Narrator

Then she said, "'Because you ain't from here, and because you got that.'

And she nodded at the satellite messenger."

And because Glenn thinks you're stupid enough to wander where he wants you, Luke's voice rose frustrated.

Why would he want that?

What do they want?

Tessa's gaze dropped to the ground.

Sometimes, she said, men get bored.

We started hiking out, but the problem with loops is that out is relative.

To leave early, we had to take a connector trail that dropped off the ridge toward a road where Tessa said she could reach her car by following an old access route.

It wasn't on Luke's map the way the main trails were.

It was more like a thin line, a suggestion, one of those unmaintained paths that exists because people keep walking it.

We found the turn.

The trail dropped quickly, tight switchbacks through dense laurel.

The air got damp.

The light dimmed.

Within an hour, I felt like we'd stepped into a different world.

The ridge wind vanished.

The forest closed.

Everything smelled like wet leaves and earth.

Luke kept looking back like he expected to see Glenn stepping quietly behind us.