Page 58 of Five Survive

“Here.” She passed one glass to Maddy, and another to Oliver at the table, sliding it over. “We need to stay hydrated, it’s been a long night already.” The next two to Arthur and Simon, who needed it most. The last one to Red, a defeated smile on Reyna’s face as Red’s fingers cupped the glass.

“Thank you,” Red said, taking a sip, and then a long draw, raisingthe glass, eyes on the overhead lights. She hadn’t realized how thirsty she was, and something else too, that yawning feeling back in her gut. Hungry, again. But she couldn’t eat. She drained the rest of the water and came up for air.

They couldn’t escape. So, what were they going to do now? Red couldn’t remember exactly—what was it the sniper had said about that secret he wanted? Would they just wait here, trapped, until Catherine Lavoy gave up the name? She looked to Oliver; he should know what to do, he was the leader.

“We’re fucked,” Oliver was saying, speaking into his half-empty glass, lending his voice a hollow echo. “We’re completely fucked.”

Or maybe not.

Arthur took Red’s empty glass from her, carrying it back to the counter with his. Two dull thuds as he placed them down. And there must have been something wrong with Red’s ears, because now she was hearing an echo of those too, which couldn’t be right.

Arthur sighed. “Maybe we should think about the se—” he began.

“Shh,” Oliver spat, holding his arms up to silence them all. “I can hear something. I hear…”

He drew off, tilting his head to raise one ear.

Red heard it too, a low, clicking, rumbling sound. It was growing, growing, overtaking the static.

“What is…” Maddy’s voice faded with one sharp look from her brother.

Red looked up, ears straining beyond the ceiling. It was coming from up there, from the sky.

“It’s a helicopter,” Oliver said, jumping up from his seat. “It’s a helicopter!”

Moving closer and closer, like a mechanical roar of thunder. They couldn’t see it, but they could hear it.

“It’s getting nearer!” Oliver shouted, his eyes glittering, replacing the despair. “We have to signal it somehow. Let them know we need help!”

“The horn!” Maddy said.

“They won’t hear that,” Reyna told her.

“The lights!” Simon crashed up to his feet. “We can signal SOS, I know how to do it.” He jumped across to the light panel, flicking the main switch off and then on again in three short bursts.

“They won’t see, the windows are covered!” Reyna shook her head, looking around frantically.

The helicopter must be right above them now, the mechanical drone slicing through the sky.

“Headlights,” Red said.

“Headlights!” Maddy screamed. “Simon, go, go, go!”

Simon sprinted to the front of the RV, crashing into the driver’s seat as he launched himself into it. Red stood behind him, one hand gripping the passenger seat, the other wrapped hard around the walkie-talkie, the edges biting into her skin.

Simon reached for the lever behind the steering wheel and flicked the headlights on.

A glow filled the covered windshield, around the edges of the pulled-down shade.

“Dot-dot-dot,” Simon muttered to himself and he flicked the lever three times quickly. “Dash-dash-dash.” He moved the control, leaving the high beams on for a longer stretch between the darkness. “Dot-dot-dot.”

“Keep going,” Oliver ordered him, leaning past the driver’s seat, pulling the shade up so they could see the high beams through the windshield, carving up the night.

The motorized whine of the helicopter was fading, moving away from them into other skies.

“It’s leaving,” Reyna said, the urgency all but gone from her voice.

“Keep going, Simon!” But not from Oliver’s.