Patch spends a day in Union City under a fierce sun after walking since first light. Along the way he notices the lake-like bayou, the willow limbs, algae, logjams, sandbars, and distant cypress, deliberately taking in the landscape as he continues south.

To keep moving without drawing attention, Patch rides three buses with his head down. When the buses pass police cars, Patch forces himself to stay calm; he is too exhausted to panic and too close to his destination to turn back.

In the city, Patch keeps his cap low and acts casually, looking into shop windows before settling into a corner booth at a coffee shop with a single coffee. He later stands in the shadow of a Confederate monument and briefly thinks of his father, showing how the journey stirs memory as well as urgency.

Patch then fixes the next stage of his escape. He decides on an awkward, indirect route and plans to board the first bus leaving Union City at eight-thirty the next morning, travel to Evansville, wait more than five hours, and then take the 1167 through the night and across the state.

By the end of the chapter, Patch has reduced his flight to a timetable and a destination. If the plan holds, he will step out into Alabama at four in the morning as the first cardinals sing, marking a decisive move into the next phase of his journey.