It was hard enough traveling through the fucking desert in a pair of cheap costume pumps without having to outrun a dust storm. She recognized the signs, of course, and cursed fervently under her breath—hopefully low enough to hide from the cameras, at least until she could establish how they felt about sweet little girls and sneaky murderers.

There was a tent, at least, and with the wind picking up it was better to take her chances with whoever owned it—whether that meant trying to kill them or making another stupid alliance, she had to get out of the storm.

“Wait!” she called, as loud as she could considering how parched she was. “Please, wait!”