The Bones Beneath My Skin

IT WAS dusk before he found his voice again.

They’d been driving for hours, mostly in silence. They’d passed by Green Creek without stopping. There was a turnoff for another town called Abby, but it was thirty miles off to the east. They hadn’t seen another car in a long while.

At one point—and Nate couldn’t be sure when because time had lost all meaning for him—Alex had demanded Nate hand over his cell phone. He didn’t argue. He didn’t even think to argue. Once Alex had it, he rolled down his window and tossed the phone outside.

Nate thought about arguing with him, demanding to know why the hell he’d done that. Because Nate needed his phone, right? How else would Ruth know he was alive? How else would Big Eddie call him after hearing of the mess up on the mountain?