Abby and Liza flee from somewhere, and the poem follows them through one wet, uneasy night beneath a freeway. The poem never says who they are to each other or what they're running from, but Abby clearly leads: she gives orders, throws rocks, and decides when to move. Liza follows, until Abby lets her throw her own rocks, a small moment of growing independence. Then Nick arrives, begging them to come home. Abby knocks him down and vanishes, and Liza, torn, tends to him and eventually goes with him.
The last stanza shifts to Abby alone. The street smells of urine, traffic roars, and "shifty characters" move in the shadows. The flat, clipped sentences and the capitalized commands keep the tone tense and urgent. By the end, the mood is lonely and bleak. The poem doesn't judge anyone, but it leaves us with Abby's isolation and the sense that safety and freedom have pulled these two apart.