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Zoe
They hit what felt like a boulder, and Zoe cursed.
Derek stopped singing to say, “I don’t think your grandmother would appreciate that.” Then he started singing again.
Zoe looked over her shoulder out the windshield. “Are we even in the driveway anymore or are you just off-roading?”
The car started to slow, and Zoe thought her criticism had influenced him, but then he turned on the blinker, and she let out a long breath. They’d reached the road. “Do you really need to signal?” she asked as she checked the phone for service. “There’s no one around.”
“I’m really trying not to break any rules,” Derek said and then started singing again. He pulled out onto the road, and Levi whimpered.
“Still no bars, but it shouldn’t be long now.” She looked back at Levi. “We’re on a road now. Should be a smoother ride.”
He didn’t respond, but he was still breathing.
Derek accelerated, they hit the tiniest bump, and Levi cried out again. Zoe squeezed his fingers. “Almost there.” She really hoped the tiny Carver Harbor hospital would have what Levi needed. Or that they could at least make him more comfortable and then keep him alive until they got him to a real hospital. She looked at the phone again. One bar. “Stop!”
Derek didn’t stop.
“Stop, Derek! I have a signal!”
“Then call!” he cried.
“I might lose the signal!” she screamed as she dialed 9-1-1. “Stop the car!”
He slowed down and pulled the car over, and she did still have one bar.
“Nine-one-one, what’s your emergency?”
“I’m in Carver Harbor. We found the missing kid, and he’s in bad shape. He needs an ambulance.”
“Where in Carver Harbor?”
Zoe had no idea.
“We are a twenty-minute walk north from The Reef and a ten-minute walk east of the lighthouse,” Derek said.
“Which lighthouse?” Zoe whispered.
“I don’t know its name. The one with lights.”
Thinking it was probably useless, Zoe repeated this information to the operator, all the while trying to figure out a better way to give their location.
“The Reef?” the operator asked.
“It’s a bar. We are pretty close to the edge of the peninsula, on the western side of it.” She looked out the windshield, desperate for a landmark.
“We’re close to the dump,” Derek said. “Tell the ambulance to meet us there.” He stepped on the gas, and Levi whimpered again.
“No sir, please stay where you are,” the operator tried.
“We’ll be right at the dump entrance. We’ll wait there,” Zoe said. “Thank you.” She started to hang up.
“Wait! Please stay on the line.”
“I can’t, sorry.” Zoe hung up and dialed her grandmother.
