And it’s Lucas who forgets about the second big freaking stab wound he’s just sustained and who launches himself up to his feet again toward Brandon and Dawn, intent on saving the day again, only better this time since the last time didn’t work out so well.

Dawn doesn’t see Lucas coming. But she feels him hit Brandon, feels the breath from Brandon’s lungs expel right into her left ear, feels Brandon’s legs start to give out and both of them start to fall.

She feels their mutual equilibrium start to teeter over the edge.

And then Brandon lets her go.

Releases her, just like that, and all of a sudden Dawn is weightless, and she can feel that she’s falling and there’s no way she can stop it.

Time seems to pause. Dawn hangs there in place. Knowing that at any instant time will restart again and she’ll be falling, hard, to her death.

Except…

Lucas.

Lucas reaches out and grabs her sleeve. Saves her freaking life. He holds on to her jacket with hands slick with blood and he pulls Dawn back over the edge and to solid ground.

But.

In doing so, he opens himself up to a counterattack from Brandon, who seizes the opportunity to shove Lucas out into thin air.

Lucas releases Dawn just before he starts falling.

Dawn stumbles onto the rocks and turns around to help Lucas.

But Lucas is beyond help.

Dawn sees his eyes go wide as he realizes what he’s done. Sees his arms reach out and flail for something solid; sees his hands grip Brandon’s jacket but fail to hold on.

She sees Lucas disappear over the edge of the cliff.

She screams.

Chapter 111

DAWN BLACKS OUT, A LITTLE BIT.

Like, something else takes control of her body. She’s not even thinking about killing Brandon, but it happens anyway.

She’s just so shook about Lucas.

Brandon’s standing there at the edge of the cliff, triumphant, looking down at Lucas falling, and Dawn hears Lucas hit something and it’s like someone dropped a couch from the top of a ten-story building.

She realizes that Lucas is probably dead, and then she stops thinking.

She football-rushes Brandon as he turns from the cliff, that shit-eating, hyena grin still plastered on his face. She collides with Brandon with both of her hands outstretched, hits him with her full body weight and sends him flying backward.

Sends him falling off the cliff.

It takes all Dawn has not to go over with him, to slow her momentum on the slippery rocks and squirm away from his scrabbling hands, but she does it.

She dodges Brandon, and she watches him fall. But she turns away before he hits bottom. She doesn’t want to see Lucas down there. Not now.

Chapter 112

IF YOU’RE GOOD AT MATH, you’ll recognize that leaves four contestants.

Warden and Kyla.