by Adam Kunz
He’s interrupted by a light scraping noise on the shed’s wall to our left. It’s quick and sudden, sounding like metal on metal. Our wide eyes meet one another as the scraping noise sounds once more, only this time, closer to the open door. He grabs a shovel with his free hand and moves closer to me.
“What the hell was that?” he asks as I grab the gas can from him so he can grip the shovel with two hands.
“I don’t wanna know.”
He moves toward the shed’s door, which is swaying back and forth in the wind. “What are you doing?” I ask in a panic, grabbing his arm.
“We can’t stay in here,” he replies, placing one of his hands on my shoulder. “Everything’s going to be fine.” I want to believe him so much when he says that, I really do.
A thunderous bang resonates from the front of the shed right by the door’s opening. We both almost jump through the roof of the tiny structure. Brent lets out a deep breath and begins to move forward again, but I pull him back.
“Hold up,” I say in a harsh whisper. Scanning the shelves to our right, I see a hatchet hanging there and remove it. “Okay, now I’m ready.” My grip tightens on the small hand ax as we both walk together toward the entrance of the shed.
When we reach the threshold, we exchange worried glances before proceeding any farther. I nod when I’m met with a look, almost like he’s asking if I’m ready to continue. Brent readies the shovel to strike as his foot moves to the outside. He swings wildly to the right where the loud knock sounded only moments ago, and hits the front side of the shed. A forceful clang echoes throughout the space, rattling the tools hanging from the walls and causing a ringing to resonate in my ears.
I poke my head out of the shed when he moves farther out to check the area. There’s no sign of anyone outside as I emerge. Peeking around the corner of the shed, I notice some boot tracks in the snow running along the side, but then they disappear into the forest behind it. A large, jagged scratch mark starts at the middle of the shed’s wall and travels all the way to the front, exposing the silver metal underneath the red paint.
“Come on,” Brent calls out to me as he takes hold of my arm.
We try to run, but the snow is making the task quite difficult, especially with our hands full. I stumble and lose my balance, but catch myself before I fall face-first into the ground. Digging deep to gain momentum, I push through the slushy ground surrounding my feet and finally reach the snowmobile. I try to catch my breath while handing off the gas can to Brent. My eyes study our surroundings, keeping a lookout while he fills the tank.
A shape I hadn’t seen before amongst the trees to our left catches my interest. Looking more critically at it, I attempt to make out what it is. I recognize two headlights peeking out from under a thick layer of snow.
Is that a car over there?
“All right, hop on,” Brent says, interrupting my thoughts.
While we’re driving away, my focus stays on the headlights amongst the trees until I can’t see them anymore. A thought runs through my mind. Was that Trevor’s rental car?
The sun has all but set now, and we’re nearing the end of the forest trail. I see the barn’s light shining up ahead, and as we get closer, I can make out the faint outline of the house. My arms instinctively squeeze tighter around Brent the instant a chill surges through my body. I bury my face into his back to ward off the cold nip on my nose from the thrashing wind.
Reaching the front of the house, I’m thankful to see several lights on inside. Brent shuts off the engine and I immediately leap off. He parks next to his truck in order to retrieve his cell phone, and we immediately notice is his driver’s side door is cracked open.
“Shit,” he mutters as he approaches the truck. He pulls open the door the rest of the way and examines the inside. “My damn phone’s gone. It was in the cup holder, and now it isn’t.”
“Let’s just get inside. Someone will have a phone,” I say, tugging on his jacket.
Rushing up to the porch, I begin to call out for anyone to open the door. When no one answers, we begin pounding on it. We hear a faint female’s voice on the other side saying they’re coming. The door’s lock disengages and it swings open, revealing a confused Nia.
“What the hell? We were right in the middle of a movie,” she says, clearly missing the expressions on our faces.
We push our way in and Brent slams the door shut behind us, locking it. I grab Nia by the shoulders and stare directly into her eyes, needing her full attention. Her facial expression quickly changes from confusion to uneasiness.
