10/03/2026 10:58

---

I bet it's them. They instantly stopped fidgeting and stood like statues. Above them, the baby was squalling. There was a thicket of low trees along the creek, and a large, orangish-brown animal had just come out of the thicket.

There were no more shots, and Luke didn't appear. Maybe you ought to take the young ones and go back to Arkansas, he said. Let's just go. Something had been held back--what it was, considering all that she had done, was hard to say.