It's so hard to move away, even with Sara pushing her. Even with Sara asking her. No other adult Melanie knows would try to talk to her when she's like this. Sergeant Parks would think Sara was mad for trying.

But Sergeant Parks hadn't been right about everything. Melanie remembers confronting the other hungry children, holding them off, because they could be held off. She could make them understand what they couldn't have. They weren't mindless, and neither is she.

Melanie reels back, pivoting on her heel, then stumbles a few paces away. Nothing stops her, nothing but the pull of Sara's scent, and she makes her legs keep moving. It's not as hard as it could be; the hunger wants to go, not strain against some invisible boundary. They can go to the forest. Something will be there. Something she can kill without consequence. Melanie closes her ears to anything else Sara might say, and runs.