I didn't know whether to cry out in relief at seeing Ian or to be terrified that he was one of them.

Ian held out a wad of documents in his free hand. "I've got clearance papers," he said. "They've been cleared."

Jason shook his head in frustrated disbelief. "But we're taking them in! They're wanted for questioning!"

"Not any more they're not."

Ian gently put his hand on my shoulder and nodded at Bryce.

"Get in the car. Right now."

Bryce and I both hurried toward the SUV.

Behind me, I heard Ian yell out at Shawn. "How dare you!"

"Screw you, Ian," Shawn called back.

By then Bryce and I had climbed into Ian's SUV. Ian jumped into the driver's seat and slammed the door. He handed me a set of handcuff keys and started the ignition.

"What's going on?" I was sobbing. "Tell me what's going on. I need somebody to tell me what's going on."

Ian sped through the field toward the highway. "They think you've been harboring infected fugitives," he said.

I looked back. Jason, Shawn, and the other rangers were still milling around the mass of tangled limbs. They weren't following us.

We reached the highway. I was still too terrified to fully let my guard down, but finally I let out a huge sob of relief.

Ian put his hand on my shoulder. I pressed my cheek against it.

"I know what happened to you guys," Ian said quietly, glancing also at Bryce in the back seat. "I'm so sorry, Ash." He squeezed my shoulder, very softly. "I can't even begin to imagine what you went through."

Bryce said, "Thank you." It sounded like he was trying not to cry too. "Jesus, buddy," he said to Ian. "Thank you."

I could barely unlock the handcuffs because my fingers were trembling so bad. I passed the keys back to Bryce.

I realized I was still clutching the pills Jason had given me. I stared at them dumbly.

Ian grabbed them from my palm, rolled down the window, and threw them outside.

"Jason gave those to you?"

I nodded.

"Jesus Christ." Ian shook his head, disgusted. "He's a little piece of crap."

"What were they?"