a baby in her arms, looking left and right with the terror of a twelve-year-old girl.

Ashidi’s pace quickened.

“This isn’t the way out,” Annyka said, walking after her. “We came in from the other way.”

“Don’t worry,” Ashidi replied with a kind of vagueness in her voice, before mumbling to herself, “I knew the back way to the gate. I knew that’s where I had to go. I stopped at the end of the alley and looked out. There was something weird to the town—it was grey, sort of like it is now, cold and empty—but there was no one around.”

Ashidi halted, and Annyka stopped a short way behind her.

“And then I ran.”

Ashidi took off, sprinting up the empty street.

“Ash!” Annyka yell...

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