There was a patch of high clouds in the bloodorange light and he watched until the sun faded completely. He didn’t know whether to go back and get Poe or if Poe would come out on his own. Poe was always doing these things. He’d nearly gone to jail for beating up a kid from Donora, he was still on probation for it. He can’t resist a fight, not something you understand. Probably it’s not his fault. Probably you can’t be as big as him without having some kind of robot mentality.

Suddenly there were raised voices from inside the building, then shouting and banging around. Isaac tightened the straps on his pack and picked an escape route across the field and waited for Poe to come running. But Poe did not appear. Keep waiting, he told himself, just sit tight. The shouting and noises stopped. Isaac waited a while longer. Maybe it’s okay. No, something is wrong. You have to go back in.

His hands were shaking but he took the money from his pocket and stuffed it deep inside his backpack and then quickly hid the pack under a piece of sheet metal. This is fine. The kid’s got this under control. Don’t go in empty- handed. He saw a short length of iron pipe but it would just get taken away from him. Underneath the other scrap—he reached his hand carefully through the stack of rusted metal to where a dozen or so industrial ball bearings were scattered in the dirt. He picked one up. It was the size of a baseball, or larger, cold and very heavy. Maybe too heavy. He wondered if there was something else. No, there’s no time. Get in there. Don’t use that same door.