The Wildman

Chapter NINE

Grim Discovery





Roiling clouds whisked by overhead, casting wavering shadows across the land with a disorienting strobe light effect. The rain had stopped, at least for the time being, but Jeff could tell by how fast the weather front was moving that there was more—and probably worse weather—on the way. As he made his way along the winding path leading out to the old infirmary, he had his flashlight in hand, but he kept it turned off. He didn’t want anyone—especially Evan—to know where he was headed.

The going was sloppy. There were puddles everywhere, and much of the trail had turned to mud. He made his way around or through ankle-deep streams of runoff. Thick mud clung like paste to his sneakers, threatening to pull them off his feet with every few steps. It wasn’t long before Jeff’s pants were saturated from the knees down. Water clinging to the overhanging branches dropped, snapping and popping on his hood like tiny bullets.

As he made his way deeper into the woods, Jeff felt tension rising inside him. Overhead, the pine trees swayed in the wind, their branches clacking like old bones with every powerful gust. An ozone-tinged freshness filled in the night, making him feel heady, like he’d had more than a few shots of rum.

This is absolutely crazy, he told himself time and again.

He had no business snooping around like this. It didn’t matter what kind of creepy feelings he got about Evan or anyone else. If he had any smarts, he’d turn back now and get back inside where he could have a shot or two of rum, warm up, and dry off.

Why was he chasing around in the woods at night like this?

He had no idea, but something was spurring him on. Even if it was just to satisfy his curiosity, he had to do this. He couldn’t deny there had been something strange about Evan’s reactions when they were out here earlier today.

And that sound from inside the building—twice. He’d heard the same sound twice.

Things simply didn’t add up.

Besides, what harm would there be in having one last look around before they all left on Sunday?

When the clouds obscured the moon, the woods got so dark Jeff was concerned he might lose his way, so once he was out of sight of the dining hall, he snapped on his flashlight. The tiny oval of light wasn’t much help, darting and weaving back and forth as he looked for the driest parts of the trail.

There weren’t many.

He wasn’t worried, though. Even after all these years, the campgrounds felt so familiar to him he was sure he could find his way around blindfolded. Following instinct as much as the indistinct trail, he moved quickly until, up ahead, he saw the hulking shape of the infirmary. It loomed in the night.

“Okay … Now what?” he whispered as he shined his flashlight onto the closed and locked door. Shivering, he blew on his hands for warmth. He wished he’d brought some rum with him as a warmer.

Of course, he didn’t have the key for the lock, and he was sure it wouldn’t have been smart to ask Evan for it. That left him no choice but to do a little B&E.

Bending low, he swept the ground with his flashlight beam, looking a rock or something big enough to break the padlock. It wasn’t the brightest idea, smashing someone’s brand new lock, but if Evan was telling the truth and had no idea what was in the building, he wouldn’t even notice the vandalism before they left the island tomorrow. And if he did know what was in there … well then, it would be better if Jeff knew what it was, too.

After a bit of a search, Jeff found a fist-shaped rock that would do. It was slippery in his grip, but he squeezed it tightly in his right hand while positioning the padlock so he would have a good clean shot at it. When he was ready, he trained the flashlight on the lock with his left hand and swung the rock with the might.

The first hit rang out like a shotgun blast in the night, rattling the door. Jeff hoped the wind would mask any noise he made from the people in the dining hall. Still, he cringed.

What if someone isn’t back at the dining hall?

What if someone followed me out here?

The blow left a long scratch on the shiny metal hasp and put a good-sized ding in the rotting wood, but the lock held. The hinges were probably rotted, and it would no doubt be easier to kick the door in, he thought, but talk about vandalism.

Gritting his teeth to stop them from chattering, Jeff gripped the rock tightly and gave the lock half a dozen quick, solid blows. Each hit rang out, but when he stepped back and looked at his progress—or lack thereof—he was filled with frustration. Other than a few more dings and divots in the wood, the lock looked like it had barely been touched.

