They’re completely exposed on the mountainside, no cover at all, and flying blind, their view of the Fiends still obstructed by the cabin. Jesse catches up to Johona. Me first, he mouths, and squeezes past her to take the lead. She rests a hand on his shoulder to steady herself, and he goes as slowly as he dares.

They take cover behind a stunted palo verde tree when they reach the ledge. The baby cries again, the wails coming from inside the cabin. Jesse sees the shorter, stockier Fiend through a gap in the wall, facing away from them. There’s no sign of the tall one. Jesse twists to look over his shoulder, worried he might be creeping up on them, but the only thing moving is a sheet of plastic caught on a rock.

He turns back to find Johona crawling across the open ground between the palo verde and the cabin. He starts after her, then thinks better of it, staying hidden and keeping an eye on the Fiend out back instead. Johona pauses when she reaches the doorway. Jesse waves for her to return, but she shakes her head and continues into the cabin. The next thing Jesse knows, he’s in the doorway, watching her grope for the baby in the darkness. He sees where the child is lying, still closed up in the sack, but doesn’t dare risk directing Johona to it, not with the shorter Fiend ten feet beyond, grinning down at the body of his companion on the ground beside him.

“You lose, motherfucker,” the shorter Fiend says as the taller one sits up and shakes his head.

Jesse wonders whether he should grab Johona and flee or rush the bikers. The choice is made for him when Johona finds the sack, snatches it up, and crawls back toward the door.

The short Fiend pulls a knife. “To the victor go the spoils.”

Jesse yanks Johona to her feet and hurries her to the palo verde. They drop behind it as the Fiend enters the cabin. Finding the sack missing, he yells, “Where’s the kid?” Any second now, he’ll spot them. The best Jesse can do is give Johona a fighting chance.

“Go,” he says.

She hugs the sack and runs up the trail toward the overlook. The shorter Fiend sees this and starts after her. Jesse pops the blade of the stiletto he carries. He covers the yard of the cabin in two leaps, ducks when the Fiend slashes with his knife, and plants the stiletto in the biker’s barrel chest, leaving it there when the man sinks to his knees and flops onto his back.