Ethan lightly grabbed Kate’s shoulders and pulled her back onto the bed. She didn’t resist. Kate curled up in Ethan’s arm and squeezed her eyes shut. Maybe if she fell asleep, her thoughts would stop drifting to Will.
Ethan was fast asleep when Kate woke. She turned to the window hoping it was morning, but she knew it wasn’t based on how tired she still felt. Quite possibly more tired than when she’d first fallen asleep.
Kate swung her legs to the side and sat up. She ran her hands over her hair feeling the twists and knots against her skin.
A large yawn forced her mouth open, and she stretched her arms over her head. The creaking noise outside the bedroom door made her head jerk to the side.
Something bumped against the wall outside their room, and Kate jumped. She could hear whoever was out there moving down the stairs, and she could tell that whoever it was, wasn’t alone.
Kate got up and placed her hand on the door. She waited… listened.
Her hand wrapped around the doorknob and she slowly turned it open. The throbbing in her chest was so loud she was afraid whoever was out there would hear it.
Kate tried to stay calm. Perhaps Jasper was taking Nikki to the outhouse, and maybe they were having trouble seeing in the dark. The house wasn’t familiar, and they had probably just stumbled.
She pulled open the door as quietly as she could and looked over her shoulder to make sure Ethan was still asleep. He hadn’t moved, and his breathing was still slow.
Kate stepped out into the hallway cautiously. She placed her hand on the door frame and looked to her left. The hallway was empty, but to her right, she spotted someone moving at the bottom of the stairs.
Kate opened her mouth to whisper to Nikki, but something stopped her.
Nikki was there, but she wasn’t with Jasper. She was being led down the stairs, and into the living room by both David and Scott. It looked as though she was going with them willingly.
Kate quickly inched forward trying to keep her eye on Nikki, but they were moving too quickly. They moved through the living room, and before she knew it, they disappeared into the kitchen. It wasn’t long before Kate heard the tapping of their feet on the basement staircase.
She looked back at Ethan before she closed the door and went after Nikki. Once she knew what was going on, she’d come back for him. But the one thing she couldn’t figure out was why Nikki would leave her room to go with Scott and David. And why would Jasper allow it in the middle of the night?
Kate moved down the stairs barely making a sound as she crept through the living room and into the kitchen. She placed her hand on the wall and looked down the stairs into the glowing basement.
There were muffled voices, none of which were Nikki’s.
“What are you doing up, my dear?” Tricia asked softly.
Kate spun around practically gasping for air. The woman’s face was covered in shadows making her look unfriendly in the darkness.
“You startled me,” Kate said.
“I could say the same,” Tricia said.
“I’m sorry, I thought I saw my friend….” Kate was suddenly at a loss for words.
Tricia clicked her tongue. “My dear, you must be dreaming. Are you a sleepwalker? We wouldn’t want to worry about you wandering off in your sleep. That would be dangerous.”
“I’m not a sleepwalker,” Kate said scrunching up her nose.
The voices in the basement ceased to exist. For a second, Kate looked around worried that maybe she had been dreaming.
“Did I wake you?” Kate asked.
“No, I’m a light sleeper.” Tricia unfolded her hands and let them fall to her sides. “Is there anything I can get you?”
Kate looked around the kitchen. Everything Tricia had used to prepare dinner had already been cleaned and put away. The moonlight shone in between the cracks of the boarded-up windows making a stripe across Tricia’s face just below her eyes.
“No, I’m fine,” Kate said looking back down the stairs. The light seemed to have dimmed.
“All right, then goodnight,” Tricia said relaxing her hands.
“Good night,” Kate said trying to form a smile with her uncooperating lips.
As she was about to take a step away, there was a loud noise in the basement followed by a higher pitched noise that sounded like a scream that had been instantly muffled.
Kate turned to Tricia. She saw her hands coming at her, but there wasn’t anything she could do to stop her.
Kate fell backward down the stairs. When she hit the bottom, just before everything went black, she saw Nikki tied to a chair.
