Five Survive

The shot breaks the small window on the driver’s side, but Maddy is unharmed. Oliver, taking the role of a leader, states that ‌no one will do anything without his approval. Oliver orders everyone to find “resources” in their bags and the RV that they can use as weapons or tools for their survival. He then informs Reyna that the back window is “still exposed” and asks her to turn the blinds down, which she does.

Maddy and Red go together to search their suitcases. Red notices that her suitcase is falling apart, which is upsetting because it is her mother’s old suitcase, and the tag where her mother wrote her name is “[o]ne of the last pieces of her handwriting” (87). Red and Maddy talk, and Red reassures her that they are going to make it through this ordeal “together.” Red notices that her suitcase is messy, while Maddy’s is well-organized and full of things. Maddy finds a scissor, scotch tape, and a flashlight, which might be useful tools for everyone, and Arthur mentions his mattress can block the back window.

Oliver brings out a first aid kit—which Red assumes is Reyna’s—a headlamp, and some batteries. Maddy adds her collection to the pile. Arthur pulls down his mattress, and Simon finds a sharp kitchen knife. Then Oliver digs through his backpack and finds a lighter. Simon brings out a bottle of vodka from the fridge, explaining that they could use it as a disinfectant or as “liquid courage.” Looking in the closet, Reyna finds a hammer, a screwdriver, duct tape, a broom, and a dustpan. Choosing between Red and Simon, Oliver picks Simon and asks him to brush the glass pieces from the floor, which Simon does grudgingly.

Oliver and Arthur put the mattress against the back window so that the sniper cannot see inside the RV. However, Red knows the mattress does not provide real protection against a bullet, though she acknowledges that “at least they could now pretend they were safe in here, without the outside breathing in through that window” (94). Realizing that she failed to contribute, Red offers to cut apart her suitcase as a cover for the driver’s-seat window. She puts her things in Maddy’s suitcase and disassembles the suitcase while thinking about her mother. Oliver commends Simon for cleaning the floor, and Arthur comes over to talk to Red. He offers to tape her suitcase to the window, and Red thanks him and goes to stand with Maddy.

Having secured the RV, they try to come up with a plan to escape the sniper. Reyna, Maddy, Oliver, and Simon discuss whether leaving the RV and running away is a good plan, while Red tries to figure out why she is hearing a fizzing sound. Suddenly a foreign voice says, “Hello.” Red looks around, trying to understand who spoke, when she hears the fizzing sound again. The voice asks them to go to the front of the RV, and they finally realize that someone is speaking outside the RV.

Oliver tells everyone to stay still, and Maddy wonders if the sniper is waiting outside to kill them all. Red hears the fizzing sound again; she grew up playing “Cops and Cops” on the walkie-talkie with her mother (so neither of them had to be the “robber”) and realizes that the sniper left a walkie-talkie for them. She tells the others this, and everyone wonders if the walkie-talkie is inside the RV or outside. The voice keeps asking them to come outside, and Reyna tells Oliver that they shouldn’t keep the sniper waiting. Disregarding Oliver’s orders, Simon goes to the front, and Red and Arthur follow.

Oliver finally joins them, moving Red out of the way. Red says that the walkie-talkie is outside since the noise is coming from there. Simon and Oliver argue about who is going to look out the window for it when Reyna suggests they use a phone camera to see where it might be. Simon opens a corner of the tape, and Arthur uses his phone to record “a full arc of outside” (104). Watching the video, Simon sees the walkie-talkie taped to the driver’s side mirror, and Oliver orders Arthur to get it. Simon questions why Arthur should do it, but Arthur says it’s all right.

Arthur retrieves the walkie-talkie and passes it to Simon, who passes it to Red. Red questions what she should do when Oliver picks it up from her hand. Red tells Oliver how to use it, and Oliver asks the sniper who he is. He tries to persuade the sniper to let them go, explaining that they have money. However, the sniper replies that he does not want money. Oliver apologizes for trespassing on their land, but the sniper laughs at him and says that they aren’t there by accident: “What if I said you were the right people, in the right place at exactly the right time” (108). The chapter ends with the sniper announcing everyone’s full name, one by one.

Shocked, everyone realizes that this situation was pre-planned by the sniper. Reyna asks Oliver to do something, while Maddy and Simon freak out. Oliver screams at everyone to stay quiet and let him think. The sniper says that he knows everyone’s dates of birth and addresses too, which makes them even more afraid. Oliver finally tells the sniper that they called the cops, who will be there any minute. However, the sniper laughs and tells him that’s not possible since there is no service in the area.

