BUT BRIELLE DOESN’T GET AWAY. Brandon and Evan drag her back to where Warden and Dawn and Kyla stand. It’s taken a disappointingly short amount of time for them to capture her.

Like, less than ten minutes.

Brielle struggles against them and swears and generally makes it known she doesn’t appreciate this treatment. But Brandon and Evan are bigger than her and they grip her tight, and no matter how hard Brielle fights, she can’t get away.

(Evan does have a bloody nose, though.)

(And Brandon appears to be limping.)

Brandon and Evan march Brielle to where the others are standing, and they present her to Warden with undisguised pride. And Warden looks at both Dawn and Brielle, and Dawn can see how he’s so in love with the idea of himself that he’s going to force them to listen to him talk before he kills them.

And at this point, Dawn figures she would probably just prefer death. “Just fucking do it already,” she says, before Warden can open his mouth. “Whatever you’re planning, spare us the monologue and just get it done.”

Warden blinks.

Looks surprised.

Looks almost human. (For a fraction of a second.)

Then his eyes narrow. “Fine,” he says. “Let’s get it done.”

Evan keeps holding Brielle as Brandon comes over to Dawn. He takes her by the shoulders, rough, and grips her so she can feel his fingers through the material of her jacket.

He leans in close to her and Dawn can smell sweat and dirt and boy, unwashed hair and unbrushed teeth, and even though she knows she must smell nearly as bad, somehow Brandon’s stench seems like the olfactory manifestation of who he is as a person. Which is to say, foul.

Noxious.

Evil.

Dawn can feel his stank breath in her ear and she knows he must be grinning, knows he’s enjoying this, and she tries to ignore him and tries not to feel scared and pretty well fails at both objectives.

Then Warden tilts his head toward the south edge of the ridge, where it drops into the valley, and Brandon shoves Dawn forward and Evan shoves Brielle, and Dawn realizes the boys mean to throw her and Brielle off the edge of the cliff.

She realizes this is it.