A sharp crackle of static filled the air, and a second later, Opal’s voice sounded. “Team one, what’s your position? I thought I heard shots in the trees near the west exit.”

Cindy raised her walkie-talkie to her lips. “It’s nothing, Opal. Dave thought he saw something and fired off a few rounds, but it was just a rabbit. We’re coming back inside now.”

“Roger that,” Opal replied.

Cindy clipped her walkie-talkie back to her belt and shot Dave another hot glare.

I put my finger to my lips, then made a circle and a slashing gesture with my knife at Owen. He nodded and held up his gun, telling me that he was ready to help.

Despite everything that had happened between us, Owen knew that we were in this together. Once we got off the island, well, we’d have to see where we stood. But for right now, we were together, and I was going to enjoy the solidarity while I could, even if I knew it was a result of circumstances, rather than of choice.

The tangle of briars wasn’t quite so thick around this tree, so I was able to maneuver around the far side of the trunk past the row of thorns and circle around so that I was parallel with the two giants.

“Come on, Dave,” Cindy said, a little more heat in her tone this time. “Let’s go back.”

“Fine,” Dave muttered, holstering his gun. “I’m out of ammo anyway.”

Out of ammo? What a shame. I smiled and headed toward my enemies. Maybe something was finally going to go right—

Cindy turned her head at exactly the right moment to see me step out from behind the trees.

“Dave!” she yelped. “Watch out!”

As always, I cursed fickle, fickle luck for messing with me yet again, but there was nothing I could do but follow through with my strike.

Thanks to Cindy’s warning, Dave was able to sidestep my initial attack. The giant was quicker than I expected, and he grabbed hold of my arm and shoved me into the closest tree before stepping up and driving his fist into my kidneys.

I hissed from the impact, but I returned the favor by snapping my elbow back into his ribs as hard as I could. Dave took several steps back, which put him right in Owen’s path. Owen crashed through the middle of the briars, raised his gun high, and smashed the weapon into the side of Dave’s head. The giant grunted, reached out, and tackled Owen. The two of them fell to the ground, rolling back and forth in front of the thorns.