My tears freeze to my cheeks as I stand on the balcony of the Beast, rolling away from Daniel and Hellhole and toward DC. It will take us until dusk to get there, since the snow's been coming down all night and has now coated the roads and trails, but once we are there, we'll split up. That's the plan.

Rubble sweepers ride on horseback or in vehicles, vaguely camouflaged in their animal pelts, Deathless drive the pods, and the rest of us are crammed into the Beast. Celia and I stand at the edge of the balcony, like wooden mermaids at the front of a pirate ship. She holds my hand.

"I'm sorry he's not here," Celia says. She's talking about Daniel, and she knows my tears linger from our goodbye this morning.

"Me too," I say. "But at least we're still together, right?"

She nods. "I miss Julian too."

Last night, after he set up his machines to project virtual ground covering over the chasm the Immortal created, he broke the news to her that since Dr. Guzman was staying back to take care of the Carriers, Julian was being forced to stay back too.

"I never asked how the conversation with him went after you told him the truth about being a Comforter," I say, welcoming the distraction.

"It was fine. He said he didn't know why I lied to him in the first place."

"What did you say?"

"That I didn't want him to think I was used up. I really like him. He makes me want to be new again," she says, smiling to herself. "He said he would never think of me as garbage. He called me his media naranja."

"What does that mean?" I ask.

She bites her lip to keep from smiling too widely. A giggle sneaks out from her lips. "It's an expression in Spanish. It literally means half orange, but it's like... two halves of a whole. Your perfect half, or perfect fit."

"Like a soul mate?"

"Yes. He's a very nice boy. I'm very lucky."

I pull her hand my lips to kiss the top of it. "He's very lucky," I say. I rub the spot where I kissed the top of her hand. Her skin is freezing. "Look, I'm sorry I've been sort of a bad friend. That was so long ago when you told him, and I should have asked about it sooner."

"You've been busy," she says, shrugging.

"That's not an excuse. I want to be a good friend. What you said at our engagement party was so sweet, and I... I just don't know if I've been living up to the person you talked about in that speech."

"You have," she says, "don't worry. I haven't been the bestest friend either. I didn't even say bye to Daniel before I left."

"Well, if it makes you feel any better, he was only allowed one visitor, so we'll just pretend you tried."

She doesn't laugh or smile like she normally would. "You were the visitor?" I nod. "How was he?"

I shake my head, trying not to let the memory make me cry again, but I can't help it. With all the stress I've been feeling lately, it's hard for me not to cry, especially when thinking about the desperation in Daniel's face and the pain in his voice when he saw me walk in and curled his fingers around the bars of his cell. "Isla," he said, a twinge of surprise mixed into his painful tone. I felt my heart break.

"Daniel," I replied, kneeling in front of him and wrapping my hands over his. "We're moving out. My mom and dad, Declan, Ava, Celia, General Kazemi, Phoebe, Jane... lots of people will be there to watch over me. We will be back soon. Once we are in position, it won't be difficult to defeat Gunther, especially if he's preoccupied with the spaceship landing."

"You know Gunther. It's not going to be that easy."

"We have to hope for the best, Daniel."

"Daniel's right," Winston chimed in behind us. He was crouched in the corner of his cell, opposite from Daniel's, resting his head in his hands. "Gunther will have something up his sleeve. Daniel and I should help."

I looked over my shoulder. "I'm sorry, Winston. You know we can't let that happen." I turned my gaze back to Daniel, and bit my lip. "I'm sorry you can't be with me, Daniel."

"Please," he pleaded. "Stay here... where you're safe. I can't lose you again... please. Don't go."

I reached through the bars and pulled his lips to mine. I didn't want to let our lips part, because I knew I would have to leave him then. Tears transferred from his cheeks to mine, and before I started crying too, I pulled away. "I love you," I whispered before leaping up and marching toward the exit. I couldn't look at him again. I couldn't say goodbye.

"Isla... stay safe. Come home to me," he called after me, but I didn't respond. I had already begun crying, and I tear up a little now just thinking about it.

Celia rubs my back.

"He wants to be here," I say between breaths, "and he begged me to stay safe."

"He loves you a lot. Everyone knows that."

