I see him crouch and lay his arms out, closing his eyes, unable to look. But I steer perfectly over the chains, and they snap beneath my wheels. He’s free. Now there are two of us able to fight.

The prisoners in Molly and Ben’s chain are being surrounded by bikes, penned in like sheep, with nowhere to go. It’s up to me and Ryan to liberate them.

I slow the bike, allowing him to leap on the back.

“You’re bleeding,” he says, leaping on.

“I’ll be fine.”

He encircles my waist with his good arm, the other hanging limply by his side, and I rev the bike again. Together we race forward, plowing straight toward the group. I’m trying to call their bluff, to get them to scatter, but they’re holding their positions.

“WE’RE GOING TO CRASH!” Ryan screams in my ear.

I can see the terrified faces of the prisoners behind the line of captors on bikes. Everyone knows what is about to happen, and I’m the only one who can stop it. But I won’t. This is our one chance. I gun the bike, gaining more and more speed.

“JUMP WHEN I SAY!” I shout back to Ryan, praying he can hear me over the roaring wind.

His grip on me gets tighter and tighter.

“NOW!” I scream.

We both jump to the side, letting our bike carry on forward without us, and hit the ground hard. I roll across the parched earth, one, two, three times, then manage to stop myself. I glance over my shoulder just in time to see the bike slam into the others at full speed. The gas tank explodes and I duck down, covering my head with my arms as flames and bits of twisted metal fly into the air and rain down over me.

This is the chance the other group needed. In the chaos and under the cover of thick, billowing smoke, they’re able to scurry away from their captors, many of whom are now lying groaning on the ground or rolling around in an attempt to put out the fires ravaging them.

“THIS WAY!” I scream, leaping to my feet, ignoring the aches and pains in my body from hitting the ground.

A little way ahead, Ryan manages to drag himself up. His bad arm dangles uselessly at his side.