Five Survive

by Holly Jackson

Then the wind let go, dancing through Red’s hair, and the grass chattered and the trees whispered, and Red wondered what it was they were saying to each other.

The back left burst, the RV collapsing with it. Another. The last one. The RV grated against the road, screeching as it rolled to a stop. All four tires. Gone.

The RV was going nowhere. And here they were, the six of them, trapped inside it, the wide-open nothing and the red dot waiting for them out there.

“Yeah, that sniper won’t know what’s hit him when I slowly charge at him with my Gillette razor.”

SIMON BRO

“What if I said you were the right people, in the right place at exactly the right time.”

“Oliver Charles Lavoy. “Madeline Joy Lavoy. “Reyna Flores-Serrano. “Arthur Grant Moore. “Simon Jinsun Yoo. “Redford Kenny.”

You couldn’t do that with dead moms, though, rebuild them. They stayed gone.

“Want to know a secret?” Arthur said, his voice dipping into whispers, eyes flashing from behind his glasses. “I think you’re smarter.”

“It’s me,” she said, framing each word carefully, choosing the right ones. “I’m the witness.” She paused. “The protected witness, in the Frank Gotti case.”

“My name is Arthur,” he said, pausing, eyes flicking to Red, latching on. “Arthur Gotti.”