"Yeah, it's just... I used to think that if I died, he would be okay, you know? Like... if I died, if he would move on eventually, but we are more than that to each other. We were best friends first, and that kind of love is irreplaceable. If he died... I would never be the same again, and I'm afraid. I thought it would be better with him not coming, because then at least he's safe, but... what about me? I always forget to worry about myself, and now... what if I die? He won't be there. I'll never see him again."

"Sometimes bad things happen," Celia says, still rubbing my back, "but I think that everything happens for a reason. There's a reason Daniel got into a fight to make him stay at Hellhole, and there's a reason Julian couldn't come either, and I don't think it's so that they can be sad and mourn us the rest of their lives."

I smile and take a deep breath. "I hope you're right."

"Well... if I'm not, I'm in your troop. We'll protect each other. Sisters for life," she says. She holds her pinky up to me, and I twist mine around hers.

"Sisters for life."

Celia and I huddle together on the Beast's balcony for the rest of the trip. We don't say much as the snow continues to fall and our nerves continue to pulse through us. My dad eventually pushes his way through the crowd to join us, bringing our words with him. I can tell he's trying to make me feel at ease, and it seems to work for Celia. But not me. By the time we are outside of DC, just west of the bunker, I swear my heart would have exploded with anxiety already if the cold hadn't frozen it in place.

I can barely focus as we move into our three troops, all of which will surround Gunther and his army of the mindless.

General Kazemi and Declan will lead the Deathless and the Originals, while my mom and I lead 'Isla's Army' and anyone else from the estate. Jacob and Ava will lead the rubble sweepers, attacking Gunther from behind, while our other troops corner him.

We are all mostly split up into our troops anyway, so as the sun sets, General Kazemi reviews the plan with our entire army before we move into our places and set up camp. Nearly everyone I care about is already in my troop, so I find the two people I care about most who won't be fighting by my side: Declan and Ava.

"Ava," I call, running to meet her. She turns around and salutes me like Jane and the other girls do.

"Judge Blume," she says mockingly. "Are you ready for this?"

"Not really, but it's now or never."

She nudges my shoulder with her fist. "That's the spirit."

"I just want to say—"

"—Please don't say anything. This is not going to be some sad conversation with words like 'goodbye' and 'just in case' in it, alright? We're going to fight, kick Gunther's ass, and then bask in our victory together, okay?"

I laugh. "Yeah, okay. Then, I guess... see you when we're basking."

She smiles. "See you then, Isla."

I turn away to find Declan in the crowd when Ava grabs my wrist. "But if you wanted to," she says, her voice softer now, "you could tell me what Nate said in his message. You said he had a message to me?"

"Yeah," I say. I breathe in relief. There goes a little more weight off my shoulders. "He wanted you to know that he missed you and that even though it looked like he abandoned you, he didn't. I guess they told him they would let you go and that your parents were still alive. He volunteered to get the implant in exchange for your freedom. He didn't realize they lied to him until he had already received the implant."

She takes a second to process this, and as she shakes her head, I see the anger building in her clenched jawline. "They lied to all of us," she says. "Remember that when we start fighting. Remember Nate and Nina and Ian. This is about more than us." She salutes me again, and I return the gesture. "See you out there," she says, and then turns to join Jacob and the other rubble sweepers.

Jacob makes eye contact with me from across the distance. He smiles and lifts his chin to greet me. I do the same and feel slightly more at ease. He is so much like Ben. I can almost pretend he's still with us.

Then Declan finds me. "Hey, they are looking for you over by the Beast."

"I just wanted to say bye to a few people first. You were next."

"I wanted to find you too," he confesses. He reaches into his pocket to retrieve the same green pendant necklace he gave me before I left for the bunker. He latches it around my neck without asking, and says, "This seemed to bring you good luck last time. I wanted you to have it again."

"Thanks," I say, but I feel my emotions bubbling up to the surface. "I love you, Declan."

He forces his lips into a smile, even though the rest of his face fights against it. "Still isn't weird," he says, trying to lighten to mood, but his voice cracks with sadness. "You know I love you too."

I rest my palms on his shoulders. "You be safe out there. And kill Gunther."

He nods. "For Hugh and Victor."

"For you too."

He nods again. "Alright, go," he says. "I'm an ugly crier, and I'd rather you not see."

