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“Travis—” I started, but fear cut off the question I needed to ask.

“Is alive,” Mason said, staring into my eyes. He looked so vulnerable, so breakable, hearing him give me this amazing news barely registered as such with him appearing so weak.

“Thank God,” I said through my swollen throat. “So only Candice…”

He shook his head slowly. “She ran. Travis ran after her. I tried, but I couldn’t climb the damn stairs.” He looked away, pressing his eyes and fists closed. It cost him something to admit he was so weak.

“Travis followed Candice?” My pulse pounded. “Didn’t the computer make the upper deck uninhabitable?”

“Travis figured Candice told it to say that to lure us down here.” Mason limped to one of the few empty chambers and slumped onto it. I noted Travis’s shirt tied around his leg in a makeshift tourniquet.

I shivered, turning toward the steps but needing to know what I was running into. “Does she still have a gun?”

Mason’s face fell. “No. He does.”

My breath caught at the implication. He looked away toward the spot where the ground ended in jagged edges and changed the subject. “I got the escape pod back online.”

It hurt to look at him. “Mason, I have to go after him.”

“I know. But I’m scared. I don’t want to lose you, Sam. I love you.”

“I love you too,” I said. “But I have to try.” The truth was, I felt like I had to find some way to make up for whatever it was Candice had made me do while I was out of it.

“To stop someone from killing a murderer?” Mason challenged, a hard edge to his voice.

I glanced toward the steps. “To stop someone from doing something they’ll never forgive themselves for.” I might have already wasted too much time.

Mason nodded, his Adam’s apple bobbing as he looked away. I ran toward the steps, newfound purpose bringing me energy.