Ansel crouched near Jack and grabbed his socks and tugged them off. The bandana he wore fluttered in and out with his breath. His eyes met Jack’s.

The last orange glow of the sun sank below the horizon and now the dark was nearly complete. Jack could hear Ansel’s breathing in the gloom. Darkness and breathing. He felt a metal-cold shape fall into the palm of his hand. Unrecognizable and then at once familiar. His hand closed around it. The knife.

Jack’s eyes adjusted to night, and the snowy landscape began to glow blue and light up the trees and above the stars turned brilliant. Ansel had already rejoined the others. They turned and walked into the trees, Red among them.

Red stopped and looked back and stared at Jack for a moment. Then the man nudged him with the pistol, and he went with them into the dark.

XVII

Don’t worry.

All of this happened a long time ago.

Sometimes, none of it has happened yet.

Matty kept the fire going.

All day he watched, and when the flames got low he put on wood and poked the burning logs. He warmed the beans in the coals, and then he ate them. He built a house of UNO cards. The phone was in his coat pocket. He checked to make sure.

Afternoon died away. Spots of sunlight moving steadily through dust particles and over the dank carpet from holes burned into the roof. He flew Batman around the room and imagined foes for him to fight. He tried to catch a mouse but couldn’t. The phone stayed there, in his pocket. He thought about what to do next, and then he walked to the big duffel bag and rifled through. When he found the calculus book, he opened the cover and looked at the name and the numbers written there. He sat in the fort of blankets and held the book.

He played with the toy cars. The dull sunlight was slanting onto the cracked plasterboard walls. The wind rattling down the chimney and shaking the roof. He’d used all the wood, and it was cold and he was hungry. It would be nice if he had a friend to play UNO with, but he didn’t. He took the phone from his pocket and held it. He closed his eyes and listened to hear if there was anyone out there, on the road. No. Then he tried again.

He waited a long time. The sticks of sunlight had gone, and outside the small circle of embers, the house pooled with shadows. He walked to the door and opened it and stood looking down the dark road. No one was coming. He went inside and just sat in the blankets, the phone in his hand. Then he began to push the buttons.