Theo points to the coastline. “I’ll go with you,” he says in a rush.
My eyes fly to his and quickly away. It’s probably best for me if I’m not alone with him right now. “Anyone else want to come?”
“Theo and I can go alone,” Victoria says, then freezes. Her eyes dart back and forth, a confused expression crossing her brow. “Did you feel that?”
“Feel what?” Henry asks.
She shakes her head. “Never mind.”
Theo and Henry exchange concerned glances. “You need to stay here and rest,” Theo says. “Wren and I will look for the signal on our own. When we find one, we’ll make the call.”
“Everyone else should be looking for firewood and a freshwater source. Don’t go far and be back here before sundown,” Reggie says.
“Are we going to have to sleep here?” Naomi asks. Tension is heavy in the air as we glance uneasily at each other.
“Let’s hope not,” Reggie says.
I miss his confidence from earlier.
“Shall we?” Theo asks me. My stomach flips with foreboding.
I quickly survey the group. On the ground, Winston’s face is screwed up in pain. Naomi is putting on a brave face, but I know she’s terrified. And every ten seconds, Theo glances at Victoria as if she’s made of glass. I don’t know how long we’ve been here, but the “what if” voice in my head is growing louder as the pain in my arm grows worse.
My heart kicks into high gear as I tightly grip our dying lifeline. If we can’t find a phone signal, I don’t want to think about how much trouble we’ll be in.
“Lead the way,” I tell Theo.
CHAPTER15
I’ve lost all sense of time since the plane crashed. It feels like it happened in another lifetime, but we can’t have been here for more than three or four hours. Unless I’m totally wrong, which is possible. You could tell me it’s been ten hours, or ten minutes, or maybe ten days, and I’d probably believe you, especially if you distracted me with something to drink.
Time is meaningless, except that it’s not. We have three days from the time of the crash to find water, or nothing else matters.
(When Reggie said rescue would come soon, he must have meant sooner than three days,right?)
At this point, water is kind of all I can think about. I’m 3:00A.M.thirsty, the kind that wakes me up with a dry throat only to realize I forgot to bring water to bed. And because I’d rather die than get out of bed when I’m cozy and comfy and warm, I become the thirstiest person who has ever existed on the planet.
There’s something about wanting what I can’t have that drives me to the brink.
“We can survive three weeks without food, three days without water, three minutes without air,” I tell Theo as we walk along the coast, the phone still clutched tightly in my sweaty hand.
He smiles to himself. “I remember when you told me that at the corner shop in London. I didn’t think it’d be relevant.”
“We didn’t think the world would exist long enough to worry about drowning or starving or dehydration.”
“Lucky us, to have made it this long,” he says.
“An honor and a privilege,” I agree. The line between sincerity and cynicism has never been thinner, and even I’m not sure which side I’m on.
Every day since the comet didn’t hit has been a bonus, and I’d started to foolishly believe that I had an entire life of bonus days ahead of me.
“Have you been brushing up on that bucket list?” he asks.
“Skinny-dipping was the only thing that ever mattered,” I tease.
He shakes his head with a smile, his eyes downcast, and it stirs something in my chest that I’d thought died in Greece.
I don’twantto want him again. Not like this. Not when my future is so fragile and unclear.
