9
NOAH
Maybe I should crawl backinto the backseat. I should change into the clothes Netty threw in the bag for me.
But damn… I’m so fucking tired.
How long has it been since I slept?I try to calculate the time in my head, but all the time runs together since I ran out of that prison.
Thatin and of itself feels like a lifetime ago.
I lean my head back against the headrest and close my eyes. I can feel Rue watching me, worrying over my physical health like she actually gives a shit. And I mean, maybe she does—, but I don’t miss the guilt underneath it all.
I would feel it too, if I were her.
“You could probably get more comfortable if you moved to the backseat,” Rue’s voice is right on cue as the drowsiness starts to take over.
I shut my eyes and ignore her.
“At least lean the seat back.”
My jaw clenches, and I slip my hand down to the side of the seat, easing it back. I open my eyes enough to catch sight of Rue,who’s not even looking at me anymore. Her eyes are focused on the road, dark circles forming beneath them.
She needs sleep just as much as I do.
And the thought kicks off something protective in my body. I sit up in the seat, and then peer out the window. I take in the rolling hills, dotted with trees.
“How long have we been driving?”
She breathes out, her eyes shifting to the clock. “Maybe three hours? I’m going to have to get gas soon.” Her tone is oozing with exhaustion.
“We need to sleep,” I say, running my good hand over my face. “Let’s get fuel at the next station, and then find a place to pull off.”
She eyes me. “I don’t think that’s a good idea.”
“You wanna run out of gas and walk instead?”
Rue glares at me. “I don’t think we should stop moving. We’re not far enough away yet. We don’t have many miles between them and us.”
There’s never going to be enough miles between them and us. They’re always going to be around the corner.But I don’t drop that bomb on her.
“We’ll stop and get fuel, then see how you’re feeling.”
She furrows her brows at me. “I feel fine?”
“You look exhausted.” The words come out softer than I intend, and Rue’s expression reflects that. She’s so fucking desperate to make it up to me, it’s almost endearing. “We can’t think straight if we’re sleep deprived.”
“Right,” she nods, and then reaches for the radio. “We’ll stop at the next gas station.” Rue presses the power button and then turns it up, overriding whatever potential conversation might have transpired between us.
I don’t understand it, but I don’t press.
I just close my eyes and listen to the soft hum of some shitty pop song I don’t recognize. But as soon as the tune comes to an end, the news breaks through.
“Things you need to know this morning,”the radio host’s deep voice booms through the car.“The missing diver in the search for escaped inmate, Thomas Peterson, has been located safe and sound.”
“That’s a real blessing,”a woman’s voice kicks in.“I’ve been following the escape since it was reported. It’s really something else to think a convicted murderer was able to just walk out like that. Don’t you think, Rob?”
“I think he was smart, Cherry,”Rob says.