“Nia, where’s your phone? We have to call the sheriff’s office,” I say with a sense of urgency.
“Why, what’s going on?” she replies, her confusion returning.
“We found a body. It’s Trevor.”
“Trevor? Like Colton’s Trevor?” she asks, her face reflecting her shaken tone.
“Yeah.”
I feel my eyes water up. Just the thought of how Colton’s going to handle this is enough to drive me to tears. “Where’s Colton?” I ask, looking into the living room and only seeing Tee and Jared sitting there staring at us.
“He’s up in his room sleeping off our schnapps binge,” she answers. “Hold on, my phone’s charging in the kitchen.”
I release a sigh. “Good. It’s probably better that he doesn’t know about this right now.”
“What’s going on?” Tee asks as he and Jared approach from the living room. Brent intercepts and begins to explain to them what happened as I hear Nia coming back into the foyer talking on her phone.
“They’re sending the deputies back who took Noah and Emma to the hospital. They should be here soon,” she says after she hangs up the phone. “Why would someone kill Trevor?”
“I have no idea,” I reply, shaking my head and shrugging my shoulders.
“You don’t think it’s-”
“No, it can’t be,” I reply, cutting her off. “There’s no way he could be out here.” Doubt once again creeps into my mind the more I think about Robbie possibly being the one behind this.
Has he truly come back to finish what he started?
Nia begins to bite her lower lip, dread apparent in her eyes. Tee attempts to console her by wrapping her up in his arms.
“How are you holding up after seeing that?” Jared asks, coming up beside me. He rubs his hand on my arm and I send him a wan smile.
“I don’t know. I’m not sure it’s fully set in yet, but I hope those deputies get here soon.”
“That makes two of us,” he replies in a soft but worried tone.
It’s been thirty minutes since Nia called the sheriff’s office, and we’ve yet to have any deputies arrive at the house. I’ve been waiting by the living room window, watching for and sign of red and blue swirling lights to illuminate the front yard, but nothing so far. We’ve tried calling the office numerous times and have been met each time with a busy signal.
“This is ridiculous. I’m going to head down there and bring them here personally,” Brent announces, grabbing his coat from the rack by the front door.
“No, we should wait a little longer,” I say, but he continues to slip into his jacket. I jump to my feet and move over to him. “You can’t go out alone. We have no idea who’s out there.”
“He won’t be going alone,” Tee pipes up. “I’m going with him.”
“No, you’re not. You’re not leaving me here,” Nia interjects.
Tee turns to Nia and gently cradles her face in his hands. “Jared, Colton, and Laney will be here with you. We’ll be back before you know it,” he says in a calm manner. He bends down and kisses her on the lips with a sense of passion, almost like a soldier kissing his wife before he goes off to war.
“If you two are going, I’m going too,” I announce, sliding on my coat.
“Are you sure?” Brent asks, placing his hands on my shoulders.
“Yeah,” I reply before turning to Jared. “Take care of Nia and Colton while we�
��re out, okay?”
He nods. “Here, take this,” he says, handing me his cell. “You might need it out there since yours is still charging. Be careful.”
I give Jared a quick hug while thanking him before moving to stand in front of Nia. I take her in my arms and squeeze tight. “Call Tee or Jared’s phone if anything happens, all right? We’ll be right back, promise.”
“You better,” Nia replies, her voice quivering.
As the three of us leave through the front door, I turn back to Nia and Jared, who are standing on the porch. “Lock this door and then double check everything we locked earlier to make sure no one can get in.”
“Will do,” Jared responds as Nia sends me a slight nod.
After the door locks behind us, I follow the guys out to Brent’s truck. I hear Tee informing Brent that a mechanic won’t be able to come out until the morning to fix the van. He jumps into the passenger side of the truck as Brent opens the driver’s side door, allowing me to get into the middle seat. As I settle in and pull the seatbelt over my lap, Brent turns the keys in the ignition.
