“You know why you can’t leave, Cole, so I’m not going to waste time telling you. What I will say is that your fate—and the fate of this town—is in your hands. And that fate is going to be decided in a matter of hours, so we don’t have another minute to lose. What’s done is done. All we can do is focus on what happens next.”

He nodded. “I still need you to go,” he said. “Get out of here as fast as you can.”

“I’m not leaving without you.”

“You have to. I have to find the team, and I don’t want you anywhere around when I do.”

“So what are you going to do? Hunt them down … shoot them?”

“That won’t do any good. You heard what Mona said. There’s only one way to end this. The Jackrabbits have to play and we have to win. Don’t you see? She made sure that it could only end that way. It was her dying wish. And if it’s not granted . . .” He shook his head. “It has to end now. We’ve already waited too long.”

“Okay,” she said. “What do you want me to do?”

“Go to your father. Tell him everything … from the beginning. Tell him about Mona, Coodles, my hand, all of it. Tell him we gotta have him with us and don’t take no for an answer.”

“Then what?”

“Do whatever you can to have that stadium filled by seven o’clock. Get the word out. Make sure everyone in town knows those teams are going to be on that field to play ball.”

“Never thought the fans meant that much to you.”

“I don’t need fans; I need chaos. The more people we have there, the less control the sheriff’s office will have. We need to create a situation where the authorities won’t have any choice but to let the game proceed.”

“You want me to divulge to the public that one of those teams is comprised of dead cannibals?”

A weak grin parted his lips. He shook his head. “They’re still just a little dazed, right?”

She mirrored the smile. “Okay, Logan. I’ll take care of it.” She took his hand. “Where are you going to start looking?”

Cole gazed into the distance. “There are a lot of pastures around here. I’ll hotwire the pickup over there, see what I see. To be honest, I’m not worried so much about the livestock anymore.”

“Why not?”

“Now that they’ve had a taste of human flesh . . .”

“Right. Okay, I got it.” She leaned her head out the window and kissed him. “Be careful out there, Cole Logan.”

He squeezed her hand. “I will. Promise.”

Her eyes moved to the gun. “I gather from the blood on that thing that it didn’t do Thedford Blunt much good.”