I give him a quick kiss on the cheek. "See you when this is over," I say.

He pulls me into a sudden hug, squeezing me close to him, and then disengages, walking toward General Kazmi and the Deathless scientists gathering around the pods. Phoebe is among them, as is Flynn. Phoebe is stone-faced—Declan may have to some serious competition for the task of killing Gunther—but Flynn shakes his nerves out in some strange psych up dance of stretches.

I shake out my arms in my own version of Flynn's dance as I walk toward my army and family. They are all already dressed in the armor Celia made for us, with white cloaks over them to blend into the snow. Mom, Dad, Celia, Jane, Meg, and the rest of the girls and workers from the estate wait for my command. I look up to the orange and pink clouds of the sunset, still sending thick clumps of snow over us. I can't see the New Star—Roberts' spacecraft—from behind the clouds, but I know it's there, counting down the days until it lands. Only seven days left.

When I near the group, they go silent and watch as Celia dresses me in my armor. She straps the spiked armor around my chest and shoulders, connects the radio piece around my neck, and slides the spiked helmet and earpiece over my hair, which is finally red again. At least my wish to look like myself again when Gunther sees me has come true. Celia added the helmets to the armor after our fight with the drones. Now we are all protected from being implanted at least. Then, she ties the cloak closed around my neck, and drapes the hood over the helmet. We all look like angels of death.

Behind us, the rubble sweepers have begun to move out and get into their positions, and shortly after, the Deathless do too. We are the last left. Our assigned campsite area isn't far from here, so it won't take us long.

"Meg, please drive the Beast into town," I say. This is step one. The Beast will serve as a decoy, parked in the town we used to walk through in Mitchell's immersion practices before the attack on the bunker. Just in case Gunther is looking for it.

Meg nods, aware of her job and of where she will meet us. Gil steps forward with MacArthur, and I take the leash in my hand. MacArthur somehow knows Daniel trusts me—or at least, trusted me—and now he accepts me as part of his pack.

"Let's move out," I say. "Stay quiet, so we can hear if any drones or planes are approaching. Gunther will arrive via plane. No one breaks away from the group. We have to stick together."

They salute me in their special way, and I do the same to them. Then we begin our march to the campsite.

Flynn's map showed us a dried out creek bed just outside the bunker site. With the snow coming down, we will actually be safer there, since we will use it as a trench. We will create a false impression of level ground with stilts and white cloth to cover us, and as the snow continues to fall, we will be hidden except for exits on either side of the creek bed. When the fighting starts, we will pop our heads out from beneath the cloth, and fire at Gunther and his troops from the trench.

MacArthur leads us toward the trench, sniffing everything along the way. All I hear is the crunching of footsteps in snow and MacArthur's breathing. When we reach the trench, we quietly assemble the white cloth covering and pack snow along the edges to keep the flaps down. Meg catches up with us, and once the trench is ready, we crawl in for the night. I let MacArthur off his leash to explore, exercise, and keep watch over night.

We lay out on our cloaks and set our spikes by our feet. Jane tiptoes around them, hunched over through the trench to pass out protein balls for dinner and heated blankets to sleep beneath. No one speaks—we have to remain as hidden as possible—but my parents don't need to speak to tell me they love me. I lie beside Mom, and she cradles me in her arms like I'm her baby again. We never did get to talk about my being here, and I can only imagine the fear that must be pulsing through my parents now. I have to stay safe, for more than just myself. For Daniel, for Mom, and for Dad. Dad's strong arms reach across us both to guard our family. Celia lies on my other side, and she falls asleep holding my hand.

But I can't sleep. Worries and fear keep me up, and I watch as the cloth slowly fills with snowflake-sized shadows in the moonlight.

Then I hear the distant sound of engines and propellers. A plane. And a large one at that. I spring up, and from down the line of sleeping soldiers, I see another person spring up too: Jane. I wave for her to join me as I crawl out from under the cloth, and she hunches over to catch up. Once we are out from beneath the cloth, we poke our heads above the trench.

A large army plane touches down on the airstrip beside the crater where the bunker once was. When it lands and comes to a stop at the end of the airstrip, the back panel slams open against the ground, and in the light shining from inside the plane, long spidery shadows stretch down the airstrip. Mindless soldiers with drones on their heads pour out, forming long rows down the strip, until they have all exited the plane.

