Read Running Out of Time for Free Online

leave now." Jessie could hear the tears in her mother's voice. "Godspeed."
    Jessie didn't trust her voice enough to reply. In seconds Ma had re-covered the hole, and everything was black.
    Jessie turned the knob.

SIX
    Remembering Ma's warning about guards, Jessie pushed the door open slowly. When the crack between the door and the wall was wide enough, she peeked out.
    The door led to a long, dimly lit corridor. No one was in sight, so Jessie stepped out and shut the door.
    The floor of the corridor was smooth and shiny, with a pattern of alternating black and white squares. They glistened, even in the dim light. To think: This had been down here the whole time Jessie lived in Clifton! Jessie had never seen a floor that wasn't wood or dirt, so she bent down and felt it. She loved it—until she began walking. Her boots clattered so loudly she had to tiptoe.
    The lights in the corridor didn't flicker at all—not like any candle or lamp Jessie had ever seen. She wasn't tall enough to reach the globes that lit the hall every fifty feet or so, or she
    would have felt them, too. As far as she could tell, the globes held no flame. How could there be light without fire? Jessie wanted to go back and ask Ma, but resisted. Somehow she knew she'd have lots of questions, the longer she was away from home. Maybe Mr. Neeley could answer some of them. The rest she'd save for when she got back to Clifton.
    In spite of the sickness in Clifton and the mystery and danger Ma said she faced, Jessie felt a rising excitement. She was only a few minutes into her journey, and had already seen a miracle: flameless light. What more might she see? How could Ma and Pa have left such an amazing world?
    And then Jessie saw two men way down the hall. Pressing against the wall, Jessie wished the light was a little less steady.
    "—going to patrol there?" one man was asking.
    The other man glanced down the hall, and Jessie felt he was looking right at her.
    "Okay. You do the other end," he said. "Did you punch in?"
    "Oh, thanks. I forgot. Knowing them, they wouldn't pay me if I was five minutes late."
    Both men passed out of sight. A minute later, Jessie heard a click down the long hall. What were they punching?
    The men's voices were too low to hear now. Had they seen her, or heard her footsteps before she stopped? Jessie didn't think so, but her heart pounded so loudly she couldn't believe they couldn't hear that. For a minute, she stood frozen, too scared to move. These had to be the guards Ma had warned her about. They mustn't find her. She had to hide before they patrolled this hall.
    Tiptoeing as quickly and quietly as she could, Jessie raced
    back to the door she'd come through only a few moments before. She turned the knob every way she could, but the door didn't give. Frantically, she tried jerking it, yanking it, pushing it.
    It was locked. It must have locked behind her.
    Jessie peered up and down the corridor. Its smooth walls seemed unbroken—but wait, straight down from this door there was a gaping darkness. Jessie wasn't sure what it was. Her only hope, she thought.
    Jessie rushed toward the darkness. Behind her, she heard one of the men whistling off-key. She might have laughed at him if Ma's words weren't echoing in her head: "I believe they might kill, rather than have their secrets out." She was sure the man was walking down the corridor now, though she was too scared to turn around and look. His steps were loud and fast; any minute now he'd be close enough to see her.
    Inches from the dark opening, Jessie took a chance and leaped.
    "Hey! Who's there?" the guard yelled. His footsteps stopped, as though he was listening.
    In the safe darkness, Jessie let out a silent breath. The guard would have to go back for a lantern now, she thought, and she'd have time to figure out what to do.
    "Hey, Ernie," the man called out. "Hit the lights, will you?
    Almost instantly, the corridor was flooded with bright light. It seemed the man had turned on