28
Kate drifted in and out of consciousness. She’d remembered hearing voices, but none of the words had made sense.
“I didn’t want things to happen like this,” Tricia said as she paced in front of Nikki and Kate. “But you left me no choice. With time you’ll forgive me.”
Kate winced as a pain in her back shot through her arm making her fingers feel numb. Her eyes darted over toward the stairs, and she remembered how she’d ended up in the basement.
“Sorry,” Tricia said with a small shrug.
Kate opened her mouth, but it felt as though it was sewn shut. No matter how hard she tried, she couldn’t move her lips.
After a second or two she could taste the sour glue from the tape that had been placed her mouth. Instinctively, she tried to move her hands forward, but they didn’t move. Both of her hands were tied far too tightly behind her back.
Kate looked over at Nikki. Her eyes were wide, red, and soaked with fear.
Kate’s eyes landed on the shelf she’d spotted earlier. The rope and duct tape were no longer there, but it didn’t take Kate long to find out where they’d been moved.
The duct tape was on the cement floor at David’s feet and the rope, well, she knew where that was. When she looked up, David was grinning at her.
“You better not have hurt her, mom,” David said. “I don’t want a broken one.”
“You can’t have mine,” Scott said grinning at Nikki.
“Stop it you two! They aren’t toys!” Tricia scolded. “You sound like fools.”
David and Scot exchanged a glance. It was a glance they’d exchanged hundreds if not thousands of times.
“Sorry mom,” they both said at the exact same time.
“Now,” Tricia said resuming her pacing in front of Nikki and Kate. “There will be an adjustment period, of course, that is to be expected. But you will both be happy here. You’ll be taken care of, and you’ll be safe.”
Kate shook her head. Her eyes were just as red and wet as Nikki’s had been.
“I know you’ll miss your friends, but there is no other way. You know they’d never allow it.” Tricia hesitated for a moment. “Jasper has been taken care of, so now you are free to be with my son.”
“Me,” Scott said.
Nikki was sobbing, but the tape held it in. Her shoulders still managed to bob even with her hands tied behind her back.
“Once we take care of the other two, Kate will be free to be with David,” Tricia said with a smile.
Kate shook her head. She couldn’t say it, but she wanted to scream at her that she’d never be with her son.
“It’s time,” Tricia said, and the boys nodded.
As they started up the stairs, Kate spotted the long knives in their hands.
Kate kicked the floor and shook herself so hard her chair almost tipped over.
“Shh,” Tricia said stepping closer to stroke Kate’s hair. “It’ll be over soon. I really liked Garrett. He seemed like such a sweet boy. It’s too bad.”
Kate listened as the floor above creaked with David and Scott’s every movement. She wiggled, pushed, and pulled, moving in every direction trying to get herself free. Kate wanted to wipe away the tears that were streaming down her cheeks but she couldn’t.
They weren’t tears of sadness. They were tears of frustration… anger… rage.
When she heard
the noises from upstairs making their way to her ears, she stopped moving. She could tell there was a struggle.
Kate’s breath was stuck in her throat. It was trapped so deep it felt like she was going to choke.
Even when the struggling noises from upstairs seemed to stop, Kate didn’t stop trying to break free. She wanted revenge. She needed revenge.
“Oh, that’s enough of that,” Tricia said placing her hand on Kate’s shoulder. Kate winced as the woman’s long fingernails dug into her skin through her shirt. “You’ll see. Everything will be wonderful. David is such a wonderful, loving man.
Tricia looked into Kate’s eyes. Kate’s breaths were sharp and quick, and the room started to fuzz around her.
“The two of you will make the most beautiful grandchildren for me,” Tricia said digging her nails in deeper. Kate tried to jerk away, but it only made Tricia grab her harder.
Kate heard the stairs squeak when someone placed their foot on the first step. Her heart raced. Sweat dripped down the side of her face.
“Here they come!” Tricia said excitement flowing out of her eyes. She turned and placed her hands on Kate’s shoulders. When she looked into her eyes, Kate could tell the woman wasn’t even looking at her. She leaned forward and kissed Kate on the forehead.
