“Stop them!” the main soldier yelled to his colleagues, pointing after Darshana, Arjun, and Prabal. Instead of going with them, though, he headed after Kusum.
Putting her head down, she sprinted to the next intersection and turned left, away from the survival station site.
“Where are you going?” the soldier yelled, still behind her. “We’re here to help!”
If they had really been there to help, Kusum was sure that instead of chasing her and her friends, they would have remained by their Jeep, dumbfounded that anyone would flee their assistance.
The soldier must have realized the same thing, because he gave up the argument after another try, and focused his efforts on cutting the distance between them. Though Kusum was young, in good shape, and a better-than-average runner, she knew if she couldn’t shake him quickly, his better stamina would win out.
The slums were the answer. All she had to do was race into the maze of cobbled-together homes and she could lose her pursuer. Unless her sense of direction was completely off, it would be to her left.
As she took the next corner, she heard the man’s voice again, but it wasn’t loud enough for her to make out his words.
Forget about him. Just run!
Prabal didn’t realize he’d been screaming until he turned onto the empty block and heard his own voice. He cut off the sound so abruptly that he swallowed spit down the wrong tube, and fell into a coughing fit until he was finally able to breathe halfway normally again.
The spasm had slowed his pace and caused him to momentarily forget why he was running at all — a reality that came rushing back in a flash as Arjun suddenly sped past.
“Keep going!” Arjun said. “They are right behind us.”
Prabal took off after his friend.
“Darshana…Kusum…where are they?” he asked between breaths.
“Do not know,” Arjun said. “Thought Darshana was behind me.”
Prabal checked over his shoulder. No Darshana, but the two soldiers were a ways back, running after them.
“We have to hurry,” he said. “They are only—”
Prabal’s foot plunged into a basketball-sized pothole, his shin slamming into the side of the ripped asphalt, spilling him to the ground. While his chest and shoulder took the brunt of the impact, his forehead knocked against the pavement, opening a cut above his right eye.
Hands grabbed him under his arms and tried to pull him up.
“We have to keep going,” Arjun said.
On his feet again, Prabal took a step and nearly fell back to the ground, the ankle that had gone into the hole howling in pain. Seeing his condition, Arjun tucked himself under Prabal’s arm and swung his own around his friend’s shoulder.
“As fast as you can,” he said.
With Arjun’s assistance, Prabal hobbled forward, but they both knew there was no way they would outdistance the soldiers now.
Arjun looked around, then said, “Over here.”
He helped Prabal into an alley just wide enough for a car to pass through. About twenty feet in was a pile of rubbish — bags and loose trash and who knew what else.
“Hide in there,” Arjun said, nodding at the waste.
“What?”
“Just hide. I will lead them away, then come back for you after I lose them.”
The idea of crawling into the trash disgusted Prabal, but he didn’t see how he had any other choice.
Arjun half carried him to the pile. “You can do it yourself, yes?”
“I think so.”
“Good. Stay quiet. I will be back.”
Before Prabal could say anything, Arjun took off down the alley.
Knowing he had very little time, Prabal dropped painfully to the ground and pulled several big pieces of trash on top of him. When he heard the soldiers’ footsteps right around the corner, he stopped moving, hoping he was covered enough.
A particularly strong wave of pain rushed up his leg as the soldiers entered the alley. He gritted his teeth and squeezed his eyes shut to fight off the sensation. As the throbbing subsided, he realized that while he could still hear the men’s running footsteps, they were already past the rubbish pile, fading away.
They hadn’t seen him.
He was safe.
He wouldn’t be taken away.
He wouldn’t be killed.
He wanted to fling the debris off then and there, but what if the soldiers came back this way? Best, he thought, to stay as he was until Arjun returned, no matter how unpleasant the smell.
Between bouts of stinging pain, he listened as best he could for any approaching noise. For the longest time there was nothing, and then somewhere down the alley he heard something scratch or, maybe, tap the ground. He’d almost convinced himself it was just the breeze when he realized it was getting close.
Scratch-scratch-scratch. Pause. Scratch. Pause. Scratch-scratch-scratch.
Very close, actually.
When the odd sound was only a couple meters away, he realized what it must be.
He shoved the garbage away and jumped to his feet. His ankle screamed in pain, but he was too freaked out to pay any attention to it.
The scratching retreated several meters, but not far enough away that he couldn’t see he’d been right.
Rats. Two big, ugly ones.
A shiver ran up his spine. If he hadn’t moved, he was sure they would have tried to make a meal of him.
“Get away,” he whispered through clenched teeth as he took a threatening step toward them.
The rats backed off another half meter, but apparently saw no reason to go into a full retreat.
Prabal took a breath and looked around. Where the hell was Arjun? More than enough time had passed for him to lose the soldier and return.
Had something happened to him? Had he been caught? Or maybe killed?
Prabal looked both ways down the alley, as if expecting soldiers to round each corner and close in on him like a vise. But except for the rats, he was still alone.
They’ll be back, he thought with sudden certainty. I can’t stay here.
Without a map, it would be hard to find the address Kusum had made them all memorize, but he knew it was close to the new UN compound — or, rather, fake UN compound. He wasn’t excited about going in that direction, but his only other choice was to head out of town and try to find his way back to the boarding school.
Though Prabal could be an ass sometimes, he could, on occasion, pull himself together and do the right thing. It was why he’d volunteered to come on the mission in the first place. Sanjay would need to know what happened, and Prabal might be the only one left who could tell him.
He repeated the address once more, and then limped toward the end of the alley.
After Sanjay helped Prabal up to the third-floor apartment, he listened to the man’s story. As concerned as he had been before Prabal showed up, it was nothing compared to now.
“You do not know what happened to the others?” Sanjay asked.
“No.”
“Not even if any of them were taken?”
“I am sorry. I wish I knew, but I do not.”
“How long ago did this happen?”
“I am not sure. I must have lain in that alley for at least thirty minutes waiting for Arjun to return before I left. As you could see, I cannot walk very fast. I do know it was still very dark when I started.”
Outside the sky had lightened with the imminent sunrise.
“One hour? Two hours?” Sanjay asked.
“I do not know.”
It was clear Sanjay wouldn’t get anything else of use. “All right. I want you to stay here in case someone else shows up,” he said. “Can I trust you to do that?”