Page 9 of Five Survive

“I hear that,” he agreed. “We’ll be there soon. Or we could both get shit-faced like Simon and we won’t care anymore.”

“I’m not shit-faced,” Simon said from behind Arthur. “I’m a very comfortable-amount drunk.”

“I’m not so sure Tomorrow Morning Simon will agree,” Red said.

“I’m not sure Now Maddy agrees either,” Maddy said, turning around and perching on her booth so she could see them all. “You don’t want to peak too soon. We have a whole week ahead of us.”

Simon finished off his beer in one large gulp, eyeballing Maddy as he did so.

“Is it this left turn here?” Reyna asked, slowing down. “Oliver?”

“Sorry, um…” He stared down at the phone in his hands. “The GPS has gone weird. I think I’ve lost service. I’m not sure where weare.”

“I need an answer,” Reyna said, idling to a stop just ahead of the intersection, hand hesitating over the turn signal.

A car horn sounded behind them. And again.

“Oliver?” Reyna said, her voice rising, the knuckles bursting out of her skin like bony hilltops as she held the wheel too hard.

“Um, yes, I think so. Left here,” he said, uncertainly.

But it was all Reyna needed; she pushed off and took the turn, the car behind screaming its displeasure as it zipped off across theintersection.

“Asshole,” she said under her breath.

“Sorry,” Oliver said. “Your phone isn’t working.”

“Not you, the car,” Reyna clarified.

“I can’t get the map to work,” Oliver said, swiping furiously at the screen, closing the map app and reopening it. It was blank; a yellow background and empty grid lines and nothing else. “It doesn’t know where we are. Zero bars. Hey, does anyone have any service?”

Red had left her phone over there on the table. But if she had zero bars, it could mean she had no signal, or it could mean that AT&T finally cut off her service after the last unpaid bill.

“I’ve got a bar,” Arthur said, his phone cupped in his hand.

“Who’s your provider?” Oliver looked up at him.

“Verizon,” he said. “Hold on, I’ll get the route up.” He tapped at his screen. “Already had it loaded from when I was directing Red. Okay, so yeah we took the correct turn. You keep on this road for two miles, then it’s a right down Bo Melton Loop.”

“My phone is struggling too,” Maddy said, holding it up and shaking it, like that might spark some life back into it.

“We’re deep in the country now, folks,” Simon said, leaning on his words in an atrocious Southern accent, spliced with a touch ofcrazy old man.Sober Simon was normally quite good at accents. He prided himself on them, in fact, always guaranteed a part in the school play. You should hear his upper-class English gentleman.

Red watched out the wide windshield, a panoramic view of darkness, the two headlights carving up the night, bringing it into existence. There was no world anymore, only this RV and the six of them, and whatever the dark brought them.

Arthur made a small noise: a groan in the back of his throat as he stared down at his screen. Red stood up, looking over his shoulderto see what it was. He glanced back at her and cleared his throat. Maybe she was standing too close.

“Looks like I just lost service too,” he said, right as Red’s eyes registered the zero bars at the top of the screen.

“Shit,” Oliver hissed, tapping Reyna’s phone again, like he could make it work through sheer force of will. If anyone could, a Lavoy could.

“It’s okay,” Arthur said to him, “I still have the route up, just can’t see where we are on it. We’ll have to look for road signs.”

“Old-school navigation,” Reyna commented.

“Let me help,” Simon said, shuffling over to Arthur and Red, crowding them. “I’m good at maps.”

“You say you’re good at everything,” Red said.

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