Sunset Rising

“To be honest, Leisel, I detested the sight of you. So you can imagine what i

By the look on Leisel’s face, Jack’s words hit home. She curled her lips into a snarl.

“Good bye, Jack. The next time I see you, you’ll be with your executioner. Enjoy the rest of your short life.” And with that, Leisel turned and left the room, her guard close on her heels.

I wanted to run after her—claw the door open and race down the hall to find her. A creature that evil should not be allowed to live, let alone have a chance to become president. Life in the Pit was already bad, but it would be intolerable under that monster. And I had unwittingly helped her. She had to be stopped. I tried again to get to the door, and then realized Jack’s arms still had me in a vise-like grip. I tried to pry his arms off me. “Let me go!”

“She’s gone, Su

“I’ll get the door open. Let me go before she’s gone.” Why did he want to stop me? He must hate her, too.

“Su

My strength left me. He was right. The door was locked, and I couldn’t get at her.

“How did she get in here? You said there are cameras everywhere, but she got in here and said all those things. She wasn’t worried about being caught.”

Jack grabbed his computer, did something on it, and then looked at me triumphantly. “You’re a genius. She has the cameras jammed on this entire floor. And I just locked it in. She won’t be able to unjam it for quite a while.”

“Then I’m not going to waste it. I’m going home.”

The determination I felt was stronger than anything I had ever felt before. I knew I wouldn’t get far. The Dome was only so big. But if I could just get enough time to go home! I didn’t want to die wondering if Reyes thought I betrayed him. I had to let my father know I wasn’t long for this world and he needed to get out of bed and look after himself. I wanted to make sure Summer was okay and that she knew Leisel had betrayed us.

I marched into the bedroom to look for something less conspicuous to wear than the wedding dress. I opened Jack’s closet doors. My green dress was still there. Nothing else would fit me.

“Um…what are you doing?” Jack asked, standing in the doorway watching me.

“Can you help me get out of this dress?” I remembered how long it took Leisel to do up the buttons this morning. It would take forever to undo them. “Just rip the buttons off.”

“Where are you going?”

“You have your computer to say your farewells, but I have nothing. I need to go home and see everyone before I’m executed. Will you help me?”

He considered me for a moment. “Only if you take me with you.”

“Then help me get out of this wedding dress. I might get noticed in it.” I took the green dress out of the closet and put it on the bed.

“Trust me, you’re going to get noticed in that dress, too.”

“There is nothing else.”

Jack went over to his bureau and took out pants and t-shirts and then came up behind me and ripped the back of my dress apart. “Have you thought about where we’re going to go once we leave the apartment?”

“Home.”

I let the dress fall to the floor in a heap and stepped out of it. I was still wearing the bulletproof vest. Jack took off his military uniform, and I could tell he was thinking about my plan.

“Keep the vest on,” he said as he threw a shirt and pair of pants at me. “The Pit’s on lockdown. There’s no way for us to get down there.”

He stripped down to his underwear. I was surprised by how muscular he was. He wasn’t as muscle-bound as Reyes, but he was in good shape. And he needed to be physically fit to get down into the Pit the way I was going to take him.

“I can get us down there. Can you get us out of here?”

“I don’t think my chip will unlock the apartment door anymore. In fact, we’re going to have to dump our chips and get new ones. We’ll have to make a quick stop along the way.”

I pulled out all the stuffing Leisel had shoved down the vest to make me look bigger then yanked Jack’s t-shirt over my head. He gave me a curious look, but didn’t say anything. I put on his pants, but they were way too big. He got a belt out of his dresser and a knife from the drawer of the bedside table. He handed me the belt, and I pulled it through the loops on the pants. Then he pulled the belt together until it was the right size, punched in a new hole, cut off the excess leather at the end, and cinched it around my waist.

He studied me for a minute. “You better cover up that hair.” He took two hats out of the closet and handed one to me. He put his hat on and pulled the visor down to cover his face. I did the same, glad my hair was still in a tight bun.

“Ready,” I said. We walked out into the living room and stared at the door.

After a few moments, Jack said, “This is crazy, Su

“So you’d rather sit here waiting to die? If you want to stay, then stay, but I’m getting out of here. If I actually make it to the Pit, then at least I have the chance to say goodbye to my father and friends before I die.”

“Okay. We need a plan to get out of here. I’m sure there are guards on the other side of the door. If we can create some kind of diversion to bring them in here, we can —”

I screamed at the top of my lungs.

The door opened and in rushed two Domers.

Jack grabbed the gun away from one guard, and his leg came up to snap the other guard in the face. Neither one was expecting the assault, so Jack had the advantage. He almost had the gun when the guard jerked back to wrestle him for it. The other guard was shaking off the pain Jack had inflicted and was reaching for his weapon. I ran forward to snatch the guard’s gun to prevent him from using it, but he easily overpowered me. Jack swore under his breath. He brought his knee up and rammed it in between the legs of the guard he was fighting, seized his gun, and cracked him under the chin, knocking the guard’s head backward. Then Jack had the gun. He turned on the guard who had me locked in a choke hold and whacked him over the head with it. The guard dropped to the floor. The door stood wide open.

“You want to give me a little warning next time?” Jack asked.

“Where’d you learn to fight like that?” I was truly impressed with his skills. After that display, I thought we actually stood a chance of reaching the Pit.

“Military training. Next time, stay out of the way.” He went back to the table and retrieved his computer. “Come on.”

We looked up and down the hall before exiting the apartment. It appeared the guards Desmond had sent away hadn’t come back yet. The carpet in the hallway muffled the sound of our footsteps, so we were able to make fast progress. Jack led us to a door with an exit sign above it. He paused for a moment to look at his computer then tapped on the screen. “Go,” he said, opening the door.

We entered the stairwell and looked up and down—no one but us. We headed down to the second floor and stopped in front of another door while he tapped away on his computer. I could hear movement and voices on the other side of the door. This was a busy part of the Dome.

“Through the door and to the right,” Jack said. “Follow me. Keep your head down. Don’t make eye contact with anyone.”

Jack opened the door, and we joined the flow of traffic as if we had every right to be there. For the second time today, I found myself parading in front of people trying to be someone I was not. The first time didn’t end so well. I was hoping this time I would be luckier.