“Why’s everyone leaving the cavern?”

“They don’t think the doors can handle another attack. Come on.” He took hold of her hands and pulled her up onto her feet.

They moved toward the open door, panic intensifying in the cavern, people bunching closer as they neared the exit, elbows jabbing into ribs, skin brushing hard against skin. Theresa reached down and grabbed Ben’s hand, pulling him in front of her.

They pushed their way through the threshold of the massive door.

The tunnel echoed with voices, everyone fighting to reach the daylight at the opening.

Theresa and Ben emerged under a midday sky so blue it looked fake. She stepped right to the edge of the cliff and took a stomach-swimming glance straight down.

Said, “Oh Jesus.”

At least twenty abbies had begun to scale the cliff.

Another fifty were gathering at the base, three hundred feet below.

More still coming out of the forest.

Ben moved toward the edge, but she held him back. “Don’t even think about it.”

What had started as chaos inside the cavern was escalating toward hysteria out in the open. People had seen what was coming. Some had fled back into the tunnel. Others were trying to climb higher up the mountain. A few had become frozen with fear, sitting down against the rock, trying to tune the world right out.

Those whom Ethan had armed were getting into positions along the uppermost ledge, trying to take aim on the abbies that were already climbing the wall.

Theresa watched one woman drop her rifle.

Saw a man lose his footing and fall screaming into the forest.

The first gunshot rang out from the ledge.

“Mom, what do we do?”

Theresa hated the terror she saw building in Ben’s eyes. She glanced back at the rocky path leading into the cavern.

“Should we have stayed inside?” Ben asked.

“And prayed the door held? No.”

To the right of the cave opening, a narrow ledge extended around the mountain. From this distance, Theresa couldn’t tell if it was navigable, but it was something.

“Come on.” She grabbed Ben’s arm and hustled him back up the path toward the tunnel as more gunshots broke out behind them.

“I thought you said—”

“We aren’t going back into the cavern, Ben.”

When they reached the opening to the tunnel, Theresa got her first good look at the ledge. It couldn’t have been wider than a foot. There were no planks, no cables. It looked right on the edge of plausible.

She faced her son as people streaked past them, heading back into the tunnel.

Somewhere in the forest below, an abby shrieked.

“We have to follow this ledge,” she said.

Ben stared at the slim, natural path across the cliff face, and said, “That looks scary.”

“Would you rather be trapped in that cavern when fifty abbies break the door down?”

“What about everyone else?”