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you’re welcome to stay here as long as you want, Jamie.”
    It was then that Jamie realized what Billy had done for her. He’d shown her how to survive.
    Jamie hadn’t cried since she’d been Turned, even when she’d left Sylvie behind. But now her eyes filled, and she put her hands to her face. The three men patted her on the back awkwardly, which only made her cry more.
    She watched them leave, hoisting their backpacks and smiling. After they were gone, it was as if someone had cut the wires that had been holding her up. She fell into the tangle of blankets and sleeping bags the men had left for her, and it seemed as if she didn’t fully wake up for days.
    When she finally did wake up, she was ravenous: not for the food the men had so thoughtfully left behind, but for blood. Fresh, warm, living blood.
    She tried to fight it. But without really being conscious of what she was doing, she dressed in the nicest clothing she could find in her new bag of garments and headed out into the night.
     
    #
     
    “That girl has had it hard,” Billy said as the three of them exited their winter getaway. He’d felt almost like a father, showing her around; like the father he hadn’t been able to be to his own children. “She’s like a lost kitten or something.”
    “Yeah,” Patrick said. “But did you notice underneath all that grime and smell that she’s drop-dead gorgeous? I mean, what the hell is a woman like that doing down here?”
    “You guys are fools,” Cam muttered. “She’s one of them. The night creatures. We’re lucky we got out alive.”
    Billy laughed. “You are one weird motherfucker.” Cam was always going on about monsters. Other than that, he was a great guy, fun to be around. But every once in a while, he started spouting that kind of crazy talk.
    It was dark by the time they reached the edge of town and stuck out their thumbs. “Should’ve left earlier,” Cam muttered, “instead of babysitting some monster.”
    “Jesus, Cam, give it a rest,” Patrick said.
    A pickup went roaring by. It was huge, with a double cab and a long bed.
    “The bigger the truck, the smaller the dick,” Billy said as it passed them.
    It slowed down and backed up.
    “I take it back,” Billy said.
    There were two young men up front and two more in the backseat. “Jump in the bed,” the driver said, grinning. “We can take you as far as Cave Junction, at least.”
    Billy and Patrick moved toward the back, but Cam stayed rooted to the spot.
    “No way,” he muttered to Billy, loud enough for everyone to hear. “Can’t you feel it?”
    “Feel what, you fool? A free ride?”
    Billy could see that Cam wasn’t going to move, so he came back and spoke insistently into the motionless man’s ear. “We’ll be in the back. If they get out of the cab and start moving toward us, we’ll skedaddle, OK?”
    It was starting to drizzle again. Cam looked miserable; the rain seemed to be falling on him harder than on everyone else, and his hair was dripping down his forehead. He gulped and followed Billy. Patrick put out a hand and helped them up.
    The pickup shot out of there without warning, throwing the three men into the bed. Cam nearly went over the side. “Told you so!” he shouted.
    They headed up the highway, but just before the Oregon border, the truck veered off onto a gravel road. Billy and Patrick exchanged alarmed glances. Cam’s face turned white, and he stared back down the highway stoically as if to say Told you so again.
    The driver slammed on the brakes and they slid for a couple of dozen yards on the loose gravel, sending the pickup sideways and nearly throwing all three of them over the side this time.
    Before the wheels even stopped moving, the men in the passenger seats were flying out of the doors and rushing toward them. To Billy’s eyes, they were a blur, they were moving so fast. He didn’t wait to see what would happen, but sprang over the side and ran for the trees. He wasn’t as old as he