A Few Wrong Turns

3

Will twisted his head back and forth. "You got to pee or something?" Tory asked, glancing at him strangely.

  "I hear something. Do you hear that?"

  She turned off her music and listened. "Hear what?"

  "That noise." The jeep jerked when the tire suddenly blew on Will's side. He gave her a fake smile. "That air slipping out of your tire noise."

  Tory quickly pulled over. "Great!" She got out, slammed the door, and went around the jeep to look at the tire. "Just great!"

  "Is it completely flat?" Will asked, still in the front seat peeking down, trying to see.

  "Yeah," she answered, looking back into the street. "I must've run over something sharp."

  "There should be a spare in your trunk."

  Tory shot him a glare. "Gee Will, I didn't think of that." She snipped while opening the trunk. "Uh oh."

  Will covered his face. "That's never a good sound with you."

  "No spare."

  "What?" he shouted. "Well, where is it?"

  "On the car maybe!" she slammed the trunk door angrily. Before Will could open his mouth, she quickly said, "Ok. We need a plan."

  "Alright. Let me think."

  She got back into the driver's seat. "This is gonna take a while."

  Will tried to ignore her. "Ok. Simple. We find a gas station and buy a new tire. Problem solved."

  Tory sneered. "Where's the station?"

  He looked around the flat, desolate area. "Uh, I don't know."

  "How do we get there?"

  "We walk."

  "How do we get there and back if we don't know where we are?" Tory continued to challenge his plan.

  "Ok, new plan. We'll call the hotel and tell my family to get us."

  "The same people who didn't get you in the first place are going to get us now?"

  "Good point." Will raised his head. "Ok. New, new plan. We flag down a car, get a ride to a station, buy a tire, flag down another ride back to the car, and change the tire."

  Tory rubbed her head. "Yea. That didn't take long at all." Frustrated, she grabbed her phone and wallet, got out, and leaned against the jeep.

  Will did the same, grabbing his phone and wallet, and placing them into his pocket. He felt confident about leaving his suitcase and jacket behind in the car. He stood beside her. "What's the problem?"

  "In case you haven't noticed, there hasn't been a car on this highway since we turned onto it." "That puts a pause on your plan. Now we wait."

  Will sighed tiredly as he kicked a pebble across the road and looked in both directions. They were alone. "So," he began. "What have you been up to lately?"

  Tory shrugged. "I had a couple of jobs back home. You remember Darla?"

  He squinted, trying to recall. "Darla? That girl who puts stickers on everything that's hers?"