Mike Mullin - Ashen Winter

“I’ve got to get out of here,” I muttered.

“Why?” Alyssa asked. “Flash said it’s not too bad. They get enough to eat, sort of. Everyone has a tent-even if some of them suck.”

“Are you crazy? Not too bad?”

“Anything’s better than being chained to a bed in the Anamosa prison.” She glared at me, and I had to look away.

“I guess it would be,” I said softly. “I’m sorry.”

“Why are you in such a hurry to get away from me, anyway?”

I didn’t reply.

“Darla,” she said, scowling.

“Yeah. I’m going to escape. I just don’t know how yet.”

“I can plan an escape,” Ben said. “The guard pattern is suboptimal.”

“You can?” I asked. “How?”

“I have several ideas. I need to observe the guard patterns for at least a week to confirm their effectiveness.”

“A week? I’m leaving tonight.”

“You just got to us!” Dad said.

I didn’t reply. He was right. But finding my parents hadn’t fixed anything. It only made Darla’s absence even more painful.

“If you attempt to leave without adequate preparation,” Ben said, “you will likely be caught or killed, and your mission will fail.”

He had a point. Getting myself killed wouldn’t help Darla. But I couldn’t sit around, either. Couldn’t wait while she was. . while the Peckerwoods-I didn’t even want to think about what might be happening to Darla. Why they were keeping her alive. “I can’t wait a week. She’s in danger.”

“Maybe I could devise a preliminary operational plan with two days’ observation. More time would be necessary to confirm and optimize it. How many people would be escaping?”

“Shh,” I said. We were approaching the front of the line, where a bored Black Lake guard slopped wheat gruel into my bowl. They didn’t mark my hand. “How do they keep track of who’s gotten food?” I asked Dad.

“They don’t. We do,” Dad said as we walked away, eating our gruel. “That’s part of what your mom is off doing. They cook the same amount every meal. If someone takes seconds, someone else goes without.”

“How many people must I plan for?” Ben asked me again.

“I don’t think Mom and Dad want to leave,” I said.

“No,” Dad said, “not until I know the people we’ve promised to protect are safe.”

I’d helped strangers on the road, helped Uncle Paul and Aunt Caroline on their farm, and saved Alyssa and Ben. But now, when I needed help, everyone except Ben seemed to be allied against me. I wanted to punch something in frustration but knew it wouldn’t do any good. Instead I said as flatly as I could manage, “I’m leaving. Darla needs me.”

“Absolutely not,” Dad said. “We just found each other. We’re not splitting up now.”

“Just a second,” I said, glaring at my father. “I found you, not vice versa. And I owe Darla. My life, if it comes to that.”

“If we could put a stop to the disappearances, be sure the people we promised to protect are safe, we could all try to break out together. But you’re too young to-”

“I’m not some kid.”

“Wait, what’s this about people you promised to protect?” Alyssa asked.

Dad explained the girls’ disappearances to Alyssa. He seemed relieved to change the subject.

“You need to catch whoever is kidnapping girls?” Ben asked.

Dad nodded.

“The goal of an additional operation is to catch the unknown people kidnapping girls?” Ben said.

“Yes,” Alyssa said.

“That is an easy tactical problem,” Ben said. “Prepare an ambush. Use whatever the unknown persons want as a lure. Would the Sister Unit suffice as a lure?”

“No!” Alyssa said. “No way. Forget it. I’m no one’s bait. Not anymore.”

By that night, we’d worn down Alyssa’s resistance. She wandered up and down a deserted corridor between two rows of tents. I listened carefully and caught fleeting glimpses of her through a peephole I’d cut in the back of one of the tents. Alyssa had dressed in the brightest clothing we could find. Dingy, cream-colored pants and a flaming-orange jacket.

She was a dim candle wrapped in oppressive darkness. Or maybe the night just seemed oppressive because I was so thoroughly trapped: first by the camp and second by Mom and Dad. They wouldn’t leave without protecting the girls, and they forbade me from leaving without them. I didn’t think they could stop me, but I wanted them to come, too. After all, Darla and I had returned to Iowa to find them. And I suspected I’d need all the help I could get to free her.

Ben was still out observing the guards, preparing an escape plan. If we could figure out who was kidnapping girls and put a stop to it, maybe we could all try to leave together. Dad even assigned two prefects to keep Ben out of trouble.

Dad and four other prefects were hidden in tents near me. I expected the prefects to be men, but most of them were women. They called Dad The Dean, which seemed weird, but I guessed it was better than Head Boy. Dad had offered me a knife-really a crude shank, made with a sharpened scrap of metal, but I’d turned him down. There weren’t enough knives to go around, and I figured I’d rely on my hands and feet. I knew a bit about knife defense, but I’d never been trained to fight with a knife-that wasn’t something we did at my dojang. My right arm was still sore, but I’d been stretching it-I would be able to use it if I had to.

Mom hadn’t wanted me to help with the ambush. She’d fought with Dad at length over it. Alyssa finally announced that she wouldn’t serve as bait unless I were there. I hadn’t said anything at all. It didn’t matter what Mom, Dad, or Alyssa said. I’d helped talk Alyssa into trying Ben’s crazy plan, so I needed to be there to try to protect her, regardless of what my parents thought.

Alyssa paced slowly and endlessly back and forth. I’d tried to nap during the early evening but hadn’t slept well, so I was tired. I started silently counting out the “This Little Piggy” nursery rhyme, tapping my fingers on my knee, both to keep myself awake and to keep track of time.

More than two hours had passed when Alyssa stopped near my tent. “This isn’t working,” she whispered. “How long do I have to keep doing this?”

“It won’t work at all if you talk to me,” I hissed back.

I heard my dad’s voice from another tent. “We’re staying out here until dawn. Now shut up.” His tone shocked me-Alyssa was doing us a favor; she didn’t have to spend her whole night trying to lure an attack.

Alyssa sighed and resumed pacing. As the night dragged on, her pace slowed. She dragged her feet, trudging as if she were more asleep than awake. I lost count of my This Little Piggies somewhere past two thousand. It had to be nearly dawn.

I caught myself nodding and bit my lower lip, hard. My knee was numb where I’d been tapping out the nursery rhyme. I returned my attention to the peephole in the tent just in time to see a dark shape collide with Alyssa’s back. She fell into the packed snow and shrieked.

I lunged down, sliding under the back edge of the tent. I reached Alyssa in seconds. The guy who’d run into her was reaching down toward her. I caught his hand and cranked it into a wrist throw. He cried out, and I stepped forward, over Alyssa, hooking my leg behind his and tossing him to the ground. We were surrounded by my dad and the prefects now, but I didn’t need any help. I allowed myself to fall on top of the guy, placing my elbow against his throat.

He made a hoarse, choking sound. Dad shook a little hand-powered flashlight-a rare luxury someone had smuggled into the camp and given to The Dean. He shined the beam on the guy’s face. One of the prefects helped Alyssa stand.