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I buy a ticket to New Orleans, the farthest city available I check my watch Thirteen minutes until the train arrives Thirty-six ins He’s supposed to be killed so I could toto die, I telllike I , some piece of the puzzle, soet anything Everything is stored away in ether

Maybe I can text Trent, tell hiet out of town, just in case But as I grab my phone I realize I don’t have his number I don’t even know if he has a phone

But I reo there, et on this train It’s the only way to guarantee I won’t kill the others The only way I’ll know for sure that I’ll be alive to that so underneath ut tells nore it

The train arrives, but I can’t get on I have to know if Trent is okay Even if it ht lead to my own death

I bolt out of the station and run to the nearest bus stop, but the bus isn’t there yet I pace back and forth under the hot, relentless sun The future was so cold and wet that I forgot ere having a heat wave in the present

Finally, the bus arrives I jump inside, swipe my pass, and rush to the back It takes about a million years for everyone to load onto the bus, and then we’re rip the back of the seat in front of o faster, but there’s traffic Of course there’s traffic; we’re in LA

It’s a long ride to Trent’s part of the city I keep ive me looks and move to different seats They probably think I’ht I check thethe route I need to take as soon as I get off I just pray I’m not too late

We finally reach my stop, and I jump out the side door and race down the street I don’t know this area, but the o Turn right here Then left there My ankle and side begin to throb, but adrenaline and fear keep et on with

By the tih my tank top and my entire body aches A chain-link fence surrounds a rundown building covered in graffiti I can’t tell if it used to be an apart else, but it’s clearly abandoned now I find a gap in the fence to duck through and sloalk to the entrance, eyes darting around for a sign of anything suspicious

The front door is unlocked It creaks open, and the rooh the boarded-up s A musty old smell fills my nose

“Trent?” I call out from the doorway Shivers creep upinside, watching me, or a dead body at my feet, and I wouldn’t know it

I turn on ht and wave it around The place is eutted, just wooden planks and chipped pieces of tile, with bits of plaster and foam scattered around the floor My heart pounds as I scan the space, but I don’t see any dead bodies or anyunder s over everything, and I iine therehere But I don’t see any sign of Trent Maybe this isn’t the place

I creep farther inside and swing the light—and see a shape in the corner A lu at, but it’s just a pile of blankets surrounded by trash But as I get closer, I realize it’s not trash It’s clothes and library books and e shiny and ht from within the blankets I bend down and pick it up Trent’s silver lighter