Where was Xander? The panic was building in the back of her throat, and the soft, feathery touches of many-legged things quested across her cheek.
“I think we can risk it. Just a little light.” She heard a small click. He’d turned on a flashlight. “The two you came with are gone. On their journey to the great beyond. It is just us now. Come out from your hiding spot. We will go back to the house, and I will feed you, and honor you in the way our God has taught me. You know how to say the words, don’t you, pretty thing? Were you properly taught? Try them with me. Our father, who art in heaven...”
Her heart constricted. She couldn’t allow herself to think that he might be telling the truth, that he’d bested Xander and Roth, or she would begin to sob and give herself away.
He was getting closer. Two more steps and he’d see her. He was still singing out The Lord’s Prayer, one she was more than familiar with. She said the words with him in her head.
Thy Kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.
She made a snap decision. She didn’t want to be dragged out from under the log kicking and screaming. If she was going to go, she was going to do it facing the man, looking into his eyes.
She rolled out from the log and stood, the words coming from her mouth, a terrible prayer.
“Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us.”
He stopped, five feet from her, a look of sheer delight on his face.
“There you are. Go on.”
Her voice didn’t shake, though she hardly knew how that was possible, she was shivering in fear. “And lead us not into temptation. But deliver us from evil—”
“Ah, see. Now that’s where all of you pretty things seem to slip up. Temptation. A concept that you don’t understand. We are bound by temptation. We are burned in hell for it. We must cleanse ourselves of our sins and be reborn in the image of our father.” His voice was getting louder and louder, until he shouted, “Go on!”
“For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever and ever.”
“Amen,” he said, then leaped at her, shooting, bullets scattering the leaves around her.
She couldn’t help herself, the scream ripped from her throat, and she braced herself for the sear of the bullet, the impact of his body, but it didn’t come. Instead, she heard a loud thwang, and Carter stopped moving forward, almost midair, like Wile E. Coyote over a gorge, when he realizes he is going to fall, but stays suspended in the air for a moment, just long enough to wave goodbye. He met her eyes and a smile came over his face, a secret revealed to him alone, then he dropped, all of a piece, face-first onto the forest floor. She shut her eyes and took a breath, then opened them to see the shaft of the arrow buried deep in Carter’s back. He wasn’t moving.
“Sam, are you all right?”
Xander.
“Xander,” she cried. “I’m here. I’m okay.” Her voice had a ragged edge, and she could feel the swelling beginning around her trachea. She was going to have one hell of a set of bruises in the morning.
He came from the woods, limping. She rushed to him. She ducked her shoulder under his arm and helped him sit. He was white as a ghost and she felt the wet of blood on his thigh.
“What happened? Are you okay? Where’s Roth?”
“He’s at the camp. We were trying to circle him, and the bastard slipped through. Are you okay?”
“I’m okay. You’re not. You’re hit.”
“Yeah. In the thigh. It’s not bad, a through and through. No bone or arteries. Hurts like shit, though.”
“Let me get the kit. And your dad.”
“No, honey. Let’s just sit here for a minute. I want to talk to you about something.”
“Xander. Now is not the time for talking. I need to patch you up.”
He clung to her shoulder and buried his face in her hair. His voice was odd, lilting, gaining strength then fading. “Really. Samantha, I love you. I want to marry you. I want you to have my babies, and be my woman, and build my life with you. I can’t imagine being without you. When I heard you scream I thought it was all over and I ran right into a hail of bullets so I could get to you because if you were dying I wanted to die with you. I love you, so much. I love...” His voice drifted off and he slumped against her.
“Xander?” She slapped his face a little, trying to rouse him, but he was out.
“Roth!” she shouted. “Roth, if you can hear me, I need you!”
She heard a faint answering shout, and felt a tiny bit of relief. Xander had been in shock, his wound must be more serious than he was letting on.
She eased him gently to the forest floor and started to feel around. Yes, he was hit in the thigh, but also in the stomach, and his upper right arm, as well. Holy crap. He was losing blood rather substantially through the wound in his stomach—it had probably nicked an artery. She needed to run back up the hill to the first-aid kit, but just as she stood to do so, Roth announced himself and stepped from the woods.
He saw his son and his face paled.