1269_UgliesFreeBook

UGLIES 329
scattered twenty or so pairs of shoes, in all sizes. She fell to
her knees to look closer. The laces were still tied, as if the
shoes had been kicked off by people whose hands were
bound behind them. . . .
“Croy recognized me,” she murmured.
“What?”
Tally turned to David. “When I escaped, I flew right
over the pen. Croy must have seen it was me. He knew I
didn’t have shoes. We joked about it.”
She imagined the Smokies, helplessly awaiting their
fate, making one last gesture of defiance. Croy would have
kicked his own shoes off, then whispered to whomever he
could: “Tally’s free, and barefoot.” They’d left her with a
score of pairs to pick from, the only way they could help
the one Smokey they’d seen escape.
“They knew I’d come back here.” Her voice faltered.
What they didn’t know was who had betrayed them.
She picked a pair that looked about the right size,
with grippy soles for hoverboarding, and pulled them on.
They fit, even better than the ones the rangers had given
her.
Jumping back on the board, Tally had to hide the
pained expression on her face. This is what it would be like
from now on. Every gesture of kindness from her victims
would only make her feel worse. “Okay, let’s go.”
The hoverpath wound through the smoking camp, over
what streets remained between the charred ruins. Beside