Free Eco Warrior by Philip Roy

didn’t even look like me.
    There was a gruff looking man sitting behind the counter eating a bowl of soup out of a Styrofoam bowl when I came in. He looked up when he saw me, and said, “G’day.”
    “G’day!” I said, trying to sound Australian. I picked up a jug of water, a bottle of milk, five bags of nacho chips, three bags of trail mix, a box of cookies, a handful of chocolate bars, and a large bag of peppermints. You needed lots of sugar when you were walking all day. As I put the things down on the counter, beside a pile of newspapers, I saw the story of the tanker sabotage on the very first page, including the sketch of Hollie and me. I pretended to ignore it. That’s when another man came inside the store, carrying Hollie in the tool bag.
    “Is this your dog?” he said.
    I turned and looked at him. He seemed kind, the sort of person who loves animals.
    “Yes,” I said. “He’s mine.”
    “I heard something whining outside and couldn’t figure out where it was coming from. Then I saw him in the bag. You didn’t have to leave him outside, mate. We let dogs in the store. He’s a cute little fellah, isn’t he?”
    “Yes, he is.” I turned around to pay for my things, but now the man behind the counter was staring at Hollie. Then he stared at me. And then he stared at the newspaper. He didn’t say a word, but his eyes were a little wider than before. I paid for our stuff, thanked both men, and left the garage, but I could feel their eyes on my back as we walked away.
    Had he recognized us? I was pretty sure that he had. When we reached the park, we disappeared into the woods, and spent the rest of the day hiking up and down the hills, heading east. But I couldn’t stop worrying about the man in the garage. Would he report us to the police? I had to assume that he would.
    That night, I heard the engine of a jeep roaming through the park as we slept in our tent. Was it police, or was it just park officials on regular patrol? I had pitched the tent beneath the boughs of a tree in the most secluded spot I could find. I wanted to stay inside to guard against snakes and spiders, and Hollie stayed with me. Seaweed slept on the roof, but kept sliding off noisily and waking us up. At one point, the engine sounded very near, and I lay still, wondering if they had found us. Then the sound went away, but I couldn’t tell if that was because they had turned the engine off, or had just disappeared over a hill. Suddenly, I heard what I thought were boots on the ground. I sat up. They were coming so fast. How could they have found us in the middle of the night? They couldn’t have spotted us from the air. And we hadn’t lit a fire, or used any light. It didn’t make sense. How could they have found us?
    They were coming so quickly I didn’t see how we could run for it. Running through the woods at night was difficult, especially when it was hilly. How was it they were able to move so quickly? I couldn’t figure it out. And yet, they didn’t come directly to where we were. They circled us a few times. Were they just guessing? I was surprised at how much noise they were making. Suddenly it occurred to me that they weren’t police officers at all, because I heard Hollie make his little growl, and he only growled at animals.
    I opened the zipper of the tent and poked my head outside. There, under the light of the moon, I watched a herd of shadows race through the trees, pounding the spongy earth as they went. I couldn’t see them clearly, but I knew now what they were. Kangaroos. Amazing. They were as fast as deer.
    The next day, we started walking as soon as there was light. We continued east, judging by the sun, and walked where the trees were thickest. But it was unnerving. Several times we had to duck down when we were close to a trail or road, and a jeep came by. What I was really afraid of was that they would come looking for us with dogs. We’d never have a chance of escaping them then. But I wasn’t