Chaos.‌

When had Maddy started screaming? Red couldn’t remember now. Like the sound had always been there in her head, along with the static.

Simon’s shoulders bucked, thrashing as he choked on air.

The walkie-talkie dropped to Oliver’s side, chaos in the golden swirl of his eyes, moving too fast to be in real time.

Arthur stuttered. Reyna swore.

Red listened, the chaos creeping into her own brain as she realized that something new was beginning now, a shift in the air and a hitch in her chest.

“How does he know our names?” Simon choked. “How the fuck does he know our names?!”

“No, no, no,” Maddy shaped her scream. “He’s here to kill us. He’s going to kill us all!”

“I—I don’t u-understand…” Arthur shook his head. “H-how—”

“F**k!” Reyna held the sides of her face, strands of black hair clinging to her skin. “This was planned. This was all planned. He was waiting for us here.”

Not random, no. Not wrong place, wrong time. Planned. It was all planned. And why was Maddy’s scream still in her head?

Oliver’s eyes kept spinning, like they were broken, spooling loose right out of his skull.

“Oliver, do something!” Reyna shouted. “Say something. He knows who we are!”

He snapped back into life. “What can I say, Reyna? What can I do? I’m trying to think what this means!”

“What this means is that he trapped us here on purpose. He knew we were coming.”

“How could he know?” Simon said, eyes watering as he coughed on the words. “We got lost.”

“Why? Why?” Maddy wailed.

“Everyone, let me think!” Oliver roared into the chaos, patches of red climbing up his neck, threatening to take his face.

Maddy cried. Simon coughed.

Arthur stared and Reyna shook her head.

Red listened, filling herself with the static to push out the scream. But the static cut out, and in its place that deep, tinny voice.

“I can tell you your dates of birth and home addresses too, if you like.”

Oliver recoiled from the walkie-talkie in his hands, placing it down on the table. He stood back and studied it, arms hugged around his chest.

“Is it possible he searched the RV license plate after he shot out the tires?” he asked the others. “That it might have led him to Simon’s uncle, then Simon, then to finding the rest of us?”

Red could tell from Oliver’s face that he didn’t believe it even as he gave voice to it, that an answer wasn’t needed because it had already been given in the asking.

“He knew who we were before we got here,” Reyna said, joining Oliver to stare down at the walkie-talkie. “He brought us here, trapped us here.”

“Why?” Maddy wiped her face.

“He’s going to kill us,” Simon said, and his voice didn’t match the words, hollow and flat.

“I don’t want to die,” Maddy cried, a new tear cascading to the cliff edge of her nose. It jumped free, splattering on the floor.

Red took Maddy’s hand again, gave it a squeeze. Not quite an it’ll be okay anymore, but an I’m here too.

Oliver nodded to himself, once, twice, then he lurched forward to pick up the walkie-talkie again.

“We’ve already called the cops,” he said. “A while ago. They say they’ll be here any minute.”

Static.

A crackling sound, cold and inhuman. He was laughing again. Oliver waited for the static to return, then he held down the button.

“Yeah. Hilarious, isn’t it? They’ll be here in less than five minutes, so you should probably pack up and start running if you want to get a head start.”

“The cops aren’t coming. No one’s coming to help you.” A muscle twitched in Oliver’s cheek.

“Yes they are. We called them,” he said, a new hint of desperation in his voice.

Static.

“You didn’t call anyone. There’s no service. I made sure of that.”

Oliver lowered the walkie-talkie, his thumb straying away from the button.

“FUCK!” he screamed, holding on to the word as it ripped at his throat.

Flecks of spit in the air.

“He knocked out the cell service?” Reyna said, her hand moving to the back of Oliver’s neck as he bent forward, elbows to his knees, head to his hands. Defeated already.

“How could he do that?” Simon said, turning to aim the question at each of them. Nothing.

“The more important question is why,” Reyna replied. “What does he want? We give it to him and maybe he lets us go.”

“He wants to kill us,” Maddy said, squeezing Red’s hand back, so hard that she felt their bones crunching together.

Oliver sniffed, straightening up. He wiped his mouth with the back of his hand and pushed the button.

“Please don’t kill us,” he said.

Oliver Lavoy was not ready to die. Were any of them? A crackle from the walkie-talkie.

“That depends on you,” the voice said. “I want something from you. And I will get it before the night is over.”

“I said you can take my credit card. All of our cards. Take whatever we have.”

Red had nothing. Static.

“I told you, it’s not money I want.”

“Ask him what he wants,” Simon said, flapping one hand to get Oliver’s attention. “Ask him.”

Oliver held down the button. “What do you want?”

Static.

“One of you knows something. A secret. You know who you are and you know what it is.”

Red’s eyes crossed in front of her, and she imagined she could see the sound of the static, staining the air a speckled gray, closing in around her. Maddy’s shoulders dropped, her hand growing sticky and uncomfortable in Red’s. Arthur was blinking, too fast, turning to watch Simon as he coughed and spluttered. Reyna’s eyes dropped, and Oliver chewed the inside of his cheek. No one was looking at Red, but she looked at them all.

Oliver raised the walkie-talkie to his mouth again. He waited one moment, then two.

“What secret?” he asked, releasing the button. Static.

“That’s for the six of you to figure out. And remember one thing: you can’t see me but I can see you. If you try to run, I will shoot.”