"You too," the officer screamed at Percy, shoving him down. "Hey, what's this? No personal possessions allowed."

He'd discovered the bundles of belongings Percy and Matthias had pulled together. He yanked them away and tossed them out the back of the truck, into the dark night.

"Won't we need clothes at the work camp?" Percy dared to ask.

"The Government will provide," the officer said. "The Government will provide everything you need."

Then the officer moved on to the next kid.

"You okay?" Percy whispered.

"I'll live," Matthias said, rubbing the knot that was already forming at the back of his head. 'Alia?"

"I'm fine," the little girl said cheerfully. "What's our plan?"

"Cut the seat belts, then jump off the truck when no one's looking," Percy said.

"Sounds good to me," Matthias said.

He reached down into his pocket for his knife. But he'd forgotten: He was still wearing his pajama pants. His knife was in his other pants, in the bundle the Population Police officer had thrown off the truck.

"Percy?" he whispered, trying to keep the panic out of his voice, out of his mind. Surely Percy would have thought to keep his knife with him.

But even in the darkness, Matthias could recognize the look of dismay on Percy's face as Percy, too, shoved his hand down into an empty pocket.

'Alia?" Matthias asked. "Did you have time to bring anything with you when the Population Police came?"

Alia shook her head.

"I was asleep and somebody picked me up," she said. "One of them." She pointed at the Population Police officer shoving kids down near the other side of the truck bed.

Alia's voice was calm, but Matthias thought it must have been terrifying for her to wake up in the arms of her worst enemy.