DAWN SCREAMS, “What the fuck are you doing?”

She runs across the uneven ground past Christian’s tent and Alex and Evan to where Brandon stands, triumphant, over the useless wreck of the beacon.

She kneels down amid the rocks and picks up what’s left of it, and the beacon is in pieces and the pieces are small, and it will never, ever make an emergency call again.

She stares at the pieces.

Lets them fall from her hands.

Feels suddenly very cold, and it has nothing to do with the storm blowing in.

She stands up slowly and turns around to see Alex shove Evan off from on top of him. Watches the new guy push himself to his feet, wincing.

Brandon and Evan just stand there with smirks on their faces. Lucas and Brielle and Kyla stare back, disbelieving.

“What the fuck, Brandon?” Kyla says after a beat. “Have you gone completely insane?”

“How are we supposed to call the rescuers?” Dawn asks. “Dude, what the fuck?”

Brandon’s expression doesn’t waver. “We’re not going to call the rescuers,” he says.

Dawn blinks. Feels like she’s in an alternate dimension where nothing in life has to make sense. “Why not?”

Evan sniggers. “Because they’re not freaking rescuers, dumbass. They’re prison guards, just like Amber and Christian.”

“Amber isn’t a prison guard,” Dawn says.

Brandon rolls his eyes. “Weren’t you kidnapped?” he asks her. “Do you actually want to be here?”

“Fucking nerd,” Evan mutters.

“This is our chance to get away,” Brandon tells her. Tells all of them. “Why the fuck would we call in more counselors?”

Dawn stares at them. Still trying to process. “So, what? You’re just going to leave Christian up there? And Warden?”

And Amber, she thinks, but she already knows that Brandon and Evan don’t give a shit about Amber.

Brandon and Evan swap glances.

“Christian, maybe,” Evan says.

“Not Warden,” Brandon says.

He gestures with his chin back toward the Raven’s Claw.

As one, the rest of the Pack turns.

And watches as Warden picks his way out of the gully. And comes walking across the boulder field toward them.