“Come on, now, rouse the little one and let’s get going. Unless you want to stay behind…” JP sounded a little hopeful.

Mitch worked hard to keep the prey together and within reach. “No, we all need to leave. If they find one of us, they’ll be able to track all of us. Do you need any help?”

She turned and slid back into the lean-to without answering.

“Goddamn women. Must be her time or something,” JP sneered, snatching the clothes off the tree and throwing them onto a flat rock before yelling, “You got five minutes.”

How had they managed to last this long before we found them? The man was a loose cannon with a loud voice. Chi Boy would have clocked them from miles off. That thought gave me some hope—maybe we were better than the Recruiters out here. Maybe my family hadn’t survived on just movement and luck. Maybe we really were going to be okay. Well, they would be okay, until I showed up.

Therese crawled out of the shelter with the little girl behind her. There was a loud crash and the hollow plunk of branches bouncing off branches. JP kicked at the smaller lean-to again, sending the last bit to the earth. Therese gathered up the wet clothes and tied them to the outside of her duffel bag, an old gym logo on the side faded and cracked. She glared at the man as he scattered the wood, smiling with satisfaction.

“There, all gone. Good as it was before.”

Mitch waited by the trees, biting his bottom lip, itching to get going. But suddenly, I realized I wasn’t alone. Beside me, down by my waist, stood the little girl, Sunny, staring up at me.

“Oh, hello.” I tried a smile. It didn’t work. She just stared.

“You, uh, you ready to go?” It was unnerving, having someone so open and direct looking right inside of you.

I opened my mouth to try other words, but something about her face, something about the way her eyes stayed focused—no malice, no suspicion, just openness—reminded me of Riri. Ri was always ready to see, always able to really look. Until someone closed those eyes for good. And then Sunny did something that knocked all the words out of my dumb head. She reached out and put her small hand in mine. No smile, no comment, just a tiny connection, and she was ready to follow me wherever I led her.

“Let’s get going, then.” JP clapped me on the back as he and Therese passed, the woman giving me another narrowed glance on the way by. It was Sunny who led me out of the clearing and into the bush, following the adults into the dark of the woods.

None of us took any care with our steps. We crunched over old moss and new limbs like peanut shells on a hardwood floor. I bumped shoulders with trees and slapped snagged thorns from my pants, all the while thinking, What now, French? What do you do now?