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“Right,” I say. I tell myself that it’s fine. That the guard was never going to hurt him. But the thought that this is the easiest test we’ll have sits in my gut, hard and heavy.
“So what do we do with him?” Ash asks, toeing the guard’s shoulder. “We can’t put him outside the fence without a weapon, and we can’t exactly take him with us.”
“We leave him here,” Bishop says. “Tie him to the fence. Eventually someone will come looking for him. But we should have a good day or so with everything else going on. Plenty of time for us to get in and out.”
“Won’t he freeze?” I ask.
“Nah,” Caleb says. “He’s got a thick coat, boots. He’ll be okay.”
“What if he yells?” Ash asks.
Bishop squats down, hand on the guard’s scarf. “We gag him. Won’t be the best day he’s ever spent. But he’ll live.”
I use my knife to cut the scarf in two, and Bishop uses half of it as a gag. Caleb takes the other half and winds it around the guard’s wrists behind his back and then ties the ends through the fence.
“Think it’ll hold?” Bishop asks, eyes on Caleb.
“For a while, at least,” Caleb says. “If he does get loose, he’s just going to be screaming about you. He didn’t see the rest of us. So that gives us some room to maneuver.”
Bishop nods at him, satisfied. He lifts the guard’s coat before he stands, plucks the gun from the holster at his waist, and hands it to me.
I take it gingerly in my fingers, surpris
ed at how heavy it is. “What do you want me to do with it?” I ask.
Bishop is concentrating on unbuckling the holster from around the guard’s waist. “Carry it,” he says. He looks up at me, eyes dark and serious. “Use it if you need to.”
“I don’t even know how,” I protest.
“It’s pretty simple,” Caleb says. He takes the gun from my hand. “This is the safety. You want to press it off before you fire. Then it’s just aim and pull the trigger. You miss, fire again. Like I said, simple.”
He hands the gun back to me, and I raise my arms while Bishop fastens the holster around my waist, below my knife sheath. The gun doesn’t feel simple to me. It feels dangerous, like a snake hissed and coiling in my hand. Bishop’s rifle has never bothered me. I’ve always wanted to learn how to use a gun, even back before I was outside the fence. So I don’t understand the way my skin crawls at the feel of this one in my palm. Except that from the second Bishop handed it to me, something clicked into place, one more step on this journey slotting into position.
I don’t really believe in fate or destiny. Or at least I don’t believe that fate can’t be altered. I’m living proof. I altered my own. If that weren’t possible, I’d most likely be ruling Westfall now along with my family, Bishop and his father dead at our feet. But regardless of what I believe, or don’t believe, something inside me recognizes this gun, already understands that it’s going to have a part to play in what’s to come.
I wait while Bishop finishes fastening the holster and slides the gun onto my hip, making sure I can easily get to my knife as well. He is staring at me, head tilted, a little smile on his lips.
“What?” I ask.
He reaches out and winds a strand of my hair around his finger. “You need to cover this up,” he says. “One look at it and people will know who you are.”
I slip my hands from my mittens and roll my hair into a quick knot, tuck it up inside my hat. “Better?” I ask.
“No,” Caleb says. “But it covers your hair.”
I roll my eyes at him, and he and Bishop share a grin.
“If you two are done being idiots, we should get moving,” Ash says, and now it’s our turn to share a smile.
“We’ll head through the woods,” Bishop says. “Come out as close to my side of town as we can.”
“Where are we going first?” Caleb asks.
Bishop looks at me. “I used to work with a woman named Victoria,” I say. “I think she might help us get to Callie.”
“And if she doesn’t?” Caleb asks.
“Then we deal with it when it happens,” Bishop says. “Once we’re in town, we’re going to stand out.” He gestures at our weapons. “But I’m hoping things are chaotic enough, or people are scared enough, that we can escape too much notice.” He pauses. “But if something happens, if Ivy and I get separated from the two of you, do what you have to do. Get out.” He tosses the guard’s ring of keys at Caleb, who catches them easily in one hand.
