Chapter 34
WINCHESTER MALL swallowed me in cool, dry air. Dirt-crusted, frosted skylights blocked the June warmth and cast just enough light to silhouette the wooden bench and the hexagonal information pavilion just inside the smoked glass doors. The air conditioning hadn’t been run for months, yet the air had the loamy tang of a greenhouse. My burned skin prickled and my sweat instantly cooled.
Maybe Legacy sucked the heat out of the air.
Silence pressed in on my ears.
The weight of the extra radio on my belt tugged at my pants, dragging them to slip past the band of my underwear, but I hooked a thumb under the belt and hoisted them back up rather than stopping to tighten anything.
I walked quickly down the curved hall. Someone had methodically unlocked the roll-down chain gates at e
