Chapter 101

“Let’s just find a place to camp for now. You two go ahead.”

Dayna let Kevin take the lead. She wasn’t sure if it was a good thing or not that this wasn’t the first time Ash had run away, but it was too late to worry now. Ash seemed to know what she was doing; two times she yelled at them to hide as cars passed on the road behind them.

Dayna’s back ached, and her swollen lip throbbed. She trudged through weeds, tramped in leaves, tripped on sticks and rocks, and climbed over logs. Her legs burned. Kevin had both hands behind his back, rolling the cooler behind him. The head of Noofy the Teddy Bear bobbed up and down in his backpack. Kevin sang in time to the cooler bumps. He sounded hoarse. As for Dayna, her mouth was as dry as if she’d been chewing tree bark all day. Finally they reached the trees at the end of the field and she sighed.

“It’s almost four o’clock,” Ash said. “Let’s walk into the trees so passing cars won’t see us.”