Renegade (The Elysium Chronicles #1)(42)

Suddenly, I hear running feet coming toward us.

I quickly scoot through the opening and Gavin crawls in behind me before shutting the wall with a click.

The close call makes me giddy and I start giggling. Gavin gives me a strange look, but he, too, is laughing.

“That was close, huh?” he asks, his eyes already scanning our surroundings. He’s frowning, but his eyes are alight with excitement.

“Yes.” I glance around. The area is just as I remembered, very similar to what we just left. In fact, it’s almost as if we’ve stepped through a mirror and come out in a reflection of our own world. It’s an abandoned Sector. A thick coat of dust covers everything and is making breathing difficult, but otherwise it looks like the Square does every morning before anyone is awake.

“Wow. This place has got to be more than twenty years old, right? I mean it just feels old. Way old. Like it’s been empty and abandoned for ages.” Gavin does a quick whole-body shake, then pushes the hair that fell into his face back. “It’s kinda eerie.”

The strangest part is the lights are fully functional. It’s lit up like a beacon. There are no shadows anywhere.

I rub my arms briskly. “I know. Okay, let’s try to find an escape route. Let’s look for a utility closet.” I step forward, ready to walk the perimeter for a door, but he holds up a hand to stop me.

“Okay, I could be wrong, but this was a working Sector at some point, right?” he asks.

“Yes, it seems like it.”

“Well, I’m thinking from the fact she gave you and probably everyone a fake escape map, and that letter made it sound like she didn’t really care if people escaped or not, she probably wouldn’t just have the escape door in plain sight, right? She’d probably have it hidden. Like this entire Sector.”

I have to admit that he’s probably right. “So, what then?”

He seems a little surprised I’ve asked him for advice, but says, “We should search the perimeter of this Sector for another of those catches like we used to get in here.”

“Okay, good idea.” I smile at him and he smiles back.

I lead the way to the perimeter. “It would be faster if we split up, but I don’t think it’s a good idea. We have no way of communicating with each other and you don’t know the city. You could get lost or hurt and I’d never know it.”

He puts a hand on my shoulder and squeezes. “We’ll be fine,” he says. “You just keep looking for that door and I’ll cover your back.”

For over an hour we go over the perimeter before I find a section of the wall that looks slightly different from the rest of it. I trail my fingers over the bricks looking for the catch.

“I found something,” I breathe when my fingers find a smooth spot on the rough bricks.

When I press it, a section of the wall moves, but only slightly. Just enough for me to grab a corner and pull, but I can’t budge it.

Gavin kneels next to me and places his hands over mine. Together we tug until a small section of the wall reveals a space only large enough to crawl through. I peer through and see what looks like a lab of some sort. Only tiny. It can’t be any larger than five meters by five meters. And along one wall is a stockpile of weapons and ammunition.

I back out quickly. “That’s definitely not our exit,” I tell him.

Just then another ear-splitting screech sounds from the far side of the city, drowning out whatever it is he says.

The wall! I share a glance with Gavin.

Someone is coming.

I take a minute to study our surroundings. The only place to safely hide is this hidden room.

“We’ll hide in here, but we left quite a large trail in the dust,” I say. “We’ll need to destroy part of it.”

Gavin narrows his eyes. “Or create a false one.”

Or two. “Take your shirt and drag it along the ground. Run as fast and quietly as you can to the corner and around it. Find a door or shop or something to lead the trail to, then run back here as quickly and quietly as you can.”

He nods and takes off at a sprint, dragging his shirt behind him and destroying the footsteps he makes in the dust almost as soon as they appear. I take my pack and do the same in the opposite direction, going toward the entrance. Then I make an abrupt turn at one of the boarded-up restaurants and drag my bag inside and through the door. It won’t trick them for long, but I hope it’s long enough to buy us time. I run back through my cleared path and back to the small door.

It’s only about two hundred meters around that corner, but my heart races as I run back, worrying Gavin won’t have enough time to get there and back. He’s quicker than I think, though, and he’s already back when I get to the door. I crawl in beside him while he shuts the door behind me.

We both huddle by the door in order to hear the Guards. We try to monitor our breathing, but between the dash we made, and the nerves from waiting to see if our ruse worked, it’s hard not to pant.

His hand trembles on my back. I shoot him a concerned look, but he shakes his head and holds a finger to his lips, warning me not to say anything yet.

We don’t have to wait long for the Guards’ voices to come to us. They’re muffled and I have to strain to hear what they’re saying.

“I didn’t know this existed, did you?” a deeper voice asks.