by Lukens, Mark
Needles still waited for them.
Stella and David glanced at each other—they were ready.
Needles gestured at the door with his pistol. “Let’s go,” he told them, and he waited for them to go outside first.
They walked to the doorway with Needles right behind them. Stella had a feeling that Needles was going to aim his gun at the back of her head and pull the trigger and end her life in an instant. But he didn’t. The three of them stepped out onto the front porch, out into the bitterly cold air. The floorboards of the front porch creaked and popped under the weight of all of them as they stood in a tight group on the porch staring out at the front field.
Frank stood in the snow thirty yards away from the cabin. He wore the same clothes that he’d walked away in, the blue flannel shirt and dark pants. He wore no coat, no hat, no gloves. But he seemed unaffected by the cold. He just stood there, the snow up to his calves. He was statue-still and his head was cocked to the side just a bit.
“Frank,” Cole called out as his breath misted in front of his face in the freezing air. He clenched his gun in his gloved hand. “Where have you been all this time?”
Frank just stared at them, his body motionless, his eyes lifeless, his face slack, his head still cocked at that strange angle. For a moment Cole didn’t even think Frank was going to answer him, but then Frank’s face twitched and he smiled. But it was a fake smile, a wide grin that didn’t even touch his dark eyes. This person looked exactly like Frank, but he didn’t seem like Frank. Frank would’ve never had this goofy grin on his face, and it made Cole’s skin crawl. This wasn’t Frank. It couldn’t be.
“Frank!” Cole called out again. “Where did you go? Why did you leave in the middle of the night?”
“He called me out here,” Frank finally answered, his voice was guttural and deep and not like his own voice. And when he spoke, that strange smile never left his face. “I don’t expect any of you to understand.”
“Understand what?” Cole yelled out to Frank.
“He wants things, and you have to give him what he wants!”
CHAPTER 20
“You have to give him what he wants!” Frank said again with his head cocked to the side and that strange smile on his face. His body was motionless in the snow.
“Or what?” Trevor yelled.
Trevor was jumpy, ready to charge out into the snow. His gun hand twitched just a bit. Cole hoped his little brother would hold his cool for a few moments longer. Trevor had always been the more hotheaded of the two brothers, more impulsive.
Frank’s lifeless eyes and plastic smile focused on Trevor. “Or bad things will happen, Trevor.”
“What kind of bad things?” Trevor asked.
Frank’s smile dropped suddenly and his face went slack. Somehow this expression was even scarier than the creepy fake smile. “Things you won’t even believe.”
“Frank!” Cole yelled. “Who called you out here? Who are you working with?”
Frank didn’t answer.
“This is bullshit,” Trevor whispered to Cole through clenched teeth. “Let’s just rush out there and get him. It doesn’t look like he has his gun.”
“Wait a minute,” Cole whispered back, never taking his eyes off of Frank. “Something’s not right here.” Couldn’t Trevor see that? Couldn’t he see that this person out in the snow wasn’t the Frank that they all knew?
Cole waited for an answer from Frank, but Frank still didn’t speak; he just stood in the snow with his head cocked to the side, his face slack, his expression blank.
Cole tried a different approach. “Frank, are you hurt?”
No answer again from Frank. It was like Frank was thinking this over, his expression and eyes still blank.
“Did you hurt yourself?” Cole asked again.
“I’m hurt,” Frank finally answered. “It’s pain that you couldn’t possibly imagine.”
“Come on inside, Frank!” Cole yelled to him. “We can help you.”
“Cole,” Jose whispered to him. “There’s something fucked up about Frank.”
Cole glanced at Jose, then at Needles who stood behind Trevor. Cole looked at Stella and David; they both stood closer to the front door of the cabin like they were ready to bolt back inside if they needed to. Stella’s eyes met Cole’s, but she didn’t say anything. He looked back at Frank, waiting for an answer from him.
“I can’t come inside right now,” Frank answered. “He wants things and you have to give him what he wants.”
“Who wants things?”
“You wouldn’t understand.”
“What does he want?” Cole asked.
“He wants all of the money you took from the bank on the front porch,” Frank told them in his strange guttural voice. His speech was slower, like he was concentrating on every word.
Jose took a step forward and raised his gun up.
“Jose,” Cole growled.
“The money,” Jose hissed. “All of this is about the money.”
“You have four hours to put all of the money on the front porch,” Frank said.
“What if we don’t want to give you the money?” Cole asked Frank.
“Then bad things are going to happen.”
“What if we decide to keep the money?” Cole continued. “What if we decide to leave? Just walk out of here.”
Frank thought for a second and he cocked his head to the side even more like he was listening to a voice that none of them could hear. Then his face lit up suddenly, like all of his facial muscles were pulled up by invisible strings at the same time, creating that creepy smile on his face again. “You can’t!” he said. “He won’t let you leave.”
“We’ll see about that!” Trevor yelled out to Frank.
Frank’s face fell slack again, the smile gone, his expression blank again. These seemed to be the only two expressions Frank had now. “You have four hours to give him what he wants,” Frank told them, and then he began to back away from them, backing up towards the woods. But it didn’t seem like his feet were moving in the snow. It was almost like he was gliding backwards through the snow towards the trees.
