Arena Two Read Online Free Page A

crap like this would happen,” he says.
    He walks across the boat, gathering his stuff.
    “ What are you doing?” I ask.
    “ What do you think?” he asks. “I’m not letting you two go alone.”
    My heart swells with relief. If it were just me I wouldn’t care as much—but I am thrilled to have another set of eyes to watch Bree.
    He jumps off the boat, and onto shore.
    “ I’m telling you right now, this is a stupid idea,” he says, as he lands besides me. “We should keep moving. It will be night soon. The Hudson can freeze. We could get stuck here. Not to mention the slaverunners. You’ve got 90 minutes, understand? 30 minutes in, 30 there, and 30 back. No exceptions, for any reason. Otherwise, I’m leaving without you.”
    I look back at him, impressed and grateful.
    “ Deal,” I say.
    I think of the sacrifice he just made, and I am beginning to feel something else. Behind all his posturing, I am beginning to feel that Logan really likes me. And he’s not as selfish as I thought.
    As we turn to go, there’s another shuffling on the boat.
    “ Wait!” Ben cries out.
    I turn and look.
    “ You guys can’t leave me here alone with Rose. What if someone comes? What am I supposed to do?
    “ Watch the boat,” Logan says, turning again to leave.
    “ I don’t know how to drive it!” Ben yells out. “I don’t have any weapons!”
    Logan turns again, annoyed, reaches down, takes one of the guns off a strap from his thigh, and chucks it to him. It hits him hard in the chest, and he fumbles with it.
    “ Maybe you’ll learn how to use it,” Logan sneers, as he turns away again.
    I get a good look at Ben, who stands there, looking so helpless and afraid, holding a gun he barely seems to know how to use. He seems absolutely terrified.
    I want to comfort him. To tell him everything will be OK, that we’ll be back soon. But as I turn away and look up at the vast mountain range before us, for the first time, I am not so sure that we will.
     
     

 
T W O
     
     
    We walk quickly through the snow and I look anxiously at the darkening sky, feeling the pressure of time. I glance back over my shoulder, see my footprints in the snow, and beyond them, standing there in the rocking boat, Ben and Rose, watching us wide-eyed. Rose clutches Penelope, equally afraid. Penelope barks. I feel bad leaving the three of them there, but I know our mission is necessary. I know we can salvage supplies and food that will help, and I feel we have a comfortable jump on the slaverunners.
    I hurry to the rusted shed, covered in snow, and yank open its crooked door, praying that the truck I hid inside ages ago is still there. It was an old rusted pickup, on its last legs, more scrap than car, with only about an eighth tank of fuel left in it. I stumbled across it one day, in a ditch off Route 23, and hid it here, carefully down by the river, in case I ever needed it. I remember being amazed when it actually turned over.
    The shed door opens with a creak, and there it is, as well hidden as it was on the day I stashed it, still covered with the hay. My heart swells with relief. I step forward and pull the hay back, my hands cold as I touch the freezing metal. I go to the back of the shed and pull open the double barn doors, and light comes flooding in.
    “ Nice wheels,” Logan says, walking up behind me, surveying it. “You sure it runs?”
    “ No,” I say. “But my dad’s house is a good twenty miles away, and we can’t exactly hike.”
    I can tell from his tone that he really doesn’t want to be on this mission, that he wants to be back in the boat, moving upriver.
    I jump into the driver seat and search the floor for the key. I finally feel it, hidden deep. I put it in the ignition, take a deep breath and close my eyes.
    Please, god. Please.
    At first nothing happens. My heart drops.
    But I turn again and again, twist it farther to the right, and slowly, it begins to catch. At first it is a quiet sound, like a dying cat.