Pulling away from the house, we travel down the driveway toward the large arched tunnel of frosted trees. Silence falls between us as we continue down the road. We’re all focused on the scenery coming toward us since the headlights barely show the way through the thick snowfall.
“This is kind of crazy, isn’t it?” Tee asks, breaking our silent streak.
“Yeah, you could say that,” Brent replies, not taking his eyes off the road.
“I’ve never seen a dead body before,” I say, finally allowing the reality of our situation to set in.
“Me neither,” Brent comments, turning his head slightly toward me in order to catch my gaze.
“I wish I could say I haven’t, but being pre-med has kind of ruined that for me,” Tee comments.
The truck goes silent again until Tee draws our attention to the scene we’re approaching. “What are those flashing lights up ahead?”
The red and blue lights beam through the dark, illuminating the road and forest surrounding us. Brent brings the truck to a crawl as we move closer. A deputy’s car comes into full view, but something’s not right. The vehicle is pulled off to the side of the road and the passenger side door is resting wide open. Two road flares are lit and laying on the ground next to the car, adding even more light to the scene.
“What the fuck?” Tee asks the question we’re all probably thinking. “Do you think those are the deputies we’ve been waiting on?”
“Yeah, I’m pretty sure they are,” I reply, fear lacing each word as they leave my lips.
Brent puts the truck in park and then faces me. “We should call the sheriff’s office from their car radio. It should be a direct line.”
“That would require us to leave the safety of this truck,” I respond, not liking this plan in the slightest.
“What if they need our help?” Tee chimes in.
“Let’s all go together. Safety in numbers,” Brent states as he places his hand on my thigh.
“Don’t police cars usually have a gun stashed somewhere? Maybe we should look for that too,” Tee mentions.
“Good idea,” Brent agrees and then goes to open his door.
“Wait a minute,” I say, taking in a deep breath.
I can’t believe we’re about to do this.
“You ready?” Brent asks me, trying to make eye contact as I’m busy attempting to settle my nerves. I nod and follow him out of the truck, his hand holding onto mine the whole time.
Tee reconvenes with us at the front of the truck and we all stare down the car before us. We begin to walk toward it together, not breaking our linear formation while keeping a watchful eye on our surroundings. Our hearts are all beating so loudly that I can practically hear them pounding over the brisk wind blowing around us.
The closer we get to the vehicle, the more chaotic the scene appears to be. The driver’s side window is smashed in, but the glass still remains, looking like a crunched-up piece of tissue paper. We all stop in our tracks the instant the blood running down the door from the window becomes visible. Brent pans over to me, and I flash him a look telling him I want to return to the truck this instant.
When we reach the driver’s side door, we all exchange glances, waiting for one of us to open it. Brent takes a step forward and grabs the handle, his hand visibly shaking and his movements full of hesitation. The sound of the door popping open causes me to hold my breath. Brent pulls on it and allows gravity to take over as door falls open the rest of the way.
A scream erupts from me as the body of Deputy Miller slumps out of the opening and dangles there. I can barely hear the reactions of Brent or Tee over my own. I’m sent into hysterics when I notice the red ribbon tied around his neck.
“No, no, no! Oh my God, no!” I yell, covering my mouth with my hands while staring at the body in front of us.
Brent grabs my shoulders, spins me around to take my eyes off the carnage, and then brings his face right in front of mine. “Laney, come on. Don’t lose it now,” he says as he draws me in for a tight hug. He begins to stroke my hair, attempting to calm me down. Thoughts about Robbie rush through my head, and I find myself becoming crippled by fear. My worst nightmare is coming true.
He has come for me.
“The radio doesn’t work,” I hear Tee announce from behind us. “It’s been bashed in.”
Brent releases his hold on me and his eyes find mine once more, probably to make sure I’m doing okay enough to leave me and go check out Tee’s story about the car radio. As he walks away, I feel less safe and more vulnerable to everything around me. Numbness begins to flow over my body like cascading water from a shower head, encompassing me from head to toe. I stand there staring out into the woods, frozen. I hear Brent and Tee messing with the radio and a sudden thought crosses my mind.
