Inside sounds. The world seems to move slow and strange around her. Sometimes she can’t tell if she’s running or if the cottages are only moving past her. There are Egg Men fanning out into the yards behind the Sinta houses. She looks back briefly. Someone is searching the copse out back of her cottage with a torch. Kicking the leaves and shaking the bushes. Their small search lights zigzag through the branches. Zettie keeps going. Now she remembers what she’s supposed to do. She remembers it all. Zettie follows Mamma Ezray’s training. All the way to the edge of the killing forest, then she stops. Panting. Rib cage aches. Feels sweat running down the insides of her arms, pools at her inner elbows. She clenches and unclenches her hands. They’re sticky, cold. The fence sways and the forest looms above Zettie. Swivels around on her right heel to look behind her. Mamma Ezray is not here but she will be soon, Zettie thinks. Mamma Ezray never lets Zettie down. Mamma Ezray does not lie to Zettie.
