Page 62 of Five Survive

“And I think I smell gas.” The woman stepped forward now so that she too was framed in Red’s view of the open door, blocked by Arthur’s moving shoulders as he scratched at one of his own arms.

“This is my wife, Joyce,” the man said, nodding to her. “I’m Don.”

“Nice to meet you both,” Arthur said.

“Where are y’all from?” Joyce said, a sweet smile on her face as she stood side by side with her husband. Red tried not to picture it, the red dot floating across their backs, darting unseen between their heads. Eeny, meeny, miny, moe.

“Philadelphia,” Arthur answered.

“Thought I recognized the accent,” said Don. “Long way from home.”

“Yeah, we’re on our way to Gulf Shores, for spring break,” Arthur said.

“Bless your hearts,” said Joyce.

Oliver moved toward the door then, his jaw set, clearly deciding it was safe if Arthur hadn’t been killed yet. He pushed past him, dropping down to the final step.

“Hello,” he said, voice crisp and clear, back arrow-straight, the full Oliver Lavoy display. “Nice to meet you both. I’m Oliver.”

“Don. Joyce,” Don repeated. Seemed he recognized that Oliver was the natural leader here. How could you not, with that straight back and those fierce golden eyes? “We live on a farm just yonder, back that way. We were passing by and saw flashing lights.”

“What must y’all think of us, coming home past two in the morning,” Joyce giggled, hiding it behind one hand. Red noticed the blue polish peeling off her nails. “We were with our daughter, she lives in Jacksonville. She just had a baby this afternoon, our first grandbaby.” The words burst out of her, tripping over each other, like she couldn’t have not said it, like maybe that was the reason they’d stopped afterall.

“Oh, congratulations to you both,” Oliver said, and Red could hear the smile pasted over his voice. “New grandparents.”

“We’re so excited,” Joyce said, looking up at her husband. “Aren’t we, Don? We couldn’t not go and meet the baby right away, could we? She’s called him Jacob, after my daddy who passed last year, and he is the cutest little bundle you ever saw. Isn’t he, Don?”

“Yes, dear.”

“But,” Joyce went on, eyes flicking between Arthur and Oliver and Reyna as she told her story, “you know how it is, with a new baby,you don’t want your parents hanging around, telling you what you’re doing wrong that first night. That’s why we decided not to stay the night and drive home, leave her and Thomas to it, you know?”

“I see.” Oliver nodded. “Well, I’m sure she appreciated you driving all that way and back to visit.”

“We’re going to go again next weekend, aren’t we, Don?”

“Joyce, will you hush up for one moment?” Don said in answer, an affectionate burr in his voice. “These people don’t want to hear our life story, I’m sure.” He looked down, grinding his boot into the road, raising his heel to study it. “She’s right, you know. You got a gas leak all around here. Looks like the whole tank might’ve emptied.”

Please don’t let him look too hard and see the bullet hole in the side there, the one that took out the tank.

“Yeah, we think a branch might have got caught under us,” Oliver said, not missing a beat. “Must have dragged it for a while and it punctured the tires, knocked something loose underneath.”

Don made a face, gritting his teeth.

“Have you called Triple-A?” he asked.

“Yes,” Arthur said, at the same time that Oliver said, “No.”

An awkward moment, Don’s gaze trailing up away from the two of them. He must have noticed the broken window then, his eyes narrowing, skin crinkling between his brows. The static fizzed and Red held the walkie-talkie behind her.

“We couldn’t get a signal,” Oliver explained.

“Oh.” Joyce smiled; she hadn’t picked up on the strain in Oliver’s voice. “The service is terrible around here. We’re lucky to get one bar in our house, and that’s with me hanging out the window in the back bedroom.”

“Even worse today,” Don added, eyes back on Oliver, though he didn’t look as sure and easy as he had thirty seconds ago. “Ourneighbor told us that this morning, some truck drove into the cell tower south of Ruby. Knocked out all the networks. Apparently he fled before the police got there. I’m guessing it was a stolen truck and he drove around the turn too fast, lost control. I called AT&T from the road this afternoon and they said their engineers were dealing with it, and service should be back by morning. If they can be trusted,” he added with a sniff.

Red swallowed.Theydid that. Drove a truck into the cell tower to disable it. All part of the plan to trap them here. But this wasn’t part of the plan. Don and Joyce weren’t supposed to be passing at this time. Don and Joyce weren’t supposed to find them trapped here, in the wide-open nothing, on their way back late from meeting their first grandchild. Don and Joyce weren’t supposed to happen.

“That explains it, then,” Oliver said. “Excuse me for one moment.” Oliver held up a finger and then backed up the steps, through the door of the RV. He walked toward the dining table, pushing Red out of the way, beckoning to Maddy, hiding by the sofa.

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