Kate’s eyes darted to the legs that were now in view. She twisted her hands quickly trying to get out of the ropes, but all it was doing was causing the rough rope to dig into her flesh.
As Tricia pulled back, Kate blinked at the men coming down the stairs. It took a minute for her to realize it wasn’t David and Scott.
Tricia turned, and the smile dripped off of her face. Her eyes darted up the stairs. “Boys? Where are my boys?”
It took several minutes to notice what Kate saw immediately. Both Garrett and Ethan’s clothing were splattered with blood.
“Yeah, they’re not coming,” Ethan said as the light glimmered on the blade in his hand.
“What have you done to my boys?”
“What they were going to do to us,” Garrett said brandishing his own weapons.
Tricia blew out a sharp breath before she grabbed the gun off of a nearby shelf. She aimed it at Ethan and didn’t hesitate to pull the trigger.
“Mmmm!” Kate shouted through the duct tape.
Ethan’s arm jerked back as he took an unsteady step to the side.
Kate rocked her weight forward, and she slammed into Tricia knocking her off balance just as she was about to take a second shot. The side of Kate’s face hit the concrete floor, and her vision flickered. When she opened her eyes, she saw Garrett’s shoes in front of her. Seconds later, a lifeless Tricia dropped to the ground next to Kate, her dead eyes looking right through Kate.
“Are you okay?” Garrett asked as he pulled the tape off of Kate’s mouth. “Did they hurt you?”
“I’m okay,” Kate said trying to get free as Garrett raised her chair back up. He took the blade and sliced the rope.
The second Kate’s hands were free she dashed over to Ethan. Blood was dripping down the side of his arm.
“Oh my God,” Kate said feeling the cool tears running down her cheeks.
“I’m okay,” Ethan said.
Kate hugged him hard before kissing him. When they turned, Nikki was free, standing there staring at them.
“Is Jasper… dead?” Nikki asked, punctuating her sentence with a hard swallow.
Ethan and Garrett exchanged a look. Garrett turned away.
“I’m sorry,” Ethan said.
Nikki was still. It was like Kate could see the information moving from her brain to her heart.
Nikki’s shoulders moved up, as she sucked in a breath. She dropped down to her knees and cried out in pain as she pounded her fists against the hard floor.
Garrett lifted her to her feet, holding most of her weight. Nikki’s bloody-knuckled hands were shaking.
“Let’s get our stuff and get out of here,” Ethan said still holding the wound on his arm. Kate pulled his hand back to look at his injury in the light. “It just grazed me.”
“Maybe,” Kate said squinting at the wound. “But it’s really bleeding.”
“I’ll be okay,” Ethan repeated.
“Ethan, wait,” Garrett said cocking his head to the side. “Why are we leaving?”
Ethan’s brows squeezed together. “To get the hell out of this fucked up place.”
“There’s only one left,” Garrett said keeping his voice low as his gaze shifted up toward the ceiling. “This could be ours.”
Ethan opened his mouth but snapped it shut. Kate could tell he was considering Garrett’s suggestion, and to be honest, Kate was too.
“We can’t just murder him,” Kate said.
“Why the hell not?” Nikki said, anger mixing with the sadness in her eyes. “Did you forget what just happened?”
Kate shook her head. “Of course not, but he didn’t have any part of it.”
“Oh, please. Just because he couldn’t make his way down here doesn’t mean he wasn’t in on it,” Nikki said sniffing hard.
“Maybe we should,” Ethan said. “We could be safe here for years.”
“You want to stay here for years?” Kate said twisting her fingers together.
Ethan took Kate’s hand into his, and she looked at his blood speckled knuckles. “We could. Who knows if there is anything better than this out there?”
“If we go out there, we’ll just keep losing people until there is no one left,” Garrett said. “We need a rest. There are supplies here.”
Kate sighed. She knew they were right, but for her, it wasn’t simple.