“Son of a f*cking bitch,” Jeff muttered as he turned the lock over and gave it another six or seven sharp blows on the backside.

Still nothing.

Sniffing with grim laughter, Jeff wondered why breaking into someplace always looked so easy in the movies. Locks always gave after only one or two quick hits. He was about to give it a few more whacks when, from inside the building, he heard a faint sound.

A thump.

He was so nerved up he couldn’t tell if it was the same sound he had heard before. Turning to one side, he pressed his ear against the cold door and listened, but raindrops dripping from the trees onto the roof created a steady pattering sound that drowned out anything else he might have heard.

“Come on you lousy son of a bitch!” he whispered heatedly as he pounded the rock repeatedly on the door hard enough to make his teeth ache. He was making so much noise he was sure everyone back at the dining hall could hear, but he no longer cared. Hell, they could probably hear him a mile away on the mainland.

Frustration and rage filled Jeff as he slammed the rock repeatedly against the lock. It jangled and bounced, and Jeff was so caught up in his fury that he barely noticed when the hasp finally popped. He continued to rain half a dozen more blows against it. Finally, though, he saw that he had succeeded.

Inhaling sharply, he straightened up so he could catch his breath. He let the rock drop from his hand, and it landed in a puddle close to the infirmary’s foundation. Sweat mingled with rainwater ran down his face. A rising surge of apprehension filled him when he pushed the door open slowly and directed his flashlight beam inside.

The place obviously had not been used in a long time. The nurse’s desk, exam table, file cabinets, and all of the paper-thin partitions and small, metal-framed beds had been removed. As he swept the perimeter of the room with his flashlight beam, he saw definite signs that animals had been nesting in here. Shredded leaves and paper were piled up in the corners, and overhead in the rafters, black clots of cobwebs swirled in the breeze.

Jeff cringed as he took a few step into the building. The rotten stench he’d smelled outside earlier was stronger in here … So strong it made his eyes start to water.

“All right … all right,” he whispered to bolster his courage. He should be satisfied. He could see that there was nothing untoward here. The interior was in such disrepair it didn’t match up with his memory of what it had been like years ago. Like the rest of the campground, it appeared so much smaller than he remembered. A thick layer of dust and dirt mixed with what looked like bird and animal feces coated the floor. At the back of the building was the door to a supply closet, but he hesitated to walk over to it. If any critters were nesting in here for the winter, that’s probably where they’d be.

He was about to leave when the heavy thump he’d heard before sounded again. And this time, he had no doubt where it was coming from.

The supply closet.

Jesus gasped and froze as a tingle of excitement ran through him. He trained his flashlight on the door, his heart beating so fast it made a clicking sound in his throat.

Something’s in there … Maybe it’s trapped it there.

Again, the thought that a raccoon or skunk was nesting in the closet urged him to back out of the infirmary now and leave well enough alone. It was foolish to intrude on the wild like this, but he couldn’t help himself. Without thinking it through, he stomped down hard on the floorboards and shouted, “Hey!”

The floor shook, and for a second or two, the only sound was the splattering of rain on the roof and his own labored breathing, but then, faintly, the thump sounded again.

“Go on!” Jeff shouted, clapping his hands loudly. “Get the hell out of here!”

He took a few steps closer to the storage room door, bringing his feet down heavily with each step. He paused and cast a quick glance over his shoulder to make sure no one—especially Evan—had realized what he was up to and come out here to stop him, but the doorway was empty. He was alone.

After waiting in silence for a count of ten, trying hard to convince himself there was nothing to this, he was about to leave when the thump sounded again.

This time there was no doubt.

The sound had come from behind the storage closet door. If it was an animal, it should have been scared off by now … unless it was trapped in there … but the sound seemed to be a response to the noise he was making.

