tulip [S. Harrington]

{ 7.} Family Hiking Trip

C h a p t e r 7
FAMILY HIKING TRIP

"YOU'RE POSITIVE THAT was Dart?" Lucas asked again.

Currently, the kids, plus Steve and Tulip, were walking along the train tracks, in search of whatever had the demo-dogs high-tailing it back home.

"Yes," Dustin sighed out. "He had the exact same yellow pattern on his butt."

"He was tiny two days ago," Max called, turning to walk backwards so that she could see the boys in her spot beside Tulip.

The two girls led the pack as everyone made their way along the train tracks. Max had decided she actually really liked Tulip; she was a lot less annoying than the boys that followed behind her.

"Well, he's molted three times already," Dustin told her matter-of-factly, not stopping his marching along the tracks as he spoke.

"M—malted?" Steve asked, throughly confused.

Tulip shook her head at Steve and Dustin rolled his eyes, "Molted," he corrected him. "Shed his skin to make room for growth, like hornworms."

Steve furrowed his brows, glancing back to Tulip in confusion as he tried to understand how the hell Dustin knew what he did.

Tulip merely shrugged, glancing back ahead to leave Steve to himself.

"When's he gonna molt again?" Max wondered, making sure to watch her step as she walked backwards.

She glanced at Tulip every now and then, noticing that the older girl was carefully eyeing her surroundings. Max wondered if the junkyard, alien-dog things were watching them. Sure, they had taken off in a hurry, but what if they were following the group, waiting till they had the perfect opportunity to attack.