“You don’t have to do it,” Garrett said. Kate could see just how badly he wanted to stay. “He’s sleeping… I can—”
“I don’t want to hear it,” Kate said shaking her head. “Do what you need to do. I can’t promise I’ll stay here for years, but, I don’t know. Maybe you’re right. It’s just that… I’m sick of all this.”
“So am I,” Garrett said. “That’s why we should stay here. We can be done with the outside world.”
Kate knew it was just wishful thinking. Nothing was easy. But she needed a break, and there probably wasn’t anything out there except for more death.
Her eyes shifted down at Tricia’s body, and Kate shivered. She looked at the gun laying on the ground several inches from her hand.
Kate picked it up, and her head dropped down with a heavy exhale.
“What is it?” Ethan asked.
“This is my gun,” Kate said looking at Ethan’s arm.
He shook his head. “I’m okay. I promise. Let’s go upstairs and find a band-aid.”
“A band-aid,” Kate snorted.
He pulled her along as he started up the stairs. Maybe things would be okay, but there was one more thing they had to deal with. Mr. Earle.
29
When they got to the top of the stairs, they all froze when they saw Mr. Earle sitting at the kitchen table. This time his gun wasn’t in his lap, it was aimed at them.
He’d lit several candles, but his face was hidden in the shadows.
“I’m I right to assume that blood belongs to my family?” Mr. Earle said.
“They were trying to kill us,” Garrett said defensively, his hands straight in the air.
Mr. Earle shook his head. “She just wanted a family.”
Kate’s insides turned. Mr. Earle had been a part of the plan. Or at least he was aware of it.
“I told her it wouldn’t work, but she insisted,” Mr. Earle said. He exhaled slowly, but near the end of the breath, it turned into a cough. “What am I going to do without them?”
“We’ll leave,” Ethan said. “Where is our stuff?”
“The hell you will,” Mr. Earle said chuckling. “You’re all going to pay for what you did.”
His whole arm shook as he lined up his shot and pulled the trigger. Kate hadn’t had time to aim her gun before the shotgun made a loud pop that echoed through the enti
re house.
Kate had ducked. When she looked upward, she noticed the others had too. She didn’t miss the hole in the wall two inches away from Ethan’s head.
“God dammit,” Mr. Earle muttered as he tried to steady the gun.
Nikki didn’t wait for him to shoot again, she launched herself forward pulling the necklace off of her neck and slamming it against the kitchen table. The vial broke, leaving behind shards of glass coated with black liquid. Nikki plunged the covered glass into Mr. Earle’s neck.
He tried to push her away, but Nikki was stronger. She yanked the shard out of his neck and took a step back.
Mr. Earle’s eyes dulled as he looked up at her. “What have you done?”
Nikki dropped the necklace, and the light hit it in such a way that Kate realized what the liquid was. Mr. Earle’s veins bulged out of his thin flesh.
“He’s changing,” Nikki muttered.
Garrett moved forward and ripped the shotgun out of Mr. Earle’s shaking hand. Fear washed over Mr. Earle’s face when he realized what was happening.
A loud pop rang out, echoing through the house. Mr. Earle slid out of the chair and onto the floor. Garrett kept the gun aimed at him even though the man was dead.
Blood poured out of the old man’s stomach and pooled around him on the perfect kitchen floor. If Tricia had been there to see it she would not have been pleased with the mess.
The four of them stood there for several minutes in a strange state of shock. With the Earle family gone, the house was theirs. The supplies were theirs.
“What do we do now?” Nikki asked. Her eyes widening when the floorboards overhead creaked and squeaked.
“Shit,” Ethan said grabbing the shotgun out of Garrett’s hand.
“I must not have finished him off,” Garrett said, his voice shaky. “I… I… dammit.”
Ethan tried to hold the gun, but he was having difficulty because of his injury. Kate took the gun from him and let out a breath as she walked toward the living room.
Every muscle in her body was tense, but she tried to control her breathing. Ethan and Garrett had disarmed them, and Kate knew she could do this.
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