Tension gripped Jeff like cold hands on the throat as he moved slowly, cautiously toward the closet door. His hand holding the flashlight was shaking, making the light jiggle around. He sucked in his breath and held it once he was close enough to touch the doorknob. A chill raced through him as he gripped the cold metal doorknob and prepared to turn it. He was coiled up, ready to react if, when he opened it, a raccoon or something leaped out at him.

So … don’t open it, a rational-sounding voice in his head said.

But he knew he was going to.

How could he not?

His fingers tightened around the doorknob, squeezing until his knuckles throbbed. He was still holding his breath, and he listened to the rapid thunder of his pulse in his ears. When he yanked the door open, he was prepared to step behind it, using it as a shield if something charged him.

“Okay … okay,” he whispered to keep his courage from flagging. And then, with a sudden, savage grunt, he twisted the doorknob and flung the door open.

Nothing came rushing out at him.

Jeff’s body was trembling almost out of control as he shined his flashlight into the tiny closet, but no matter how much he had prepared himself for something terrible, he wasn’t ready for what he saw.

The beam of light reflected from a pair of wide-open eyes that glistened as they stared up at him from down on the floor.

It took Jeff several heartbeats to realize he was staring at a person’s face.

* * *

A sudden gust of wind slammed the infirmary door shut with a bang that split the night like a gunshot.

“Jesus!” Jeff shouted as he jumped and turned around. He almost dropped his flashlight as he swung it around and trained it on the door, fully expecting to see Evan standing there with a gun aimed at him.

Another gust of wind slammed into the side of the building, and something that sounded like hail splattered against the roof. Jeff’s pulse was racing so fast it almost choked him as he turned back to the person—

It really is a person!

—lying on the floor of the storage closet.

Jeff could see it was a man, even though his face was covered with sweat-streaked grime. His light-colored hair was matted in thick, greasy clumps against his forehead. A strip of duct tape covered his mouth, and his fear-widened, bloodshot eyes stared into the glare of the flashlight with utter hopelessness. Snot that glistened like slug trails ran from his nose across the strip of duct tape.

“What the hell?” Jeff muttered as he stared in utter amazement at the man.

For a moment or two, he thought he was imagining this, but then the man blinked and made a muffled gagging sound behind the duct tape. When he jerked his legs, his feet made the same hollow thump Jeff had heard before.

“Jesus Christ on a cross,” Jeff said.

Snapping to, he knelt down and, pinning his flashlight between his body and his arm, reached out to peel away the duct tape. It had been wrapped a few times around the man’s lower face. He uttered a pained grunt when Jeff pulled off a loop that also yanked out a clump of hair. He kept staring up at Jeff with pure terror lighting his eyes, and Jeff wondered if the man had gone insane. He realized the man had no idea who he was and must think he’d come here to hurt him or kill him.

“Take it easy buddy,” he said softly. “I’m gonna— Ahh! Shit! Sorry ‘bout that.” Jeff knew he was causing the man pain as he removed the tape, but there was nothing he could do about that. “Just be another second or two.”

He gave the strip of tape one last quick tug, and the man’s mouth was free. His head fell backwards, clunking against the wall, and he inhaled with a raw, watery gasp that blended into a heart-wrenching sob.

“Just hang on. Relax,” Jeff said as he placed a reassuring hand on the man’s shoulder.

The man flinched at his touch, shying away as if expecting Jeff to hit him. Once it was obvious Jeff didn’t intend to hurt him, the man visibly relaxed and let his breath out in a long, anguished sigh that shook his body. Tears glistened as they spilled from his eyes.

“What the f*ck’s going on here? Who are you?” Jeff asked as he stared in disbelief at the man. “How’d you get here?”

The man licked his lips before he tried to speak, but his throat made a funny rattling sound, and he doubled over in a fit of coughing. Before the coughing subsided, the man made a deep grunting noise as he stomach convulsed. Leaning forward, he puked onto his lap. The stench of sour vomit filled the closet, almost making Jeff throw up as well. He forced himself to ignore the stench as he pulled the man forward and started working to release the ropes binding his hands and feet.

