Authors: Mark Lukens
CHAPTER NINE
The front door
burst open. Cole, Trevor, and Jose stomped inside the cabin as snow dripped from their coats and boots. Trevor slammed the door shut and locked the deadbolt.
“Where do you want these cases?” Jose asked.
“Set them over there by the fireplace,” Frank growled at them.
Jose and Cole set the dripping metal cases on the hearth right in front of the small pile of cut wood and the large ax. Cole turned and gave Frank a sarcastic grin. “This good, boss?”
Frank didn’t answer Cole.
Trevor shrugged off his coat and threw it over the back of one of the dining room chairs. “What now, boss?”
Frank stared at Stella and David. “I think it’s time we asked this lady some questions.”
Frank walked across the room to the couch and stood in front of Stella and David. “Stella,” Frank asked in a calm voice that seemed menacing no matter how nice he tried to make it sound. “You got a cellphone on you?”
Stella shook her head no.
“Let me see your purse.”
“I told you, I don’t have a phone.”
Frank held his hand out, waiting for her to hand the purse over.
Stella sighed and handed Frank her purse. Frank tossed the purse to Jose. “Check it out.”
Jose dumped out the contents of Stella’s purse onto the dining room table. He moved the items around: a wallet with a driver’s license and a few credit cards inside, a pack of gum, a brush, lip balm, scraps of paper. He picked up the wallet and read the driver’s license as he looked at Frank. “Stella Weaver from Arizona wasn’t lying. No phone in here.”
Frank turned back to Stella. “Where were you two headed?”
“A relative’s house. My aunt’s house.”
“Far from here?”
“Northern Colorado.”
“So she’s expecting you?”
“No, it was going to be a surprise.”
Frank’s eyes moved to David. Frank crouched down in front of David, trying to get on the kid’s eye level. Frank smiled at the kid, it was supposed to be a comforting smile, but it came across as menacing. “Hey, kid. What’s your name?”
David didn’t answer, he just stared at Frank.
“His name is David,” Stella answered.
“I was talking to him,” Frank told her with his eyes still on David.
“He doesn’t talk much,” Stella said. “Especially when he’s scared.”
Frank nodded and stood back up. He glared at Stella. “Where were you two coming from? What’s with all the tools in the back of your truck?”
“I’m an archeologist. I specialize in Southwest American Indian cultures, especially the Anasazi. They were a people who used to live in what is now the Southwestern United States until they mysteriously vanished around – ”
“Enough with the history lesson – where were you coming from?”
“We were coming from a dig site in New Mexico.”
“And David is your son?”
Stella hesitated. “Yes.”
“No he’s not.”
Jose left the contents of Stella’s purse scattered all over the table. He walked into the kitchen and rummaged through the cabinets.
Cole walked to the dining room table and collected the contents and put them back into Stella’s purse.
Jose moved boxes and cans around in one of the cabinets, and then he broke out in a big smile. He pulled out a nearly full bottle of whiskey. “Jackpot,” he whispered.
Cole brought Stella’s purse back to her and handed it to her. As she took it, he asked her a question. “Who are you running from?”
The question caught Stella by surprise. She took her purse and set it on the couch beside her. “What do you mean?” she finally asked. “I’m not running from anyone.”
“There aren’t any bags or suitcases in your truck,” Cole said. “Not even a change of clothes. Only some items you bought at a convenience store.”
In the kitchen, Jose closed the cabinets and walked over to the large freezer against the far wall. He lifted up the lid of the freezer, expecting to see pieces of wrapped meat. What he saw made him stumble back a step, the freezer lid slammed shut with a thump.
The others turned at the noise of the lid closing.
Jose turned and looked at them with shock in his eyes. “You guys better come take a look at this.”
CHAPTER TEN
Cole, Frank, Jose,
and Trevor gathered around the freezer, it was a tight squeeze in the small kitchen. Even Needles broke out of his daze and stood up at the dining room table, staring at the others in the kitchen. But he wouldn’t enter the kitchen. “What is it?” he asked. “What’s in there?”
Nobody answered Needles. They all stared down at the freezer.
“I guess we know where Tom Gordon is now,” Cole finally said.
Stuffed inside the freezer was Tom Gordon’s body, his legs and arms bent at odd angles, like his limbs had been broken when he’d been stuffed down inside. He looked like some doll stuffed down inside a kid’s toy box. Except that this doll didn’t have any eyes – Tom Gordon’s eyes had been carved out.
No, Cole thought, they didn’t seem like they were carved out – they looked more like they were torn out of his face.
Or eaten out, his mind whispered.
“Holy shit,” Jose muttered. “Holy shit, I can’t believe this. What the fuck, man?
