Nate stopped and kissed Ash again, his lips pressing hard against hers. This kiss was different. None of the hope and promise and passion of before. This was a good-bye and an apology all rolled into one.

“Run! Do it now. Don’t stop running until you get somewhere safe. Call Becca. Do whatever you have to do. I’ll handle Mo and the others,” Nate said. He shoved her hard, and she stumbled backward. “Go! You have to go!”

Ash didn’t think about anything. She just ran, sprinting toward the back of the bus station, passing the bathroom and a row of vending machines. She wondered how it was possible that no one saw her terror, how not a single person stopped to ask if she was okay. She spotted a door with a sign reading DO NOT EXIT, and she burst through it, ignoring the blaring alarms that began to sound.

Outside a steady rain was falling, Ash’s tears mingling with thick fat raindrops. She continued running, racing across the parking lot, turning onto Seventh Street, and zigzagging a maze of streets. The rain had sent everyone scurrying inside, the streets completely deserted. Ash kept going, her sides aching. She rounded a corner and heard the sound of a coyote howling in the distance. Ash’s science teacher, Mr. Neth, once said coyotes howl to let the pack know they’ve captured their prey. The unmistakable wail is an invitation to share the kill. Today their ritual began early, reminding Ash that as much as LA was known for its glitz and glamour, it was still an untamed wilderness.

Her legs were aching, and she was trembling violently, waging an internal war with herself. Keep going or stop and catch her breath. She told herself just a few more blocks. She rounded a corner and literally slammed into a man, the force of the impact stunning her. She blinked and saw Vic towering over her, his tattooed face twisted in a grotesque snarl, his hands balled up into fists, already spoiling for a fight. Ash spun around and saw Kelsey and Andrea moving toward her. There was nowhere left to run. In an instant, they were on her. Punching. Kicking. A full-blown assault.

“Liar.”

“Bitch.”

“Whore.”

Ash was knocked to the ground, her face and head slamming into wet concrete. She remembered what Nate and Leslie said, how Mo decided who needed to be punished, and the Tribe followed those orders. She remembered what Nate told her and Ash realized with growing horror that this was her reckoning.

Ash thought about Eli. How she left him behind, then kept his beating a secret, allowing these people to go unpunished. Paybacks really were a bitch.