by Amy Cross
Turning away, she tried to curl into a ball, to make herself as small as possible, but she couldn't keep herself from letting out regular, muffled sobs.
After a moment, she realized someone was standing next to her.
She heard a few words of Norwegian, before turning to see that the officer was crouching next to her, his eyes filled with shock.
He asked her something, but again she didn't understand a word.
“Help,” she stammered. “We have to get out of here.”
“English?” he replied. “You speak English?”
She nodded.
“What the hell is going on in this place?” he asked, glancing past her as he spotted Jennifer on the floor. “What were these people doing?”
“Please,” she whimpered, “you have to get us out of here.”
He reached up and felt the wound on the side of his head. “My car's outside,” he told her, wincing as he touched the wound with his fingertips. “My name is Ole Haulen, and I'm a police officer. I promise, everything is going to be okay, but first you have to tell me about the others. Where are they?”
“Dead,” she stammered. “I think, anyway.”
“What did they...” He stared at her naked, bloodied body for a moment, before suddenly removing his jacket and holding it out for her. “Put this on. Please, it's the best I can do right now.”
She stared at the jacket before slowly sitting up and letting him place it over her shoulders. The thought of ever touching another human being again was enough to make her feel nauseous.
“My car is right outside,” he explained, “and we're going to use the radio to call for back-up, okay? And then we're going to get you to a hospital and you're going to be fine. Do you understand?”
She paused, barely able to believe that she'd survived, and then finally she began to nod.
“Can you walk?” he asked. Getting to his feet, he held out a hand to help her up.
It took a moment, but she was able to slowly lift herself. Her legs were shaking and she had to grab hold of the counter, and her body was wracked with pain, but finally she managed to stand, even though she felt she might collapse at any moment.
“That's good,” Ole told her. “Now, if you -”
Suddenly they both turned toward the window as they spotted something moving in the distance. As they watched, the lights of a car rounded the corner and headed toward the cabin, before the vehicle came to a halt at the edge of the clearing.
“Is that back-up?” Anna asked, her voice trembling with fear.
“I didn't call any back-up yet,” Ole replied cautiously, watching as the car stayed in position with the engine running and its lights still shining toward the house.
A moment later, hearing shuffling footsteps from elsewhere in the house, they turned and saw a figure stumbling through the dark hallway. Seconds after that, they heard the front door being forced open.
“Daniel,” Anna whispered, “but...” Turning back to look out the window, she saw Daniel limping down the steps at the front of the cabin and making his way toward the car. He stumbled and tripped, clearly injured, but he quickly got back to his feet and limped forward. She watched him stopping at the car and leaning down, as if he was talking to whoever was in the driver's seat, and then suddenly a moment of realization blossomed in the back of her mind. “Cole,” she stammered.
“Who?” Ole asked.
“Cole,” she continued, watching as Daniel seemed to be arguing with whoever was in the car. “They've been waiting all evening for him to arrive, he's the guy who runs the -”
Suddenly a gunshot rang out and Daniel lurched back from the car with the top of his head missing. He turned and fell, landing hard against the ground, and then he remained still.
“Oh God,” Anna whispered, unable to stop staring out the window as the car door open and a dark, silhouetted figure stepped out. Ducking down out of sight, she stared at Jennifer's corpse for a moment before turning to Ole as he crouched next to her. “It's him...”
“Who?” he hissed. “Tell me who that is out there!”
“It's Cole,” she continued, “the man who's supposed to pay them for the video.” Hearing footsteps approaching the cabin, she turned and looked toward the hallway. “He's coming...”
Chapter Nineteen
The footsteps stopped abruptly before they got to the cabin. Still trembling on the kitchen floor, with Ole's jacket around her shoulders, Anna waited for the inevitable sound of someone pushing the door open, but instead all she heard was silence. All she could hear was her own shivering breath.
“You need to tell me what the hell is going on here,” Ole whispered, leaning closer to her. “Who's this Cole guy and what video is he supposed to be paying people for?”
“Do you have a gun?” she asked, turning to him.
“A gun?” He paused. “No, of course I -”
“He's coming,” she stammered, looking up at the window above them and seeing the light from Cole's car still hitting the dusty glass. “What's he waiting for?”
“Is this man dangerous?” Ole asked. “Is he part of all this?”
“He's in charge.”
“Wait here,” Ole replied, before starting to get to his feet.
“No!” Anna hissed, grabbing his arm and pulling him back down. She could still hear the engine running outside, but her eyes were fixed on the door that led into the hallway, waiting for the first hint of a shadow entering the cabin. “You can't let him see you!”
“We don't even know for sure that he's with them,” Ole pointed out.
“He came to pay them for the video,” she replied, keeping her voice low. “That's what they were doing here, they were filming me and...” She paused, feeling a flash of shock in her chest. The thought of telling him was almost too much to bear, as if she'd be replaying all her shame. “They were filming me,” she continued, as fresh tears filled her eyes. “They were filming themselves doing this to me. They were going to kill me.”