Stella and David still sat on the couch; David’s hands still clutched one of Stella’s hands. She looked at David and their eyes met. Stella felt a lump in her throat, a knot of dread worming its way through her body. She had promised David that it hadn’t followed them. She had promised him that it wouldn’t be able to find them. She had promised David that they would be safe now. But the look in David’s eyes stung her. He had dared to believe her. But now he knew the truth. It had found them.
Needles hurried over to the kitchen, rushing up behind the others. “What did you find in there?” he asked, his voice trembling.
Jose turned and marched away from the freezer, needing to pace, needing to move, needing to be away from the gory sight of Tom Gordon’s body.
Needles walked to the freezer on unsteady legs. He took Jose’s spot. He stared down at the body and inhaled a sharp breath, and then it was like he couldn’t exhale, like the breath was caught in his lungs.
“Shit,” Frank finally said as he stared down at Tom Gordon’s crooked body. The lips of Tom Gordon’s mouth were pulled back in some kind of strange rictus smile. There were two deep black holes where his eyes used to be, ragged gray flesh around the edges. But there was no blood anywhere on his face, or anywhere around him.
“Somebody was in here,” Jose rambled, still pacing back and forth by the dining room table. “Somebody was in this fucking cabin and they killed that guy. Stuffed him in the fucking freezer. Took his fucking eyes out.”
Needles could finally breathe again. He stared at Frank. “I told you, Frank. I told you we couldn’t stay here. There’s something bad here. There’s something coming for us. For all of us.”
“Shut up, Needles,” Frank growled.
“The devil’s coming for us. That’s what that old man in the bank said. The devil’s coming for us and he’s going to kill us all.”
“I said shut up,” Frank snapped. “I’m trying to think.”
Cole watched as Needles backed away out of the kitchen, shaking his head no over and over again. “No, I’m not staying here. I’m not waiting for the devil to come.”
Frank rushed at Needles and grabbed him by the front of his thermal shirt, his fists bunched up in the fabric. He pushed Needles back a few steps into the kitchen counter. “You want to leave so bad?!” he yelled at Needles, spittle flying from his lips. “Go on, then!”
Needles stared at Frank for a long moment, his body trembling; his eyes darted to the front door like he was re-thinking his statement, like he was thinking about being out there alone.
“Okay, then,” Frank said as he let Needles go. He turned and walked away. “Just shut up and let me think.”
Everyone was silent, the cabin eerily quiet except for the nonstop howling wind outside. Jose couldn’t take the silence anymore. “We need to do something, man. There’s some kind of psycho running around out there.”
Frank looked at Jose. “There’s nothing we can do right now while that blizzard’s out there. We’re stuck here for the night.”
“What about that guy’s truck parked out there?” Jose asked. “Maybe it runs. Maybe we should start it up.”
“In the morning,” Frank growled. “After the storm lets up.”
Cole looked back down into the freezer at Tom Gordon’s body; he studied it for a moment. Then he turned and opened a drawer near the stove. He rummaged through the kitchen utensils until he found a long wooden spoon. He poked Tom Gordon’s body with the spoon’s handle. The handle of the spoon pushed into Tom Gordon’s soft flesh. “Somebody did this to him within the last few hours,” Cole said. “His body isn’t even frozen yet.”
“Oh, that’s comforting,” Jose snorted.
Trevor looked around. “This doesn’t make any sense. There should be blood all over the place. His eyes are gone. There should be blood somewhere.”
Cole thought of the large single drop of blood he’d seen in the bedroom, but then decided against saying anything about it. It was only one drop of blood; Trevor was right, there should be a hell of a lot more blood somewhere in this cabin. He looked at the others. “No signs of struggle anywhere in the cabin.”
“Maybe they knocked the guy out,” Frank suggested. “Then carved out his eyes and stuffed him in the freezer.”
“Why?” Jose asked as he walked back towards the group. “Why would someone do that?”
“I don’t think it was a robbery,” Cole answered. “It doesn’t look like anything was taken. It doesn’t even look like anything was searched through.”
“Then why, Sherlock?” Jose asked. “Someone just killed this guy for the hell of it. Just for shits and giggles?”
“Maybe he had some enemies,” Trevor said. “Maybe he owed someone some money.” Trevor and Frank locked eyes for the briefest of moments.
“Then this place would’ve been ransacked,” Cole answered quickly. “They would’ve looked for the money in here.”
“Then it’s some fucking psycho,” Jose said. “Some psycho who just likes to kill.” Jose glanced at the front door of the cabin. “Maybe he’s still out there. Maybe he saw us pull up here in front of the cabin.”
