Across from us, Ansel and Archer fight off an Archer Duplicate who’s wielding a blade of some kind. The Duplicate flings it at Archer’s chest, but Ansel manages to catch the weapon in midair.

Seymour has armed them, I realize. These really are soldiers.

“She’s got a knife!” I try to warn Maude and Madison, but too late. Our Duplicate, cornered as she is, slides a pocketknife from her boot and aims it straight at Madison’s chest. Maude flings her body in the path of the knife, where it gouges her arm, instead.

“Maude!” I gasp at the sight of the handle sticking out of her upper arm, horrified.

“You bitch,” Madison shrieks at the Duplicate as she jumps on top of her, clawing at the clone’s face and hair. Thank God Madison’s a track star. She actually has skills.

“I’m okay,” Maude grimaces. Before I can stop her, she yanks the knife by the handle, straight out of her arm. Blood pours forth in a river, but Maude barely reacts. She rips a piece of cloth from her shirt and ties it around her arm in a makeshift tourniquet.

Then she steels herself for battle. “I’ll help you,” she grunts as she leaps to Madison’s side and grabs the clone by the throat. The clone stops struggling—she can’t fight the two of them together—and Maude ties her wrists with an electrical cord she rips out of the wall. When the Duplicate is bound, unable to hurt us, Madison turns her attention to Maude.

“You saved my life,” Madison acknowledges, sounding like she’s not quite sure she can stomach—or believe—those words. Yet she can’t deny they’re true.

Maude stands over the Duplicate, surveying her. “Wouldn’t you have done the same for me?”

Madison doesn’t have a chance to answer, and there’s no time to celebrate this small victory, because three figures block our path. It’s three Oliver clones, assuming a fighting stance and projecting an almost deadly vibe. My heart pounds in my rib cage, and I have to remind myself that these clones aren’t Ollie. They are soulless. They are empty vessels. They watch us with a harrowing venom in their eyes that sends chills up and down my spine. After a nerve-racking standstill, Maude rushes at one of them, delivering a swift kick to his jaw. The clone staggers backward, his mouth full of fresh blood; he must have bit his lip after the blow. The second Ollie Duplicate is fighting Madison, who’s grabbed him by the groin and is squeezing, hard. The third Oliver makes a move to pull a weapon from his shoe, but I don’t let him reach it. I throw my entire body at him, full force.