Ashley shook her head. She looked the way Victoria had gone. “She hasn’t killed anyone before, if I had to guess.”

“Just Victoria and the kids, then.”

“Just Victoria and Kenzie,” Chris said.

Rain looked at Chris. Chris shrugged. “Accidental.”

“Only Victoria and Kenzie. Sounds right,” Ashley said.

“Yeah,” Chris said.

“Christ,” Rain said, under his breath.

“You talking like that was what got me asking about you and church, remember?” Tristan asked. He folded his arms. “What’s your plan?”

“I’ve got to drive Erin back tonight. If it’s okay, I’ll get together with the group tomorrow. I’ve got some junk for you to drop off, if that’s okay.”

“What kind of junk?” Chris asked.

“Bear traps, wire guillotines, blades without handles.”

“Really,” Tristan said.

“He’s not lying,” Erin said. “I helped him load the car.”

“They’re going to come after me. I’m going to plan accordingly. I’ll cover my escape route, and I’ll make sure I’m armed if they close the distance.”

“They run on walls,” Chris said. “Or jump onto walls.”

“I’ll cover the ground,” Rain said, firm. “I’ll figure something out for the walls.”

“I can help some with that. I’m going the anxiety route, so I’ll be crawling up the walls for the next few days. I can give you some perspective on where to put traps.”

“Thank you,” Rain said.

“You want to set traps… around the headquarters?” Tristan asked.

“And some place we can retreat to if we go into Cedar Point and have to retreat out of. It’s going to be hard to find places that work that won’t put civilians in the target area.”

“You can talk to Kenzie for that,” Chris said. “Make them remotely armed.”

“Okay, wait, stop, stop,” Tristan said. “Is this really what we’re doing?”

“It’s what I’m doing,” Rain said. “For this specific scenario, as a just-in-case. I have to do something, and this is stuff I know about.”

Tristan ran his fingers through his hair. He turned to Erin, asked, “Are you okay with this?”

“A while ago, I wouldn’t have been,” she said. She set her jaw a bit, “But I have a gun now, and I know how to use it. Half of the reason I’m carrying it is in case those people come after Rain, or if they come after me as a way of hurting him.”

Rain felt so sad, hearing that.

Sadder, at knowing the other reason she had it.

He hated this. He hated that he saw Tristan here, looking so distressed. He hated that Sveta was so upset, that Victoria was gone, that Kenzie wasn’t rejoining the conversation when being left out was something that bothered her so much.

He hated himself, for being at the crux of so much of that. He could remember Love Lost’s penetrating glare.