In Chap­ter VIII, Mibs express­es her urgent need to reach Sali­na and insists on leav­ing the church where she has just faint­ed. Despite Will Junior’s con­cern, she is stead­fast in her deter­mi­na­tion to go alone. The church par­ty con­tin­ues with­out her, as she steps out­side, ready to run the nine­ty miles if nec­es­sary. Spot­ting the Heart­land Bible Sup­ply bus, she feels a surge of hope, believ­ing that if the bus came from Sali­na, it might be head­ing back there. Ignor­ing her moth­er’s warn­ings about rid­ing with strangers, she feels com­pelled to board the bus.

As Mibs pre­pares to climb onboard, she encoun­ters Bob­bi, who mocks her but is quick­ly defend­ed by Will Junior. Their exchange hints at ten­sion between Bob­bi and Will, sug­gest­ing famil­ial rival­ry and rebel­lion. Despite Bob­bi’s dis­mis­sive atti­tude toward the idea of Mib­s’s jour­ney, Will Junior remains res­olute, insist­ing they can make it to Sali­na togeth­er. How­ev­er, their plans are chal­lenged when Fish appears, angry about their inten­tions.

Climb­ing into the bus, Mibs sees its clut­tered inte­ri­or filled with crates and box­es, and she decides to hide in the back. Bob­bi, fueled by deter­mi­na­tion to avoid being respon­si­ble for her broth­er and Mibs get­ting into trou­ble, joins them, assert­ing her role as a care­tak­er. A sense of urgency esca­lates as the deliv­ery­man approach­es, prompt­ing a pan­icked scram­ble to con­ceal them­selves from Miss Rose­mary, who is sur­vey­ing the park­ing lot. Their hid­ing place proves cramped, reveal­ing more sur­pris­es, includ­ing Sam­son, who had been read­ing qui­et­ly in a cor­ner.

As the bus begins to move, the sib­lings and Bob­bi cling to their seats, ten­sions ris­ing as the bus turns away from the desired direc­tion toward Kansas. Mib­s’s entire plan hangs in the bal­ance as she grap­ples with the uncer­tain­ty of their jour­ney, under­scor­ing the themes of youth­ful rebel­lion, famil­ial bonds, and the quest for self-dis­cov­ery. The chap­ter clos­es with a cliffhang­er, ques­tion­ing the fate of their adven­ture as they head in the wrong direc­tion.