“Cole,” Needles said from behind him, his voice trembling just a bit. “What the hell’s Frank doing? How the hell is he moving through the snow like that?”
“I don’t know,” Cole said, never taking his eyes off of Frank.
“Fuck this,” Trevor grumbled and charged down the steps into the snow, his gun up and aimed at the retreating Frank. “Fuck you!!”
“No!” Cole yelled. “Trevor, wait …”
As Trevor squeezed the trigger, a wave of wind and snow kicked up instantly, a sudden blinding blizzard from nowhere. Trevor fired three quick shots into the swirling storm, but the shots were muffled by the snow and wind. Then Trevor brought his arms up to his face, shielding himself as best as he could from the snow that pelted the exposed flesh of his face like hail. Trevor turned and stumbled blindly back up the steps, nearly tripping as he stepped onto the porch, getting under the cover of the roof.
Cole grabbed his little brother and did his best to shield him.
The small whirlwind of snow died down as quickly as it had started—it was completely gone now; the world was calm and peaceful again.
They stared out at the field.
Frank was gone.
CHAPTER 21
“Where the fuck did he go?” Trevor asked as he stared out at the empty field of snow.
“I don’t know,” Cole answered.
“I don’t see him anywhere,” Trevor went on, his voice a little shaky. He wiped at his face which was wet and a little red from where the snow had pelted him moments ago. “Do you guys see him in the trees anywhere?”
“We need to get back inside,” Needles said in a trembling voice. His eyes bulged with fear as he stared out at the field of snow. “It’s not safe out here.”
Stella and David didn’t wait for the others. Stella ushered David back inside the cabin.
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p; Needles turned and caught the front door as it began to close. He stared inside at Stella and David. “No way. You’re not going inside by yourself and locking us out here.” Needles hurried in after them.
Cole thought that he’d better get back inside with them. Needles was becoming more and more unglued every second. “Yeah,” he told the others. “Let’s get back inside.”
They all filed into the cabin. Cole was the last one inside. He shut and locked the front door. His mind was whirling, spinning. Everything seemed to be happening too fast. He needed things to slow down so he could think.
Jose paced into the kitchen, his movements quick and jerky. He was edgy and upset. “Fuck, man. Frank’s been doing this shit all along. All to get the money.” He looked right at Trevor. “I told you I saw Frank out in the woods. And you guys didn’t believe me.”
Trevor didn’t answer Jose, he looked at Cole instead. “So, what are we gonna do now?”
Cole didn’t answer.
“What do you mean?” Jose nearly screamed as he rushed back into the living room. “What are we gonna do about what?”
“The mon-ey,” Trevor said slowly like he was talking to an idiot.
“I’m not giving up my share of the money,” Jose spat his words out. “I’m not putting it out there.”
“I want my share out there,” Needles said quickly.
Stella and David took their spot on the couch. David wasted no time in picking up his spiral notebook. He opened it to the middle, to a page he had left off on, and he started drawing again at a furious pace.
She tried to peek at what David was drawing, but he shielded the page with his hand and his body. She hadn’t been able to see what he had been drawing at all. She had asked him a few times to see the drawings, but he didn’t want her to. And she didn’t push. If this was his way of dealing with their situation right now, then she had to let him have his escape.
Needles looked at Cole, Trevor, and then at Jose with frightened eyes. He was scared, more scared than any of them had ever seen him. He nodded his head quickly. “I want my share of the money out there,” he repeated.
“You’re fucking nuts,” Jose said to Needles. “It’s just Frank out there. Not the boogeyman or the devil.”
“So where did that wall of snow come from when Trevor tried to shoot at Frank?” Needles asked Jose. “You saw that … that thing out there. That wasn’t Frank. That was … was something else. You saw the way he was sliding through the snow back to the trees. How was he doing that?”
“Fuck this,” Jose grumbled. “I’m not having a conversation with a lunatic.”
Cole looked at Trevor. “What about you? What do you want to do about the money?”
“I don’t know yet,” he answered.
“Are all of you crazy?” Jose shouted.
Cole looked at Jose. “Jose, you need to think about this. There are some strange things happening here. Things that aren’t easily explained.”
“It’s just Frank.”
“Why would Frank go through all of this trouble?” Cole asked Jose. “Like Trevor said before, why didn’t Frank just take all of the money when he went outside in the middle of the night while we were asleep? Or why didn’t he just shoot us?”
“I don’t know,” Jose snapped at Cole. “I don’t know why he’s doing this. Or how. Or who else is helping him. I just know that I’m not giving them my share of the money.”
Jose took a few steps away, and then he turned back to Cole and Trevor. “Somebody has to be making Frank do this. It’s the only thing that makes any sense. Whoever took Frank in the middle of the night sent him back to get the money.” Jose looked at Stella. “Whoever she’s running from followed her here and realized that we were the guys who stole the money from that bank. And now they want it all.”
Stella stared at Jose as he marched towards her. “Who’s following you?!” he yelled at her.