“Take your time,” Jeff said. “Just relax.” His fingers fumbled with the knots in the rope. “Shit! Wish I’d brought a knife.”

The man tried to say something again and ended up coughing.

“I know. You need something to drink.”

Jeff glanced over his shoulder at the infirmary door again when it suddenly blew open. Outside, the rain running off the roof looked like silvery threads against the backdrop of the night.

“A sip of rain water will do.”

The man stared at him wordlessly and then nodded eagerly, still looking like he’d lost his mind. His eyes glowed with a sparkling gleam that looked positively crazed.

“Hold on,” Jeff said.

He stood up and rushed to the door and then, reaching outside, let the water running off the roof fill his cupped hands. Walking back carefully, he held his hands up to the man’s mouth so he could take a sip.

There wasn’t much water, but the man gulped greedily and then sighed as though he’d drunk ambrosia. He smacked his lips, which were cracked and peeling, and then the faint trace of a smile appeared.

“There. That better?” Jeff asked.

The man stared at him and nodded. He looked as though he barely understood what Jeff was saying. Did he even know English?

Jeff went back to the door, filled his cupped hands again with water, and returned to give the man another small drink. It apparently did the trick because—for the first time—Jeff saw a tiny spark of rationality return to the man’s eyes.

Reaching behind the man again, Jeff continued to work to loosen the ropes. The bitter smell of feces and urine mixed with the fresher stench of vomit and made Jeff’s stomach lurch, but he held it down as he worked to free the man. It seemed to take forever, but—finally—the knots loosened, and the rope fell away in coils onto the floor.

“So who the hell are you?” Jeff asked, sitting back on his heels. “How’d you end up out here?”

“Evan—” the man said, but his voice cut off with an audible click, and he had to swallow and lick his lips before he could continue.

“Evan did this to you?” Somehow, Jeff wasn’t surprised. So much for the innocence act. “I knew it! That mother-f*cker.”

Still barely able to speak, the man shook his head from side to side. When Jeff repositioned him so he could start working on the knots binding the man’s legs, he let out a low, pained groan that sounded like it might be the last sound he would ever make.

“How long have you been here?” Jeff asked as he worked. It was obvious from the stench that the man had been in the closet for quite a while. The stench of raw sewerage hung in the air.

“… Evan … Pike …” the man said in a voice that sounded like tearing paper. “Me … I’m … Evan … Pike.”

“What the—?”

Jeff wasn’t sure he’d heard him correctly. He shined his flashlight into the man’s face. The man winced and shielded his eyes as Jeff stared at him.

“Did you say …?”

The man nodded, still keeping his eyes averted to avoid the bright glare of the flashlight. Then he took a deep breath and repeated what he had said, this time more emphatically.

“Yes. I’m Evan Pike.”

“But Evan is—” Jeff hitched his thumb in the general direction of the dining hall. “If you’re Evan, then who the hell is the guy who brought us out here?”

The man let out a long, shuddering moan as he shook his head from side to side. The motion made him wince. It was obvious it still hurt his throat to speak, and his voice was just barely above a raw whisper.

“That’s Ben … Ben Foster”

“Ben Foster? Who the f*ck is Ben—”

A cold, creeping feeling slithered up Jeff’s back as what the man said slowly sank in. The rain splattering on the roof and the wind whistling through cracks in the building set his nerves on edge.

“He’s Jimmy … Jimmy Foster’s … brother,” Evan said with great effort.

Unable or unwilling to believe this was really happening, Jeff narrowed his eyes and shook his head in denial. Bones in his neck made faint crackling sounds that he could barely hear above the wind and rain. He wished he could convince himself this was all a terribly elaborate nightmare … that he would wake up now and it would all be over, but what Evan said made sense. It confirmed the doubts and suspicions Jeff had been having all weekend.

“Jimmy Foster’s brother,” Jeff repeated as the realization sank in deeper.

Evan nodded even though it was obvious the motion caused him great pain.

