Crossed (Matched, #2)

by Ally Condie

Something about all of this feels strange—harried, unorganized, unlike the Society.

The air ship lifts into the sky. It’s my first time traveling like this—I’ve

Everyone’s watching you,” Vick tells me. I ignore him.

“Stop,” he says in a low voice. “All the other decoys are staring.”

“It’s bad for morale if someone like you goes crazy.” “You said yourself that we’re not their leaders,”

“Ky,” Vick says, and then he suddenly gets it. “You figuring out a way to turn this back into ammo?” “It won’t be much good,”

“We could put rocks, other stuff in there. Have you figured out the fuse?” “Not yet,” I say. “That’s the hardest part.”

“We’ll teach them how to do it before we leave. But we’re running out of time.

“Ky and I are taking a break from burying today,” he says. “The rest of you can take a turn. Some of you new decoys haven’t even done it yet.”

still think we should go on a night where there isn’t a firing,”

“How about this?” I say. “We’ll go tonight. Whether there’s a firing or not.” “All right,” Vick says after a moment.

Ky Finnow. That was my name then. “Roberts,” Vick says, impatient with my hesitation. “That’s my last name. Vick Roberts.”

“Markham,” I tell him. “Ky Markham.” Because that’s the name she knows me by. That’s my real name now.

Finnow. The name I shared with my fath...

“Before the Society, when the Warming happened, things changed in the Outer Provinces,”

“This is no different from any other

“We need you to plant a crop. Cotton, actually. We want the Enemy to think that this part of the country is still occupied and viable.

“It’s true then? There’s a war with the Enemy?” one of the girls asks. The Official laughs. “Not much of one. The Society is solidly in ...

So they’ve implemented a six-month rotation program.

None of this is true, I think, even though it seems that you believe it is.

“They will take you behind that curtain, search you, and give you your standard-issue attire. Including the coats.”

“Something to hide?” Indie whispers to me. “Yes,” I say. Why lie? “Me too,” she whispers. “I’ll take yours. You take mine when it’s my turn.”

Indie, I slide my arms into my newly acquired coat. “I’m ready,” I say softly, barely moving my lips. “It’s already in your coat pocket,” Indie says.

Across the ship, the girl they searched after me begins to sob.

“You’d better cry,” another girl says dully. “We’re going to the Outer Provinces.”

Whatever she wanted to hide must be small and light.

give us minimal gear: two days’ worth of food rations, an extra set of plainclothes, a canteen,

A flashlight, but so lightweight and full of curved edges that it wouldn’t be much good for fighting.

“The only river I’ve heard of anywhere near here is the Sisyphus River,”

“The Society poisoned it,” I tell her. “Nothing can live in it, or on its banks. Nothing can grow there.”

“You can’t ever really kill a river,” she says. “You can’t kill anything that’s always moving and changing.”

let myself imagine that Ky waits for me when we land.

“You’re smiling,” Indie says. “I know,” I say.

We hear the sharp beep of an incoming message on the miniport.

just got a message from an Official in charge.”

“We’re getting new villagers soon,”

“All I know is that the Official says they’re going to be different,

but we’re to treat them as any other villager and we’ll be accountable for anything that happens to them.”

“Maybe they’re sending a big group,” someone calls out. “Maybe we should wait until they get here to try to fight.” “No,”

“About the new villagers being different?”

“You’re right,” Vick says, looking at me. “They’re getting rid of Aberrations.” “And I bet they let all the Anomalies get gunned down before us,”

Eli gasps. Vick and I stare at each other. The agony in Vick’s eyes didn’t come from the punch I landed.

“You think I’m an Anomaly?” Vick asks, quiet.

“No,” I say. “What if I were?” “I’d be glad,” I say. “It would mean that someone survived.

We’ve heard the same thing, felt the same shift. The Enemy. The moon is up. And it’s full.

Vick looks at me and I know we think the same thing. We’re tempted to stay and fight this out. I shake my head at Vick. No.

have to get out of here. I have to try to get back to Cassia.

One more chance, maybe, for someone else, and out of the corner of my eye I see Vick put his gun down too, and the miniport next to it.

“Drop the gun,” I tell him, and when he doesn’t, I reach over and knock it out of his hands.

“Run,” I tell Eli. “Don’t listen.” I try not to hear any of it either—the screaming, the yelling, the dying.