by Lukens, Mark
Cole told Needles earlier that he might wake him up in the morning to stand guard. But he wasn’t sure if he was going to do that. He couldn’t trust Needles anymore. And he wasn’t sure if he could trust Jose either. He’d never been close to these guys; they were all criminals and their trust of each other only went so far. But Cole had trusted Trevor. And now the only person he really trusted was gone, the only one who would’ve had his back. His heart ached when he thought of Trevor. And a rage burned inside of him when he thought of Trevor’s body (pieces) out there in the woods somewhere. His remains desecrated, scattered among the snow in the woods.
Cole made himself think of something else.
Jose sat next to Cole for a while at the dining room table, a small glass of whiskey in front of him. No drinking—that had always been one of Frank’s rules when they were on a job together. After the job was done and they were about to go their separate ways, it was fine, but not while they were working. But Cole didn’t say anything to Jose about it. They were way past working right now, and if a few sips of whiskey calmed Jose down, then Cole was thankful for that.
“What’s our plan?” Jose asked in a low voice. The fire in him earlier was gone now. After they were shot at, Jose’s idea of just walking out of here didn’t seem so feasible anymore.
“I don’t know yet,” Cole said and his thoughts turned once again to the snowmobile he’d seen tucked away under the blue tarp inside the free-standing garage. He could even feel the keys to the snowmobile in his pants pocket. There had to be some way he could get to it and see if it would start. There had to be some way to escape on it. But not right now. Not in the middle of the night.
“I’ll tell you something,” Jose said as he took another small sip of whiskey from his glass.
Cole didn’t respond.
“If I see Frank again,” Jose continued, “I’m going to get some answers out of him. I promise you that.”
Cole didn’t say anything.
Jose fell asleep a few hours later, stretching out on his blankets. He told Cole that he was just resting for a few minutes, but Cole heard him breathing heavily a few moments later, and then snoring lightly.
Cole sat at the dining room table and sipped his coffee. He had Trevor’s Zippo lighter in his pocket. He took it out and held it, staring at it.
God, he missed him so much already. The only light they had on was over the stove, and the rest of the cabin was hidden in murky darkness. He glanced at the clock on the wall in the kitchen—three o’clock in the morning. He’d wait until dawn before he woke Jose up to take the next watch.
*
Needles woke up on the floor beside the recliner. It was late at night, he knew that, but he didn’t know exactly what time it was. He sat up and suddenly he felt vulnerable on the floor. He couldn’t remember getting out of the chair and stretching out on the wood floor, but at some point in the night he must have.
Needles realized that something had woken him up. Some kind of noise.
He looked back at the others. Everyone else was asleep. Even Cole and Jose were stretched out on their blankets on the floor, both of them breathing heavily. He was pretty sure that one of them was supposed to be standing guard through the night. But maybe they had given up on that, maybe they had realized what he already knew—that there was nothing they could do to fight back.
What kind of noise had it been that had woken him up? He tried to remember.
A thumping noise.
His eyes darted to the kitchen and Needles held his breath as he stared at the freezer against the far wall. The noise had come from the freezer, he was sure of it now. A thumping noise.
Thump.
The freezer lid popped up for a second, then it thumped back down, like someone inside was trying to push it open.
Like Tom Gordon was trying to get out.
Needles was frozen with fear. His throat had gone instantly dry, and all of his muscles seemed like they had turned to wet spaghetti. His lips trembled. He wanted to scream out to the others, he wanted to wake them up, but the only sound that came out of his throat was a breathless wheeze.
It was silent in the cabin for a few moments and just when Needles began to think that maybe he’d been half asleep and still dreaming, the freezer lid flew open and smashed against the log wall of the cabin.
The freezer was wide open now.
Needles heard Tom Gordon before he actually saw him. He could hear the crackling sound of ice breaking, like the sound of ice cube trays being twisted to break the ice cubes free. Then Tom Gordon sat up in the freezer, he sat straight up like a vampire rising out of his coffin.