“So how did he …? Whose idea was it to have us all come out here this weekend?”

A trace of a smile touched Evan’s lips as he lowered his head.

“It was my idea,” he said softly. “I just never thought he would … do what he did.”

“Why did he tie you up and hide you out here?”

“Because he was through with me,” Evan said with a trace of sadness in his voice. “I was no longer useful to him.” He sounded somewhat better. “Once I got all of you out here, he was finished with me—”

Before he could say more, his voice choked off, and he leaned forward and started coughing again.

“You want another drink?” Jeff asked, not knowing what else to do.

“Please.”

“I wish I had something to put it in.” Shining the flashlight around the infirmary, he looked around but didn’t expect to find anything useful. The place had been stripped clean long ago, so he went back to the open door and filled his cupped hands again so Evan could drink.

“It’d be best not to drink too much at first,” he said as he poured the rainwater into Evan’s open mouth. He reminded him of a fledgling bird being fed by its mother.

“How long have you been out here?”

Evan squinted and shook his head, looking confused.

“I have no idea. What day is it?”

“It’s Saturday … Saturday night,” Jeff said even though it felt as though he had been stuck on this island a lot longer.

“Jesus … Saturday night.” Evan was still shaking his head from side to side. “That means he … I’ve been out here four days.”

“Four days! Jesus Christ!”

“I came out to the island on Wednesday to get things ready for the reunion. They delivered the Port-a-Potty, and I was hoping to get a generator hooked up and running so we’d have electricity.”

Jeff was still working to loosen the rope that bound Evan’s legs. There were a lot of knots, and they had been pulled tight, maybe from Evan’s efforts to free himself.

“How’d he trick you into this?” Jeff asked. “I don’t get it. And why would he? What’s he after?”

Evan sniffed with dry laughter and looked at Jeff with glistening eyes.

“Isn’t it obvious? He wants to kill us.”

“Kill us?”

Jeff wished he could stop sounding like Evan’s echo, but this was too much to absorb.

“He wants to kill everyone from Tent Twelve.”

“But why would he—”

Before he could finish his question, Jeff already knew the answer.

“Because of what happened to his brother,” Evan said.

His voice sounded so distant Jeff could easily imagine it was his own thoughts. The chill of the night suddenly cut deeper into him, freezing his bones with an icy touch.

“He blames us?” Jeff asked.

He closed his eyes for a moment and saw a mental image of Jimmy Foster the way he remembered him when he was twelve years old. Jimmy was smiling his big bucktoothed grim that wrinkled his freckled cheeks and made his blue eyes gleam. But Jimmy’s grin instantly melted into a frightening scowl, and both sides of Jimmy’s mouth drooped down as if his face was made of melting wax. His lips peeled back, exposing wide, flat, white teeth that were clenched to hold back a scream. The light in his eyes was snuffed out, and for a terrifying timeless moment, Jeff could see that his friend was terrified as he stared into the bottomless depths of eternity.

“He blames us for Jimmy’s death,” Jeff said, his voice so soft he could barely hear it above the sound of the wind outside.

“He totally set me up,” Evan said weakly. “He set us all up.”

“How do you know this?” Jeff asked, suddenly growing suspicious. He stopped working on the knots and sat back when a sudden paranoid thought came over him.

Maybe this is part of the plan, too.

How could he believe this was really Evan Pike?

Maybe it was some elaborate setup to torment Jeff and his other friends, to torture them with guilt about what had happened.

“He told me, for Christ’s sake,” Evan said.

Looking at him, Jeff was convinced that no one would go to such extremes, sitting out here in their own shit, piss, and vomit in order to entrap someone. This had to be the real Evan, and he must be telling the truth.

“He was convinced Mark did it,” Evan said.

“Did what? You mean killed Jimmy?”

Evan winced as he nodded.

“He’s convinced Mark killed his brother and threw him into the lake to make it look like he fell in and drowned.”

“But that … that doesn’t make sense.” Jeff was still finding it all but impossible to process any of this.

