Ren felt odd having Todd's arm around her waist. She pushed him off of her when she felt stable on her feet.

"You okay, Stutter?" he asked.

She nodded her head and looked out at the empty street ahead of them. She couldn't remember the last time that she had seen a road. When she was at the factory, she was chained to a machine all day and all night. When she was at the farm she never passed the fence keeping them in. The asphalt was cracked and a mangle of weeds and roots were poking through. Most of the houses had smashed windows, the doors ripped off, and the roofs were caved in.

Ren knew that you weren't supposed to be outside during dark. Back in Selkirk, many people were arrested for staying out past Curfew. She doubted that any Officers were this far out. It was completely silent, and she couldn't hear anything or anyone.

"Let's try this one," Todd said.

He headed to a house with a turned over car in the front yard. The windows were broken, and the wooden porch was ripped and torn up. She followed Todd up the crumbling steps to the porch. He opened the door to see that the top hinge was broken and the door was falling to the side. Todd chuckled.

"Home sweet home, I guess," he said.

Ren rolled her eyes and stepped into the house. Todd's arm shot out and he grabbed her shoulder and pulled her back. Ren let out a yelp and Todd's other hand covered her mouth.

"Sssh," he whispered. "We don't know if anyone is here."

He pulled her out of the doorway and stepped into the house. Ren shook her head and followed close behind him. Ren squinted her eyes so that she could see better in the dark. Some of the furniture was flipped over and things were thrown on the ground. Todd opened up the first door and it was a bedroom.

"Stay here," Todd told her. "I'll go check out the other rooms."

Ren didn't want to stay, but it was no use trying to fight with Todd. She saw clothes hanging from the closet and it peaked her interest. She still had on the brown uniform from Brenner's farm. The smell of dirt, grass, and sweat seemed to follow her. She went over to the closet and pulled out the first thing she saw. She found a T-shirt and a pair of sweatpants. The tore off Brenner's clothes and kicked them to the side. She put on the new clothes that she found and rolled up the bottom of her pants so that she wasn't stepping on them. She wandered over to the window. It was broken, so she felt the cool breeze from outside.

"All the other rooms are clear," she heard Todd say. She looked over her shoulder to see him leaning against the doorframe. His arms were crossed over his chest. "I see you found something. That's a good idea. Brown never was my colour."

Todd spun around and walked out into the house. Ren went back to the closet and began to dig through it again. She didn't know when she'd find clothes again, and she didn't want to give up the chance to have something new to change into. She found a bag, and began stuffing it with all she could find. She saw another bag, but this one was a lot smaller. She opened it up and saw that it was full of things. She went back to the window and used the moonlight to see what was inside. She sat on the ground and pulled out a few tubes that she had never seen before. Her eyes lit up when opened up a smaller bag and saw that it was a pile of cash. Ren's jaw dropped when she flipped through the bills. She had never touched so much money before in her life. She folded up the bills and stuck them back into the bag.

She ran her hand along the inside of the bag and felt a small cardboard square. She pulled it out and flipped it open to see a row of matches. Ren jumped up off of the ground and ran out of the room. She found the kitchen and narrowed her eyes to try and see better in the dark. She spotted a candle on top of the refrigerator, and grabbed a chair and climbed on top of it. She got the candle and went over to the table.

It had been years since Ren had lit a match. She flicked the match and felt the heat by her fingertips as the flames flared at the end. She lit the end of the candle, and a sweet smell filled her nose. She brought the candle with her over to the cupboard and looked for food. There was only a few cans left on the shelf. She grabbed one and brought it over to the table with a spoon and knife she found.

Todd walked into the kitchen. The dim, flickering light casted dark shadows on his face. He had a black shirt on that was scrawled with white writing and a pair of jeans. He pulled out the chair across from her and sat down. Ren took the knife and stabbed the top of the can and dragged it around to open up the top.

"H...h...ow di...i...id y...you," Ren started to say.

"How did I what?" Todd cut her off. She hated when he did that. She hated when anyone cut her off while she tried to speak.

"You e..esc..caped," she said. "H..how?"

"You mean when my family got killed?" he asked.

Ren nodded her head. She got the lid off of the can and looked down to see noodles floating in a yellow broth. Ren dipped the spoon in and brought it up to her lips. It was cold, but was much more flavourful than the soup she got at Brenner's farm. She slid the can across the table over to Todd.

