He knocked the heels of his shoes against the lower cabinet and nodded at Blue. “Good luck waking up that one. She sleeps like the dead.”
* * *
An houror two after Carol had gone to sleep, the RV entered a long tunnel. Claude shared his sofa space with Blue, and every so often, he’d start purring, only to be silenced by Blue slapping his chest. The twins had finally gone to sleep, the television now off.
Christian unwrapped what looked like a Jolly Rancher and tucked the plastic wrapper in a trash can beneath the sink.
“You can sit next to me,” I offered, thinking he couldn’t be comfortable on the floor.
Christian patted the floor, his knees bent and his back against the counter. “And you can do the same. There’s plenty of room down here,” he said with a naughty wink.
“You can’t be trusted.”
He lowered one leg and rested his hand over his crotch. “To be sure.”
I stood up and stretched. This trip was dragging like molasses. It was still dark outside, and we had hours left to go. I squatted behind the two front seats and looked for the end of the tunnel. “Are we there yet?”
Shepherd gave me a peevish glance over his shoulder, a cigarette wedged between his lips. “Whenever you two are done eye fucking back there, can someone look up the weather report?”
“No rain in the forecast,” Christian piped in.
Shepherd blew out a puff of smoke. “Yeah? How do you know that?”
“Me bones don’t hurt,” he said, his humor lost to the boredom in his voice.
I took out my phone to search for the weather report. “How long is this damn tunnel? I’m not getting a signal.”
Viktor snored loudly when his head rolled the other way. That man could probably nap through an asteroid collision with Earth. Lucky for me, I didn’t require the same amount of rest as everyone else, but it made time crawl.
When we emerged from the tunnel, everything went dark again.
Shepherd steered his head back toward me. “How about now?”
“Maybe you should call Wyatt for the weather forecast. I don’t even know what zip code we’re in.”
“Spooky asks too many questions on the phone. Nobody’s got time for that.”
I looked up ahead. “What’s that?”
Shepherd turned his attention back to the road and gripped the wheel. “Jesus fuck!”
We jerked left. Then right. My shoulder hit the side of the trailer, and I fell back. Eve squeaked from above, and the loud thump of a body hitting the floor sounded from behind. The tires screeched when Shepherd hit the brakes.
He barked out a curse, and everything tipped on its side. The children screamed. I hit my elbow on something, objects went flying, and the sound of grating metal filled my eardrums.
When everything stopped moving, I realized that the trailer was on its side. What I thought was furniture on top of me was actually Christian. Somehow during the chaos, he’d sailed up from his spot on the floor and cradled my head.
My heart thumped against my rib cage. Out of breath, I sat up and surveyed the damage. One of the cabinets had vomited Tupperware everywhere.
Shepherd crawled over his seat, the cigarette still wedged between his lips and a long ash miraculously hanging from the end. When he spoke, it broke off and fell to the floor. “Everyone okay?”
Claude sat up holding his head, a small sliver of blood trickling between his fingers. His eyes suddenly widened, and he climbed over the wall and toward the back where Carol was sleeping.
Viktor looked startled when he finally unbuckled himself and fell toward the driver’s seat.
The overhead curtain had opened, revealing the two siblings who were wrapped together like pretzels, their legs hanging out. The sleeping cab now looked like a standing closet.
“What the crap?” Adam said as he climbed over me and tripped on the shutters.