“Tell him that,” Evan said with a sinister chuckle. “He tracked Mark down and was planning on killing him, but then Mark died before he got to him.”

Jeff nodded numbly. “I know. Mark supposedly had a heart attack.”

“Huh. I heard it was a drug overdose. That’s what Ben told me, anyway. The point is, Ben blamed Mark for his brother’s death.”

“Yeah, but even if that’s true, what’s it got to do with any of us?”

Evan smiled thinly and sniffed with laughter.

“He’s convinced we all knew about it, and none of us ever spoke up because we wanted to protect him.”

“You mean Mark? You’ve got to be kidding me.”

Jeff was dumbfounded. It was one thing to mistrust Evan or Ben or whoever he was, but he had never struck him as that crazy.

“He told me all of this once he had me safely tied up and gagged. The other night, it must have been Thursday, just before you guys came, he was ranting and raving like a freaking lunatic.”

Jeff saw such fear and trepidation in Evan’s eyes he had to believe him.

“He’s been tracking us—all of us-for years. With the Internet and all, it’s a lot easier than before. When he found out I’d bought the island and camp and was planning the development out here, he came to me, posing as an interested buyer.”

“This is just—” Jeff shook his head, finding it impossible to think it all through clearly. “It’s totally insane.”

“Tell me about it,” Evan said. “Look, would you please finish untying me? I’m sure Ben’s wondering where you are, and we have to figure out what we’re gonna do to get out of here alive.”

Jeff realized he’d been away from the dining hall much longer than necessary. It would only be natural for Ben or whoever he was to start worrying that Jeff had found the real Evan. He could barely feel his fingers as he redoubled his efforts to free Evan. After a long struggle, the last ropes fell free. Evan sighed as he stretched out his arms and rubbed his shoulders to relieve the pain.

“Do you think you can stand up?” Jeff cast a worried look at the door, expecting any second now to see Ben standing there. “We’ve got to get you out of here.”

“How are you gonna do that with Ben still here?” There was a look of apprehension mixed with pain in Evan’s eyes, and his voice sounded absolutely hopeless. Jeff couldn’t help but wonder if his mind had snapped while he was a prisoner out here.

“Well we’ll think of something,” Jeff muttered as much to himself as Evan. “We have to.”

He stood up and then bent down to help Evan to his feet. Evan cried out in pain as his knees popped and his back snapped when he straightened up. He was much too unsteady on his feet after being tied up and stuffed into this closet for so long. He wobbled from side to side and finally had to brace himself against the closet wall so he wouldn’t fall down.

“Has he been feeding you?” Jeff asked.

Evan grimaced and shook his head. “Just some stale bread and water once or twice. I don’t know.” He winced as he shook hands wildly in front of him. “Jesus, they tingle from not having any circulation.”

“I don’t see how you could stand it.”

“It hasn’t been easy. I was sure he was going to leave me here to die. I … I can’t believe you found me.”

Jeff shrugged.

“I can’t either, but Evan—I mean Ben has been acting strange all weekend. There were several times where he just … I don’t know. I couldn’t put my finger on it, but now it makes sense. He didn’t seem to know quite what was going on with the development. He couldn’t answer some fairly basic questions about what he—what you planned out here, and he came across as a bit distracted a lot of the time.”

“Yeah,” Evan said. “He’d come out here at night and pump me for information. He tortured me by withholding food if I didn’t tell him what he wanted to know. I was sure he was going to kill me, anyway, so I lied about a few little things, hoping it’d trip him up, and one of you would be smart enough to figure out something was wrong.” He chuckled softly to himself. “Figures it’d be you.”

“Yeah. Well, I always was the smart one,” Jeff said with a grin.

“Yeah … After me.”

Jeff was about to say something about how, if Evan was so smart, he let himself get tricked like this, but he realized this was no laughing matter. They were in some serious trouble here, and it was going to take some doing if they were going to get out of here alive.