"I could never sleep," he said before taking a mouthful of soup. "Even when I was little I could never fall asleep, and even if I could, I could never fall asleep. I would always wander around the hallways to try and wear myself out, so that I could fall asleep."

He pushed the can back across the table.

"This one night, I was walking down the hallway and these Officers barged into my parents room while they were sleeping. I heard my mom scream and then a couple of gunshots. I didn't know what was happening, but I knew it was bad. I took off running to my little sister, Cecilia's, room. I hid behind these sculptures that were in the hallway whenever I saw an Officer nearby. When I got to Cecilia's room there was blood everywhere and her body was lying lifeless on the bed. I went to my baby brother's room next, and he was dead in his crib.

"I overheard a couple of those Officers talking. They kept saying 'Where's Tegan? Where's Tegan?' and I was so scared. I didn't want to die."

Ren leaned forward. She couldn't tell if Todd's eyes were watering, but he managed to keep his voice steady.

"My dad showed me this passageway a few months before this all happened," he said. "Only the Dyers knew about it. It was a bunch of tunnels that could bring you anywhere in case of an emergency. Cecilia and I used to play in them all the time, so I knew them pretty well. I managed to get back to my parents room - that's where one of the entrances were - and I saw my parents bodies. I got into the tunnel and I just started running. If Cambrie knew about the tunnels she probably would have told them to scout out them out.

"I got outside to the backcourt and I just kept running. I saw a few Officers, but I was too afraid to ask them for help. I didn't know if they were a real Officer or one that was trying to kill me. I managed to run through all of Royale without getting caught by an Officer. Looking back, it's not much of a shock. No one was ever out after Curfew, so they weren't out looking for anything. Once I left Royale, I just kept running until I felt like I was safe.

"I was worried about someone recognizing me at first, so I was always covering my face. My original plan was to only go out at night, but the farther I got away from Royale, the more Officers there were at night."

Ren took the last mouthful of soup. She dropped the spoon in the can and pushed it to the side of the table.

"W..w...why n...not sa..a..ay a..any...y...y...thing?" Ren asked.

"To an Officer?" he asked.

Ren nodded her head.

"I didn't know what Officers were the ones trying to kill me. I know now that they were just assassins dressed up like Officers. I didn't go back to Royale because I had grown up and I didn't know if they'd recognize me. Even if I did get back, I knew Cambrie would try to get me killed. She's going to go after us when we get there."

Ren shrugged her shoulders. Todd let out a deep breath and ran his hand over the stubble of hair that started to grow over his scalp. Ren reached out and touched Todd's hand that was resting against the table. His crystal blue eyes looked up at her and Ren felt her chest tighten. She wasn't used to this feeling, and instinctively placed her hand on her chest.

"If I go back that means I replace Cambrie," he said. "It means I'll have to be King."

"N..no mor...r...re c...c...camps," Ren told him.

"I promise no more camps, Stutter."

Todd smiled, and Ren felt her own lips lift into a smile. He patted her hand and got up out of his chair.

"We should go to sleep," he said. "Tomorrow will be a big day. You can take the room by the door."

Ren nodded and got up from the table. Todd headed down another hallway, and she went back to the bedroom. She pulled back the blankets on the bed and crawled in. She pulled the blankets, a luxury she never had in the camps, up over herself and she curled up on her side.

She knew that she had lots of room to stretch out onto the rest of the bed, but it felt odd to her. She was to having a mattress that was just as wide as she was. The complete silence was odd to her. She was used to hearing the breaths and cries of everyone else in the camp with her. She struggled to fall asleep.

--

Ren's heart jumped in her chest when she felt a dip in her mattress. She shot up. She was sure that it was Mitch trying to drag her out behind the warehouse. She swung out her hand, and she felt fingers wrap themselves around her wrist.

"Woah, Ren calm down," she heard Todd say. "It's just me."

Her heart was racing and her chest was heaving up and down. Todd let go of her wrist and she held her wrapped her arms around herself.

"Are you okay?" he asked.

"W...w...what?" she asked.

"I'm sorry, I couldn't sleep. I can leave if you want."

Ren nodded her head and flopped back down against the bed. She kept falling in and out of pockets of sleep. The silence was deafening and she couldn't stand it. If Todd was sleeping on the other side of the bed, she would at least have the sound of him breathing.

She gasped when she felt his arm slide around her waist and pull her against his chest. He didn't say anything, but he nuzzled himself against her neck. She could feel his warm breath tickle against her skin. She covered his hand with hers and fell back asleep.