It’s been one week since I woke up to find my forest half-gone, replaced by manicured lawns and silent houses. I told myself I could handle it. Then RJ showed up.

He’s smooth, fast-talking, always one step ahead. Said he could show us how to live better—chips, soda, pizza, all the human junk we’d never dreamed of. I didn’t trust him. But the others did.

Now, we’ve got a wagon full of stolen food, a bear who wants to eat me alive, and an exterminator named Dwayne setting traps with a machine that looks like it came from a nightmare.

Last night, we broke into Gladys’ house. Hammy disabled the Depelter Turbo. Stella stole Tiger’s collar. We almost made it out clean—until RJ went back for a single bag of chips.

Now the food’s gone, the others are trapped in Dwayne’s van, and RJ’s standing in front of me, breathless, eyes wide.

'We can still fix this,' he says. 'But we have to move now.'

I look at the hedge. Beyond it, the suburbs stretch on, cold and perfect.

Do I follow the raccoon who lied to us? Or do I let my family face Dwayne alone?