Dawn and Brielle.

Kyla isn’t much of a horse in this race. She isn’t fighting anyone, anyway; she’s just standing off to the side with a look of, like, panic on her face.

A look of, like, What the fuck have we done?

Kyla’s a noncombatant.

That leaves Dawn and Brielle to take care of Warden. And at any other time, Dawn would be feeling those odds.

Except right now, Brielle is flat on her back in the snow. She’s bleeding from somewhere and she isn’t moving.

And Warden is standing above her with that big hunting knife.

Brielle is neutralized.

And Warden’s turning around to take care of Dawn next.

Chapter 113

DAWN VERSUS WARDEN. Warden versus Dawn.

(You had to know this was coming.)

These are not odds that Dawn thinks she can handle. Not faced off with Warden on the edge of a cliff, Warden holding a bloody knife and with murder in his eyes.

Dawn can see the real Warden now, the boy who earned his sentence to Out of the Wild by killing somebody, the boy who hurts people for his own gain and probably enjoys it. The boy who doesn’t belong here. Who belongs, like, in jail.

He’s not looking at Dawn with that cocky smile anymore. No, he’s breathing heavy and looking up at her from underneath a fallen lock of hair, and he’s still smiling a little bit but it’s beyond any smile Dawn has ever seen or wants to see again.

He’s enjoying this, very much.

And he’s so looking forward to the thrilling finale.

The whole mountain seems to go still.

There’s nowhere to run.

It’s fight for your life, and Dawn knows she can’t win. She gets ready to fight anyway.

Warden seems impossibly large as he looms over her. The knife in his hand is still stained with Brielle’s blood, and Lucas’s. He raises it over his head as he closes the distance between them, and Dawn backs up and braces herself and hopes she can dodge him.

But she can’t dodge forever.

Warden’s smile is gone now. He’s five feet away and closing. He swings the knife back and takes aim at her head, and Dawn knows he’ll kill her with one swipe if he hits her.

She scrabbles around for something, anything, to protect her.

Her hand comes up empty.

Warden lunges.

Chapter 114

BUT WARDEN’S LEGS CRASH OUT from under him before he can slash open Dawn’s skull.

He falls to the ground hard and the knife skitters away, and behind him, Dawn can see Kyla, standing there gripping a tree branch like a baseball bat, an Oh my God, I’ve fucking done it now expression on her face.

Even as Dawn and Kyla make eye contact, Warden is scrambling to his feet, swearing and fumbling for the knife.