Ole stared at her bloodied chest and legs for a moment, his eyes filled with shock.
“Okay,” he said finally, “well one thing's for sure, we can't just sit here and wait for him to come and find us. The man has a gun, so I'm just going to take a look and see if I can work out where he is right now.” He waited for her to reply, before putting a hand on her shoulder. “I'm a police officer,” he continued, “and I am damn well not going to let anyone else die here today. We're going to get out of this, I can feel it in my bones. You just have to trust me.”
He paused for a moment, before slowly starting to lean up until he was able to see through the window's lowest pane.
Staring up at him, Anna waited for him to say something.
“It's hard to see,” he told her finally. “The car's still there, the engine's still on and the lights...”
“Where is he?” she asked. “Do you see him?”
He paused again. “The headlights are so bright, I really can't... There's no-one on the steps or by the door to the cabin, I can tell that much. Over by the car, it's harder to...”
She waited for him to continue.
“It's harder to what?”
“It's harder to make anything out,” he said with a hint of frustration in his voice. “The car's lights...”
“You have to get down!” she hissed, glancing briefly toward the hallway before looking back up at him. Grabbing his hand, she tried to pull him to the floor. “Please, he's out there!”
“I just need to see where,” he replied, pausing for a moment. “I need to know which way he's coming in, if he's coming in at all.”
Looking toward the hallway again, Anna half expected to see a dark shadow edging closer. After a couple of seconds she turned to look at the basement door, then back toward the hallway, then up to the window. She waited, but still there was no sign of anyone. Still holding Ole's hand, she tried to pull him down, but he was peering out at the clearing, with the car's headlights still filling the w
indow.
“Wait,” Ole said, turning and looking back across the kitchen, “who are those other two girls?”
“You can see them?” Anna asked, realizing that he meant Marit and Karen.
“See them?” He stared for a moment, before looking down at her. “Wait, what's -”
Suddenly a gunshot rang out, accompanied by the sound of breaking glass. Anna winced and ducked for cover, as Ole slumped down next to her with shards of glass raining down around them. Still holding Ole's hand, Anna turned to him, only to see that the top left side of his head had been blown away, leaving blood to pour onto the floorboards. She stared in horror, watching as blood dribbled down his face, and then she realized she could hear footsteps outside, calming approaching the cabin.
After a moment, she realized she was still holding Ole's hand. She let go, trembling as she saw his dead eyes staring back at her. Scurrying around the counter on her hands and knees, she began to crawl toward the hallway before stopping as soon as she realized she could hear the footsteps approaching the front door. Pulling back behind another counter, she tried to stay quiet as she heard someone walking up the steps and then stopping in the entrance. She waited, but as the seconds ticked past she realized he'd fallen silent again. Turning to look back across the kitchen, she saw Ole's body next to the other counter, with the car's engine still running outside and its headlights blasting the window with electric light. A little further toward the far wall, Jennifer's body lay slumped with two knives still embedded in her back.
A moment later, Anna heard footsteps heading away from the cabin. She waited, and suddenly the car's engine was cut and its headlights went off, plunging the kitchen into darkness and silence.
She held her breath as she heard footsteps outside once again, this time moving around toward the cabin's other side, as if Cole was heading to the back door. She glanced across the kitchen, watching the door with horror as she saw a dark figure approaching. The handle was turned, but the door remained locked and Anna stared in horror at the silhouette on the other side of the glass. For a moment, she told herself that there was no way he could see her, but finally she realized that there was a small red light in front of his shoulder, shining through the door's glass pane.
A camera.
He was filming everything, and the lens was aimed straight at her.
She stumbled to her feet, scurrying through the doorway and out to the hall. Just as she was about to run outside, however, she realized she could hear footsteps outside again, coming closer and hurrying this time. Panicking, she scrambled up the stairs on all fours and ducked out of sight at the top. By the time she realized she should have gone down to the basement, where the knives were kept, it was too late.
She waited, as footsteps entered the cabin. A moment later she heard the front door swinging shut, followed by the sound of the bolt being slid across.
Closing her eyes, she listened as silence fell upon the cabin.
She expected him to come up the stairs at any moment, but finally she heard footsteps heading calmly into the kitchen. She had no idea whether he knew where she was, but as she waited she realized she could hear something being dragged across the floor and a moment later she heard a heavy bump from the hallway. In her mind's eye, she could see Cole's dark figure dropping Ole to the floor, and seconds later she realized he'd gone back into the kitchen. She waited, hearing a series of faint bumps, almost as if the figure had gone down into the basement, but she couldn't be certain and she didn't dare risk going down the stairs and making a run for the front door.
Slowly, she began to crawl toward the bedroom door, hoping against hope that there might be something in there that she could use to defend herself. As soon as she was inside, however, she found that the place was bare, with just the three bed left against the far wall. Glancing around, she tried to think of somewhere she'd be able to hide so that no-one could find her. Just as she was about to give up hope, she spotted the thick metal bolts holding the wall panels in place and she realized there was just enough space on the other side to hide between the walls.
