Reyna turned the engine o๏ฌ and the night grew too quiet, only the sounds their own bodies made, Redโs breath catching in her throat.โ
โIโll go ๏ฌrst.โ Oliver stood up, pushing past the others as he walked over to the door of the RV, just beyond the sofa bed. His steps were heavy, shaking the ground. He opened the door and let the outside in.
A wash of cool night air hit Red in the face as she watched Oliver take the four steps down to the outside world.
Maddy went next, sliding out of the booth to follow her brother.
โYou okay?โ Arthur asked Reyna, who was standing up from behind the wheel, stretching out her neck.
โYeah,โ she said, the slightest tremor in her voice. โI donโt understand what we could have hit. Thereโs nothing on the road.โ
โLetโs go see.โ Arthur gave her a kind smile and then turned, heading out the door, Simon trailing closely behind him, slightly less steady on the steep steps.
โAfter you,โ Red said, gesturing Reyna ahead of her. โIโm sure itโll be okay.โ
โIt will be all my fault somehow,โ Reyna said to her, a secret ๏ฌash from her deep brown eyes. โJust you watch.โ
Was she talking about Oliver? Red knew that feeling, but she didnโt know Reyna had felt it too. The two of them, Lavoy-adjacent but not Lavoys and didnโt they know it. Except lots of things were actually Redโs fault. This, even. โNo, itโll be ๏ฌne,โ Red said as she scooped up her phone from the table.
Oliver couldnโt blame Reyna; they were happy, they were perfect, small touches and soft voices.
Reynaโs shoes tapped down the stairs and then it was Redโs turn, her legs aching from sitting down too long as she took each step. One, two, three, four, and by the end, as her sneakers scraped against the dirt road, she was wondering whether Reyna had seen a dead body yet, as part of her studies. Maybe she could ask if they still looked like the people they once were. Or whether it was true that blood was sometimes blue, not always red.
Red followed Reyna, who followed Simon, walking around the front side of the RV, into the too-bright light of the high beams, dust from the road ๏ฌoating upward through them.
โOh fuck!โ came Oliverโs voice. He was already there, crouched down beside the wheel, lighting it up with the ๏ฌashlight on Reynaโs phone. โDe๏ฌnitely punctured.โ
โYou sure?โ Arthur asked as he stepped out of the blinding high beam. โYes Iโm sure. I was actually downplaying it: thereโs a huge fucking hole
and a giant tear in the tire.โ
โWhat from?โ Maddy said, crouching down beside Oliver as Red came around the corner of the RV and saw the tire for herself. There was a large split in the rubber, about the size of her hand, the two sides peeling away from each other. No air at all, the bottom pooling out under the weight of the RV. Thirty-one feet long, but how heavy?
โI donโt know,โ Oliver said, searching around with the ๏ฌashlight, running his hand carefully over the road. โMaybe thereโs glass here, or a sharp rock. Maybe a nail. Reyna?โ He pivoted to look up at her, shining the light in her eyes. โYou didnโt see anything?โ
โNo, I didnโt see anything,โ she replied, exchanging a quick look with Red.
โWell, you must have driven over something. Why werenโt you looking?โ Oliver returned to his search, a harder edge to his voice.
Reyna had been right. Well, she did know Oliver better than Red did. โNone of us saw anything. Itโs pitch-black outside.โ That was Redโs best
attempt at helping, but the small sideways smile on Reynaโs face showed that it was appreciated all the same.
โI canโt ๏ฌnd anything. Maybe it got thrown by the wheel. Or maybe it was just a piece-of-shit tire that broke over nothing.โ Oliver stood up, shining the light on Simon now. โDoes your uncle ever get this RV serviced?โ
โHow the fuck should I know?โ Simon hiccupped. But, really, how the fuck should he know, especially in his current state.
โWell, how long has your uncle owned the RV?โ Oliver pressed. โI donโt know.โ
โHow do you not know that?โ Oliverโs voice sharpened.
โBecause heโs drunk,โ Maddy said, an apologetic glance at Simon, swaying on his feet.
