I force myself upright anyway, bracing against the canyon wall as pain nearly buckles my knees again.
The ledge beneath me shifts slightly.
Loose gravel slides off the edge into open air.
Definitely bad.
Above me, silhouettes move against the broken ridge.
Lucas.
Clay.
Miles.
Russ.
Even from here I know which one is him instantly.
“Can you climb?” he calls down.
“Yes.”
Lie.
The second I shift weight onto my injured side, my vision flickers black around the edges.
“I’m coming down.”
Cold panic slams straight into my chest.
“No!”
The word tears out before I can stop it.
I look at the shattered cliff between us and feel dread curl hard in my stomach.
The entire slope is unstable.
One wrong step and more of the mountain goes with it.
“You can’t come down here!” I yell. “The rocks are shifting!”
“I don’t care.”
Of course he doesn’t.
That’s the problem.
“I do!”
Silence crashes between us.
Above, distant gunfire echoes through the canyon again.
Closer this time.
Way too close.
