Page 18 of The Hitchhikers

Alice got clothes out of the closet, moved closer to the bed, and tugged the privacy curtain partway across the area, enough to hide her body. While she pulled on a fresh pair of shorts and a pink short-sleeved blouse, she tried to communicate to Tom with her eyes.

Are you okay? Please be okay. We’re going to get through this. Somehow.

He gave her a faint smile, then his eyes drifted closed. She panicked, thinking for a horrible moment that he’d stopped breathing. She reached for him, touching his face.

“Tom? Tom?”

He opened his eyes back up. “Just resting. I’m okay.”

He wasn’t okay. He was suffering, but he was still with her, and she wanted to sink to her knees beside their bed in relief. She needed Tom. He was her rock, her cheerleader.

“Stop talking.” Simon slid the curtain open. “You’re driving.”

“Tom is in no shape to drive.”

“That’s why you’re doing it.”

“Me?” Alice could drive the RV. But with a gun pointed at her?

“Get ready. We’re leaving soon.”

He wanted them out of that campsite. He wanted them away from people. Once they got on that highway, so many things could happen. Alice thought of all the deserted side roads. Fields of long grass that could hide anything. Forests. Rivers.

He was staring at her, his jaw clenched. Like he was daring her to deny him. The area under his eyes was shadowed and his hair messy. She wondered if he had slept at all.

“I can drive,” Tom said. He was trying to sound strong, capable, but he couldn’t hide the reedy whisper in his voice. The struggle for air.

Simon looked over his shoulder at Jenny. “Babe, can you come here?”

Jenny left the table. When she was closer, Simon pulled the knife out of the sheath on his hip, flipped it around so he was holding the blade, and held it out to Jenny.

She hesitated, her hand hovering in the air, like she didn’t want to touch it. Alice hoped that meant she was having a change of heart. Maybe she was different. But she took the knife.

“I need you to keep an eye on Alice while I finish with Tom.” Jenny nodded, then Simon turned to Alice. “Sit at the table facing me.”

Alice had to pass Simon. She didn’t look at his face. They didn’t touch. She sat at the other side of the table like he’d ordered. Now she had a front row view of Simon tying Tom’s ankles with the yellow rope, weaving it in and around. Then he moved up to his wrists.

Alice was anxious, wondering if he would hurt Tom’s shoulder, but he ordered Tom to put both his arms over his chest, so his forearms were parallel, then he bound them together.

“A pillow,” Tom gritted out. “Can I get a pillow under my elbow?”

“This isn’t the goddamn Hilton,” Simon said, but Alice was relieved when he shoved a pillow against Tom’s side, wedging it under his elbow. Simon turned around and looked at Alice.

“Get in the driver’s seat.”

She was more than happy to leave the table when Jenny passed Simon the large hunting knife, and he bent over to give her a passionate kiss, his hand tangling in the back of her hair.

Alice stepped over the carpeted engine cover and dropped into the driver’s seat. She adjusted the height, and the mirrors. She licked her dry lips, wishing she had water.

She heard Simon coming up behind her and glanced in therearview mirror. He was slipping the knife into the sheath on his hip. He sat in the passenger’s seat, legs sprawled.

“Okay. Go.”

Alice fumbled with the keys in the ignition and gave it a pump of gas. Too much. The engine roared, making everything on the dash vibrate, just as someone was walking past their site. Unfortunately, the camper only gave them a cursory glance before continuing.

Simon glared at Alice. “What the hell do you think you’re doing?”

Alice frowned back. “I’m nervous.”