And anyhow, it was wonderful to have Percy, at every door, select the exact right key, without any hesitation, any noisy fumbling. It was wonderful to have Alia slipping forward, always watching, always ready to warn them. Nina felt safer with the other kids.
But at the door to the officers' suite Matthias held Nina back.
'Isn't there another way out?' he asked.
'Not that I know of,' she answered. 'Why?'
He pointed to gray wires running along the doorframe, so thin and nondescript Nina would never have noticed them on her own.
'Security system,' Matthias muttered.
Panic welled in Nina's chest. How could they turn back now, when they were so close?
But how could they get past a security system?
Nina blinked hard, trying to hold back tears. 'That's it, then,' she said in a voice clotted with dis- appointment.
But the others weren't turning around. They didn't even look upset.
'How many more doors are there before we're out?' Matthias asked.
'Just one,' Nina said. 'Into the interrogation room. Then we can go out the window. I mean, we could have.' She looked down, scuffing the toe of her boot against the filthy floor.
When she looked up again, Alia was scrambling up onto Matthias's shoulders. She swayed, raising her arms toward the security system wire.
'Steady,' Percy said.
'What are you doing?' Nina asked.
'Cutting the wire,' Alia said. She reached into the pocket of her skirt and pulled out a knife.
'Isn't that dangerous?' Nina asked. She didn't know much about security systems, but Gran and the aunties had always warned her to stay away from outlets and wires.
'Yeah,' Alia said. 'That's why I'm being careful.'
It didn't look like she was being careful. It looked like she was sawing at the wire, making the cut as jagged and rough as possible. Alia had scraped the plastic coating off a wide section of the wire. Some of the gray coating was even floating down to the floor.
'They'll notice that right away,' Nina said.
'They'll notice as soon as their monitors go black,' Percy answered. 'But this way, it'll look like some mice chewed on the wire, not like some prisoners were trying to escape.'
'Got the key ready?' Alia asked through her clenched teeth.
'Ready,' Percy said, standing as close to the door as pos' sible. He glanced back over his shoulder at Nina. 'As soon as she makes the final cut, we run. Got it?'
Nina nodded and moved over to stand behind Percy.
Alia jerked the knife one last time, letting out a stifled 'Ooh!' of pain. Percy stabbed a key into the lock and turned. Alia jumped down from Matthias's shoulders and rushed through the door beside Nina. Percy was already attacking the door into the interrogation room.
'It's our lucky day,' he breathed. 'It's unlocked.'
Nina ran through the door and shoved open the win-dow. All four of the kids tumbled out together. The branches of the shrubs scratched Nina's arms and pulled at her dress, but she kept moving, rolling on down the hill.
The food sack bumped against her legs. Out of the corner of her eye she saw that Matthias stayed behind, pulling the window down behind him.
'Come on!' Percy hissed in Nina's ear. 'Head for the trees.'
Half running, half falling, Nina dashed blindly behind Percy and Alia. They were fast. In the darkness Nina was terrified that she'd lose them. She found herself navigating more by sound than by sight. As long as she could hear the other kids panting, she was okay.
The grass she was running through grew thicker, pulled more at her ankles. No, it wasn't grass — it was scrub brush on the floor of the woods. They were surrounded by trees now.
'All right,' Matthias said softly, right behind her. Somehow he'd caught up. 'Let's stop and watch now.'
Nina wanted to keep running, but Percy put his hand on her shoulder, held her in place. The other kids crouched down, so Nina did, too, peering back at the prison.
Now that she was away from the prison, Nina could see that what the hating man had told her was true — the prison did have high barbed-wire fences and guard sta-tions and bright lights at the back. The officers' quarters, where they'd escaped from, was just a small, one-story addition on an unprotected side. It was swathed in dark' ness. Nina had to squint to see it against the glare of the rest of the prison.
'They're not looking for us yet,' Matthias mumbled.
'No — there! Look!' Percy breathed, pointing.
A dim light — a flashlight? — shone briefly through the window they'd climbed out of. Then the light disappeared, and reappeared in another window of the officers' quarters.
'Nobody's coming outside,' Matthias muttered. 'We fooled them.'
Nina shivered, thinking about what might have happened if Matthias had left the window open; if Alia had cut the security system wire straight out, instead of making it look like the work of an animal's teeth.
'What would we have done if they'd come looking for us?' Nina asked.
'Hidden,' Percy said matter-of-factly. 'We're good at hiding.'
'You're good at a lot of things,' Nina said wonderingly. 'I…' She wanted to thank them, to admit that she wouldn't have been able to escape without them. But the other three were already standing up, getting ready to move on.
'Moon's coming up over there, so that's east,' Percy said. 'Which direction is this safe place you were telling us about?'
Nina looked around, from the full moon's glow to the glare of the prison lights to the darkness of the woods beyond. The panic that had been threatening all night finally overwhelmed her.
'I don't know!' she wailed. 'I don't know how to get there!'
*ff- he other three kids didn't even look surprised. Nina felt more ashamed than ever, that they had expected her not to know, expected her to be stupid and ignorant.
'Calm down,' Matthias said, none too gently. 'We can think this through.' He looked over at Percy expectantly.
'The place you think is safe, it's by the school you used to go to, right?' Percy asked.
Nina nodded.
'And the Population Police brought you to prison from your school, right?'
Nina nodded again.
'What time of day was it when they brought you here?'
For a minute Nina was afraid she wasn't even going to be able to answer that question. But she recovered quickly, her mind supplying a frightening jumble of images.
'Morning,' she said. 'They arrested me at breakfast.' She could still smell the oatmeal, could still see those three lonely raisins hiding among the oats. The memory made her want to gag.
'Okay. Good,' Percy said encouragingly, like he was talk' ing to a really little kid, even younger than Alia. 'Now, think carefully. When they were driving you here, what side of the car was the sun on?'
