Cress cracked open the window of her RV, the sunlight greeting her with a blinding brightness. Squinting, she adjusted the blinds before pulling up her chair, falling down into it and leaning her elbows on the windowsill.

The small cactus on the sill outside looked healthy. If not as prickly as ever. Cress smiled faintly, imagining a conversation. Why hello, Mr. Cactus. How are you?

She let her gaze wander over the courtyard. To the wall, the woods, the birds swooping in from the sky, the wonderful woodland creatures that came into her enclosure in the morning, and…

A rusty Jeep parked right in the middle of the grass.

The events of the day before rushed to her.

Kicking herself up, Cress nearly flipped herself out the window, pushing her chair away and scrambling up. She scurried to yank the blinds down, the crash that followed only blankly registering in her mind. She was muddled, floating, immobile.

Oh, stars.

She'd nearly forgotten.

No, not forgotten. She had been aware of it, vaguely, of the fact that something had been different since she woke up an hour ago. She'd been trying to figure it out, over breakfast, over watching soap operas on the net, over reading her favorite (her only) novels for the hundredth time-and now she remembered.

Stars, how had she forgotten?

Maybe it wasn't real. After all, the events yesterday had happened in a daze. Maybe she'd imagined it all. Maybe she was still imagining that Jeep, resting under the overlay of trees. Right in the middle of her enclosure.

Cress tried to recall what happened, exactly. Thorne had driven in the enclosure, while she had been conducting a plan she had been working on for days. Weeks. Hours. That she knew. She had the exact code for it in her secure laptop.

And then she ran out of the RV. That she knew. She remembered having to shut down the system and stop the back, stop everything, and repairing the broken code in a bustle of activity, peering out the window as she had. Then disregarding her shoes waiting for her at the steps, running down them to greet him. Or to stare at him. Frankly, Cress remembered doing both.

Then he'd introduced himself, as if she hadn't known who he was already, and he'd explained that he was a criminal on the run from the government, and that his crew had bailed him out, and that now he was alone and without anyone to rely on. Actually, he was like her-without the constant supply of food from her mistress, of course.

And of course Cress had offered him to stay, and he had retreated into his Jeep with a loaf of bread and some water-just a few of Cress's provisions she was prepared to share with someone she barely knew. Sybil's visits were becoming later and later.

And that had been all. Cress blinked the remnants of sleep away, rubbing her eyes and staring up at the ceiling. She'd been kneeling without even realizing it, and she set her hands on her knees and just stared up. And thought.

Despite his history being a criminal, and a liar, Cress believed him.

Despite his obvious playboy trait, and his flirty, cocky smile, Cress trusted him. As much a girl who'd been trapped her whole life could trust somebody, that is.

Burying her head in her hands, Cress wondered, for the thousandth time, whether she was really helping a criminal. The criminal mastermind of New York. Of the world.

And if she actually liked him.

She'd been checking up on her new project for Levana when an unusual notification popped up on her laptop. The one she'd coded to keep secure from her mistress.

It would've been normal, except for the fact that she couldn't receive notifications for it.

Squinting at the blinding screen, Cress swiveled her chair around to read it, the words barely registering:

500 KM ASTEROID HEADED FOR UPPER EAST COAST

ESTIMATED DATE: 1/31

ALERT TO EVACUATE INTO SOUTH OR MIDWEST EFFECTIVE UNTIL IMPACT

Cress ran down to the rusty automobile, flying past the well and her fort, struggling to slip on her shoes as she sped down the walk. Panting, she reached the car, and, pausing to shove her feet in her slippers, she knocked his window insistently.

No reply.

The worry building up even higher, Cress tucked a loose strand behind her ear before yanking the front door open. He hadn't even bothered to lock it. Which was obvious, because who would steal his things here? Surely not her.

Carswell Thorne was sleeping in the backseat, his arm draped over his stomach and his other set behind his head. He looked so peaceful in that moment that, in any other situation, Cress would've hesitated and stayed back. But this was no other situation.

