Part 20 begins with the pro­tag­o­nist, the Kid, and his com­pan­ion Toad­vine mak­ing a des­per­ate flight from the Yumas, their only goal to escape through a treach­er­ous, bar­ren land­scape. The Kid, despite hav­ing an arrow embed­ded deep in his leg, refus­es to stop. His injury does not slow him down, and the pair push on through the des­o­late plains. The hot sun beats down on them, and their water sup­ply is run­ning dan­ger­ous­ly low. As they nav­i­gate the harsh ter­rain of sand dunes and bar­ren stretch­es of earth, the real­iza­tion that they are sur­round­ed by lit­tle more than the rem­nants of a once-thriv­ing envi­ron­ment hits them. Their strug­gle to sur­vive is pal­pa­ble, and they are aware that each pass­ing minute brings them clos­er to being caught by their pur­suers, who relent­less­ly fol­low them through the des­o­la­tion.

Despite the Kid’s grow­ing pain from the wound, the two con­tin­ue their jour­ney, nav­i­gat­ing the wilder­ness with only a sense of urgency to guide them. Toad­vine, ever the prag­ma­tist, checks on the Kid, ask­ing how much longer he can keep walk­ing. He ques­tions the Kid’s abil­i­ty to con­tin­ue, giv­en their lack of resources and their dan­ger­ous­ly low water sup­ply. Their phys­i­cal exhaus­tion is becom­ing evi­dent, but there is no choice but to keep mov­ing for­ward. As the harsh­ness of the land­scape clos­es in on them, they spot their ene­mies, the Yumas, clos­ing in. The ten­sion spikes as the Yumas begin fir­ing arrows at them, forc­ing Toad­vine and the Kid to take cov­er and defend them­selves. The Kid, with a steady hand and unwa­ver­ing resolve, man­ages to shoot one of the attack­ers, momen­tar­i­ly halt­ing the assault. This brief suc­cess gives them a chance to regroup, but the Yumas’ relent­less pur­suit is far from over.

Even­tu­al­ly, the duo stum­bles upon a well named Alamo Mucho, hop­ing for some sort of respite from their phys­i­cal and emo­tion­al strain. To their sur­prise, they find the expriest Tobin alone and unarmed at the well. Despite their ini­tial hes­i­ta­tion, they drink the last of the remain­ing water, feel­ing its cool relief wash over them, but they know it won’t be enough to sus­tain them. As the Yumas regroup in the dis­tance, the trio dis­cuss­es their sit­u­a­tion and the lim­it­ed resources they have left. The expriest engages the Kid in con­ver­sa­tion, dis­cussing their dwin­dling sup­plies of ammu­ni­tion and food, their sit­u­a­tion grow­ing more dire by the minute. The oppres­sive feel­ing of doom looms over the group, but the pres­ence of Tobin pro­vides a small sense of tem­po­rary com­fort amidst the chaos. As night falls, the Kid, Toad­vine, and the expriest find them­selves sur­round­ed by ene­mies, the sil­hou­ettes of the Yumas creep­ing clos­er with each pass­ing moment. The sense of vul­ner­a­bil­i­ty and dread is suf­fo­cat­ing as the group pre­pares for the long, tense vig­il that will stretch into the dark­ness.

The chap­ter reach­es its cli­max as the Judge reap­pears, accom­pa­nied by an imbe­cile, bring­ing with them an air of author­i­ty and men­ace. The Judge, as always, seems to hold the reins of pow­er in the con­ver­sa­tion, but the exchange with Toad­vine over his hat takes on a dark­er tone. It is a stark reminder of the mate­ri­al­is­tic and bru­tal nature of the world they are in, where even the small­est trans­ac­tion or trade can hold sig­nif­i­cant weight. The Judge’s pres­ence casts a long shad­ow over the already bleak and vio­lent land­scape, high­light­ing the twist­ed bal­ance of sur­vival and moral­i­ty in their law­less world. As the dis­cus­sion between the Judge and Toad­vine unfolds, it becomes clear that every action is dri­ven by the need to sur­vive, with lit­tle regard for what is right or just. The con­ver­sa­tion is filled with threats, psy­cho­log­i­cal manip­u­la­tion, and pow­er strug­gles, all play­ing out against the back­drop of the unfor­giv­ing desert. The saloon scene, where laugh­ter and vio­lence blend into one, reflects the frac­tured real­i­ty the char­ac­ters live in. The com­plex­i­ty of their inter­ac­tions, filled with ten­sion, manip­u­la­tion, and con­flict­ing desires, serves as a stark com­men­tary on the human con­di­tion and sur­vival in a harsh, unfor­giv­ing world. The chap­ter draws to a close with the oppres­sive feel­ing that the vio­lence and des­o­la­tion will con­tin­ue, as the char­ac­ters remain trapped in an end­less cycle of sur­vival amid the chaot­ic, bru­tal land­scape.