Two Wolves

When Ben awakes in the morning, he panics on discovering that Olive no longer has a pulse; however, pressing his fingers deeper into her neck, he finds a very faint, weak heartbeat. Continuing to carry Olive upstream, Ben manages to find the cabin, but neither the police nor his parents are there. Ben lays Olive on the workbench in the cabin, and the two of them eat some of the leftover supplies before falling asleep. When Olive wakes up, he tries to figure out what to do. Then an idea strikes him, and he retrieves a shovel from the cupboard.

Ben and Olive head down the road his parents drove in on, trying to hitchhike their way back to civilization. Cars continually pass them on the road until finally, a semi-truck decides to stop. When Ben opens the door, he discovers a neatly dressed man, who asks them if they’re lost.

The driver drops the kids off at a hospital in the nearest town. Instead of taking Olive inside, Ben goes to buy medicine from the pharmacist because he doesn’t want to be recognized in the hospital. He calls his grandmother from a payphone, but she doesn’t pick up for a long time.

The narrative jumps ahead to Ben buying himself and Olive bus tickets to Sydney. Ben and Olive sleep for a while and recover their strength, and Olive asks where Ben left the money.

Ben and Olive arrive at their grandmother’s house, sneaking in from the alley. They knock on the door, and their grandmother bursts into tears when she sees them. She asks if they saw the police, and Ben says that he saw undercover officers in a nondescript car. They have been watching the house to try to find Ben and Olive’s parents. Ben’s grandmother reveals that the kids’ parents have been staying with her and are set to return shortly.

Their grandmother asks what happened to them, and Olive reveals that Ben lost the money. Ben confirms this, telling his grandmother that he left the money on a bus bench by mistake. He begs her to not tell his father, and she comforts him. Ben tells her the whole story of their escape and being lost in the woods. She tells Ben a secret about his grandfather: He was a criminal and a scammer. Ben wonders if he has criminality in his blood, and his grandmother says that his grandfather’s behavior is being repeated by Ben’s father. Just then, Ben’s parents arrive at the house, and Ben’s grandmother goes to greet them before the kids do.

Ben hears his father’s voice in the kitchen at the same time as a heavy knock at the front door. Ben’s mother gathers him into a hug, and his father demands that the family leave again. However, Ben’s mother says no. Ben’s father drags his mother outside and demands Ben tell him the location of the money. Ben claims he doesn’t know.

Ben’s father realizes that the police have surrounded the back exit, and he herds his family into an old chicken coop to hide. As they hide, Ben’s father, disbelieving Ben’s claims, demands again to know where the location of the money. Ben thinks of his grandfather’s words about the two wolves, one good and one bad. His father insists that everyone keep hiding in the chicken coop, but the rest of the family begins to complain. Ben, his mother, and Olive slip out and surrender to the police, while Ben’s father escapes over the back fence.

Three months later, Ben is living with his grandmother, sister, and mother and is trying to complete his stop-motion film for a school project. Ben’s mother leaves for court to plead guilty, and it is revealed that Ben’s father is still on the run from the police. Ben works on the projects he began in the last few months: repairing the porch and tearing down the old chicken coop in the backyard. Ben worries about his mother at her hearing, knowing that if things don’t go her way, he’ll need to reveal the location of the money to protect her.

A year after Ben and Olive were lost in the woods, Ben returns to the cabin to dig up the bag of money. Ben wonders whether he did the right thing in hiding it. It’s revealed that he told his mother where he hid it, and they agreed to return it to the police. Feeling nostalgic, Ben splashes water on his face and understands that once he returns the money, “his story [will] end” (220). Leaving the stream, Ben is confronted by a skinny bearded man holding the bag of money.

The skinny bearded man is Ben’s father, who mocks his son by calling him a “cop” (221). He reveals that he’s been living in the woods near the cabin for the past year. Ben tells his father that he’s going to return the money, and when he goes to grab it, his father pushes him onto the ground.

Ben reveals that his mother blamed his father in court, and the authorities believed her. She now has a new job, which she’s using to pay off the family’s outstanding debts. Ben manages to wrestle the bag away from his father and flees up the hill, where his mother is waiting in the car.

Ben throws the bag through the open door and tries to get into the car, but his father catches up to him and drags him back out. Having spent the last year lifting weights, Ben becomes angry and drags his malnourished father back to the cabin. They scuffle for a moment until Ben pins him down. He releases his father, who gets to his feet and regards him warily. As Ben walks back to the car, his father attacks him again and bites his arm, drawing blood.

Ben pushes him off and gets into the car. He and his mother drive off, and after trying to catch them, his father stands in the clearing, screaming in rage. As Ben and his mother drive to return the money and report his father, Ben thinks again of the two wolves inside him, one good and one bad, and wonders which one will win. The novel ends as Ben realizes that there are no wolves inside him at all, and he has won.