Ruby Beam crawled past the east post while the guard turned his back. She wanted to find the runners she had sent beyond the north wall, and bring them home to the hidden kids who waited at her fire. Six runners had crossed this wall over the past months. None came back. The last time one failed to return, she told the group not to worry. That lie sat in her chest like a stone. Tonight she carried wire cutters, a flashlight, and three days of food. She had watched this guard for two nights. He cut the corner here and stopped checking behind him. She counted to ten and moved. Her boots made no sound on the packed dirt. The tall stone wall rose dark above her. Two guards stood at its base in black gear, rifles across their chests. She slipped past the broken stretch where the stone had crumbled. No shout came. No light swept toward her. For the first time, she was through. Beyond the wall, the ground fell into dead grass and leaning trees. She clicked on her flashlight and swept it low. A boot lay in the weeds. She knew that boot. It belonged to the youngest runner, the boy who showed up one night and never left. She picked it up. The lace was still tied. Ahead stood a brick rowhouse, three stories, windows boarded with gray planks. Ivy hung down the front like torn curtains. The wooden door hung crooked on one hinge. Ruby's light caught scratches gouged deep into the brick beside the door. Long marks. Not made by hands. She stepped closer. Her flashlight found the runners. All of them. Packs still on their backs, piled against the base of the wall where they had tried to climb back over. They had made it this far and no farther. Something had stopped them before they reached the gap. A sound moved behind the crooked door. A slow drag across the floor. Ruby went cold. She shut off her light and pressed against the cracked brick. The dragging stopped. Then it started again, coming toward the door. She did not wait this time. On her last attempt she had moved too fast and failed. Now she ran slow and low, back toward the gap in the wall. The thing came out of the rowhouse behind her, faster than any person. She did not look. She dove through the broken stone and rolled into the dirt on the camp side. The two guards spun toward the noise. One raised his rifle at the dark beyond the wall and fired twice. Whatever followed her shrieked and fell back into the trees. Ruby lay in the dirt, gripping the dead boy's boot. The runners were not lost. They were dead, and the thing that killed them lived just past the wall. Now the guards knew someone had crossed. And the kids at her fire were still waiting for an answer she finally had.