The group grinds east in Fast Forward’s truck, cramped and cranky. After a gas stop—where Maggot volunteers to ride in the bed and preens for Fast—they push on toward Richmond. Navigational confusion leads them through downtown and into a poorer neighborhood, where they wait near a fenced park before finally reaching Mouse’s house. Mouse resents the underage tagalongs, but after bluster from Fast, she allows them to stay.

Inside the cluttered, chaotic house, Demon notes Leon, a dazed Couch Guy, and Mouse’s hard edge. To be polite and under Fast’s glare, Demon snorts coke with the others, launching an anxious, sleepless night amid fights, pounding music, and his spiraling visions. Maggot sleeps in bursts; Demon self-medicates with the last of his pills and a Xanax, knowing he is burning through his supply.

The next day, Fast negotiates with Mouse and spends hours under the truck, constructing a duct-taped metal-box hide. City passersby ignore the spectacle. Later, after sightseeing and Popeyes, Fast declares they are heading home immediately, canceling the ocean stop. Demon is furious and depleted as they crawl west; Emmy and Fast quarrel and reconcile; Maggot swings between mania and collapse.

Back in Lee County, Demon staggers into Dori’s arms for relief and sleep, then is interrupted by a call from Angus. She warns that Coach received robo-calls for Demon’s week-long truancy and wants “season rules” reinstated. Demon takes laundry to Coach’s house, intending to placate him.

There, U-Haul corners Demon in the laundry room, boasting he is now assistant coach and has orders to monitor Demon’s “druggie ass.” He insinuates Coach has secrets—possibly embezzlement—and crudely refers to “merchandise,” making it clear he means Angus. Disgusted and enraged, Demon prepares to break U-Haul’s face.