“Fat raccoon, if you and your…uh, employees happen to come across them, report it to me or any of my coworkers.”

“Oh yeah. That’s right you and your friends are working for that big snake.”

Benjamin kept still. Ring! Ring! “Oh no!” He reached for his cell phone frantically.

“What was that?” The buzzard’s head jerked toward the woods.

“What? You losing your mind or something? Do buzzards even have minds?”

Benjamin quietly answered his phone. “Hello?”

“Hi, honey. How’re you doing?”

Benjamin had forgotten about his mom, given everything else on his mind over the past two days. “Oh, hi, Mom! I’m good. Just playing outside.” He crouched lower in the weeds.

“Sweetie, I can’t hear you very well. Why are you talking so quietly?”

“Um, I’m hiding from some buzzards and don’t want to get caught.”

Carol laughed. “I see! Well, Aunt Louise and I just got back from the hospital.”

“Did they find out what was wrong with her?”

“Honey, you’re not gonna believe this, but she was bitten by a snake!”

Benjamin gasped. “You’re kidding!?”

“No. Probably when she was out in her garden, although she said she didn’t feel anything bite her. She just thought she kicked her foot against some stickers.”

“Wow!” Benjamin’s mind was racing. “When will you be home?”

“I’m going to stay with her a little longer today to make sure she’s alright. I’ll probably be home late tonight. Will that be okay, sweetie?”

“Sure, take your time. Take…as much time as you need.”

“Have a good day, be safe and I’ll see you tonight.”

“Bye, Mom.” Benjamin hung up. Can Aunt Louise’s snake bite have anything to do with Pugsly’s? It seemed ridiculous.

The raccoon and buzzard were still insulting each other. “Enough of your talk, fat raccoon! We’re here to deliver this message: If you or your gang–”

“Workers,” Marlon corrected.

“If you help those four travelers…you will die.”

Marlon wasn’t fazed. “Die, huh? Sounds like your boss is scared of ‘em.”

“Absurd! He has his reasons he chooses not to share with us.”

“So if I find ‘em and tell you where they’re at, what kinda reward are we talking?”

“Your life! Let’s go, guys. I don’t think those four would waste their time with this breed.” The buzzards flew off, dropping feathers along the way.

Marlon lay on his back looking at his long fingernails. “…Buzzards!” He sat up and looked for the four travelers, still hidden.

“Roscoe, can you tell if those buzzards are still out there?” Clementine’s muffled voice asked under the blanket of weeds. Roscoe’s muzzle poked through the grass. He saw the fat raccoon but no buzzards. Marlon spotted his head and waved them over.