40
The car’s tires crackled on the gravel road.
Danny’s head almost dipped into a doze with the repetitive, hypnotic sound.
“Are we nearly there?” Iris asked. She stretched her cuffed hands toward the door, bracing herself against the rocking motion.
“Little old to be asking that, aren’t you?” Danny said. In fairness, it had taken longer than he’d thought it would. “Don’t worry—you can pee soon.”
A big rock popped against one of their tires as they drove over it. Except it didn’t sound quite right. More like the snap of a wet pocket in burning wood. For an instant, he could almost smell the smoke. The scent was gone just as quickly.
Danny stuck a finger in his ear and wiggled it back and forth.
Now the crackling sounded more like the crinkle of heavy plastic.
Like unfolding a dry,