Needles pushed himself back into the side of the recliner, leaning against it, his hands clawing at the floor, searching his body and the floor for his gun. He tried to scream again, but only a whisper of sound came out. It was like being stuck in a nightmare where you tried to scream but no sound would come out, or you tried to run and the ax-wielding killer caught up anyway.
Tom Gordon turned his head to stare at Needles; the frozen flesh crackled with every move, his bluish skin sparkled with ice crystals. Even though Tom Gordon didn’t have eyes anymore, he stared right at Needles like he could still see. And then Tom Gordon smiled.
Needles shook his head no. He tried to scream again, tried to plead with this thing that used to be the owner of this cabin. But he still couldn’t utter a sound, and he still couldn’t move. And he still couldn’t find his gun.
Tom Gordon got out of the freezer faster than Needles would’ve expected. He crawled out, his bent limbs somehow cracking and straightening. It sounded like his broken bones were popping back into place.
Needles finally sprang into action. He turned back to the others. One of them had to be awake by now, one of them had to have heard the freezer lid fly open and hit the wall, one of them had to have heard all of that crackling and popping of frozen flesh and bone.
Needles found his gun underneath the chair—he wasn’t sure why it was under there and he didn’t have time to think about it right now. His fingers wrapped around the handle and he pulled it out and turned back to the kitchen.
He was suddenly face-to-face with Tom Gordon who was only inches away from him. Needles was sure that his heart was going to stop beating. He was sure that his breath was going to dry up right in his lungs from fright. He stared at the bluish skin of Tom Gordon’s face, the deep black holes where his eyes used to be. Tom Gordon’s mouth opened into a yawning black maw lined with jagged, yellow teeth. His breath came out in a plume of frost as he whispered to Needles. “You know what to do. You know what needs to be done.”
Needles brought his gun up and fired. He squeezed the trigger over and over again, just shooting and shooting. He was on his feet without realizing it, holding his gun in both hands, trying to still his trembling arms as he squeezed off more rounds. He was screaming continuously without being aware of it.
The others woke up and jumped to their feet.
Cole was the first one at Needles’ side, and Cole had his own gun in his hand, ready to shoot. “What is it?” Cole yelled at Needles. “What’s going on?”
Needles pulled the trigger again and again, but the gun only clicked. He was out of ammo.
Cole aimed his gun into the kitchen where Needles had been shooting. There were bullet holes in the logs of the far wall and three bullet holes in the freezer. But Cole didn’t see anyone in the kitchen; he didn’t see what Needles had been shooting at. “What was it?” he asked Needles.
“It was the guy from the freezer,” Needles finally whispered in a trembling voice.
“Tom Gordon?”
“Yeah,” Needles answered. “He got out of the freezer.”
CHAPTER 28
“Needles,” Cole said in a gentle voice. “Put your gun down.”
Needles kept his gun aimed at the kitchen even though there were no more bullets in the clip. His arms trembled as he aimed his gun at the freezer. “I saw him, Cole. I saw him get
out of that freezer.”
“Needles, lower your gun. Let me take it. We don’t want any accidents.”
Needles did not lower his gun.
Stella and David sat up on the couch. Jose stood on his bedroll, his gun down at his side; his eyes were puffy, and he swayed just a bit from the buzz of the whiskey he’d drank a few hours earlier, and from exhaustion. He looked into the kitchen; he looked at the bullet holes on the wall and at the three bullet holes in the freezer, which was now leaking water from underneath it. Jose looked back at Cole and Needles.
“Needles,” Cole said again, his voice lower and firmer. “Lower your weapon.”
Needles finally lowered his gun, but it was more out of sheer exhaustion than from Cole’s orders. He looked at Cole with red-rimmed eyes. Tears slipped out of the corners of his eyes. “You don’t believe me, do you?”
“I didn’t say that, Needles. Let me see your gun. We don’t want another accident. Remember the old man in the bank?”