Why do I still hear engines in the distance?

The soldiers march in unison off the airstrip, into the part of the yard still intact, and the plane pulls off the airstrip. Then another plane lands in its place, and more soldiers line up in rows. Then another plane, and another, and another.

My mom pokes her head out from beneath the cloth. "Psst," she whispers to get our attention. "What's going on?"

"Gunther's army is here," I whisper.

"How many?"

At least double what we have, I think. "A lot," I say.

"There he is," Jane whispers, and I turn my attention back to the scene in front of us.

Gunther steps out of the cockpit, wearing a suit of all things, and adjusts his cufflinks. He closes his eyes, and without saying a word, sends an order to his army. They begin to march into a single-file line along the perimeter of the yard, guarding all entry points from the woods; but before they can close their circle, MacArthur races into the yard, barking.

He races straight at Gunther, but when he leaps to tackle Gunther to the ground, he hits some invisible force field, which throws him backward upon impact. I cover my mouth to keep from making a sound.

Gunther adjusts his cufflinks again, smiling wickedly. He must have created some sort of protective field that's being generated by his cufflinks. Always a coward. I don't know why I'm surprised.

Gunther lifts a handgun from his jacket, and points it at MacArthur, who is still shocked, lying on the ground with his paws shaking. I grip my mouth even tighter to keep from screaming. But then Gunther smiles, and lowers his weapon. "I know you," I just barely hear him say to MacArthur. He looks around the surrounding forest wildly.

"You're here already, aren't you, Isla?" Gunther calls out.

Behind me I hear the sounds of my soldiers dressing themselves in their spiked armor, and Jane leaves my side to do the same; but I'm frozen, stuck watching the scene.

"Thought you'd surprise me, did you?"

His soldiers have finally closed the perimeter. Gunther closes his eyes as he must silently order his soldiers to raise their weapons. None of them wear armor, and many of their faces look hollowed out from lack of sleep or food or both. As always, Gunther doesn't care if they live or die, just as long as they serve their purpose: killing us. To the right of us, I see Sergeant Major Belinda Lawrence, blankly staring into the forest with her gun pointed at nothing. I hope she can make it out of this alive, though I'm not sure how that would be possible.

Out of the corner of my eye, I see my troop poking their heads up out of the cloth. Celia has smeared white grease paint across their eyes and foreheads, making them look like floating eyeballs resting on the snow.

Then, a larger than normal amount of snow falls onto the cloth. I duck down behind the trench, and look up. A young man, camouflaged with the tree above us, rests in the branches. He holds his finger to his lip and smiles as if to tell me not to give him away. I smile back. We're not alone. Jacob's messages must have worked. Nomads have come to fight with us.

"When will you learn that you can never surprise me?" Gunther shouts. "That I will always find you and I will always win?"

Gunther's remaining soldiers surround him as MacArthur finally regains enough of his strength to hop up and run away.

Not here, MacArthur. Don't run directly toward us, I think, but he does anyway; and Gunther licks his lips in our direction.

Mom pulls me down into the trench and dresses me in my armor and cloak. "This is it, Isla. Hold steady," she says, shoving a white-painted gun into my hands. I remember the day this all started, when she insisted I arm myself with Daniel's gun as we walked into Mountville. I listened to her then, and I listen to her now.

As I crawl back under the cloth, I hear MacArthur run past me. I catch sight of his tail before he's gone, running further into the forest and toward where the Beast is parked. Yes, MacArthur, you beautiful animal.

Celia attacks my face with white paint across my eyes and my forehead, slapping me into focus. I take my place between her and Mom as we aim our weapons at the mindless soldiers closest to us.

"Follow the wolf," I hear Gunther say, even though he could have just as easily thought it. He still knows I'm listening, only he thinks the wolf is giving us away.

Some of the soldiers from the perimeter break to follow MacArthur back toward the town, and while the soldiers surrounding Gunther move to fill in the gap, a shot is fired

At first, I'm not sure where it's coming from, but when I see it bounce off of Gunther's force field from the north of us where General Kazemi and Declan should be, I know it must be the Deathless trying to protect us. Gunther smiles, turning in the direction of their camp, and he licks his lips again.

Our final battle has begun.