The Network ( Book One of the Grounders Series )

4

Dedicated to so1tgoes

"You are dismissed for lunch. Go now."

I trail Cicada and Jonah down the corridor toward the lunch room. All the student in Daws are beginning to file into the hall.

I tell Cicada and Jonah goodbye as we near the door to the storeroom. I intent to slip out of school before I run into Carter and his minions.

I open the door and my heart drops. Too late.

"How are you, bud?" Carter asks rhetorically, shoving my into the room and kicking the door closed with his heavy boots.

"Look, Carter, I don't want any trouble-."

I sense his fist coming before it even leaves his side. My fine-tuned defense skills kick in and I grab his wrist before his knuckles can connect with my nose. I slam my foot hard into his gut. I've had enough with passiveness today.

He doubles over with an oof, and falls to the ground.

Unfortunately he brought his buddy Venn. The big guy lunges at me over the crates of supplies, his arms outstretched, posed for my face.

I sidestep his attack and leap over the boxes, slipping agilely through the crack in the wall and into the darkness beyond. Venn is too broad to fit within the crevice, and Carter would never do the work himself.

In minutes I am standing next to the paper mill, creeping through the shadows of the clan. If I'm seen I the streets during schooling hours, I will inevitably be sent to the Detention in Verro.

I slip into the window in the paper mill, the smell of fresh wood filtering through. I emerge in a wood paneled room lined with cabinets. I rummage through the cabinets, searching for something to eat.

I find a basket of rolls in one of the cabinets, next to a plastic container of flour. I palm six rolls and pull away from the cabinet as a millworker walks into the room.

His is wearing overalls smeared with strange-colored pulp, his beard is unruly and untrimmed. It takes a moment for him to react, then his eyes narrow and he reaches out for me.

Instinctively I grab the container of flour and stuff it over his head. A white powdery cloud fills the room as the man bellows an enraged howl. He flings the container off his head and blinks the flower from his eyes, but I'm already gone by that point.

I slip into the crook behind the mill and brush any lingering flour off my clothes. I wolf down the rolls and head back cautiously to the school storeroom.

Carter isn't in the room anymore, but I still wait a solid five minutes before slipping out of the crevice and into the room.

Just as I step over a box of spilled pencils, the door flings open and Educator Alexia steps in trailed by Carter.

I catch the glint of the steel rod as she grabs me by the collar.

"I've had enough with you, Alaric!" She snarls, dragging me out of the room. "My disciplines aren't working for you. It's Verro for you now."