Root: Part II, Chapter 7

Finding himself on the wrong side of the tracks, Ivan tries to turn an enemy to an ally, and he makes another unsettling discovery about the nature of the world.

For more on this project, please see “This Year a Serial Takes Root.”

7.0 Ivan

One second Ivan was backing up against Bobby Kimball, nodding desperate encouragement to Hasta. The next, he was falling backward in darkness and rain.

His feet backpedaled for purchase, but his heels skidded in muck. He was on a downward slope. He twisted as he fell back, landi…