Free Night Beyond The Night by Joss Ware

far as they knew.
    Jade easily slipped between the heavy bushes that grew along the protective walls, which had been made from old train cars, semi-truck trailers, and a variety of stacked debris. They’d also used big house-sized signs called billboards and even some bricks and metal sheeting taken from the destroyed buildings. The walls, which in places were little more than a mountain range of junk, rose more than twenty feet high. In fact, they could be used to keep Envyites in as well as
gangas
out.
    Uncomfortable with that very possibility of being penned in was the reason Lou and Theo had created their own passageway, using a large culvert. They’d secretly positioned the metal pipe—which was large enough for a man to walk through—beneath collapsed billboards and tumbling walls. Then, they had obstructed both ends of it with more debris, causing it to blend into the piles of rubble that had been formed by the cleanup after the Change.
    Only someone like Jade, who knew which objects to move and how, could find and utilize the passage.
    Now, she emerged from the inside of the culvert and found herself in an old boxcar. Feeling her way in the dark, she moved through the car and through a trapdoor in the floor, easing herself onto the ground three feet below. She crouched, hurrying out from under the boxcar, slid from behind a warped sheet of metal, and found herself on what had once been a street.
    The sun had dropped farther, and with the height of the wall, Jade was well hidden on the overgrown street. She slipped quickly and silently along the dim alley between the building and the barricade of debris. All was quiet but for the soft rustle of some animal scuttling through the dark, and the far-distant sounds of voices and activity.
    But . . . she heard something else. Something that didn’t belong.
    The back of Jade’s shoulders prickled. She slowed and slid into the shadows, feeling the rough, age-pitted wall beneath her hands. Voices. Low and careful.
    Unusual for this area of the city, where few people had the need or desire to venture. There was nothing here but piles of rubble, and a few half-walls from destroyed buildings. Whatever might have been of value had been scavenged long ago.
    The voices were deep, indicating they were men. They spoke quickly and quietly, their feet kicking up old sticks and dislodging stones, taking little care to hide their presence. Or perhaps they simply didn’t expect anyone to be here.
    Jade knew she had to make a decision—whether to hide, or to go boldly forward and bluff her way through a possible meeting. It could be a perfectly innocent situation . . . but something felt wrong. She’d never encountered anyone else in this area, and she realized suddenly why it felt wrong. They carried no light. No illumination. But anyone else, without a nefarious purpose, would want to safely light their way.
    Of course, she wasn’t carrying a light either . . . so what did that say about her?
    Jade pushed against the wall, feeling her way for an opening or indentation in which she could hide. The voices were coming closer and she’d hardly moved.
    Her heart picked up speed and she moved as quickly as she dared, taking care to lift her feet carefully and deliberately, placing her steps smoothly so as not to rustle or scuff. At last . . . the wall angled beneath her fingers and she edged sharply into unknown darkness. The brick or concrete seeped chill into her back and palms, and leaves from its overgrowth brushed her face and caught at her hair.
    Something moved . . . slithered . . . over her foot and she barely contained a surprised—and horrified—gasp, muffling it with a hard, horse-scented palm over her mouth.
Oh God!
Mice, rats, possums . . . she could handle any of the four-footed creatures and some of the eight-legged ones. Just not the ones that slid on their bellies.
    Then . . . no more slithering. A faint rustle from where the snake glided off, hopefully far away, and