Every minute feels like ten, but eventually even that unpleasant stretch of time comes to an end.
I spot the shoreline. What surprises me is that we are not heading toward the city port, Hallwell, we originally departed from. The ferry is going in a slightly different direction, farther to the right, toward a tiny harbor tucked into a wooded area. It almost looks like a private dock.
This is not good. It will be much harder for me to disappear from here. The port is basically just one small building, with a single road leading away from it and disappearing into the forest.
For fuck’s sake, I realize that from here to the city port is at least a two-mile trek through dense forest, and the swampy kind where alligators might be lurking.
The ferry stops about twenty feet from the dock. They lower the gangway, and people start getting off, heading toward the cars waiting.
I know I do not have much time. The ferry could move again any moment…. Then a thought crosses my mind that maybe it will not return to the island this time and will head back to the city port instead. But even though I wait, and everyone on board has long since disembarked, the ferry shuts down its engine and just sits there, tied up.
Shit. I did not plan for this.
I finally decide to let go of the rope and swim to shore. I come out of the water some distance from the port, near a few old overturned boats.
I crouch behind them and change into my clothes. As it turns out, some water got inside, but at least my pants are dry. And the money is safe.
The worst surprise, though, comes when I slip into the little strip of trees along the shore, trying to avoid the port buildings and reach the road.
I realize the road leading out is gravel, and it does not go left toward the city. It goes right, deeper and deeper into the forest. For fuck’s sake! Why?
What am I supposed to do now. Take that road and hope that after a few miles I hit some town? Or try to cut through the forest, betting that I will reach the city limits and the big port.
The forest here does not look quite as wet. Maybe I could force my way through it?
A bit unsure of myself, I start walking, because I am a city kid and I have never liked going off into the wild.
I walk and walk, trying to stay close to the beach, but after a while the beach disappears, breaking up into small spits of land jutting into the sea, turning into marshy, mangrove-filled terrain.
Damn! I curse under my breath nonstop. What now? Turn back? Try the road after all, at least it is a safe gravel road. Or keep pushing forward, since I have already covered close to a third of the distance, at least that is how it feels. Unless I misjudged it from the water. Maybe it is four miles, not two.
Angry at myself and unable to decide, I stand there, staring first toward the marshes, then back toward the way I came, wondering what the hell to do.
And why the hell do I keep seeing Eliano’s face in front of me, draining every last bit of my determination to keep going?
ELIANO
I hurry toward the building, feeling sick to my stomach. It is already 9:30. Four hours have passed since 5:30. Fate knows what could have happened in that time.
I head inside, passing the cafeteria where people are already starting to gather, but that is not where I am going. Behind the recreational building lies the administrative area, and I know exactly where the beta guards’ station is.
Before I go to the warden, assuming there even is a warden right now, I should talk to Harvey Bram first.
I knock on the door. One of the beta guards opens it, eyeing me with open surprise and barely concealed hostility.
"I need to speak with Mr. Bram."
"About what?"
"You will find out in a second," I snap.
"What is going on?" a voice calls from deeper inside the room.
I push past the beta without waiting for permission and step inside.
"We have a problem."
"And what kind of problem could someone have," Bram says dryly, "when he himself is the problem?"