David put his pen inside his notebook and closed it. He clutched onto Stella with his notebook in his lap and stared at Jose with wide, unblinking eyes.
“Jose,” Cole warned.
Jose turned and stared at Cole. “Why do you keep protecting them?”
“We’re not going to go over all of that again, are we?” Cole said. “None of us are involved in this. When are you going to get that through your head?”
“Okay,” Jose said, nodding his head quickly. “If that’s true, then why don’t we do a little test? None of us put our money out there. Call Frank’s bluff, or whoever’s out there with him. Call their bluff.”
The cabin was quiet for a moment.
Cole finally shrugged. “Why not?” Cole looked at Trevor. “What do you think?”
“I don’t want to give my money away,” Trevor answered. “I worked hard for this.”
Needles stood in front of the recliner, his crucifix swinging back and forth slightly from his necklace, his wild hair spiked out in different directions, his eyes bulging. “No, I want my share out there. I’m not messing with the devil.”
“It’s not the devil,” Jose said. “I’m so sick of hearing you say that.”
“I get a vote,” Needles continued. “And I want my share of the money out there on the porch.”
“You get a vote,” Cole agreed. “We all get a vote. But this is going to be a majority rule.”
Needles looked like he was on the verge of panicking. “Why can’t we just split the money up now? We each hold on to our own share. We each do whatever we want with it.”
“You know we don’t split the money up until we’re ready to go our separate ways,” Cole said. It was something they had always agreed on. Until they were in a safe place where they could all leave, they didn’t split the money up. It was too easy and tempting for one person to take his share and leave. With the money all in one place and with all of their eyes on it, it gave the group safety.
“You’re such a pussy,” Jose said to Needles.
“Enough, Jose,” Cole said. “Let’s take a vote. We know what your votes are Jose and Needles.” Cole turned to Trevor. “What about you?”
Trevor thought it over for a moment. He looked at the two cases of money on the fireplace hearth, and then he looked back at Cole. “I think someone out there is after this money. They don’t want to charge in here and take it so they sent Frank back. I say we call their bluff and see what they do. I say we find a way to get to them, a way to get Frank back.”
They were silent for a moment, and then Jose looked at Cole.
“And what about you, Cole?”
Cole sighed. “I agree. We keep the money and find out who’s out there.”
“There’s an easier way of finding out who’s out there doing this,” Jose said as he rushed towards Stella and David. “Who the fuck’s out there?!” Jose screamed at Stella.
Jose pulled his gun out and aimed it at Stella’s forehead. He stared at her with cold, dark eyes.
Cole crossed the room in a hurry. “What the hell do you think you’re doing?”
“Getting some answers from this bitch,” Jose said. “Once and for all.”
CHAPTER 22
Stella stared up at Jose as David clung to her; but she didn’t flinch. She was afraid, but she couldn’t show fear of him—she needed to be strong. David inhaled sharply when Jose jabbed his gun at them; he ducked his head underneath Stella’s arm and hid behind her.
Stella knew she needed to be strong for David, but a soft voice whispered at her from somewhere in the back of her mind. Maybe it wouldn’t be so bad, the voice whispered. Just let him shoot, the voice whispered. Then all of this would be over for her. She wouldn’t have to go through this anymore and see the things she saw before.
But she knew what would happen to her body after she was dead.
She sat very still as she stared at the barrel of Jose’s gun pointed at her. She had seen things far worse than anything Jose could do to her, so she showed no fear of him. But she had to protect David. She still had him to thin
k about; it was the only thing that kept her going.
“I don’t know what’s out there,” Stella answered Jose. “And that’s the truth.”
Cole moved closer to Jose, trying to calm him down, talking to him in a soothing voice. “What are you going to do, kill the only person who might know anything about what’s going on out there?”
“Not unless she gives me some answers,” Jose growled.
It was like this before at the dig site, Stella thought. But those people were scientists; they were reasonable—at least they were reasonable in the beginning before things got too bad. But these men in the cabin were bank robbers. They were criminals. And they had murdered at least one person that she knew of; the old man in the bank that they kept talking about. She couldn’t risk it much longer. She had to tell them something to back them off, but she knew she couldn’t tell them everything.
“What do you mean, you don’t know what’s out there?” Jose asked Stella.
“It’s not people out there,” Stella told Jose.
“I told you,” Needles said and jumped to his feet, a strange smile of victory on his face—a lunatic smile. “I told you the devil’s out there.”
Jose glanced quickly at Needles, and then he looked back at Stella.
“Is that what you’re trying to say?” Jose asked her. “The devil’s out there? The devil’s the one that’s following you?”
“I don’t know what it is.”
Jose was about to explode with anger. Stella could see his finger tightening around the trigger.
“I swear that’s the truth!” Stella yelled at Jose. “Something’s out there, but I don’t know what it is!”
“Let her talk,” Cole said, trying to keep Jose calm. “Let her explain.”
“The dig site where we came from,” Stella continued quickly. “Something like this happened there. People were taken. One by one. I took David and we managed to get to my truck and get away.”
Jose stared at her.
“That’s the truth.”
