“Get away!” Red shouted. She wanted Sam out of arm’s reach.
Sam ran down the road about ten feet, then turned back.
The third man was down and still. The second man was kind of gurgling but he didn’t seem like a threat.
Toothpick, of course, had rolled to his back and was grabbing at the seam that had opened in his neck and trying to talk.
Red slammed the blunt side of her axe into the front of his skull without any hesitation.
And then she did it again and again and again because he was a monster, a wolf in the woods who took little girls away and ate them all up and she did not want him to get back up again.
You’re a wolf and I’m a hunter. I’m no Red Riding Hood to be deceived by your mask. I know what you are.
She wanted him down. She wanted him done. She didn’t want him to come after them.
“Red,” Sam said, and her voice was closer than expected.
Red paused. There was blood and brain all over her axe and on her shirtsleeves and her pant legs. There was probably some on her face, too.
“Red, he’s dead now,” Sam said.
She looked like she was trying valiantly not to throw up.
Red stared down at the mangled remains of Toothpick’s head, and the nice lunch that D.J. had packed for her came right back up again. She turned her head to one side and as she did she heard Sam run a few feet off, copying her.
Red stood up and gestured toward the house.
“My bag and jacket are in there,” she said. “There’s water.”
Sam took her cue and ran off to the house to collect Red’s things while Red stared down at her handiwork and tried to think of the best thing to do.
This made five people that she’d killed. Five people since she’d left home with Adam, just trying to get to Grandma’s house.
Who’s the wolf in the woods now?
It sounded like Mama’s voice, and that made her heart hurt because Mama had to know that Red would never have chosen this. She was just trying to keep Sam safe.
Sam came flying back with the water and Red’s hooded sweatshirt.
“Thanks,” Red said. She didn’t feel like herself without her red hood.
Red poured a little of the water into her hand and gestured for Sam to do the same so they could clean their mouths.
When they were finished Sam looked at Red and Red looked at Sam. Red wanted to give her a hug but she didn’t want to get their enemies’ blood all over the little girl’s pink hoodie.
“What happened?” Red asked.
Sam’s face crumpled up, and then Red had to hug her because she was sobbing like she would never stop.
“I was s-s-s-so s-st-stupid,” Sam said. “I t-t-tried to f-f-follow you.”
Red leaned back so she could look into Sam’s face. “Why would you do that?”
She didn’t add, That was really stupid, even though she definitely wanted to. Red was proud of her restraint. If it had been Adam she wouldn’t have been able to resist.
That’s the first time you’ve been able to think about Adam without feeling angry.
She wanted to take a minute to feel that, to examine that emotion from all sides, but Sam was talking again.
“. . . wanted to help you,” Sam said, wiping her face. “I was really worried about you being out here by yourself. Which is the dumbest thing ever because you were by yourself for a long time before you found me and Riley.”
Red nodded, and Sam continued.
“I was awake when you left. I had it all planned out. I left a note for D.J. and Riley so they wouldn’t worry and then I went out the bedroom window about ten minutes after you left. I thought I could catch up with you.”
“D.J. is probably out of his mind worrying about you,” Red said, imagining how he must have felt when he found that note. She didn’t acknowledge her own relief that Riley and D.J. were unharmed. “Although I bet Riley is jealous because he thinks we’re having an adventure without him.”
“Some adventure,” Sam said. “I managed to get myself kidnapped.”
“Tell me how you did that,” Red said.
“Well, like I said—I thought I could catch up with you,” Sam said. “But you were moving a lot more quickly than I thought you would be.”
“I’m not carrying my pack,” Red said.
“I didn’t think about that,” Sam said. “Anyway, I was trying to follow you and I thought I was being pretty smart, staying in the shadows and everything.”
“You had to be pretty smart to get you and Riley to where I found you,” Red said. “Don’t sell yourself short.”
“Well, the sun came up and I was getting thirsty because I was dumb and snuck out the window instead of planning properly. I know how you are about planning.”
Sam had only known Red for a short time but she already knew that Red’s defining characteristic was thinking ahead.
“Anyway, I came up to that intersection where there’s a Target and a little outdoor mall?”
Red nodded again.
“And I thought I could go into one of the stores and get some water. I was going to go back then, back to D.J.’s house, because I knew it had been too long and I wasn’t going to be able to catch up to you. So I looked all around and I didn’t see anybody in any direction. I started running toward the Target and then out of nowhere there was a gunshot. I knew it had to be them but I thought maybe I could still get away if I ran fast enough. I thought it would be hard for them to find me inside the store.”
“It was a good plan,” Red said. “There would have been lots of places for you to hide in the Target.”
“It doesn’t matter if it was a good plan,” Sam said miserably. “Because I tripped on a pothole in the parking lot like a dummy and by then they caught up with me.”
“Were they coming from the direction of D.J.’s house?” Red asked.
“I think so,” Sam said. “I didn’t really look once they started shooting at me.”
“Did they ask you any questions?”
“Yeah, a lot of them. Like who was I with and where did I come from and stuff like that. I didn’t tell them anything, though, even though they slapped me,” Sam said proudly. “That skinny guy punched me in the stomach, too.”
“I’m glad I beat his head in,” Red said.
“Red,” Sam said, and she tugged on Red’s shirtsleeve. She seemed younger than ten all of a sudden. “I’m glad that you found me.”
“So am I,” Red said.
Then there was a strange noise from the direction of the bodies, and Red stood up and pushed Sam behind her.
None of them could still be alive, could they?
She had to make certain. She couldn’t let any of them get up again. They might report back to their fellows that there was a woman and a child wandering around in their territory.
“Run toward the house!” Red said.
She was going to ensure that the men were definitely dead and then she was going to drag their bodies into the ditch. Red didn’t want Sam watching while she did that.
“They’re going to get us again,” Sam moaned. “They’re going to get up and take us away.”
She clutched Red’s pant leg with white-knuckled hands.
“No, they aren’t,” Red said.
She was going to make damned sure of that. She should have beaten all of their heads in, not just Toothpick’s.
Toothpick’s body was shaking and bucking like he was in his last throes of life, but Red wasn’t sure why that was happening. Had she done something when she smashed his head in? Something that set off a final surge of nerve endings in his body?