Still hearing no sound from downstairs, she made her way to the wall and found that, just as she'd hoped, Jennifer had never gotten around to putting all the bolts back in place, only the first two. Using her bare hands, she began to twist the remaining bolts loose, forcing herself to work as hard as she could manage even though her fingertips were starting to bleed from the effort. Finally she got one bolt loose and started on the second, before realizing she could simply twist the horizontal panel down to make enough of a gap. Once she'd done so, she reached through and began to pull herself inside, quickly clambering into the dusty space and then reaching out to grab the panel and pull it back into position, sealing herself in the gap. Using one of the remaining bolts to keep hold of the length of wood, she managed to wiggle it into place just as she heard footsteps downstairs, along with the sound of something being dragged across the floor.
The bodies, she realized after a moment.
He was dragging all the bodies into the hallway.
Probably still filming, too.
She waited in the dark space, hoping against hope that he'd leave. After a moment, however, she heard a creaking sound on the stairs. Leaning down slightly, she found a narrow gap between two of the panels and peered out at the room, and sure enough she could already see a shadow on the wall beyond the doorway. She forced herself to stay completely quiet, not even allowing her body to tremble as Cole stepped into the room and stopped for a moment, turning his camera to get the full scene. The small red light showed that the device was recording, and suddenly Cole took a couple of steps forward, as if he'd sensed that he was close.
Holding her breath, Anna waited.
Cole stood in the middle of the room, still glancing around, visible only in silhouette against the window on the far wall. Although she couldn't see his face properly, she could hear his calm breath.
Finally he turned and walked back out.
Anna felt a wave of relief, but a moment later she realized his footsteps had entered the next room, directly behind her. Unable to turn around in the narrow space between the walls, she simply had to wait as she heard him getting closer, until he seemed to be right next to the wall against her bare back.
She waited.
After a couple of seconds, she saw that the camera's red light was peeping through a gap over her shoulder, shining onto the wood ahead.
His breath sounded so close now, she began to think that he must have sniffed her out.
And then, as suddenly as before, his footsteps moved away, heading back out of the other room. A moment later, she heard him calmly making his way down the stairs to the hallway.
“Please,” she mouthed silently, with tears running down her face, “just leave. Please, please leave.”
She could hear him down there still but she had no idea what he was doing. There were regular bumping sounds, and all she could assume was that he'd started removing all the video equipment. She waited, figuring that she could just stay hidden between the walls until he left, but as the seconds dragged past she began to wonder whether he was ever going to stop whatever he was doing down there. Eventually he fell silent, and she realized with a stirring of hope in her chest that maybe, just maybe, he was gone.
Still, she knew she couldn't risk going out there yet.
She'd wait until dawn at least, maybe even longer.
Maybe a day.
Maybe two.
As the silence continued, she kept hold of one of the bolts, using it to make sure that the wooden panel remained in place. She continued to look out at the bedroom, and after a moment she found herself remembering the first day she'd arrived at the cabin, when she'd been with Marit and she'd assumed that she was about to make some new friends. Suddenly she was dragged back to the present by the realization that although the house remained quiet, she still hadn't heard Cole's car leaving. She figured she might be too far toward the rear of the cab
in to hear it anyway, but she still couldn't be certain. Sniffing, she reminded herself that she had to play it safe, and that there was no way she could risk climbing out yet.
And then she realized she could smell smoke.
At first she told herself it was just a strange smell from the wood, but over the next few minutes she began to realize that the cabin was filling with the smell of burning wood. Peering out through the gap in the wall, she saw to her shock that there seemed to be smoke drifting through the room and past the window, and when she looked toward the doorway she realized there was a faint orange glow coming from the bottom of the stairs. With a growing sense of fear, she began to understand that Cole had set the place on fire. Filled with panic, and realizing that she was about to start coughing, she told herself that he was probably hoping to burn all the evidence.
Filled with panic, she let go of the bolt and let the wall panel slide down before starting to clamber out. Already, flames had reached the top of the stairs and thick smoke was now filling the air. Hurrying to the window, she looked out and saw that there was no sign of Cole's car, so she headed to the doorway and then over to the stairs while holding her hands in front of her mouth in an attempt to avoid inhaling too much smoke. Looking down toward the hallway, she saw a pile of burning bodies and a moment later she realized there was a strong stench of gasoline. There were at least four bodies down there, which she figured meant that Jennifer, Joe, Daniel and Ole were on the pyre, while the front door appeared to have been left shut.
Coughing and spluttering, she began to make her way down the stairs before a wall of heat forced her back. She knew there was no other way down from the top floor, so she climbed over the bannister and steadied herself for a moment before letting herself drop, landing hard on the floorboards below and instantly feeling a sharp pain in her ankle. Ignoring that pain, however, she turned and kept low as she crawled past the flames and through to the kitchen, hoping to get out through the back door or -
