Page 37 of Five Survive

Chaos.

When had Maddy started screaming? Red couldn’t remember now. Like the sound had always been there in her head, along with the static.

Simon’s shoulders bucked, thrashing as he choked on air.

The walkie-talkie dropped to Oliver’s side, chaos in the golden swirl of his eyes, moving too fast to be in real time.

Arthur stuttered.

Reyna swore.

Red listened, the chaos creeping into her own brain as she realized that something new was beginning now, a shift in the air and a hitch in her chest.

“How does he know our names?” Simon choked. “How the fuck does he know our names?!”

“No, no, no,” Maddy shaped her scream. “He’s here to kill us. He’s going to kill us all!”

“I—I don’t u-understand…” Arthur shook his head. “H-how—”

“Fuck!” Reyna held the sides of her face, strands of black hair clinging to her skin. “This was planned. This was all planned. He was waiting for us here.”

Not random, no. Not wrong place, wrong time. Planned. It was all planned. And why was Maddy’s scream still in her head?

Oliver’s eyes kept spinning, like they were broken, spooling loose right out of his skull.

“Oliver, do something!” Reyna shouted. “Say something. He knows who we are!”

He snapped back into life. “What can I say, Reyna? What can I do? I’m trying to think what this means!”

“What this means is that he trapped us here on purpose. He knew we were coming.”

“How could he know?” Simon said, eyes watering as he coughed on the words. “We got lost.”

“Why? Why?” Maddy wailed.

“Everyone, let me think!” Oliver roared into the chaos, patches of red climbing up his neck, threatening to take his face.

Maddy cried.

Simon coughed.

Arthur stared and Reyna shook her head.

Red listened, filling herself with the static to push out the scream.

But the static cut out, and in its place that deep, tinny voice.

“I can tell you your dates of birth and home addresses too, if you like.”

Oliver recoiled from the walkie-talkie in his hands, placing it down on the table. He stood back and studied it, arms hugged around his chest.

“Is it possible he searched the RV license plate after he shot out the tires?” he asked the others. “That it might have led him to Simon’s uncle, then Simon, then to finding the rest of us?”

Red could tell from Oliver’s face that he didn’t believe it even ashe gave voice to it, that an answer wasn’t needed because it had already been given in the asking.

“He knew who we were before we got here,” Reyna said, joining Oliver to stare down at the walkie-talkie. “He brought us here, trapped us here.”

“Why?” Maddy wiped her face.