Paxton says nothing and the raider walks out of the room, shutting the door behind him.

The light shines on my tired eyes and I’m forced to blink them shut to shield them from the pain.

“Get up,” a familiar voice says to me. It’s Gabe.

“What do you want?” I say in the groggiest voice I can manage.

“It’s time for you to leave,” he says.

“I thought I was supposed to leave two days ago,” I reply, rolling over onto my side with my back to him. “You know, for a moment there I thought I would like imprisonment better than banishment, but I never knew I could get so bored.”

“I think that was the point in waiting,” Gabe says. “Come on. I’m supposed to take you out before the sunrise.”

It takes me a minute, but I finally turn and sit up. He leaves the room long enough for me to put on my shoes and splash water on my face. The cold wind hits me when we get outside. It’s dark and no one but a few guards seems to be awake. “What time is it?” I ask him. He lets me know it’s a quarter until six. I follow him near the gate and I half-expect the guards to open it and tell me good luck, but I’m surprised to see Gabe opening the passenger door of a truck for me. I get in and he walks around to the other side and sits in the driver’s seat. “Are you taking me somewhere?” I ask.

“I’m taking you out of here,” he answers.

Great. “Did you sign up for this job?”

He lets out a sigh and stares down at the steering wheel for a long moment. “I didn’t mean for things to turn out the way they did. I had no idea Paxton was going to claim you murdered Skip.”

“It didn’t come to your mind to say something when he mentioned it?”

“I didn’t know he was going to say that until just before the assembly,” Gabe says, looking up at me. He seems tired as if he hadn’t slept in days. Dark circles have formed under his eyes. He looks pale like he might be coming down with something.

Good, I think.

“So, you didn’t think it was a good idea to say something to the contrary?” I ask.

“What would you have done?”

“I would have been brave about it,” I tell him. “I would have manned up and let other people know that what Paxton said wasn’t how it happened.” I feel more anger toward Gabe than anyone right now…even more so than toward Paxton. I had thought the two of us were becoming friends but that must have gone out the window when he decided not to stand up for me.

“You don’t understand,” Gabe says.

“Enlighten me,” I say.