ACCORDING TO BRIELLE, Kyla joined Warden and the boys in the pursuit.
“She didn’t look, like, happy about it,” Brielle tells Dawn. “But it’s not like she was going to make it to the highway without Warden, either.”
“But what about you?” Dawn asks. “Weren’t they worried about leaving you behind?”
Brielle shoots her another look. “People don’t notice me,” she says. “I mean, I’m sure Warden did, but the others? I bet they couldn’t even tell you my name.”
She’d hidden, she said, when she heard Dawn and Lucas fighting with Warden, and managed to stay hidden as Brandon and Evan riled themselves up for the chase, and after the four Pack members disappeared back up the snowy trail, she’d come out of hiding and gathered what she could and set out to follow.
“No offense,” Brielle says, “but I really didn’t give you and Lucas much hope of getting back to headquarters, not in a storm. But I knew Warden would probably think I left with you, and the others would just forget about me, so I thought I could slip past and, you know, get to safety, while the rest of you fought it out.”
She speaks matter-of-factly, as though this kind of life-or-death disaster is what she normally does for fun, as though two people aren’t already dead and more people want to murder each other.
As though she isn’t talking about leaving Dawn and Lucas to fend for themselves.
But then she kind of smiles at Dawn. “Anyway, I’m glad I found you,” she says. “I didn’t really want you to die.”
They pack up and head out.
It’s an overcast morning and the ridge is covered in fresh snow, but there’s more visibility than yesterday, at least. Dawn can see the spur ridge stretched out in front of them to where it meets the real ridge in the distance. Behind them, somewhere, is the end of the spur ridge, and Lucas.
Dawn tells Brielle about Lucas as they hike. Her ankle is sore, but if she moves slow, she can limp across the rocks on it. Brielle watches her, stays close to Dawn like she’s worried she’ll fall again, and Dawn wonders why the other girl doesn’t just abandon her.
But Brielle isn’t going anywhere apparently, so Dawn tells her about Lucas and the spur ridge and the crevice in the rock and the blood. How Lucas was stabbed and it’s not only Amber they have to try to save now, but him, too.
And Brielle listens with a grim expression, and when Dawn is at the part where she slips and falls and breaks her flashlight, Brielle glances back once more across the terrain toward the end of the spur ridge and shakes her head.
“What a clusterfuck,” she says, and at this point, Dawn is inclined to agree with her.
“You said you left after Warden and the boys,” Dawn says, after they’ve walked a ways in silence. “But I guess you didn’t find them.”
“Not yet,” Brielle replies.
Dawn looks south along the solid spine of rock that marks the trail, two or three more miles over jutting mounds of snowy rock. “Then they’re still out there,” she says, and she shivers but it’s not from the cold. “Ahead of us.”
There’s nothing to do but move cautiously.
Brielle and Dawn turn their coats inside out so that the bright colors are muted somewhat against the fresh snow. It’s probably pointless; the rest of the world is white and gray, and Dawn’s coat is yellow and Brielle’s is bright blue, but they do it anyway, and they try to stay low as they hurry across the top of the ridge.
The Raven’s Claw is behind them now, north. Headquarters is south. Warden and the others are no doubt south already. They hope.
Dawn isn’t sure what Brielle plans to do if they see Warden and the others. Hide, probably; Brielle doesn’t seem like a fighter. Dawn supposes they’ll cross that proverbial bridge when they come to it.
(But you already know they’re going to come to that bridge.)
In the meantime, she tries to focus on the hike: one foot in front of the other, watch that tender ankle, that slippery snow. Follow Brielle and try to keep quiet, stop every now and then to scan the ridge up ahead and behind for signs of life.
It’s weird, but Dawn doesn’t feel as desperate, not with Brielle here. The Black Bear seems to know what she’s doing, and she doesn’t seem afraid. She shoulders her hiking pack and picks out the trail for them to follow, and Dawn looks out at the ridge ahead of them and can see where in the distance it drops down from the alpine, where the trail will begin again in earnest, back to headquarters.
There is still no sign of Warden and the others, not even fresh tracks in the snow. The mountain is quiet; even the wind has died down some. It’s almost peaceful, if you don’t think about the murderous psychos on the loose.
After a while, they stop for a rest and a quick snack of hydration candies before they keep going. The sun’s obscured by clouds, and Dawn’s from the city and couldn’t figure out the time anyway, but it still feels like early morning, even though they’ve been hiking awhile.
“Why are you here?” Dawn asks Brielle.
Brielle hands Dawn her canteen. “What do you mean?” she replies. “I told you, I’m going to headquarters. Someone has to save Amber.”
“No, I know that part,” Dawn replies. “I mean, why are you here? The program? What are you in for?”
Brielle sucks on her candy and doesn’t reply for a moment. She looks out across the ridge and down toward the snowy forest below.
“Let’s just say my parents and I have fundamentally different opinions about certain aspects of who I am,” she says, finally.
Dawn stares at her, not really getting it.
“They’re pretty religious,” Brielle explains. “I’m…not. They thought that sending me here would convert me.”
“To a religious person?” Dawn asks.
“No,” Brielle says. “To a straight one.”
Dawn frowns. Brielle catches her expression, and for the first time, Dawn thinks the other girl looks unsure of herself.
Just as quickly, though, Brielle’s expression hardens. She closes up again. “I don’t want to talk about it,” she says.
“It’s cool,” Dawn says. “I didn’t mean—”
“I know it’s cool,” Brielle replies. “Thank you. End of discussion.”
Dawn doesn’t say anything. She takes a drink of water and when Brielle reaches for the canteen, Dawn hands it back to her. They stand in silence for a few awkward minutes, Dawn wanting to apologize but afraid of pissing off Brielle more than she has already.
Then Brielle shoulders her pack again. “Come on,” she says. “Let’s get moving.”
“I just,” Dawn says.
Brielle stops. Looks at her. “What?”
Dawn hesitates. Can’t look at Brielle. “You’re going to go back to headquarters,” she says. “You’re going to turn yourself in.”
Brielle says slowly, “Yeah?”
Dawn gestures to Brielle’s pack. “You could have gone for the highway,” she says. “They’ll just send you back to your family.”
Brielle doesn’t say anything for a beat. Just looks out across the forest some more.
“Amber needs saving,” she says, finally. “Lucas, too. I’ll deal with my family later.”
Then she turns and walks away.