbing his ears. “Okay? And once we’re home, it’s feather beds and steak dinners. I promise.”
Bear stood up and stretched, which I decided to take as an okay. I opened the door slow, sure a rusted hinge would be as good as a thunderclap out here in the middle of nowhere. Bear clambered out, his metal tags tinkling when he hit the ground. I knelt down beside him.
“Better do something about that too, I guess.”
I undid his collar and stuffed it in my pocket. Free of it, Bear shook himself out vigorously, then sniffed his way across the road. I collected the bag Wade had packed for us, then stopped and looked back in the cab. Wade’s shotgun lay on the seat, black as a snake. I didn’t know what was coming, but I could still feel the kick of Quarles’s revolver. I hated the hot violence of the thing. I shut the door and left it behind.
I led us about a mile north of the roadway and then turned east, moving as fast as I could while staying low and quiet. Bear moved along beside me, his dark coat making him nearly invisible. As soon as we were within sight of the checkpoint, I hit the ground, and Bear followed suit. The blockade consisted of two Humvees on each side of the road. I belly-crawled to get a better look.
There were two soldiers currently outside manning the gate, one facing out to Fed territory, the other watching the Path side. I was pretty sure there were more soldiers than the ones I was seeing, probably doing patrols out on either side of their position. The only thing to do was get as far from the roadway as possible and cross where the land went rocky and uneven.
I crawled to Bear and together we headed north. Once we were a couple miles from the road, I stopped and listened. Not a sound. I turned east, heading toward the border. A half mile or less and we’d be in Fed land. Not home free, but a good sight closer. I felt a racing excitement build in my chest. No more Path, no more running, no more—
Footsteps sounded in the dark.
Bear turned toward them but I pulled him to the ground and clamped a hand over his muzzle. The footsteps grew louder until I saw the faint outline of a sentry making his way down the line toward the roadway. He was about thirty feet from us and closing fast. If we kept still, I thought there was a good chance he’d walk right by.
The sentry moved to within twenty feet of us, then ten. Then five. I could hear his breathing and the crunch of his boots on the sand. Bear struggled in my arms. I cursed myself for removing his collar. I tried to hold him down but with only one good hand I couldn’t stop him as he wriggled himself free and shot away.
The guard reacted immediately, lifting his weapon and turning in our direction. I wanted to scream at Bear to stop, but a single word from me and we’d both be dead.
“Who’s there?”
The sentry barely got the words out before Bear leapt up at him, panting and wagging his tail.
“Hey, fella, what are you doing out here?”
And just like that, the guard was down on one knee, with Bear jumping all over him. I dropped my head into the dirt.
“Anybody else out here with you?”
It would be only seconds before the sentry stopped being distracted by Bear and started searching. The guard post was out of sight, two or more miles away. A low hill stood between us and them.
“Yeah,” I said, easing up off the ground with my hands up. “I’m with him.”
The guard pushed Bear away and snapped his rifle up in my direction.
“Whoa!” I said, keeping my voice down as much as I could. “Wait a second. No harm here. Just me. I’m unarmed.”
“On your knees,” he ordered.
I did as I was told, careful to keep my hands up where he could see them. Bear left the sentry’s side and bounded over to me, looking up at me with a panting grin like he couldn’t believe his luck finding us a new playmate. I swore that if we lived through this, the first thing I was doing was buying him a leash.
“What are you doing out here?”
“Camping,” I said. “Me and my dad, we’re back that way a few miles. Bear here ran off and I was just looking for him.”
“Ain’t a very smart place to be camping, kid.”
“I know,” I said, forcing a nervous laugh. “Me and Dad, we were never outdoorsy or anything. But Hill says men of the Path should be resourceful and self-sufficient in all weathers and landscapes. We’re trying to do our part. Didn’t mean to cause any problems. Honest.”
The soldier tipped the barrel of his weapon up. “Okay, hands behind your back.”
“But I said—”
“I don’t care what you said. We’ve got reports of an escapee traveling with a dog.”
“Escapee? No, I told you I’m just—”
The sentry placed the cold O of his weapon’s barrel squarely on my forehead. Bear growled, low and deadly sounding.
“Hands behind your back,” he repeated. “And if the dog jumps, he’s getting one in the chest.”
“Okay. Okay.” I slowly lowered my hands, pausing only to draw one down Bear’s back. “Shhh. It’s okay. We’re fine. Okay?”
Bear glanced at me and then the sentry. His growl eased.
“We’re all fine.”
I put my hands behind my back as the guard slid around me. He pulled out a zip tie and I winced as he bound my right wrist tight to my cast. Once he was done, the sentry reached for his radio. This was it. If he called us in, we were as good as dead. I slipped one foot underneath me, ready to push off, but the sentry stood motionless in front of me, his hand on the mic, poised to key the transmitter. What was he doing?