A few minutes earlier.

Bianca had kicked at the door using all her flagging strength.

Her mind had been churning. She needed to live, she told herself grimly, as the smoke around her began to grow intense.

For her children.

For her Masters.

And of course, for herself.

Coughing and groaning, she kept on, the faces of her beloved ones floating before her, in her mind’s eye.

That thought made her kick hard, and all of a sudden, the door was flung open, on the side of the road, away from the woods.

Binac tumbled out, hitting the hard, snow-packed earth with a groan as she made to land on...