Squirm

Content Warning: This section of the guide briefly describes domestic abuse.

Late that night, Dennis and Billy convince Chrissie that father and son should go on a camping trip together to the Florida Everglades. Chrissie is skeptical of the idea, but Dennis eventually reassures her that this is necessary bonding time. On the road the next morning, Dennis tells Billy about their mission. They are after a wealthy poacher named Lincoln Chumley Baxter IV, who enjoys killing animals that are in danger of extinction. As Dennis states, “He doesn’t do it for food, or to make money. He does it purely for his ego, some lame notion of glory” (130).

During Billy’s trip to Montana, Baxter was hunting a grizzly bear in the Tom Miner Basin, but Dennis ruined his plans. The law won’t intervene unless a bear is actually killed, so Dennis made sure that Baxter wouldn’t get the chance to kill the bear at all. Now, the poacher has come south to kill an endangered Florida panther. On the way to find Baxter, Dennis takes a detour to the Fort Myers airport. Much to Billy’s surprise, they are there to pick up Summer because she also blackmailed Dennis into letting her tag along on the trip.