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Run

Tally had never ridden a hoverboard barefoot before Young Shts or riding double, but no one was everthat stupid

She al down a new path they’d spiked with scrap metal only a few days before The moment the board banked, her dirty feet skidded across the surface, spinning her halfway around Her ar, shooting across the coed cheer rose up below as the captives belo her fly past and realized that so on board to glance down

Regaining her balance, Tally realized she wasn’t wearing crash bracelets Any fall would be for real Her toes gripped the board, and she vowed to take the next turn , the sun wouldn’t have burned the dew off Croy’s board yet She’d be lying in a crumpled heap in the pen, probably with a broken neck It was lucky she, likeSmokies, slept with her belly sensor on

Already, the whine of hovercars taking off came from behind

Tally knew only tays out of the Smoke by hoverboard Instinctively, she headed for the railroad tracks where she worked every day The valley dropped behind her, and she ht turn onto the white-water strea off With no knapsack and her heavy crash bracelets , Tally felt practically naked

Croy’s board wasn’t as fast as hers, and it didn’t know her style Riding it was like breaking in new shoes - while running for your life

Over the water, spray struck her face, hands, and feet Tally knelt, grasping the edge of the board et hands, flying as low as she dared Down here, the spray ht make it even harder to ride, but the barrier of the trees kept her invisible She dared a glance backward No hovercars had appeared yet

As she shot down the winding streaht of all the times she and David and Shay had raced each other to the work site She wondered where David was

Back in camp, bound and ready to be taken to a city he’d never seen before? Would he have his face filed down and replaced by a pretty mask, his brain turned into whatever mush the authorities decided would be acceptable for a forade raised in the wild?

She shook her head, forcing the i the captured resistors

If he’d been caught, he definitely would have put up a fight He must have escaped

The roar of a hovercar passed overhead, the shock wave of its passage al Tally from the board A few seconds later, she knew it had spotted her, its screah the forest as it cut back to the river

Shadows passed over Tally, and she glanced up to see two hovercars following her, their blades shi sun The hovercars could go anywhere, but Tally was linetic lifters She was trapped on the route to the railroad

Tally remembered her first ride out to Dr Cable’s office, the violent agility of the hovercar with its cruel pretty driver In a straight line, they were e was that she knew this path backward and forward

Fortunately, it was hardly a straight line

Tally gripped the board with both hands and jue line The cars disappeared into the distance, overshooting as she skimmed the iron vein But Tally was out in the open now, the plains spreading out below her as huge as ever

She noticed fleetingly that it was a perfect day, not a cloud in the sky