Narrator

"'Not close, but close enough that I've seen him at funerals.

Close enough that I know what he is.'

The confession landed like a weight.

It explained why Glenn spoke to her like he owned her, why she recognized him, why she'd been scared in a specific way.

It also made something twist in my stomach.

She'd brought us into a region where men like that existed and hadn't told us what that meant.'

But I also saw the guilt in her face.

She wasn't proud of it.

She looked like someone who'd tried to outrun a family stain and found it waiting in the woods.

We go, I said, voice hollow.

We go now.

We ate nothing but a couple mouthfuls of jerky because my stomach was tight.

We packed quick.

Tessa led us up a steep side bank, climbing through slick leaves, grabbing roots.

My legs felt like they belonged to someone else, heavy and clumsy.

As we climbed, I kept hearing Luke's last cutoff shout in my head.

I kept seeing his eyes.

I kept thinking.

One step.

He'd taken one step toward a voice that sounded like mine.