“You think you can walk yet?” Jeff leaned forward to help support Evan if he needed it.

“I dunno. I can hardly feel my legs. Let’s give it a try.”

Evan sucked in a breath and held it as he slid one foot forward and shifted his weight onto it. His leg began to shake, and he lunged forward and grabbed Evan to keep from falling

“Jesus. I guess I don’t have the strength yet,” he said with a fearful tremor in his voice. Jeff could imagine how he must be wondering if he’d ever be able to walk again. “So how are we gonna get—”

“Don’t worry about it,” Jeff said quickly. He had his own fears but didn’t want to express them. Not now. “Don’t worry. We’ll think of something.”

“We always did, didn’t we?” Evan said.

But the truth was, Jeff was concerned that Ben would know why he’d been gone so long. If it wasn’t such a crappy night, he could have sauntered back to the dining hall and told everyone he’d been for a long late-night stroll, but who was going to believe him on a night like this?

Certainly not Ben.

“We gotta get you someplace where you can hide … someplace dry.”

“Other than the dining hall and here, you mean.”

Jeff nodded.

“There aren’t any other camp buildings left,” Evan said. “And what if Ben comes out here and finds me gone? He’ll know it’s because you found me.”

Frustrated, Jeff clenched his fist and smacked it against the wall hard enough to hurt. Shining the flashlight up at the rafters, he wondered if he could rig up a platform so Evan could hide up there, but he didn’t have the necessary wood or tools. He certainly couldn’t bring Evan back to the dining hall and confront Ben. Chances were he was armed. The only thing they had going for them was that now they could define the situation. They would have the advantage if they could throw Ben off whatever plans he had.

“I’ve been away too long,” Jeff said. “Ben’s gonna know something’s up. You need something to protect yourself in case he comes out here.”

He looked around but didn’t see anything useful.

“How ‘bout some rocks,” he said.

“They’re better than nothing.”

Evan gritted his teeth as he tried to take a few more steps. His feet made loud scuffing sounds as they dragged across the bare wooden floor. After only two steps, he let out a sigh and collapsed against the wall. He was trembling all over.

“Are you sure you feel safe, hiding out here until I get back?”

“What choice do I have?”

Jeff bit down on his lower lip as he considered and then shook his head.

“None unless we can get you to the boat. Problem is, the motor’s broken.”

“That’s not good. What happened?”

“It burned out when we were taking a cruise around the island.” He took a deep breath, frustrated because he couldn’t think of any alternatives. “Look. You just have to hang tight, okay? Use the time to get your strength back so you can walk.”

Jeff started for the door.

“I’ll get you some rocks, and if that son of a bitch comes out here before I get back, bash his f*cking head in, okay?”

“With pleasure,” Evan said with a grim chuckle.

Snuggling into his raincoat, Jeff went back outside. A low-lying mist wafted through the surrounding forest, looking like a dense layer of smoke. Rivulets of muddy water gurgled as they ran down the slope toward the lake. The night air was filled with the damp, mulchy smell of the forest floor.

Jeff scrambled around until he found five fist-sized rocks, which he brought them back to Evan who was sitting in the middle of the floor.

“You’re looking good,” Jeff said, surprised to see he had made it all the way from the closet on his own power.

“It knocked the shit out of me.”

“That’s understandable. Let’s get you over by the door here.” Jeff came around behind Evan and lifted him. Evan was still unsteady on his feet, but with Jeff’s help he made it to the wall beside the door.

“I gotta get back there,” Jeff said, “but I’ll be back for you. Trust me.”

“How long, do you think?”

“I have no idea, but believe me, I’m not going to let that son of a bitch get away with anything.”

“He plans to kill us all, you know,” Evan said in a flat voice heavy with resignation. “That’s been his plan all along.”

Jeff nodded grimly and said, “I know. But he hasn’t done it yet.”

Even as he said it, the fear that it was just a matter of time before Ben got them all of them, picking them off one by one, sliced into him with the cold chill of a razorblade.