Catherine Jinks TheRoad (55 page)

‘If we turn back, we’ll
definitely
end up stranded,’ he said. ‘If we push on, we should make it. We can’t be far away now.’

‘We aren’t,’Del retorted. ‘We weren’t last night,either.Trouble is, we don’t seem to be gettin any closer, no matter how far we drive.’

‘And that’s the thing,’ Noel broke in, apologetically. ‘I had the same problem yesterday, going the other way. And so did Alec, heading north. And so did you, Ross. It’s pretty
odd
,don’t you think? I mean, there must be some sort of explanation, but it’s certainly very
odd
...’

‘I don’t see how turning back’s going to help us,’ Ross objected, his voice a mulish croak. He was never at his best in the morning, before he’d had his shower, his breakfast and a quiet ten minutes with a cup of coffee and a newspaper. Verlie hoped that he wasn’t going to start snapping at people. They were bound to take it badly, if he did.

‘We
could
just stay here,’ Noel suggested. ‘Someone’s bound to come along soon.’

‘Yes, and maybe they’ll be coming
from
Broken Hill,’ said Verlie. ‘So they’ll be able to tell us how far it is.’

‘Oh, they’ll be headin south for sure.’ Del nodded thoughtfully. ‘It’s too early for northbound traffic, unless they got started in the middle of the night.’

‘I recommend we head for Broken Hill, and stop if we see any cars or farms or houses along the way,’ Ross decided, employing his most authoritative tones. ‘The only other option is to wait here – presumably someone is going to be missed very soon, and the police will be notified. But even if that happens, we might as well start moving anyway. It can’t possibly hurt.’

Del and Noel and Verlie exchanged questioning glances. Verlie thought that Ross’s solution made sense. It even gave them time to have breakfast, and perhaps clean themselves up. Besides, she was nervous. The previous night Ross had told her all about the shooting incident, and she was anxious that they should put as much distance as possible between themselves and the site of the tragedy.

Alec, however, was shaking his head.

‘You won’t get anywhere,’ he groaned.

‘Of course we will,’ said Ross.

‘The laws of physics decree that we’ll have to get somewhere, Alec,’ Noel appended, pushing his glasses up his nose. ‘It’s impossible not to.’

‘Yeah – if the laws of bloody physics are actually
workin
,’ Alec growled.

‘Alec, we went into this last night,’ Noel said gently, and Verlie wondered when that might have been – she didn’t recall any discussions about the laws of physics – before it occurred to her that the issue must have been raised after Alec and Noel and Del had bedded down in the old station wagon. ‘This
X Files
idea, well, it’s a
theory
,’ Noel conceded, ‘but I have to say it’s pretty low on the list –’

‘Okay, wait.’ Alec suddenly threw up his hand. His voice became clearer – more urgent. ‘Listen. Yesterday, when Chris – the bloke who picked me up? When he turned back, it was like two hours or something since we left my truck, right? But when he turned back, and drove south again, we reached my truck in like ...I dunno, maybe ten minutes. It was like we’d hardly gone any way at all. Like we’d put in all that time for nothin.’

He surveyed the faces around him. Ross’s was frankly sceptical. Del was frowning. Verlie didn’t know what to think – she was sure that she looked as bewildered as she felt.

Noel rubbed his cheek.

‘Alec –’ he began.