โListen,โ Arthur said, โweโve driven over ๏ฌve hundred miles on the tire today, and itโs been ๏ฌne.โ Defending the tire or defending Simon, Red wasnโt sure.
โIt doesnโt really matter how it got punctured,โ Reyna said, stepping forward. โWhat matters is what we can do about it.โ
โSomeone call Triple-A,โ said Maddy.
โThereโs no signal, remember?โ Oliver looked down at her, Reynaโs phone raised in his hand.
โThe police?โ Maddy tried again.
โStill need service to call them, unfortunately,โ Arthur answered this time, much softer than Oliver had.
โDoes anybody have any service at all?โ Oliver turned to the group. โCheck your phones.โ
Red pulled hers out of her jeans pocket, the screen lighting up the underside of her face. No bars. No 3G or 4G or GPRS. Nothing. Except 67% battery,ย which, hey, was pretty good for her.
โNothing,โ she said for good measure.
โWho are you with?โ Oliver asked, in a way that sounded as though Red could only give him wrong answers.
โAT&T.โ She glanced down at the unchecked box scrawled on her hand. โShit,โ Oliver said. Yep, see, wrong answers only. โThatโs what me, Reyna
and Maddy are on. Arthur, you still got nothing with Verizon?โ โNothing,โ Arthur con๏ฌrmed, showing Oliver his home screen. โEveryone has zero bars? Simon?โ
โYeah, Iโm the same. T-Mobile. Nothing.โ โWe must be in a dead zone,โ Red said.
โOkay, so calling for help is out.โ Reyna looked at them all. โWeโโ โโMaybe not,โ Oliver cut across her. โWe could walk back to that small
town we passed. Ruby. Find a landline there to call for help if thereโs still no service. It was only a few miles back.โ
โMore like ๏ฌve miles,โ Reyna said. โThatโs too far.โ
โWell, maybe weโll ๏ฌnd a house or a farm or something with a landline on the way,โ Oliver said.
โItโs really dark,โ Maddy said in a small voice. โAnd weโre in the middle of nowhere.โ
โNot all of us have to go,โ Oliver replied. Neither of the Lavoys were volunteering for walking-in-the-dark duty, then. Red had another idea.
โWhy canโt we just sleep here tonight?โ she suggested. โI bet no one else will be driving this way until morning, and then we can get help once itโs light.โ
โNo,โ Maddy said, and Red was surprised. Sheโd assumed Oliver would be the one to shoot it down. โIf we wait till tomorrow to ๏ฌx the tire, then we wonโt set o๏ฌ in time, and weโll be late getting to Gulf Shores. Everyone else from school will be there and weโll miss the ๏ฌrst night out with everyone.โ
โNot to just swoop in and save the day here, but Iโm gonna,โ Simon said, leaning his elbow on Redโs shoulder. โCanโt believe Iโm the observant one here, but: thereโs a spare tire on the back of the RV.โ
Maddyโs face rearranged, her relief obvious even through the darkness that separated them. She gave Simon an amused smile, and Arthur gave him a pat on the back, the vibration passing through Red too.
โYes,โ Oliver said. โI was just going to ask you whether there was a spare.โ
Of course he was.
โI assume thereโs a jack somewhere?โ he asked.
โIโm a Simon, not a Jack,โ Simon replied, with a wry smile that Oliver clearly hadnโt noticed.
โI mean the device to lift theโโ
โOh right,ย thatย jack,โ Simon said in an exaggerated tone, miming smacking himself on the head. He really did belong on a stage somewhere. โYeah, I think thereโs probably one in those lower storage units.โ
โRight, okay.โ Oliver clapped and it was too loud, echoing through the quiet scrubland, patches of grass bristling at the intrusion. โLetโs get this done as quick as we can, then get back on the road to that fucking campsite.โ
The darkness held its breath, listening as they made their plans. Then the wind let go, dancing through Redโs hair, and the grass chattered and the trees whispered, and Red wondered what it was they were saying to each other.