Stella and David stood up from the couch and started to walk towards the hallway until Frank’s voice stopped them in their tracks.
“Where the hell do you think you’re going?”
Stella stared at Frank. “We’re going to the bathroom,” she answered in a strong voice.
“Both of you?”
“There might be a crazy person out there. I’m not letting David out of my sight.”
Frank sighed and made a go-ahead gesture. He turned back to the others.
Cole glanced at the hall. He waited until he heard the bathroom door close and lock. A thought occurred to him, a thought he didn’t want to say aloud. Maybe whoever Stella and David were running from did this to Tom Gordon.
*
Stella closed and locked the bathroom door. She looked at David.
“It’s happening again,” David whispered; his voice trembled as he stared up at her with his dark eyes.
Stella nodded. “I know.”
“You said we would be safe,” he whispered to her. “You said it wasn’t going to follow us.”
A pang of guilt ran through Stella. “I know. I’m sorry.”
“It’s going to start asking for things,” David said, his voice getting louder.
“Sssh,” Stella said as she glanced at the bathroom door, and then she looked back at David, locking eyes with him. “David, listen to me. This is very important. I know you’re scared. I’m scared too. But we have to be strong. We can’t let them know what we know. Do you understand?”
David just stared at her.
“We can’t let them know that we’ve seen this before. We have to try and survive. You know what’s going to happen at first. We have to be patient and plan a way out of this. Just like last time. Okay?”
David finally nodded.
“Can you be strong?”
David nodded. “I’ll try.”
“Good,” she said. She got down on one knee and hugged him, holding his trembling body tight. “I’m going to protect you again. I swear I will. You believe me, don’t you?”
David nodded as she held him. “Yes,” he said into her shoulder.
Stella and David both jumped from a sudden loud knocking at the bathroom door. “Let’s not make a career out of this in there,” they heard Jose say from the other side of the door.
Stella and David looked at each other. “A career?” Stella said, and she couldn’t help it – she burst out laughing. David began to laugh a little, but Stella couldn’t stop. It wasn’t even funny, but that made it somehow funnier in her mind.
Finally, they regained their composure. Stella flushed the toilet to make it seem like they had used it. Then she washed her face in the sink and then she washed David’s face with the warm water and a wash cloth. “We’re going to be okay,” she whispered to him. “We’re going to get through this. I promise.”
*
They all watched Stella and David as they came out of the bathroom and walked back to the couch and sat down. Stella stared at Frank. Frank could see something different in her eyes – defiance, a lack of fear.
Frank finally tore his eyes away from Stella. He turned to Trevor. “Find some blankets and sheets. Pillows. Sleeping bags. Anything you can find. We’re all sleeping out here in the living room together where we can keep an eye on each other.”
Trevor took off down the hall for the bedrooms.
Frank looked at Cole. “Tomorrow, when the storm lets up, you check out Stella’s truck – see if it can be fixed.”
Cole nodded.
“Check out that other truck out there, too. And the garage. Maybe you can use some parts from that truck on Stella’s truck.”
Cole shrugged, but he didn’t look too hopeful. “Yeah, maybe.”
Trevor came back with an armload of blankets, sheets, and pillows. He dumped them on the floor, but he kicked a blue sleeping bag away from the blankets and sheets. “I got dibs on the sleeping bag,” he called out to everyone.
“We’ll sleep in watches tonight,” Frank said. “I’ll take the first watch.”
CHAPTER ELEVEN
Cole’s eyes popped
open in the murky, early morning light that invaded the dark cabin. Something had woken him. A noise – some kind of thumping noise. Over and over again. And it was cold in the living room, like someone had turned off the heat.
Thump. Thump.
Cole sat up quickly, his fingers already wrapped around his gun, a black H&K nine millimeter with hollow-point bullets. He looked right at the front door – the source of the noise. The door was opening and closing slightly, the door thumping shut, then creaking open a little from the freezing wind outside.
Creak. Thump.
Cole had slept on the floor, blankets spread out around him. He was still fully dressed except for his boots and heavy coat, gloves, and hat. He twisted around and looked at the couch. Stella and David stared back at him in the early morning light, their eyes dinner plates of fear that glistened in the semi-darkness. They stared at Cole, and then they looked at the front door as it creaked open again and then thumped shut.
Cole turned towards Trevor who was already sitting up on his blue sleeping bag. Jose sat near him. Both of them looked like they had just woken up, both still a little groggy, but they both had their pistols in their hands. Cole’s eyes darted to the blankets spread out all over the floor – Frank’s blankets. But Frank wasn’t there.
