Page 112 of Five Survive

“Stop, Arthur,” she whispered.

“It’s not your fault.”

That last one did it. Red felt a shift in her gut, something untwisting, something finally letting go. Her face cracked and the tears came. She cried, the sound shuddering in her throat. She stumbled forward, into Arthur’s waiting arms, her head against his chest, and Red cried and she let it all go.

It wasn’t her fault.

She didn’t know what would happen after that phone call. She didn’t hate her mom and Mom must have known that, there on her knees at the end of all things, as Catherine aimed the gun at the backof her head. Mom was Red’s world, her whole world, and she must have known that, she must have felt it somehow, because that was how love worked.

It wasn’t Red’s fault.

She’d replaced her mom with the guilt and the shame and the blame. They’d become part of her, a limb, an organ, a chain around her neck. Red thought she needed them to live, but she didn’t, because it wasn’t her fault and she didn’t need them anymore. She cried and it wasn’t all because of Maddy or because of Catherine and the truth. She cried because she could finally forgive her mom for dying, and forgive herself too. Enough to go around.

Arthur stroked his hand down the back of her hair, to the ends of her ponytail.

“It’s not true.” Oliver’s voice broke through. “None of that is true. Maddy, what the fuck are you saying?!”

Red pulled away from Arthur, wiping her face. Oliver emerged out of the blur, stepping toward her.

“My mom didn’t do any of that!” he shouted. “It’s all lies! All of them. I don’t know what game you two think you’re playing.” He glared at Red, and then his sister, dying over there on the floor. “Mom didn’t do anything.”

“Yes she did,” Red said, straightening up to look Oliver in the eye. “She did all of it. And I hope she dies on her knees, scared and alone, like she did to my mom.”

“You shut the fuck up!” Oliver screamed. He lunged forward, but he wasn’t coming for her, he was going for the table, grabbing for something. He thrashed back around, the knife gripped in one hand, Zippo lighter in the other. A gleam across the metal of both, matching the one on his bared teeth.

“Stop, Oliver, it’s over,” Arthur said, raising his hands, backing up. “It’s over. I have the answer we came for. Red won’t testify in court for the woman who killed her own mother. I can use that to convince my brother, he’ll listen to me. We were supposed to get the answer and then kill Red, that’s what we were told to do, but no one has to get hurt here. No one else.” He glanced at Maddy, shivering now, vibrating against Reyna’s hands. “I don’t have any way of communicating with my brother now, because you threw the remote outside, and the walkie-talkie is broken. But I can go outside.” He sniffed. “I’ll walk over to him and explain that it’s over, tell him to stand down. I’ll make sure he does, I promise. Then the rest of you can get in that truck and drive Maddy to a hospital. She needs to get to a hospital. It’s over, Oliver. Please, let it be over.”

“You’re not going anywhere,” Oliver growled. “Not with all those lies about my mom. I know what you people do, you’re animals. I won’t let you kill my mom! None of it’s true. You’re not going out there and telling your brother her name. It’s not happening.” He raised the knife, pointed it at Arthur. “You’re staying right here.”

“Oliver,” Reyna pleaded, the towel stained red in her hands. “We need to get Maddy to a hospital. She won’t make it. Please, let’s do what Arthur says.”

“No,” he barked, knife swinging in her direction now. “I can’t let him leave. I can’t let him tell his brother.”

“Maddy won’t survive, Oliver.” Red pushed forward. “She’s bleeding out. Arthur is giving us a way out of here. Now.”

“I’m not fucking listening to you,” Oliver said, voice dark and rasping. “You’re a liar! You’re going to get my mom killed.”

“And you’re going to get Maddy killed! We have to go!”

His eyes darted side to side. Because it was a choice, in a way,between his mom and his little sister. That was what this came down to. A life for another. But Oliver Lavoy didn’t like making hard decisions. He had everything and more.

“Maybe the people on the walkie-talkies heard you, Red,” Simon said, his eyes wide and panicked, sliding up the knife in Oliver’s hands. It was over, but it wasn’t, because the danger was standing right here, trapped inside with them, and they all knew it, Simon too. “Maybe they called the police, maybe they’re on the way.”

Red exhaled. “There’s no way of knowing for sure,” she said. “If one of them was talking at the same time, my interference wouldn’t have come through.”

“What about if some of us go out the other side?” Reyna suggested, gesturing with her head out the left side of the RV, through the driver’s-side window. “We know there’s not a second sniper out that side now. Some of us can leave that way and go get help. I’ll stay here with Maddy.”

“No one leaves!” Oliver roared. “No one leaves until I work out what to do.”

What to do. A plan. Oliver was trying to think up a plan, one where he could save both his mom and his sister. A win-win. So like his mom. But Red couldn’t see a win-win for him here, and she didn’t want him to win, because Oliver winning meant Catherine would win, and Red couldn’t let that happen.

“The sniper,” Simon said, turning to Arthur. “He’s your brother?”

Arthur gave him a small nod.

“Do you have any other way of communicating with him?”

Arthur reversed his head, shaking it instead. “Just the remote for the light and the walkie-talkie.”

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