In Chap­ter XXX, the group is in a fran­tic search for Sam­son, who has been left behind in the Tut­tle Ter­race Trail­er Park. The atmos­phere is tense as they real­ize he is not on the bus, despite search­ing every nook and cran­ny for him. As pan­ic sets in, the crew—comprising Lill, Fish, and others—insists that they need to turn around despite Lester’s ini­tial hes­i­ta­tion. He feels cor­nered, fear­ing legal reper­cus­sions for his deci­sions while try­ing to help.

Lill, tak­ing on a mater­nal role, urges every­one to remain calm and insists that they must retrieve Sam­son. She con­fronts Lester, who is reluc­tant to return after hear­ing that the police have been called. Even­tu­al­ly, under pres­sure, he makes a sharp U‑turn, nav­i­gat­ing the bus back to the trail­er park. The weath­er turns omi­nous, with dark clouds rolling in and a storm brew­ing, mir­ror­ing the esca­lat­ing ten­sion with­in the group.

Upon arrival, they quick­ly dis­em­bark and head toward Carlene’s trail­er, where she stands with an air of defi­ance, block­ing the door­way. She smug­ly informs them that the police are on their way and that Sam­son is locked up inside, elic­it­ing out­rage from Lill and the oth­ers who demand his release. Carlene’s con­fronta­tion­al demeanor only esca­lates the sit­u­a­tion as she rel­ish­es their des­per­a­tion, hint­ing that Sam­son has a tal­ent for hid­ing.

Fish, over­whelmed with anger and pan­ic for his sib­ling, uses his pow­ers to push Car­lene away, allow­ing them to enter the trail­er in search of Sam­son. The dis­tress inten­si­fies as they scour every cor­ner of the trailer—under beds, behind fur­ni­ture, in clos­ets, and even the oven—yielding no results. Mean­while, Fish’s fury whips the wind into chaos, echo­ing the tur­moil with­in the group as they scram­ble against time, search­ing for any trace of Sam­son before the police arrive.

In a moment of real­iza­tion, the nar­ra­tor thinks of a way to extract infor­ma­tion from Car­lene, believ­ing that all they need is a pen to make her reveal where Sam­son is hid­ing. The chap­ter clos­es on this cliffhang­er, cul­mi­nat­ing in the anx­i­ety of impend­ing arrival of the author­i­ties and the uncer­tain­ty of Sam­son’s fate.