Nessa moved toward her house as fast as she could without running. People were preoccupied right now, so as long as she didn't do anything really stupid, no one should notice her.

She nodded at Mrs. Black as she opened the door and went inside. Of course her judgy neighbor would be out where she would notice Nessa leaving quickly with a bag. Of course she would.

Nessa grabbed her small leather bag, and started filling it. She tried to take as little of the food as possible. Dad hadn't left them with much in the first place, promising to fill up the cupboard when he brought the cattle in. What she was taking was going to make it hard on the boys. They'd be hungry, there was no getting around that. But the simple fact was that she was going to be running for miles, and they weren't. They'd have to deal. Hopefully, Anthony would take pity on them and share.

She threw some clothes in the bag, filled up a canteen, and picked up the biggest knife in the kitchen. She tucked that in her belt. When she turned to leave, she saw Spratz and Bratz.

"Are you leaving?" asked Spratz.

"Nope," she said.

"Yes, you are," said Spratz.

"You're packing a bag," said Bratz.

"Then why ask the flarking question?" she asked.

"When are you coming back?" Bratz asked.

"If I don't die, probably four days. Just before Dad," she said.

"You might die?" asked a suddenly nervous Spratz.

"Yep," she said.

"Then why are you going?" asked Bratz, always the calmer one.

"To get help. It's probably better you guys don't know too much," she said.

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Nessa looked at the boys, and saw how anxious they were. She knelt down in front of them.

"Look guys, I need you to do good. I want you to stay in the house, and try not to make too much noise. Don't eat all the food the first day, and don't open the door for anyone but Anthony. If that thing comes into town, you run south, that's that way, until you get to Aunt Ellie in Westmark. You got it?" she asked.

They nodded.

"Good. I love you guys," she said, and threw her arms around both of them. When she was finished squeezing and they were finished complaining, she stood up.

"Now I need you two idiots to run outside and have the biggest, loudest, stupidest fight you've ever had, so Mrs. Black won't notice I'm leaving, ok?" she said.

"Can we throw stuff?" asked Spratz, his eyes lighting up.

"I'd be disappointed if you didn't," she said.

Five minutes later, Nessa was standing at the edge of town. In her original conception, she figured she would wait for the God to come even with her, and then take off. The God was close to town, so the circle it traveled was small, and its stride was huge, but even still, Nessa thought she could get past it before it came around again.

Nessa realized this wasn't going to work. She almost certainly would be seen. They might come after her. Worse, it might cause trouble for her brothers.

But no one was supposed to look at the God, right? If she ran basically straight at it, then no one would see her. Even if they did, they couldn't really admit it. Score one for crazy Sparkless nonsense.

When the God was still a little to her left, Nessa took off, and hoped she wasn't faster than she thought she was. If she got the timing right, she'd pass right behind. If she didn't, she get squished.

Nessa kept her head down as she ran, watching where her feet landed. If she twisted an ankle, or fell right in front of thing, her plan was over before it started. She glanced up at the God as often as she dared, and thought she was doing all right.

Then its front foot landed, much closer to her than she would have liked. Its other leg was rising now, and Nessa wasn't clear.

She was going to run right between its flarking legs.

The world dimmed as she entered its shadow. Nessa looked up in spite of herself, and felt dizzy with fear and awe. She'd never felt so small in her entire life. There was an urge, brief and insane, but there nonetheless, to fling herself down on the ground, and give herself over to this thing, this God.

She shook it off, and tried to speed up, but the moment had slowed her down, just enough. The God's leg was descending, the shadow widening, and Nessa realized she might pay for her curiosity with her life.

Nessa was going to have to jump, and she was going to have to wait until the last possible second to do it, or when her Dad got home and asked what happened to her, Spratz and Bratz would have to point her out on the bottom of this thing's foot.

If she kept her eye on the God, she'd run too slow to escape. She looked up one last time, and guessed it was about four seconds from the ground. If her math was off, she supposed she'd never have an opportunity to regret it.

Nessa put her head down, pumped her legs as hard as she could, and starting counting. When she got to three, she jumped.

She hit the ground, rolled, and waited to see if she died. The ground trembled as the step landed. Nessa looked down at her own legs, and saw that she was still in one piece. When she heard the great metal groan of the other leg, as the God took its next step, she knew she had survived.

Nessa screamed her favorite word as loud as she could, and struck ground excitedly with both fists.

She pushed herself up, and stood with her hands on her knees, smiling in between great gulps of air. Nessa couldn't believe that what had just happened had actually happened. She was flarking awesome, and that's all there was to it.

She needed to get moving. The God wouldn't provide cover for much longer.

Nessa looked out across the landscape, wide and hot and empty.

Her smile faded.

Perhaps she hadn't planned this next part very well at all.