“You think so?”
He considered it.
“No.”
“Okay.”
Mike’s panic note began to stutter. He hitched in a frightened breath in each space. Denise squeezed his arm with both hands, her eyes pleading with him.
“It’ll be okay, Mike.” She looked to the front seat. “You need to do something.”
Jeff wheeled on her. “Like what? What’s your awesome idea?”
They started shouting back and forth. Noise filled the car thick as the smoke outside. Charlie listened for a second, and then it became too much. Instead, he looked past his friends and scanned the forest and road, searching for any way out of their mess. He didn’t like what he saw, but there was no other choice, and after a moment of hesitation, he reached out with both hands and motioned for silence. Somehow, Jeff and Denise decided to oblige.
