“Yep. And there’s a macramé plant holder behind you, so don’t knock it down, okay?”
“Okay,” he said with a weak laugh. “I love this setup. Shag carpet never should have gone out of style.” A glance told her he was too pale, but the color was coming back to his lips, and he was certainly well enough to ignore her directives.
She managed to toss him a pouch of water from his pack, which she’d flung on the passenger seat next to hers.
“I feel like I’ve had enough water,” he said.
“Hush your mouth. What would your wilderness instructor say? Drink it and rest. I’ve got a camper to hot-wire.”
“I’ll help you.”
“Do you know how to do it?”
“No, but I know enough about cars to figure it out.”
“Leave it to me.” How was she going to fiddle with the ignition? She tried to tuck her hands under her thighs and sit on them, but there was so little of any kind of heat in her body, it was virtually useless. She finally realized Gideon was saying something.
“Visor.”
“What?”
“Check under the sun visor.”
It took a few seconds for her to understand, but she finally reached up to flip down the visor. A set of keys dropped onto her lap. She gaped.
Though she didn’t turn to look at Gideon, she heard the smile.
“Country people are trusting. Easier than cutting wires, right? Work smarter, not harder. That’s an unofficial SERE motto.”
She pawed the key, and it required four attempts before she got it into the slot. “Start, you awesome camper,” she whispered. One attempt, and on the second, the engine coughed to life.
“Atta girl,” Gideon crowed. “You got it, Zee.”
“And there’s a half tank of gas.” She hardly dared believe her eyes. She immediately wrestled the unwieldy camper into drive and rolled out of the yard.
“No—”
“Headlights, I know,” she said through chattering teeth.
“Sorry, backseat driving.” He startled her by staggeringclose, sliding the packs off, and collapsing in the passenger seat with a moan.
“You should be lying down.”
“I know, but I need to sit up here to avoid being that nagging backseat driver.”
She didn’t like the gravel in his voice, or his slight breathlessness, as if it hurt too much to fill his lungs properly. But she knew there was nothing short of physical force that would compel him to return to the makeshift cot, and she had no strength to spare.
“Make yourself useful then. What’s the best way to get to a passable road?”
He pointed. “Follow the drive and we’ll recalculate when we get to a better line of sight.”
Sticking to the roads would make them easier to spot, but there wasn’t any choice except to keep the unwieldy old vehicle on paved surfaces.
Though she desperately wanted to turn on the heater, neither of them could stand to have cold air blown on them. “In five minutes, we blast it,” she said through gritted teeth.
“Four and a half.”
The graveled path was the tiniest bit luminous as it wound through the trees, as if it caught and held on to the sickly rays of remaining daylight that managed to penetrate. It was near sunset, so that advantage would go away quickly. At least they’d caught a stoppage in the rain.