Needles nodded as he let out a shuddering breath. He handed his gun to Cole.
Cole took the gun and shoved it into the waistband of his pants. He felt a little relieved now that Needles didn’t have a weapon. He planned on getting all of the extra clips Needles had for the gun, but not right now.
Needles looked back at the kitchen and wiped at the snot and tears on his face. “Go look, Cole,” he said as he stared at the freezer. “Go look and see if that guy’s still in there.”
“It was just a nightmare,” Cole said in a soothing voice. “We’re all scared and tired. Stressed out. You just had a—”
“No, Cole!” Needles screamed at him, and then he looked at him with wide, frightened eyes. “It wasn’t a fucking nightmare. I know what I saw. It was that guy, Tom Gordon. He sat up in the freezer. I saw him get out and walk towards me.”
“Maybe you were still half asleep,” Cole offered, trying to keep his cool. “Maybe your eyes were open, but you were still dreaming. That happens. Especially when people are very tired and stressed out.”
Needles shook his head no. “I know what I saw.”
Cole looked at Jose and gestured for Jose to check out the freezer.
As Jose went to the kitchen, Cole looked at Stella and David. “You two see anything?”
They both shook their heads no.
“Nothing to say?” Cole asked Stella.
Stella shook her head no.
Jose stood in front of the freezer, his gun still in his hand. He opened the freezer lid and looked down inside.
“Is he still in there?” Needles asked Jose with panic in his voice and on the verge of more tears.
Jose looked back at Cole. “Cole, come over here.”
“Is he in there?!” Needles screamed.
“Yes, damn it!” Jose yelled at Needles, but he looked at Cole. “Cole?”
Cole hurried across the wood floor to the kitchen. He still had his gun in his hand, and he could feel the heat from Needles’ pistol shoved down in the waistband of his pants. He stood beside Jose and looked down at Tom Gordon’s body. He was still in the freezer, but his body looked different. It looked like he was in a different position, and the ice that had covered his body before looked cracked and shattered now.
Cole and Jose looked at each other, but they didn’t say anything out loud and Cole was thankful for that, he didn’t want to hear Needles ranting and raving again. Something seemed strange about this, but Cole was a rational man who didn’t believe in the supernatural. His mind was already coming up with possibilities. Maybe they had forgotten exactly what position Tom Gordon had been in when they saw him the first time. Maybe the bullets from Needles’ gun had shattered the ice all over Tom Gordon’s body. It had to be something like that, Cole thought, something rational.
Jose shut the lid. They glanced at each other but didn’t say anything. Cole noticed a gash in the log wall above the freezer; it looked like it was from the freezer lid being slammed into the wall. But it could’ve been there before and he just noticed it now.
Cole looked down at the kitchen floor and noticed ice chips and crystals all over the floor, but the water leaking from the freezer was flowing out towards the ice chips and melting them. Cole looked away.
Needles was having a waking nightmare, Cole thought. That’s all. He woke up from a nightmare and panicked, and then he started shooting. Cole had taken Needles’ gun, and that was the right thing to do for now.
Cole turned back to the others. “Tom Gordon’s still in the freezer. Needles just had a nightmare.”
“It wasn’t a fucking nightmare,” Needles mumbled to himself as he crawled back into the safety of his recliner.
Cole glanced at the clock on the kitchen wall. It was almost sunup.
*
As the sun climbed high into the sky over the tops of the trees and shed its light across the blankets of snow on the ground, Cole sat at the dining room table. He’d made more coffee. He made it even stronger. He added even more sugar.
The others had stayed awake for a little bit in the early morning, but then one by one they had fallen back asleep from pure exhaustion.
Except Stella.
She walked into the kitchen and poured herself a cup of coffee. She sat down in a chair diagonally from Cole, her back to the others who slept in the living room.
Cole glanced at her, but he didn’t feel like questioning her. She wasn’t going to answer him anyway, and he didn’t know when she was telling the truth or not. He was tired of the game. He was tired of being here. His nerves were fried and he was just tired.
