The Darkest Path

“Because you’re coming with us.”

“No, I’m going home. Your dad is calling the Feds. Once they get here I’m going to talk to them and—”

“Whoa,” Nat said, holding up her hand. “Hold on a second. Do you think they’re going to help you?”

I stared at her through the bars.

“You’ve been living with the Path. You worked for them.”

“They made me work for them. I ran away.”

“After six years,” Nat said. “They’ve converted half the country, Cal. Do you think our government is just going to take your word that you’re on our side now? Once the MPs finish questioning you, they’ll put you in jail for treason.”

“No, that’s not—”

“If you’re going to live here, you’re going to have to seriously get up to speed. But look, don’t worry, I can talk to my dad. Once he’s cooled off, he’ll listen to me and then he’ll go talk to the sheriff. He won’t let the MPs take you. And I know you’re trying to get home, but you know the Path. You lived with them. We could use you. I mean, if you want your brother back one day, if you want to stop them from taking anybody else, you have to fight.” Nat had risen to her knees and was grasping the bars.

If I say no to her, I thought, I’m never getting out of here.

“Yeah,” I said. “Okay. Let’s do it.”

“Perfect! I’ll talk to my dad tomorrow morning. Once you’re out we’ll—”

There was a buzz and the door to our cell block swung open. Two silhouettes stood in the doorway. Keys jangled as they approached with loose-limbed staggering gaits. I could smell beer from ten feet away.

“What’s this?” I whispered through the bars.

Nat moved from the cot onto the floor. “The other reason I got myself thrown in jail.”

A flashlight snapped on, blinding me.

“Not much to him,” one of the men said. “Is there?”

“There’s enough, I guess,” said the other, earning himself a laugh.

“Hey, guys!” Nat yelled from her cell, startling the two. “It’s me! Nat!”

The flashlight beam slid from me to her. I grabbed the blanket off the cot and took the opportunity to slip into a dark corner.

“Nat,” one of them said, surprised and trying to steady his slur of a voice. “I didn’t know you were here.”

“Karl brought me in for pissing Dad off.”

“Oh, well, we were just—”

“Save it, Limon,” Nat said. “You came here for a game of bounce the Pather off the wall. Right?”

“We—”

“Relax,” Nat said. “Dad was going to let me go in the morning anyway, so how about you guys give me a little early release and then you can stay and have your fun. Seriously, something I don’t see is something I don’t have to tell my dad about. And if I don’t tell him, he doesn’t tell Sheriff Jeffords.”

The officer with the light laughed. Limon leaned in close to the bars, drunkenly grinning, his pale moon face just inches from Nat’s.

“Who do you think sent us, Nat?”

Nat said nothing and Limon laughed, clearly pleased to have stunned her. He turned away, but Nat grabbed his sleeve before he could go.

“He helped me, Limon,” she said, dropping her sarcastic lilt. “Jenny is in that gym too, right? She’s going to get antibiotics because of him.”

Limon tore away from her. “My wife wouldn’t be in there in the first place if it wasn’t for Pathers like him.”

“He’s not—”

“Enough talking,” the other officer said. “Let’s do it and report back.”

“But he doesn’t know anything!”

Limon unlocked my cell door, then made way for the officer with the light. As soon as he stepped inside, I sprang out of the corner and threw the blanket into the air between us. It hit the officer in the face, blinding him for the second it took me to dodge around him. I pivoted toward the still-open cell block door and it was almost within reach when something slammed into my back, knocking me to the ground.

He turned me over with his boot, then stood over me, grinning, a black baton in his hand. He kicked the cell block door closed with a dull boom. “Get him up.”

“Limon!” Nat called out from her cell. “Stop it!”

The other officer hauled me into the cell and put my back against the wall. Limon strutted in behind him, slapping the baton in his palm.

“Guess this is where your path gets you, kid. So unless you can tell me the Path’s plans for this region…”

“I don’t know anything. Honest. I’m just a—”

He pistoned the tip of his baton into my gut. Pain exploded through me and I started to crumple, but the other officer held me up to the wall.

“Okay, let’s try another one. What are the locations of Path safe houses along the border?”

“I told you! I don’t—”

The baton struck again, this time a stinging blow to the side of my arm.

“Limon, stop!” Nat yelled.

“What are the codes for incoming Path bombing runs?”

Before I could say anything, the baton slammed into my side, pinging off a rib. The pain was electric. I bit down on a scream, knowing that it would only get his blood racing faster. Limon pinned me to the wall with the baton, the tip of it grinding into my shoulder. He leaned in close.

“Now,” he said. “I want to know the numbers of Path forces on the other side of the border.”

“A hundred,” I said weakly, feeling unconsciousness tug at me.

“What?”

“A thousand,” I breathed. “A thousand men. And artillery. A Stryker brigade.”

Limon took my chin in his hand and turned my face up to his, examining me with watery, bloodshot eyes.

“Your friends murdered twelve of my buddies, kid. Damn near killed my wife. So if you think I’ve even begun hurting you, you’re mistaken.”

“I don’t know anything.”

Limon glanced at his partner. “Well, too bad for you, I guess.”

He stepped back and raised the baton over his head.

“Limon, no!”

He let it fall, but before it could strike, there was an explosion just outside the station. The floor of the jail shook violently, sending us all to our knees. Limon scrambled for the baton, but I kicked it into a corner and made for the door. The other officer grabbed my ankle and pulled me back just as the cell block door flew open.

“Natalie!”

Nat’s father stormed in, grabbing at the keys on his belt.

“Dad! You have to help Cal!”

Nat’s father stopped short when he saw the jumble of bodies in my cell. He reached into the cell and yanked Limon out by his arm. “What are you two doing? Get to your stations.”

He shoved Limon out the cell block door and then came back for the other one. Sirens were going off outside now, whooping shrieks that reverberated off the walls and steel bars.

“Get to your vehicles and sober up,” he said as he tossed the second officer out of the cell. “We’ve got Path incoming.”

The floor shuddered with another explosion. I struggled up onto the cot to catch my breath, my body vibrating from the beating Limon gave me. My cell slammed shut.