“This is Quarles’s rig?” he asked, looking down the length of the truck.
“Yes, sir,” I said. “He’s gone after a pack we found. He wanted me to drop this dog back in the kennels and come back for him tonight.”
“No one in or out until after prayers and supper.”
“Yes, sir,” I said. “No problem.”
He waved me on and I pulled the truck through the gate and up to the kennel. It was fully dark by the time I parked and got Bear out of his cage. Inside the kennel, the dogs were barking wildly, starved for the supper no one had given them. Bear shied away, trembling. He wouldn’t move, so I had to lift him awkwardly onto my shoulder with one hand and carry him down the aisle.
“It won’t be for long,” I said. “Promise.”
The other dogs threw themselves against the bars of their cages and snarled at the intruder in their midst. When I finally got Bear into a cage, he pressed himself up against the bars and whined.
“I’ll be back,” I said, reaching my fingers through the bars to scratch his ear.
Bear retreated to the far corner of his cage and cringed away from the other dogs. I hated leaving him there, but what could I do?
I left the kennel and then climbed the hill into camp just as the last of the crowds were moving into the Lighthouse. I caught sight of James at the rear of the pack and yanked him out of line.
“Cal? What are you—”
I put one finger to my lips and pulled him away, keeping us to the shadows as we made our way down to the barracks. Once we were inside, I lit a single lantern and shut the door.
“What are you doing?”
I took James’s backpack out of our footlocker and pushed it into his chest. “Fill it.”
“Why? Cal, what’s going on?”
“We have to go,” I said, turning my back to him and filling my pack with clothes, camping gear, maps.
“Go where? What are you — Why do you have blood on your clothes?”
I was leaning over my bunk, the straps of the backpack tight in my hand. Looking down, I saw that my pants, from cuffs to knee, were stained with Quarles’s blood.
“There was an accident,” I said quietly, my back still to James. “With Quarles.”
“Is he dead?”
The words stuck in my throat but I didn’t need to say anything. James could see. I pulled him down onto the bunk beside me.
“We need to leave,” I said. “Now.”
“Leave? What are you—”
“Quarles’s truck is out by the kennels. I told the sentries I’d be driving out again tonight to look for a pack of strays.”
“Where would we even go?”
“I don’t know. West maybe, cross into California. We’ll figure it out.”
“But—”
“If they find him, I’m dead.”
James went quiet, staring down at the concrete floor. The walls of the barracks ticked as the building settled into the desert night.
“James?”
“We’ll go to Monroe together,” he said slowly. “We’ll explain it to him. He was just about to make us both citizens. He’ll—”
“It was a lie. He’s going to keep you as his valet and send me away with Rhames to be a soldier.”
James looked up at me, his eyes sharp like he was searching out a lie. When he didn’t find one, his face went dark, shadowed in flickering lantern light.
“Remember when we used to talk about escaping?” I said. “We put it aside for too long, James. This is our chance. We have to take it. Are you listening to me? We need to—”
“I’ll get Milo,” he said. “He can get into the storage sheds and draw us some supplies.”
“There’s no time for that.”
“We need food,” he said. “And a tent. I’ll grab him on the way out of Lighthouse and meet you at the kennels.”
“James.”
“He won’t talk,” James said. “Don’t worry. I’ll be fast and we’ll be gone before anybody knows what happened.”
James rolled up off the cot and slung the pack from his shoulder.
“Everything is going to work out for the best,” he said. “You’ll see.”
Looking up at him, I felt a surge of astonishment. For years I thought he was the weak one, the sickly one. Turns out I didn’t know my brother at all.
I nodded and James slipped out of the barracks. I changed out of my uniform and into Path-issued boots, jeans, and a denim jacket. I threaded a sheathed knife onto my belt, then finished packing. I could feel the minutes ticking by double time.
I reached behind my back until I felt the warm end of Quarles’s gun. I pulled it out and snapped the chamber open. One round left. The thought of having to use it again made me sick, but it would be stupid to leave it behind. If someone got in our way, we couldn’t stop. I closed the chamber and tucked the gun into the small of my back. The last thing I did before I left was stuff my bloody clothes beneath my mattress.
Outside, bells began to chime. I slipped out of the barracks, one eye on the crowds exiting the Lighthouse.
I felt an unfamiliar buzz of hope as I moved into the shadows and ran toward the kennel.
The kennel was quiet when I got there, but it didn’t last long. As soon as I stepped inside, the dogs began to stalk their cages, low growls in their throats. We had to move fast. Once they saw that dinner wasn’t coming, every ear in camp would turn to the sound of their barking.
Bear met me at his gate with a whine. “See?” I said, scratching his snout. “Told ya I’d come back.”
I threw open the bolt to his cage and led him past the cages in the back of the truck and into the passenger seat.
“No more cages for you, okay?”
By the time I got back to the kennel, the dogs had started to bark. The only thing that would keep them from an all-out revolt was food. I grabbed the scraps bucket, but before I could give out the first taste, I heard footsteps behind me. I turned with a start. It was only James silhouetted in the dim glow of an open door.
“Where’s your stuff?”
“Left it by the truck.”
“Great,” I said, dropping the bucket onto the cement floor. Someone would come by the next day and feed them. They weren’t my problem anymore. “Milo come through?”
“Yeah, he was perfect.”
“Good. Come on, let’s get out of here before these dogs bust their cages.”
James grabbed my sleeve and held me back. “Cal, wait. Maybe there’s another way.”
“I told you. If they catch me—”
“I know, but listen, the two of us? Running in an old pickup truck? And we don’t even know where we’re going? They’ll find us. You know they will. We should just go talk to Monroe.”
I took him by the shoulders to calm him down. “You just have to hang in there a little while longer. We can talk more in the truck. Now, come on.”
I started to go but stopped dead before I made it three steps. Two soldiers had appeared in the shadows, blocking the exit.
“Cal…”
I eased back slowly, drawing James along with me.
“Go on,” I whispered, trying to keep my voice low and steady. “Out the back door. Head for the truck.”
Two more soldiers stepped into the doorway behind us. The growls from the pens grew louder, sawing at the air. One hand disappeared behind my back and found the butt of the revolver.
“Get ready to run,” I said.
“You have to talk to them, Cal.”
I turned to James and found him staring at me through the gloom.
“James?”
He took a step toward me. “I told them it was an accident,” he said. “Captain Monroe knows what Quarles is like. All you have to do is come with us and talk to him about it. We’ll get you back on Path.”
“They’ll kill me!”
James took another step and I grabbed him, whipping Quarles’s revolver out from behind my back at the same time. The soldiers rushed forward, sweeping the rifles from their shoulders and clicking off the safeties.