Everything seemed to be moving in a syrupy slow-motion for Cole; he was tired, he was sure of that, but this was a degree of grogginess he’d never felt before, like he imagined it would feel to be coming awake from anesthesia after a surgery. He forced his sluggish mind to think. He looked back at Jose and Trevor. “Where’s Frank?” he whispered.
“That’s what we want to know,” Jose whispered back.
Cole sighed, his mind finally chugging back into action, not quite at full steam yet, but getting there. “Who took the next watch?” he asked. “After Frank.”
“Not me,” Jose answered.
“Me either,” Trevor said.
Needles, Cole wondered as he got up and stared at the front door that had just thumped closed again. No, Cole thought. Frank wouldn’t have woken Needles up for a watch, not in the mental condition Needles was in these days.
“Who opened the door?” Cole asked.
“It was like that when we woke up,” Jose answered.
Cole walked to the front door in his thick socks, his gun still clenched in his hand. A knot of fear wormed its way around his insides. Something was wrong here.
He stood in front of the solid wood door and watched it for a moment. Then he brought his pistol up, ready to aim it at whatever might be outside. He could hear Jose and Trevor getting to their feet. Cole pulled the door all the way open. He stared out at the front porch which was empty – nobody there. Cole relaxed a little, lowering his weapon.
“Is he out there?” Jose asked from behind Cole.
“I don’t see him,” Cole said. He stepped through the doorway and looked out past the front porch to the front field which was hidden under a blanket of pristine white snow. The line of dark trees stood in the distance like a wall. The snowstorm had stopped sometime during the night and everything was quiet and calm. The scene outside could be the front of a post card, Cole thought. The freezing wind bit at the skin of his face and hands almost immediately, and his feet were turning into ice blocks. “Frank!” Cole called out. “You out here?!”
No answer.
“Frank!” Cole took a tentative step onto the floorboards of the porch. Something in the snow caught his eye, something just beyond the four steps that led down from the porch into the snow. He stared for a long moment.
Cole hurried back inside. He shut and locked the door. He saw that Trevor and Jose were still standing on their blankets and sleeping bags, their guns ready, but they weren’t making a move towards the front door. Needles struggled to come fully awake on the recliner; he knuckled sleep from his eyes.
“Maybe Frank’s in the bathroom,” Cole said as he stood in front of the door, almost like he was blocking it.
“I don’t think so,” Trevor said. “But I’ll check.” Trevor took off for the bathroom. They could hear him stomping around in the hall, and then in the bathroom.
Cole’s mind was still a little sluggish. He had slept like a rock even though he didn’t think he was going to be able to sleep at all, especially with the corpse of the former homeowner stuffed down inside the kitchen freezer. Yet he had slept deeply and without any dreams that he could remember.
Trevor came back into the living room, shaking his head. “He’s not back there anywhere. Back door’s still locked.”
“Where the hell would he go?” Cole asked as he hurried over to Frank’s blankets. He rummaged through the blankets and sheets. He found Frank’s coat balled up in the blankets. “His coat’s still here,” Cole said, holding it up. “His gloves. His hat. He wouldn’t have gone outside without his coat and hat.”
“What about his gun?” Jose asked.
Cole moved the blankets and sheets around; he tossed the pillow across the room. “I don’t see it anywhere.”
Jose let out a frustrated sigh.
“Oh shit!” Trevor yelled, startling all of them. Trevor sprang into action; he rushed across the room to the fireplace hearth. He grabbed one of the metal cases, laid it on its side, popped the latch, looked down inside and breathed out a sigh of relief. “Looks like it’s all still here.”
“You thought Frank ran off with the money?” Jose asked in a disgusted voice.
“Yeah, it crossed my mind.”
“Frank would never do that,” Jose growled.
“Well, I wanted to rule it out. Is that all right with you?”
“Okay, guys,” Cole interrupted. “Let’s stay calm and think about this.”
Needles, fully awake now, looked around at them. He had stripped down to only his thermal underwear at some point in the night, the small crucifix hung outside of his shirt. The sleeves of his thermal shirt were pulled up to his elbows, revealing even more tattoos covering his thin, sinewy arms. “What happened?” he asked.
“We just woke up,” Trevor told Needles. “Frank’s not here.”
“What do you mean, Frank’s not here? Where is he?”
“We don’t know.”
Cole grabbed his boots and walked to the dining room table. He pulled a chair out, the chair’s legs scraped at the floor. He plopped down and put his boots on, lacing them up. He had seen something when he’d opened the front door all the way. At first he wasn’t sure if he’d really seen it, but he was pretty sure he had.
“Where are you going?” Trevor asked Cole.
“Outside to look for Frank.” He looked at the others. “Alone,” he said.