The front door closes behind me. I lock it with trembling hands. Then I ball my fists and I scream and scream until my throat is sore and my voice hoarse. Then I take a couple of deep breaths. I shove two yellow pills into my mouth and swallow them dry. They stick in my throat, clicking like two little stones. I choke them down. The bug man wasn’t dead, I don’t think. I have to pray he wasn’t. There is no time for feelings, and no time for fancy preparation. We have to go.

I pack quickly. Sleeping bag, tent, lighter. Water-purifying tablets, a coil of wire. I gather all the canned food in the house. It’s not much. Peaches, black beans, soup. After a moment of staring at it, I seize the bottle of bourbon and add it to the pack. I shove my warmest sweaters in. When the pack is full I put two jackets on, one over the other, and two pairs of socks. It will be too warm, but I’ve got to wear everything I don’t carry. I put all my pills in my pockets, rattling in their amber tubes. If ever there was a time to keep calm, this is it.

Then I go to the garden and dig up the knife. I shake it free of earth and hang it on my belt.

OLIVIA

Lauren’s voice reaches deep into my dream. It has the biting edge of panic. “Help,” she hisses. “Olivia, he’s taking us away.”

I twitch an ear. The dark is quiet around me. I had been dreaming of sweet cream and it was very pleasant. I am not perhaps at my most receptive.

What?

“Ted,” she says. “He’s taking us outside, to the woods. You have to help.”

Oh, I say coldly. I’m just a stupid cat, I’m afraid. I can’t help.

“Please,” she says. “Please, you have to. I’m afraid.” Her voice is like scratched glass. “Please, Olivia. It’s happening now. He’s making us into gods. This is our last chance.”

I say, I don’t exist. So that sounds like a you problem.

She starts to cry, in broken ragged sobs. “Don’t you understand that if he kills me, you die too? I don’t want to die.” She sniffs. And despite myself I feel a little sorry for her. She is a hurt child. She didn’t mean what she said.

I’ll try, I say slowly. But I can’t promise anything. Now leave me alone. I have to focus.

As usual, everyone is relying on the gd cat. Honestly, teds are gd useless.