At Doug’s command, Amanita detached herself from the tree and sprinted into the road, jumping over the dead hisser sprawled across the double yellow line. Doug was on her heels, a shovel in his hands. They hit the parked SUV with flat palms and yanked on the door handles. Locked. “Great.” Doug tried the back door with the same result. “Coming up the road,” Amanita said, pointing back behind them. Doug turned and saw the group of hissers ambling toward them. They still hadn’t seen Doug and Amanita, but the hiding spots were growing thin and it wouldn’t be much longer before they were noticed. Since leaving the house a half hour ago, the woods had thinned out to open fields and houses were spread out too far to provide quick escapes. Doug had figured they’d be walking to California until they saw the SUV abandoned in the road. But getting to it meant leaving the tree line and exposing themselves. It was worth the risk if the vehicle would start.
