“You’re naive if you believe that, Grace,” Maverick says. “Do you really think they care about us?”

“No, but…” Maybe part of me does. Deep breaths. The cold November air chills me from the inside out. “C’mon, let’s go. Let’s go back. Find one of the computers. Figure out what’s going on and—I don’t know—appeal to someone.”

I place my hand on Hunter’s arm, pull him aside, and repeat the words. Hunter frowns. He seems torn between Maverick and me. I’ve never seen him this uncertain before. But if he moves, the rest of the crew will fall in line. He’s the key to getting us all safely out of here.

Reid growls. “No. I hate it. I’m not going to sit around and see what happens.” He slaps my hand away and places himself in front of Hunter. “We’re in this together, right? You always said you’d take care of us, and now we need each other. I can’t go back. Fuck, I can’t. I hate those walls, I hate the smell, I hate the food. I don’t want to sit there and wait for some kind of plague to find us, and I don’t want to sit there until someone decides that it’s safe enough to feed us. What will we even do without guards around?”

“Exactly!”

“I don’t want to go back either!”

“Let’s go!”

Once Maverick picks up Reid’s declaration—with a snarled “I won’t be locked up again”—Hunter shakes himself and nods. “I agree. We can’t let them send us back.”

The words rattle me to the bone. “So what would you do?” I place myself between Hunter and the guards and try to keep my voice down.

“There’s…what, five of them? We outnumber them.” Reid glances over my shoulder and smirks. His eyes are cold and dangerous.

“They have guns,” I hiss.

“We have the element of surprise,” he says. “They won’t expect us to do anything. Not really.”

“Of course they don’t! Because rushing a group of armed soldiers is ridiculous.” I want to grab him and punch him until he sees sense. “Are you really that ignorant? Are you completely unaware of the situation around you? I want to get out of Hope too. Don’t you think I’m tired of living between the same walls and doing what other people tell me to do? But I want to survive, Reid.” More than that, I want to live, but I won’t admit to that.

“We all do,” Reid says, his voice low and threatening when he turns to his best friend. “Don’t we, Hunter?”

Hunter’s jawline flexes. He knows a challenge when he hears it. “Reid’s right, we have to do something. We can’t go back. Maybe we can’t get through here, but we’ll find another way around.”

“Through the woods?” I ask incredulously. “Over the mountains? Good luck. Try that when it’s light out if you want. I’ll take my chances back home.” The words leave my mouth before I can truly consider them. Home. Fuck. What does that even mean? How could I say that?