"E-excuse me! Sir-" Cress bit back her words, not sure what to call him. She couldn't very well call him Thorne, that was too familiar. But Carswell was far too personal too.

"Please! Please wake up, something's happened-Please!"

Cress reached out and shook him lightly, holding her breath for a response.

Nothing.

A ring startled her, and Cress whirled around to see Carswell Thorne's strange-looking cell phone, perched on the edge of the passenger seat. A notification was lighting up the screen-the same exact notification Cress had just seen.

The fear rose to the back of her throat. This was a confirmation. A check for the scoreboard.

She was reaching for his cell when a sleepy yawn sounded behind her. Rustling, Thorne threw away the make-shift blanket, raising his arms in a stretch.

He noticed her mid-yawn.

"...Eurgh?"

"...No, Cress," she began, grabbing his phone and tapping for the notification. "And, sir, captain, I don't know what to call you, there's been an asteroid alert for all of the East Coast, and probably the whole world too, because there's an asteroid headed for us, and we need to hurry up and get out of here because otherwise we'll die."

The words had tumbled out of her mouth in one breath, and she gasped for air as she showed him his phone's screen.

Gazing at it through bleary eyes, Thorne didn't seem to comprehend all of it until he'd read the alert for the fifth time.

"Oh, stars."

"...No, an asteroid."

"That's not what I mean." Dragging his hand over his cheek, Thorne seemed to be struggling to shake himself out of a stupor. "This changes everything. Aces. Why did this have to change everything?"

Cress stared. "Tho-sir? Why does this-"

"Thorne is fine." He didn't pay attention to her words, running his fingers through his hair worriedly. "Stars above, I have the worst luck."

"...Sir-Thorne! We need to get out of here."

"Way to state the obvious."

She tugged her hair out from under her feet, tossing it behind her shoulder. Frustrated. She was undeniably frustrated. It was a feeling she had never really experienced before, being alone in the woods. She didn't think she liked it.

"This is serious, sir. I mean-Thorne."

"I'm never gonna get out of this mess, am I?" He groaned, leaning back and staring out the window into the courtyard. "Stars. Why did I sign up for this?"
Cress bit her lip, the curiosity starting to overtake her, but shook it away. Questions could come later. "We have two weeks to prepare. Only two weeks."

"In two weeks I'll be dead," he grumbled.

"Captain, this is serious!"

"Captain. I like that." He finally turned to her, a faint spark igniting at the name. "Where did you hear that?"

Cress waved her hands vaguely, unsure about how this had to do with anything. "That's what your crew called you, right? Captain?" She had found out through hacking numerous secure Carswell Thorne fanpages.

"...Right," he affirmed, pointing a finger at her approvingly. "That is exactly what they called me. After cadet, but that's unimportant."

"Captain! An asteroid's headed-"

"I know." His jaw set, and Cress realized he had been purposely teasing her before. Now, his eyes held a hard glint, a determined light.

In a rush, Cress realized who she was dealing with.

"What's the estimated date again?" He didn't give her time to answer. "Two weeks. On the 31st of January. That's not that far away."

"But enough to prepare for." Cress added, relieved that he was finally taking charge.

"Nice assessment. Right, we'll have to figure out a way to escape, first. Which I'm assuming you already know?"

"Yes." It had taken her forever to form the code and find the chink, but she had done it. "We'll have to be discreet, though. The system already recognized one breach, and it'll be trying to amend for it. I have to tweak the code a bit to fit those changes."

"Right. That. You do that, and I'll help. With packing. And other stuff." He seemed to struggle to think for a second, and then he snapped, his eyes lighting up. "I can cook! So you have more time in your hands to tweak that code."

"Oh, no, it doesn't take that long-"

"I've learned how to make delicious food in the field, Princess. I can handle cooking for a hacker."

Cress wasn't sure what he meant by that, but she nodded reluctantly anyway.

"Thanks."

That was all she could find the urge to say, and it was good that she'd kept it short, because in the next moment both of them seemed to realize they were crouched in the backseat of a car together.

Sorry for the quick ending!