Run on Red

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The only things they’d ever found of Ava's were her purse and phone, tossed into the sagebrush at the edge of the reservoir. They’d trolled it too, with zero success. All anyone really knew was that Ava had been at that party one minute—and the next she hadn’t. The Volvo slowed to a crawl, tires sinking into the soft dirt. The body of the car was nearly level with the ground beneath now.

Run on Red by Noelle West Ihli PDF/ePub Download Run on Red by Noelle West Ihli PDF/ePub Download

How do I turn on the Volvo’s hazards?” I barked, trying to find the little orange triangle on the console. Who is it?” she asked, keeping her eyes glued to the road as we approached the next curve. “They’re going to get plastered if they stay in the left lane and someone comes around that bend,” she added lightly, as if that might be a favorable outcome. No phone. And nothing even remotely useful to keep us warm—except maybe Tony’s mesh gym shorts. I grabbed the slippery material and slid it over my arms, catching a whiff of cologne. The license plate does say GR,” I grumbled, but turned around, smoothing down my wonky sequins and drawing in a slow breath to calm my sloshing stomach.Brit? Stay with us,” Laura coaxed as the song subsided to a tinny whine. The boombox made a sudden, harsh buzzing noise, coughed out a burst of static, then went completely silent. At first, I couldn’t stop shaking and crying. I still wasn’t sure what we should do next, but I wasn’t alone anymore. And we had a phone with enough battery power if we could just get it to connect.

Run on Red Quotes by Noelle W. Ihli - Goodreads Run on Red Quotes by Noelle W. Ihli - Goodreads

The sound that came after was so faint I wanted to believe I’d imagined it: A deep yelp that didn’t sound anything like a coyote. I shivered and hugged the blanket tighter, unwilling to imagine what three hours might have brought if Laura hadn’t been able to restart the Volvo. The lesson you get at the end of a novel can vary widely depending on the book you read. Some novels are explicitly designed to teach a specific lesson, while others may leave the interpretation up to the reader. Each step was agonizingly slow as I felt for the right foothold that would keep us both on balance. “Just one more step,” I murmured again and again, unsure whether she could even hear me as we kept moving. But each time I took another step, she followed behind. Look, right there.” Laura signaled and angled the Volvo toward a shallow gravel pullout carved into the hillside to our right.I wrapped my arms around myself in the chilly air, suddenly hyperaware of the goosebumps on my raw skin. It was much colder down here than it had been on the road, and it couldn’t be much later than 9:00 p.m. The temperature was only going to drop as the night deepened. Just how cold would it get? Cold enough to freeze? I thought of the camping trips I’d taken at Blue Lake with my parents when I was younger. Even with a sleeping bag, I’d shivered all night long, zipping the flap over my head and curling my knees to my chest. Why aren’t they passing?” I demanded, even while I scolded myself for overreacting. I didn’t trust my anxious brain to correctly identify a real threat. It had steered me wrong way too many times. We don’t know them,” I whispered, clutching the seatbelt across my chest. Both men were still facing forward. Neither had even glanced in our direction. “Should … I call the police?” I asked shakily, hoping Laura would reassure me that the answer was no. That there was some reasonable and innocuous reason these men were toying with us. For all the times I’d repeated the catchphrases from my favorite bloggers—“Be vigilant, stay alive,” “Screw politeness,” “Stay safe, get weird,” I knew deep down I’d only call 9-1-1 if I was actually in the process of being murdered. I snorted but kept watching as the headlights crept closer. “They caught the Green River Killer. I thought you read that blog I sent.”

Run on Red by Noelle W. Ihli | 9798987845516 | Booktopia Run on Red by Noelle W. Ihli | 9798987845516 | Booktopia

I forced myself to draw slow breaths while my heart hammered in my chest. Every few seconds, I looked over my shoulder to stare blindly into the night. Laura’s breathing was ragged in my ears, but the closer we got to the riverbank, the more difficult it would be to hear any noise we made over the rush of the water. Ultimately, the lesson you take away from a novel will depend on your own interpretation and the specific book you read. However, the act of reading itself can promote critical thinking, empathy, and personal growth, which can have a positive impact on your life beyond the lessons of any one particular novel.Laura floored the gas. The Volvo made an abrupt lurch forward then stopped precariously close to the edge. I braced and held onto the phone, finger frozen over the Send Call button. You definitely have a concussion,” I said as matter-of-factly as I could, not wanting her to worry. I could worry enough for both of us. We finally got to hear what happened and the unimaginable that went on with Ava from Ava! It did it’s job. Worth the 4 stars. I flipped my short hair dramatically. “Thanks. It’s probably from the Pie Hole. All that oil in the air—it’s like pizza-scented deep conditioner.” The bad thing had finally happened. But—for now at least—both Laura and I were still alive. If I played my cards right, it would stay that way.

Run on Red | Noelle W. Ihli | 9781667572054 | NetGalley Run on Red | Noelle W. Ihli | 9781667572054 | NetGalley

I looked at her in disbelief. “If I see a damn mouse come out of your dashboard, I am hurling myself out of the Volvo.” I shuddered. “I still can’t believe Tish spent money on this thing. It’s amazing that it runs.” Two girls against two men - in a race against time with stakes higher than they could ever imagine - who will come out victorious?! I shivered. Thinking about Ava Robles was not helping my state of mind. “How much longer until we get there?” I asked.I’d seen plenty of photos of Tish’s boyfriend—briefly fiancé—on Facebook, but I’d only really met him a couple of times. Once across the room at a party, and once on the apartment couch in passing. We didn’t actually know each other. Not really. The bonfire at the reservoir had started more than an hour ago, and as far as I could tell we were the only car on the road—aside from the tailgaters. Laura had waited until my shift ended at the Pie Hole to make the tedious, winding drive through the hills. The driver was an older man with a short gray beard and bushy eyebrows. His mouth was turned down in a deep frown. Our eyes met for a fraction of a second, and he shook his head in disgust. The wind whispered through the nearby trees again, and the voices drifted out of earshot. I looked at Laura, who nodded toward the river. “Let’s go,” she mouthed.