Catherine Jinks TheRoad (37 page)

‘But someone might still be alive up ahead.’

‘Yeah. The guy with the gun.’

‘Like I said, Alec – if you want to get out, mate, we won’t stop you.’

Chris was calling the shots again. Alec sensed that Graham might be ambivalent about abandoning anyone at the site of a massacre (his eyelids fluttered as he slowly, pensively, turned the photograph in front of his downcast gaze) but Graham wasn’t about to challenge his brother. Not in front of an unknown quantity.

Not when Chris had clearly been a bit dubious about Alec from the very beginning.

‘Right,’ said Alec. ‘I’ll walk back to the truck, then. Get a lift to Coombah.’ He was furious, tired, frightened. He gripped the door handle. ‘You got some water you can lend me?’

Graham and Chris exchanged another of their telepathic glances.

‘You can stay here,’ Graham finally proposed, in conciliatory accents. ‘We can pick you up when we’re done.’

‘Sure,’ Alec snorted. ‘If you don’t get shot first.’

‘We won’t get shot,’ Chris said firmly. ‘This can’t have just happened – you told me the blood was dry. Whoever did it won’t be hanging around waiting to be found. He’ll have pissed off.’

‘Unless he’s run out of petrol,’ Alec finished. He accepted a half-empty bottle of mineral water from Graham, and prepared to make an exit.

Graham pointed out that it was a long way to the truck – maybe an hour’s walk.

‘Someone ought to stay at the scene anyway,’ he opined. ‘Just to protect it.’

‘With what?’ Alec snapped. ‘A sharpened stick?’

‘You could borrow our jack or our hacksaw. Or what about this screwdriver?’

‘Fuck off,’ said Alec. He got out and slammed the door. Then he began to trudge westward, towards the highway.

He didn’t look back to watch the Land Rover drive off in the opposite direction.

kay,’ said Linda. ‘The next person who shows up, we hitch a ride with them. Even if we have to tie ourselves to their roof rack.’

It was four forty-five, and they were all getting scared – gen
uinely scared. If help didn’t arrive soon, they would be spending a night in their car, on the open road.

No one in the family wanted to do
that
.

‘I’m hungry,’ Rose whined.

‘There’s nothing left.’ Louise nudged her sister. ‘Mum told you already.’

‘There’s Kool-mints,’ said Linda, ‘but you don’t like Koolmints.’ She sighed, gazing out the window at Noel, who was stationed in front of the car. He stood shading his eyes, one hand on his hip. He was the lookout. ‘I’m sorry, Rosie-posie,’ Linda continued, ‘I know it’s nearly your dinner time. But we’ll be back at Auntie Glenys’s house soon, I promise.’