Oliver lowers the walkie-talkie and screams in frustration, and everyone discusses how the sniper could have taken out the service. Maddy says that the sniper wants them dead, and Oliver asks the sniper to not kill them. The sniper replies that it depends on their actions because he wants something from them. Again, Oliver offers him money, and the sniper reiterates he does not want money. Simon asks Oliver to ask the sniper what he wants, and he does so. The sniper declares that one of them has a secret that the sniper wants. Oliver asks what the secret is, and the sniper explains they need to figure that out. He warns them not to run because he will shoot otherwise.

Red feels suffocated in the RV and tries to distract herself by thinking about the patterns on the curtain. Simon, feeling hopeless, declares that he wants to drink, but Reyna says they all need to be clear-headed to survive. Arthur reassures Simon that they won’t die; they simply need to give the sniper what he wants. Arthur asks everyone what the secret is, and Maddy asks who has it.

Red has a secret and tries not to react, clearing her eyes and facial expression so that no one can guess that it is her. Then she thinks about how everyone has secrets and wonders whether hers is bigger than theirs. She concludes that her secret is pretty big, but she must protect it because her plan depends on it. Simon, Arthur, and Maddy declare they don’t have secrets. However, Maddy does so suspiciously, and Red notices her shifty behavior.

Oliver declares that the secret is about their mom’s case. Because of John D’Amico’s death, there was a power vacuum in the Philadelphia mafia and three men competing for the top position: Tommy D’Amico, Joseph Mannino, and Francesco Gotti. The mafia split into three groups under these men; there was in-fighting, but no one was seriously hurt until Frank Gotti killed Joseph Mannino last August. Oliver surmises that since Catherine is leading the case against Frank Gotti, the sniper must be part of the mafia. By using Maddy and Oliver as hostages, the mafia wants to blackmail Catherine into dropping the charges. Oliver further suggests that the sniper might want the name of the case’s eyewitness, and Red asks if Catherine will give up the name.

Oliver believes that if it was a choice between the case or him and Maddy, Catherine would choose them. He also argues that they can’t allow the sniper to blackmail Catherine and must protect her legal career. Maddy reminds him they are also trying to save the witness’s life, and Oliver snaps at her, saying that he already mentioned that.

Reyna asks if Oliver is sure that this is the reason the sniper is holding them hostage, and Oliver says yes. Oliver asks everyone if someone knows another secret that the sniper could be after, and no one says anything. He tells everyone that they need to make a plan to escape.

The group debates waiting out the sniper, and Oliver speculates that if the sniper is looking for the eyewitness, Catherine would likely give up their identity to save them. Simon says they should turn over the eyewitness to survive. Red says that she thinks Oliver is right. She acknowledges to herself that Oliver is a “natural leader” and that the RV is not actually safe. They are only pretending that it is safe.

Arthur remarks that they don’t have a way to get help or any weapons to defend themselves. Realizing that they have the walkie-talkie, Oliver exclaims they can use that as a communication device. Simon agrees with the plan. Arthur, noticing Red’s face, asks her what’s wrong. She explains that police and other emergency services work on a different frequency than normal walkie-talkies to avoid interference. Oliver asks if they could somehow make the walkie-talkie work for them, and Red says no. Reyna asks how Red knows all this, and Oliver reminds her that Red’s mom was a cop.

The reminder hurts Red, and she reflects that she knows this because she and her mother played Cops and Cops on walkie-talkies. After her mom’s death, Red took apart the walkie-talkies, but she couldn’t hear her mother’s voice.

Red explains that the walkie-talkie probably uses a family radio service frequency, and the only way they can contact someone is if the other person is in the same range and using the same channel as them. Red guesses that they have a range of a couple of miles. Since they are in the middle of nowhere with only farms and houses nearby, Reyna concludes it is unlikely that someone is using a radio at one o’clock in the morning. Red agrees but says that it is not impossible. She suggests that they keep cycling through the channels to see if someone picks up.

Oliver praises her and tells her to do that. She cycles through the radio channels, waiting longer on channel six because that is the channel she and her mom used. While Red works through the channels, Oliver tries to come up with a plan with “two parts” like his mother always taught him so that if one part fails, the other part helps them win: “That’s win-win” (127).

Simon asks what the plan is since the shooter can see them and they cannot see him. Oliver has an epiphany and remarks that they need to find his location.