Sanctuary

After five days of walking, the group arrives at BJ’s house in Scutter, Oklahoma. A man named Ronny rushes the group inside and Vali immediately feels unsafe. Ronny complains about Jorge killing the DF officer and messing up their plan. BJ appears and makes advances toward Vali and Rosa. Ronny complains about the baby and the fact that he is out of cigarette money. BJ reminds Ronny that they will get paid soon. It is implied that the men plan to sell the immigrant women and girls into human trafficking to make profits (temporarily or perhaps permanently). Malakas defends Vali and Rosa; Vali wants to get a ride to California, so she tries to keep the peace for now. BJ sends Ronny out to buy alcohol.

BJ shows the group around his house, where they see two women tied up in a bedroom. BJ says the group is “lucky” that he is “helping” them and argues that Vali “owes” him “something” for this help. Malakas protests and BJ pulls a gun on Malakas. BJ insists the system upgrade leaves the group little choice but to trust him; he claims to have the local DF agents in his pocket and insinuates that he is allowed to continue his illegal coyote operation because he allows the officers to rape women and girl immigrants for a price. Vali asks BJ if they can feed the baby, and he directs them to the kitchen to do so. BJ touches Vali inappropriately but does not follow the others into the kitchen. Malakas promises not to let BJ hurt Vali. Rosa feeds Guadalupe while Malakas digs Vali’s counterfeit chip out of her arm at her own insistence using Mami’s kitchen knife. She passes out.

Vali wakes up to someone banging on the front door. Malakas has also removed his own fake chip. A DF agent enters, and BJ says he has two new women for him. Vali hides in a cabinet, but the men take Rosa. Malakas protests, but the men knock him unconscious. Vali comforts Rosa’s crying children. A gunshot comes from the other room where they took Rosa, along with the sound of smacks and bodies falling over. Volcanoman emerges with Rosa and tells the others to run. He shot the DF agent, and reports that Ronny and BJ are both also “gone.” He released the captive women. They run away separately from the rest of the group. Tomas runs far ahead into a marshy area, and the group chases after him. Vali gets stuck in a sinkhole, then sees Tomas’s shoe and Ernie’s soccer ball.

Vali retrieves Tomas’s body from the marsh. Rosa tries to resuscitate him, but he is already gone. Rosa is inconsolable.

Rosa continues tending to her baby Guadalupe while crying over Tomas’s body. Vali and Ernie dig a grave to bury Tomas, and the group has a small funeral. Drones appear overheard, and Volcanoman says they need to leave. Rosa refuses to leave and insists on staying with Tomas. Vali tries to get Rosa and Guadalupe to keep walking, but she again refuses, instructing the group to “GO!” just like Mami did when she was caught. Vali promises Rosa that she’ll never forget Tomas. The rest of the group hide in a pile of wood and underneath a foil blanket which Malakas says interferes with the drones’ thermal cameras meant to find people by sensing their body heat. They watch while the drone shoots down a net, which collects Rosa, Tomas’s body, and Guadalupe and lifts them into the air.

Vali, Ernie, Volcanoman, and Malakas continue walking toward California. They have eaten most of their food and drank most of their water, so they forage for berries and suck on some rocks to delay dehydration. None of their phones have any battery left. Using Vali’s paper map and Malakas’s compass, they are able to find their route. Volcanoman is upset because he committed murder, but knows he had to do it to protect Rosa. Volcanoman left Brazil because he is gay and his mother thought he would be safer in the US. He worked as a dishwasher and paid for a fake chip; however, they used dirty tools which gave him an infection, so he spent his earnings on medical bills and became unhoused. He started living on subway trains.

Malakas shares that he loves subway trains, and this gives Vali an idea: to travel the rest of the way to California, the group could jump onto a moving cargo train and ride on the top as stowaways. Based on Vali’s map, the nearest train tracks are 20 miles away.

Vali and the group find a train that will take them near the California border to a place called the Verde Valley. Most of the cargo trains passing through here move at a fast pace, but they slow to drop off goods at extraction silos. The group can’t risk being spotted boarding the train while it is actually stopped, so they plan to jump onto it while it is slowing down rather than when it is at full speed.

Most of the group is nervous to jump onto a moving train, especially Volcanoman. Vali recalls playing at the beach with Papi, who encouraged her to jump off a rock into the water. She was too scared to do it but hoped to try next time Papi took her to the beach; however, there was no “next time” because Papi was deported and murdered.

The group jumps onto the train and scales the side to climb onto the roof. Volcanoman struggles, but the others pull him up. They tie themselves to the top so they won’t fall off. Vali is nervous about DF drones spotting them on top of the train, but she draws courage from others who have tried to find sanctuary before her, even those who died, such as the girl in the Mickey Mouse T-shirt.

Volcanoman and Ernie fall asleep, and Vali chats with Malakas, sharing information about her hometown and thanking him for removing her counterfeit chip. Malakas loves astronomy and wants to study galaxy evolution and exoplanets. The vastness of the universe gives Malakas perspective about how there are more powerful forces than humans. He kisses Vali’s hand; they are developing a romantic connection.

On top of the train, the group finishes the last of their water and food. They use foil blankets for shade and for protection from drones. They pass more landscape that looks like it has been ravaged by wildfires. After three days on top of the train, they see large DF tents pitched in the desert. Using Malakas’s binoculars, Vali can see that people in cages and chained to each other by the neck. DF officers are leading groups of people out of tents and beating them. Each chained person has a glowing blue line beneath their wrist, suggesting that these are all undocumented immigrants with fake chips who have been captured by DF.

Vali sees a woman who looks like Mami with the chained-up people, but she does not get a good enough look to know for sure if it is her. Vali starts untying the ropes that are securing her to the train, so that she can jump off and go see if it really was Mami. DF trucks appear behind the train and start following it with their sirens blaring. Everyone jumps off.