When I was a kid, one of the things I’d wished for at every birthday was a Wendy’s in Dorf. Mom explained that Dorf was just too small for a fast-food franchise, but I didn’t really get it. I mean, I would go every day, right?

Graham was gone for about twenty minutes. When he came back, he was driving a late-model minivan. He also had a big pile of Wendy’s bags.

Well, that was one small upside.

“I am not leaving my car behind,” Zion said.

Williams shrugged.

Knowing there was no way to argue for my car, I pulled it off onto the grass at the edge of the lot and got into middle row of the minivan with Kara. Williams settled the deer in the way-back, then got behind the wheel. Graham rode shotgun. We pulled out, and Zion followed in the Porsche.

I wondered if Williams had put some kind of invisibility working around my car. Either way, I doubted I’d ever see it again. The maintenance people would start mowing the grass in a month or so, and when they did, they’d find it the hard way.

Kara, who’d woken up for the change of vehicles, glanced over at me.

“Tomorrow you should call and report it stolen.”

“Yeah.”

She and I rooted through the food and chose our poisons. I got a cheeseburger and fries.

“Kara, did Zion fill you in on what happened back there?”

“Yeah. In between all the swearing, I think I got most of the story. I’m glad I missed it. She’s usually pretty cool about stuff, but she was shitting herself.”

She grinned lopsidedly and looked a little like her old self. She must’ve needed the food.

“Do you think the green man is still following us?”

“Oh yeah. It’ll never give up on your dear sister-in-law. Get it?” She grinned at her own pun and stuffed a handful of fries in her mouth. “Green men are the best trackers out there, and that one’s really strong. Plus, it was totally waiting for us back there in the marsh. I bet it wants to bag us, too.”

I couldn’t suppress the shudder. “So what do we do?”

“Hope it was hurt bad enough that we got a good head start. It’s not like they can fly or something. It’ll have to follow us by car.”

The thought of that spastic thing driving was unsettling.

“Can you tell me anything else about them?”