"Well?" Kanik asked.
I pointed at the small metal rectangle set to the side. "That's a keypad."
"What does it do?" he asked.
"It's electronic," I explained. "Pressing the right pattern of numbers will release the lock."
"Ayla, there's no numbers on it," he said softly.
"There were," I assured him. "I've seen photos of what these looked like long ago. There were many kinds. Some were on communication devices. Others were on doors or other things."
And he shifted a little closer. "Ayla, what's the code?"
"Four, four, six, three," I said, keeping my hands at my sides.
"What happens if it's not?"
Finally, I pulled my eyes away from the thing to look at him. "I don't know. They don't tell women things like that."
"What do youthinkhappens?" he pressed.
I had to swallow. "It doesn't open."
"Or?" he asked.
"An alarm sounds?" I was guessing at that. "I do know trying to open it will make an alarm. It will wake every person down there."
"And they'll all pour out," he realized. "Shit!"
"Yeah," I breathed.
"Okay, time to plan." And he grabbed my hand, towing me away from the thing that could either solve everything or maybe get me killed.
The hill was steep, but not too bad. It was the sort of hill I could easily run up without slowing, but I'd be breathing hard by the time I reached the top. A few feet behind that the trees started again, but they were more sparse than a true forest. Grass was visible in between. In the distance, the forest grew dense again, and while I was pretty sure this wasn't where I'd been hung out that first night, it was much too similar.
A dozen paces back, set just far enough to not be seen from the compound's doorway, all the volunteers were crowded together and talking furiously. Dragons, Reapers, dogs, and the carts with horses were all there, ready to head back, or so it looked.
"Update!" Kanik said as we reached the group, heading for where Zasen and Rymar were easy to pick out among the rest. "If we try this, it could call the Moles."
"Fuck!" Rymar groaned.
"So," Zasen said, sounding like we'd just proven his point, "this is why all of you need to head back. We can give you an hour's lead time. There's no way men on foot will catch up with the carts."
Rymar bent to scratch Pepper's head. "And then?"
So I pointed at my dog. "She'll find you if we don't."
"No." Rymar crossed his arms and gave me a stern look. "I'm not leaving you behind, Ayla."
And a Reaper pushed closer. "I'm not letting you Dragons have all the fun."
"We came for our revenge," a woman said, making it clear our conversation was far from private. "Everyone here knew they could come out. We're fuckinghopingfor it. So if you can open those doors, we're going in!"
"It will be dark," I said.
"Don't care," she assured me. "We can make torches if we have to."
"Do it," Zasen said. "I want groups of three to five. Four is ideal, but we don't have even numbers for that. Two torches for each group."
