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Sarah is screaming inside the cave. “It’s going to go off! Matilda, you have to get out of here! You, too, Lenna!”
And then Lenna’s limbs move without her consent. She stumbles over Coral and down the rocks. When she glances over her shoulder, she doesn’t see SarahorMatilda, and her heart twists. But she keeps running. It’s the only way to save herself, her baby.
The cave is close to the basin of the ravine, and she shoots across it, out the other side, and across the desert sand. She feels the explosion before she sees it—the vibration, the heat. She whips around just in time to see pieces of rock shooting into the sky. She screams, hitting the ground, covering Jacob with her body,covering her head with her arms. Something knocks against her—at first, she worries it’s rock, but then she realizes it’s bone. A dusty shape huddles at her feet, covering her head. And then a second. Matilda. Sarah, Rhiannon, too. But no Coral.
The boom blows out her eardrums. She covers her baby’s ears and grits her teeth. But shortly after, there’s only silence. Slowly, Lenna lifts herself from the ground. The air is full of putrid-smelling smoke that’s so thick, she can barely see.
“It’s okay,” she whispers to Jacob, who stares at her with wide eyes. “It’s okay.”
A few feet away, Rhiannon lies in a heap. She looks stunned. “Are you okay?” Lenna screams.
Rhiannon makes a small sound. Lenna hears another whimper just as Matilda and Sarah struggle to stand. They’re covered in dust. Even their eyelashes. Matilda is holding her ears.
“Here,” Lenna says, reaching out her arm. She pulls the girl to her feet. The gun is once again in Matilda’s hand. She stares at Lenna shakily, like she’s about to shatter.
“Where are you?” voices scream. “Hello?”
And then, Marjorie appears through the smoke, followed by Amy, Ann, Melissa, and Gia, who is holding Teddy’s hand. When they see Lenna and the others standing on the rocks, they cry out and sprint for them.
Rhiannon lets out a scream as her son runs for her. Amy wraps her arms tightly around her daughter, staring in horror at the gun Matilda is holding.
“Wh-where the hell did you get that?” she asks, grabbing it from her.
“It’s mine,” Gia volunteers. She shrugs. “I wasn’t about to be out here in the middle of nowhere without a weapon. I guess she found it…”
Matilda, Lenna realizes, is sobbing—hard. Her cries are soforceful, it’s difficult for her to speak. “I just—when I saw Coral was gone,andRhiannon, I knew I had to come out here. I knew something was really wrong.”
“We were worriedsick,” Amy whispers.
“I know.” Matilda’s face collapses. “I’m so sorry.”
“Baby.” Amy strokes her arm. “It’s okay. You didn’t do anything wrong. You were protecting your friends.”
But then Matilda looks up and shakes her head. “Mom,no.” She points at the gun Amy is now holding. “I didn’t pull the trigger. I swear.”
“Of course you did,” Amy says. “You probably just don’t remember. You’re in shock.”
Matilda is firm. “Ididn’t.I don’t even knowhow.”
Amy glances at Gia, and Gia raises her palms. “Icertainly didn’t teach her how to fire a gun. I’ve never even fired that thing myself.”
“You saved us,” Lenna tells Matilda. “It’s okay.”
Matilda starts to shake. “She’s in shock,” Marjorie says firmly, stepping toward her.
Amy catches her arm. “I’vegot it from here, thanks.”
“Actually?” Matilda’s teeth chatter as she looks back and forth between her mother and Marjorie. “I’d rather not be aroundeitherof you.”
Her tone isn’t lost on Lenna. She wonders what went down at the house, after that call where Lenna made her accusations. She’d mentioned that post Carina wrote. Maybe some of it was true.
So it’s Rhiannon who limps over to Matilda. “Sit down. Just rest. And here.” She gives her the sweatshirt tied around her waist. “I’m sorry if it smells. You’re a hero. You saved us.”
“But…I didn’t.” Matilda stares at her hands, then the gun. She says it again and again:I didn’t, I didn’t, I didn’t.
Some of the other women look at Lenna and Rhiannon, still deeply confused about what even happened. Lenna is toooverwhelmed to explain. There will be time. Instead, she turns toward the hole that’s now in the rock face. Splinters mar the smooth surface. Mist hangs in the air like a ghost. The cave is obliterated. There isn’t a trace of what was inside—not Coral’s pack, not the chains she used to keep them there, nothing.
The women turn to the cave, somehow knowing without knowing. They stand solemnly for a beat, hands over mouths. The wind blows gently—hauntingly. By her side again, Rhiannon takes Lenna’s hand. Sarah joins her on the other side, wraps her arm around Lenna’s waist, and squeezes, too. They are all dusty. Wounded. Broken. But as Rhiannon and Sarah squeeze, and as Lenna presses her cheek into the top of Jacob’s head, she feels something commingling with her trauma and fear and grief—for Coral, for Gillian, for the mess left behind.
