Chapter 23

The foliage grew thicker, blocking out the sky and dropping the temperature by discernible degrees within the truck. Jeremy turned onto the narrowest road of all and almost immediately stopped, blocked from going farther by a rusty gate across the path. This, Brendan remembered. He still had the gouge in his hip from where he’d run into the oxidized post in the dark.

“Okay, I lied.” Brendan peered through windshield, then twisted to look at the road they’d just left. “Thisis your last chance to change your mind. I forgot how far back this was set. We’re not going to have much warning if somebody else shows up.”

Jeremy turned the key, and they were plunged into silence except for the random click of the cooling engine. “I’m not going to change my mind. Are you going to change yours?”

“Not in this lifetime.”