“Where’s the other deputy? Deputy Randall?” I ask, but don’t turn around. “Nia said both of them were on their way.”
“There’s no sign of her anywhere. Maybe she got away,” Tee answers. “I don’t see a gun either.”
Peering down at the hypnotizing reddish-pink glow of the flare laying on the snow-dusted road a little ways from me, I see a small black object illuminated by its light. Breaking out of my catatonic state, I move toward it and snatch it up from the ground. It’s a cell phone. Swiping away the snow covering it, I turn it on only to find the screen is cracked.
I wonder if this is Deputy Randall’s phone.
My foot hits something in the road and causes a metal clanking noise. Looking down to see what I just kicked, I see black spikes sticking up out of the snow. I bend down to examine them closer while running my gloved fingers across the top of them. I realize they’re part of a long strand that extends the entire width of the road. It’s a full track of metal spikes with their tips pointing away from me.
“What the hell?” I whisper to myself.
Whipping my head back to the car, I notice the two tires I can see on this side are both flat with their hubcaps touching the ground. Glancing back at the line of spikes, I put two and two together and realize what these are.
“We need to leave, now!” I cry out to Brent and Tee while still staring down at the pointy pieces of metal.
The swirling red and blue lights show something moving a little ways down the road, pulling my attention. Tilting my head up to look at it full-on, I see a faint outline around whatever is moving toward us. I take a few steps in the shadow figure’s direction and then stop when it does. I can see a little clearer now, and it appears to be a person standing there in the distance, but their image is all blacked out.
“Deputy Randall? Is that you?” I ask, trying to see the person better.
The figure pulls up the hood on their jacket and I instantly recognize the fur fibers lining it.
Robbie!
The figure begins to move toward me again and I clench my eyes tight, hoping this is just my imagination.
/> “You’re not there, Robbie,” I mutter under my breath and then open my eyes. The person is still very much there and getting closer. “You’re not fucking there, Robbie,” I say again, but a little louder this time and more forceful. My eyes shoot open and I’m shocked to see the person is still advancing on my position. “You’re not, fucking, there!” I scream, and then am startled when I feel someone grab me from behind.
“Laney, what’s wrong?” Brent whispers close to my ear.
My eyes sprout open again to look in the direction of the shrouded figure. It’s still coming at us. This time, I notice it’s carrying something long and narrow in its right hand. The object begins to glisten when the car lights hit it, causing it to shimmer like a piece of metal.
It’s an ax!
“Tee, get in the damn truck. Someone’s coming,” I hear Brent call out, meaning he also sees him and I’m not imagining this. He begins dragging me to the vehicle while my horrified eyes never leave Robbie.
“Holy shit,” Tee shouts when he sees the person approaching us. He hauls ass for the truck’s passenger’s side.
I keep my gaze fixed over my shoulder, still not believing Robbie Jameson is right there behind us. I hear Brent yank open the driver’s side door before shouting for me to get inside. I snap out of my trance and hurry into my seat with Brent’s assistance. Robbie is still moving toward us with no sign of stopping.
Brent fumbles with the key as he tries to put it in the ignition. He releases a groan, echoing mine and Tee’s response to the delay. Finally able to get the key in, he twists it hard and the truck rumbles on, shaking a little from the force of the Hemi engine. He throws the vehicle in reverse.
Before he has a chance to push on the gas pedal, I see Robbie in front of us, rearing back with the ax clutched in both hands above his head. He flings it forward and sends it hurling in our direction. It feels like everything goes into slow motion as I watch the ax spin toward the windshield, end over end. I barely have any time to react before it lodges in the glass right in front of where I’m sitting. The scream that explodes from me sends my hands clutching around Brent’s arm, and my head plants into his shoulder in an attempt to dodge the incoming shower of glass.
