"Why is the fence on? I know the fence isn't always on because you, Juniper and Roy are always out here and it was never turned on. So why now." Jenny said about the fence to me. "It's Thread! He's doing this on purpose because he wants people to be caught on the outside of the fence before shooting at them." I said about how evil the new head peacekeeper was. "Why would he do that through? He doesn't know that anyone goes outside of the fence unless someone told him about what you four do out here." Jenny said about the hunting we do for the people of 14. I got back on my feet and pulled Jenny protectively behind me as adrenaline ran throughout my body and all my worries were gone allowing me to focus on the threat in front of us when a number of thoughts ran through my head. 'What was going on? Had Thread turned on the fence for extra precaution? Or did he know that I had escaped his net with Jenny in hand? Was he determined to strand me outside 14 just so he could arrest me? Drag me into the square to be locked in the stockade or whipped or even hung?'
It wasn't the first time I'd been trapped out. But I had always been with Roy and Juniper. And we would find a comfy tree to stay in until the power shut off as it always did. When we were running late, Sage and Emilie out of habit would go to the meadow to see if the fence was charged, so our mother wouldn't worry as much. But today our family would never think they had gone to the woods. Jenny and I had even taken steps to mislead them. So if we didn't show up then they most certainly would worry. There was a part of me that worried too it was coincidence that the day we returned to the woods the fence was turned on. There had to be cameras around since we hadn't seen anyone. It was dark when we came and our faces were hidden. But the list of suspects likely to be trespassing into the woods was short. My eyes peered through the trees, past the fence, into the meadow. I could only see snow and some light coming from the edge of the Hood. No peacekeepers in sight, no signs we were being hunted. I realized our course of action was the same, to get back inside the fence unseen and pretend we had never left. Any contact with the chain link or the coils of barbed wire would mean instant electrocution. I knew if we burrowed under the fence we would be risking detection and it left only one choice. We would somehow have to go over it.
So I scanned along the tree line, searching for a tree with a high branch. After about a kilometre, I saw an old maple that could do. The trunk was too wide and icy to climb up and there were no low branches. I started to walk towards it with Jenny slowly following. "Ruth, what are you doing?" Jenny asked me frightened for her younger sister. "Getting us out of here." I said about getting out of here and she sighed. I climbed a neighbouring tree and leapt precisely onto the tree as Jenny's eyes widened. "Bloody Victors." She muttered to herself before copying me and landing next to me. As I looked down I remembered why I always waited rather than tackled the fence. We were high enough to jump over it but that meant we were a good couple of metres up. It was a dangerously high even for people who had years of practice in trees. But what choice did we have? It was nearly dark as I put my empty bag onto my back. "We have to jump, I'll go first then you'll follow. Okay?" I said to Jenny who nodded.
I lowered myself until I was hanging by my hands and then gathered enough courage to let it go. I had the sensation of falling but then I hit the ground that sent a jolt up my spine. Suddenly, Jenny fell next to her landing on my foot. "Ow." we said together in pain as we laid back in the snow. I without standing knew I had hurt my left foot and Jenny realized she had hurt her tailbone. Jenny had gotten up and then helped me up from the ground before hobbled leaning on one and other. Our family didn't know that we had been in the woods and so we had to come up with an alibi. By the time we reached our house I couldn't put any weight on my foot. We dragged ourselves and were ready to collapse in front of the fire. But there was another shock in store for us once we got home as two peacekeepers, a man and a woman were standing in the doorway to our kitchen. The women remained emotionless while the man showed a flicker of surprise. It was a surprise as they knew we were in the woods so that meant we should still be trapped in there. "Hello." I said calmly to the 2 peacekeepers as mom came to us from somewhere.
