My jaw tensed at the insinuation that my gut was less than trustworthy. Again though, maybe she wasn’t wrong—if the state of my life was any indication—so I chose to bite my tongue.

She glanced back at Charlie still doing his little circle-dance and then gestured to the remains of the station. “This is a power station, right? But our phones should have satellite service. So it must mean our phones just aren’t working. Unless the satellites are down too?”

Or both. I squinted up at the sky as though I’d be able to see one of the satellites she spoke of. Because we might be too far out in the wilderness right now but the phones should at least turn on. I was beginning to think that whatever had affected the plane, had affected a lot more. “There’s no way to tell right now,” I said.

Charlie came up beside Emily, stuffing his phone in his pocket and taking her suitcase from her so he could place it on the ground and sit on it. I saw the irritation flash in her eyes as she watched him and stifled the laugh that threatened. The weird thing was, he didn’t seem to notice her emotions or reactions. Or maybe he just didn’t care.

Not my problem.

He scooted over slightly and patted the suitcase in invitation, and she let out a breath on a smile, perching herself next to him as best she could. I turned away. Those two deserved each other, and they could curl up together with their useless designer shit.

I needed to start turning my attention to myself because the road in front of us led to the destination where the three of us would part ways. I had an actual visual of the beginning of the end of this unpleasant threesome.

chapter seventeen

Emily

Day Three

Once again, we set out at the break of dawn. I’d actually slept decently next to the smoldering substation that cast off enough heat to ward off the winter night chill. That and my exhaustion had meant I hadn’t stirred and for that I was grateful.

There was also a buzz of hopefulness inside because of the fact that we were setting off on a road. A road that, like Tuck said, led somewhere, and I hoped to God that somewhere arrived quickly. I wasn’t sure how many more blisters I could sustain and still walk. My slippers and socks were brown from the mud and dirt we’d been trampling through, but I refused to utter a word about the state of my feet and allow Tuck to look at me like I was the greatest burden that had ever been foisted on his broad shoulders.