HOPE REUNITES WITH CAT and Sunshine at the bottom of the mountain. They dodge patrolling Brown Shirts and find their Humvee, dumping the three hog-tied soldiers out of it before taking off.
Cat drives—a skill he learned at Young Officers Camp—and they return the way they came. Once they’re far from town and the shadow of the Eagle’s Nest, Hope describes everything she saw.
Their mood is dark, the silence broken only when Cat explains that while Hope was up the mountain, he found something in one of the soldiers’ pockets—a slip of paper with a line of numbers. The same code found on Colonel Thorason.
4539221103914
When they run out of gas, they dump the Humvee and rush to catch up with the other Less Thans, joining them the next day. Diana is happy to report that there’s been no sign of Hunters, Crazies, or wolves.
“How about Book?” Hope hears herself ask.
“No sign of him either.”
“Just wondering,” Hope says, a little too hastily.
It’s evening when they reach a small ridge, and Hope motions for them to stop. Below them, covered in a blanket of snow and ice, lies a large lake. Next to it, shrouded in a tangle of overgrown trees, is Dodge’s Log Lodges—hardly noticeable to the naked eye. It’s where they left Helen and the emaciated Sisters last fall, and Hope’s heart stirs at the sight of it. But the longer she observes the group of run-down cabins, the more she realizes there’s no movement there. No signs of life at all.
She shares a glance with Diana. They’ve been through this before—returning to Camp Freedom only to find it empty, its prisoners evacuated on a death march.
Not again, she wants to say, feeling a sudden, painful ache. Poor Helen and all those dying Sisters. Hope regrets leaving them.
Hope, Diana, and Cat decide to check it out. They ease down the hill, hiding in the shadows of thick underbrush. Hope’s crossbow is slung over one of her shoulders; in her hand she grips a spear.
They reach a small clearing and hesitate. Moonlight silhouettes them, and they’ll be sitting ducks in the open. Still, it’s the only way to get across. Hope takes a deep breath and hurries forward. She doesn’t exhale until all three reach a grove of trees on the far side.
“Come on,” she whispers, and the words have barely left her mouth when she hears a tiny, metallic ping—the sound of something snapping. Out of instinct, she runs . . . just as a large net plummets from the trees and lands on her two friends. The rope is thick, the knots small and hard. Cat and Diana struggle to free themselves, but their desperate attempts only make things worse.
“Go,” Cat commands.
“Not without you,” she says.
She draws her knife. It won’t be easy cutting through the tangled web, but she can do it if she hurries. She takes a step in their direction . . . and falls through space, arms and legs flailing. She lands with a hard thud. Snow and leaves rain down on top of her, and she lies there a moment, shaking away the pain.
A deep pit surrounds her. Her hands and fingers claw at the earth, but the surface walls have been smoothed like marble. There’s no chance for handholds or climbing up. To make matters worse, her crossbow is shattered and she’s separated from her spear. It lies directly above her, the spear tip dangling above the hole, the rest of it out of sight.
She hears the muffled sound of her two friends scraping against the net, trying to free themselves.
Now other sounds, too. Hushed voices. Muted footsteps in the snow. When the footsteps stop, the spear is suddenly yanked away, disappearing from sight. Hope’s heart sinks.
Like a cornered beast, she backs up, tucking herself into shadows, making herself as small as possible in the deep, dark trench. She’ll not go down without a fight. She still has her knife, and she grips it tightly in her palm. Wondering if these are her last moments on earth, she whispers aloud one word.
“Book.”
A head appears, its outline barely visible against the night sky. Another head as well. Then still more after that. Hope can’t tell if they’re Crazies or Brown Shirts—although neither possibility is good. Tears sting her eyes as she readies for a fight.
“You lose this?” a voice taunts, and a hand holds out her spear high above her.
Hope doesn’t answer.
“I said, did you lose this?” the questioner repeats, and Hope realizes the voice is familiar.
“Is that who I think it is?” Hope asks.
“Who else lives here?”
Hope breaks into a deep smile and lets herself breathe again. It’s Helen. After all this time, the Sisters are reunited.
While Hope is lifted from the trap, Cat and Diana are extracted from the net. The Sisters retrieve the other sixty-some Less Thans and bring them back to camp. As Helen leads the way—skirting sharpened logs and booby-trapped pits—Hope can only marvel. When they were last here, Helen was the only healthy Sister alive, and Dodge’s Log Lodges was a crumbling resort, near collapse.
All that’s different now.
The buildings have been repaired and camouflaged, new structures erected, and fortifications placed all around: pickets and moats and trap holes, all designed to hold the enemy at bay. Helen has transformed a series of dilapidated buildings into an actual fort.
“But it looked deserted from the ridge,” Hope says, pulling the hoodie tight around her face.
“Good,” Helen answers. “That’s the way we want it.”
Sure enough, the front windows are painted black and no repairs have been made on that particular exterior. All the expansion has taken place behind the existing structures—hidden from view.
Hope realizes there is something serene and peaceful about the place. Moonlight splashes the frozen lake, and the cabins themselves are like an oasis in a scarred landscape. For the moment, at least, there are no rabid wolves, no half-mad Crazies, no assaulting Brown Shirts.
Even more remarkable is how Helen has brought the Sisters back to life. There were sixty when Hope, Scylla, and Diana left here last fall. Although five didn’t make it, fifty-five of them did. And they’re getting healthier with each passing day.
But perhaps the greatest transformation is Helen herself. No longer the shy twin who could barely look another Sister in the eye, she is now the camp’s undisputed leader. As she shows Hope around, she moves and speaks with a quiet confidence.
Later, as she helps Helen in the kitchen before preparing for bed, Hope still can’t get over this new Helen. It’s like a different person altogether.
“You shouldn’t be ashamed, you know,” Helen says out of nowhere. Her eyes are on the birch roots she’s dropping into a giant cauldron.
“Of what?” Hope asks.
“Those.” She gestures to Hope’s two Xs.
At first, Hope doesn’t respond. Her scars—and Chancellor Maddox—are the last things she wants to talk about.
“We all have scars,” Helen says.
Hope bristles; it’s what Book said too. “As visible as this?”
“The size of the scar isn’t what matters.”
“Easy for you to say.”
“Maybe.” Helen gives the cauldron a stir. An earthy mist rises from the boiling mixture. “But if you’re interested, I do know how to make them disappear.”
“How?” Hope asks, turning expectantly. She’d give anything to have her face look the way it used to look.
“By not trying to hide them.”
Realizing what Helen is getting at—that she doesn’t have some miracle cure—Hope gives her head a disappointed shake.
Helen goes on. “I know, I haven’t experienced the kinds of things you have, but I do know that when we try to cover something up, it only draws attention to itself. But if you uncover it and show it to the world, well, it becomes invisible. Like Book’s limp. When’s the last time you noticed that?”
It drives Hope crazy that Book said some of the same things.
“So why do the Sisters stare at me?” Hope asks.
“What do you mean?”
“I saw how they looked at me when you brought us into camp. How their gazes lingered longer than they should’ve.”
Helen laughs.
“What’s so funny?” Hope asks, defensive.
“That’s not why they’re staring.”
“Then why?”
“Don’t you know?” Helen says. “You’re their savior. You’re the reason they were rescued. If it weren’t for you, they’d all have been killed by Brown Shirts. And every single one of them knows it.”
Hope waves away the compliment, but when she opens her mouth to speak, she can’t. The lump that has lodged in her throat won’t let her.