He had his brother’s Zippo lighter out again and he was turning it over and over again slowly in his fingers.
“I’m sorry,” Stella whispered to Cole as she glanced down at the lighter in his hand and then met his eyes.
He just looked at her.
“About Trevor,” she said. “I didn’t know he was your brother at first. I should’ve seen the resemblance. I’m sorry about what happened to him.”
Cole nodded. She seemed sincere, but he couldn’t be sure about her anymore.
“I don’t know what’s out there,” she told him. “I swear to you, that’s the truth.”
Cole just stared at her.
“What did you see in that freezer?” she asked in a low voice, almost a whisper. She turned and looked into the living room at the others for just a moment, and then she looked at Cole again.
“Tom Gordon’s in that freezer,” Cole told her. “That’s where he’s been the whole time. Needles had a nightmare and freaked out.”
Stella stared at Cole for a long moment and then she just nodded.
“Why won’t you tell me everything that happened down at that dig site in New Mexico?”
Stella thought it over for a moment. “I want to trust you. But I don’t know if I can.”
Cole just stared at Stella for a long moment. There was nothing he could do or say to make her trust him now. She had been right earlier when she asked how he could ask for her help after carjacking her and David and pointing a weapon at their faces.
“Frank will be back,” Stella whispered, catching Cole off guard a little. He stared at her.
“He’s going to ask for something else,” Stella continued, “and you have to give him what he asks for, no matter what it is, or someone else will be taken.”
A sudden anger flared up inside of Cole. “And you’re just telling me this now? Why didn’t you tell us this before, when Frank asked for the money? If we would’ve known to put the money out there, then maybe Trevor would still be alive.”
“You wouldn’t have believed me if I would’ve told you before, and you know it,” Stella answered Cole through clenched teeth. Her eyes burned into Cole’s eyes.
Cole sighed, whether he wanted to admit it to her or not, he knew she was right.
“He still wants the money?” Cole asked Stella in a whisper.
“He doesn’t want the money. It doesn’t have anything to do with the
money. It never did. He wants things and you have to give them to him no matter what they are.”
Cole stared at Stella. “What is he going to ask for next?”
Stella stared back, but she didn’t answer.
“You know, don’t you?” Cole whispered. “You know what he’s going to ask for next.”
Stella jumped as someone touched the back of her neck. She whirled around in her chair and she was face-to-face with David. She hadn’t even heard him walk up behind her from the living room.
And Cole hadn’t seen David walk up behind Stella.
David stared at Stella and Cole. “He’s outside again. He’s calling you.”
CHAPTER 29
Cole woke Jose and Needles up. Jose jumped to his feet and claimed he’d only been asleep for a few minutes. Cole didn’t want to argue with him.
“What time is it?” Jose asked as he struggled to come fully awake.
“About ten o’clock,” Cole answered as he slipped on his leather gloves.
Cole put his coat on and zipped it up. He checked his gun.
Needles jumped up from his recliner. “I’m not going out there again,” he said. He looked at Cole. “I want my gun back.”
“Not right now, Needles,” Cole said and looked at Stella. “Get your coat on, I want you out there with us this time.”
Stella stared at Cole. “I’ll get David’s coat.”
“Leave him inside this time. Needles will keep an eye on him.”
“I’d rather not let David out of my sight,” Stella said.
Cole didn’t say anything—he wasn’t giving her a suggestion.
“I’ll watch him,” Needles said and then he glanced at the front door. He seemed to be trying to be helpful, but Stella could see something else in Needles’ eyes, something sinister buried deep inside them.
Jose’s words from last night echoed through Cole’s mind: If I see Frank again, I’m going to get some answers out of him. I promise you that. Cole didn’t want David outside if Jose started shooting at Frank, and Frank, or whoever else was out there in the woods, decided to shoot back. But he didn’t want to go into a long explanation about that right now with Stella. He just wanted her to listen to him.
