Ingram walks along the road, refusing to hitchhike again. He follows a sign to Tannersville, passing through fields of burnt corn and smoldering grass. The town is completely deserted. He enters an empty diner with old food still on the tables and eats a hardened hamburger bun. Hearing a noise from the kitchen, Ingram investigates and finds a small boy eating ketchup from a large can.

The boy initially refuses water but drinks it after getting sick from ketchup. He angrily reveals his name is Kyle and speaks with a distinctive accent. Both fall asleep on the kitchen floor. Ingram wakes to find Kyle making pancakes, a skill learned from watching his father, the diner’s cook.

Over breakfast, Kyle explains that Tannersville was evacuated after fires and a bad smell sickened people, with rumors blaming a freight ship that dumped something dangerous. Kyle’s father got sick and died. His mother disappeared after going to find her sister, leaving Kyle alone in the diner. Ingram tells Kyle they should leave the deserted town.

Ingram and Kyle walk away from Tannersville. Kyle struggles to keep up with Ingram’s pace, talking incessantly. When Kyle collapses from exhaustion, Ingram shows him Bull’s compass. Kyle demands to hold it, but when he proves too tired even for this reward, Ingram gives him the compass and carries him on his back.

Kyle asks for a bedtime story, and Ingram reads from his copied notes of Mighty Mike until Kyle falls asleep. Ingram learns to anticipate Kyle’s needs for rest and distraction. When they finish the part he had copied, Kyle demands to know what happens next. Ingram begins inventing new Mighty Mike stories, starting with the cowboy playing guitar at his campfire. They make horse noises together and laugh until they fall asleep.

Reaching a highway sign for Austin, Ingram sees the city lights far off the road’s path. He decides to cut cross-country to save time, carrying Kyle into the dark fields. They sleep in a grove of trees, where Ingram dreams he is an elk with Kyle, as a possum, screaming on his antlers. The next morning, they discover orange trees and eat the fruit. An improvised Mighty Mike story about being surrounded by seven armed men frightens Kyle, causing him to run ahead in the correct direction.

Ingram and Kyle arrive at Austin’s edge, a quiet city of pale, tall buildings. Needing food but fearing city dangers, they walk onto a strange pink road circling the city. Silent, brightly colored cars startle them. A digital sign welcomes them to New Austin, a regulated city with segregation hours and banned gas-powered vehicles.

Inside the clean, orderly city, residents in colorful clothes stare at the dirty boys. When Kyle yells, drawing attention, a smiling policeman approaches. Ingram grabs Kyle and runs, but they are quickly surrounded. Ingram pulls his knife, but a boss man in a gray suit arrives in a loud, conventional police car and calmly orders them inside.

At the Old Austin Police Department, officers question them. Kyle gives his full name, Kyle Dunnigun. The boss man recognizes the name and returns with Kyle’s mother, who tearfully reunites with her son. The boss gives Ingram $5 and cigarettes, tells him to stay out of New Austin, and has Kyle and his mother driven away. Ingram realizes he never told Kyle his name.

Ingram winds up at a diner, where he looks in a window and spots Sinema, who has changed dramatically in the three years since he left Houston. She buys him a cheeseburger and explains she is in Austin alone for college, sent by her Pa to become an engineer and escape their life. When she asks if he feels lonely, Ingram says, “Being alone is just reality” (192). Sinema lets Ingram walk her home but makes clear he cannot stay with her. After she goes inside, Ingram sleeps between garbage cans behind a nearby house.

That night, he has a nightmare about the gray creature in a vast empty space. For the first time, Ingram feels hatred for the creature and wishes for death. A dog wakes him in the morning. The dog’s owner tells him to leave and directs him to the interstate heading south. Ingram sees Sinema leave her house, but she does not see him.

Continuing south from Austin, Ingram gets a ride at dusk in a rusty white car from Bart, who is heading to the oil fields where he worked for two years before swearing never to return. Bart talks at length about his brother who joined the army and was changed by fighting in California. When Bart asks where Ingram is from, Ingram angrily tells him it is none of his business.

The next morning, Bart teaches Ingram how to drive. Ingram learns quickly and drives while Bart sleeps. At a truck stop, Bart buys Ingram a dictionary and Moby-Dick, then pays for their meal of spaghetti with chili. Using a wall map, Bart shows Ingram their location and route to the Gulf Coast oil fields. Ingram reads his dictionary, where he finds the word gratitude and identifies it as his feeling toward Bart.

Ingram begins admiring and imitating Bart’s mannerisms. At a bathroom stop, Bart gives Ingram his own yellow shirt with black stripes, which he kept in his brother’s old army bag. At a gas station, Ingram sees up a woman’s skirt, experiencing a powerful new feeling. Bart warns that sexual attraction is a trap leading to family responsibilities. His speech about sex and babies leaves Ingram feeling numb. His mind drifts into the past, remembering his     father’s horse having a stillborn foal and his mother’s subsequent despair. The memory concludes with his father pointing at Ingram and remarking that he is growing, which sends his mother away crying and leaves Ingram feeling he has done something wrong.

Near the Mexican border, the car’s engine breaks down with black smoke. Stranded, Bart uses the remaining daylight to teach Ingram how an engine works, taking it apart and explaining each component. Ingram understands the mechanics instinctively, as if remembering rather than learning.