Matthew nodded solemnly. “I won’t let anything happen to her, Mrs. Allbright. I promise.”

Dad made a groaning sound, cursed, tried to get up.

Mama hefted up Leni’s bug-out bag and handed her the pack. “Now, Leni. We need to run.”

They ran out of the cabin and into the bright sunlit yard toward Matthew’s truck. “Get in,” he yelled, then raced over to Dad’s truck. He opened the hood, did something to the engine.

Behind them, the cabin door cracked open. Dad staggered out.

Leni heard the cracking sound of a gun being cocked. “Cora, damn it.” Dad was on the deck, bleeding profusely from his forehead, blinded by blood, holding a shotgun. “Where are you?”

“Get in!” Matthew yelled, throwing something into the trees. He jumped into the driver’s seat and started his truck.

In a spray of shotgun pellets pinging loudly, Leni leaped onto the seat and Mama crammed in beside her. Matthew jammed the gearshift into drive and stomped on the gas. The truck fishtailed in the deep grass before the wheels grabbed hold. He sped down the driveway and through the open gate and turned onto the main road.

They turned again at Large Marge’s driveway and drove to the end of it, honking the horn. “You keep her safe and away from me,” Mama said to Matthew, who nodded.

Leni stared at her mother. The whole of their lives—and all of their love—was in that look. “You won’t go back to him,” Leni said. “You’ll call the police. Press charges. We’ll meet up in twenty-four hours. Then we’ll run away. You promise?”

Mama nodded, hugged her fiercely, kissed her tears away. “Go,” she said in a sharp voice.

After Mama got out of the truck, and they drove away, Leni sat there, replaying it all in her mind, crying quietly. Every breath hurt and she had to fight the urge to go back, to be with her mother. Had she done the wrong thing by leaving her?

Matthew turned at the Walker gate, rumbled beneath the welcoming arch.

“We can’t go here! He’ll look for us here!” Leni said. “Mama said we needed to disappear for a day.”

He parked, got out. “I know. But it’s low tide. We can’t use the boats or the float plane. I only know one place to disappear. Stay here.”

Five minutes later, Matthew was back with a backpack, which he tossed into the bed of the truck.

Leni kept looking behind them, down the Walker driveway.

“Don’t worry. He won’t find the distributor cap for a while,” Matthew said.

And they were off again, turning onto the main road, then left, toward the mountain.

Turns. Switchbacks. River crossings. Up and up they went.

Finally, they pulled into a dirt parking lot and stopped abruptly. There were no other vehicles. A sign at the trailhead read:

BEAR CLAW WILDERNESS AREA