“Somebody was in here,” Jose rambled, still pacing back and forth by the dining room table. “Somebody was in this fucking cabin and they killed that guy. Stuffed him in the fucking freezer. Took his fucking eyes out.”

Needles could finally breathe again. He stared at Frank. “I told you, Frank. I told you we couldn’t stay here. There’s something bad here. There’s something coming for us. For all of us.”

“Shut up, Needles,” Frank growled.

“The devil’s coming for us. That’s what that old man in the bank said. The devil’s coming for us and he’s going to kill us all.”

“I said shut up,” Frank snapped. “I’m trying to think.”

Cole watched as Needles backed away out of the kitchen, shaking his head no over and over again. “No, I’m not staying here. I’m not waiting for the devil to come.”

Frank rushed at Needles and grabbed him by the front of his thermal shirt, his fists bunched up in the fabric. He pushed Needles back a few steps into the kitchen counter. “You want to leave so bad?!” he yelled at Needles, spittle flying from his lips. “Go on, then!”

Needles stared at Frank for a long moment, his body trembling; his eyes darted to the front door like he was re-thinking his statement, like he was thinking about being out there alone.

“Okay, then,” Frank said as he let Needles go. He turned and walked away. “Just shut up and let me think.”

Everyone was silent, the cabin eerily quiet except for the nonstop howling wind outside. Jose couldn’t take the silence anymore. “We need to do something, man. There’s some kind of psycho running around out there.”

Frank looked at Jose. “There’s nothing we can do right now while that blizzard’s out there. We’re stuck here for the night.”

“What about that guy’s truck parked out there?” Jose asked. “Maybe it runs. Maybe we should start it up.”

“In the morning,” Frank growled. “After the storm lets up.”

Cole looked back down into the freezer at Tom Gordon’s body; he studied it for a moment. Then he turned and opened a drawer near the stove. He rummaged through the kitchen utensils until he found a long wooden spoon. He poked Tom Gordon’s body with the spoon’s handle. The handle of the spoon pushed into Tom Gordon’s soft flesh. “Somebody did this to him within the last few hours,” Cole said. “His body isn’t even frozen yet.”

“Oh, that’s comforting,” Jose snorted.

Trevor looked around. “This doesn’t make any sense. There should be blood all over the place. His eyes are gone. There should be blood somewhere.”

Cole thought of the large single drop of blood he’d seen in the bedroom, but then decided against saying anything about it. It was only one drop of blood; Trevor was right, there should be a hell of a lot more blood somewhere in this cabin. He looked at the others. “No signs of struggle anywhere in the cabin.”

“Maybe they knocked the guy out,” Frank suggested. “Then carved out his eyes and stuffed him in the freezer.”

“Why?” Jose asked as he walked back towards the group. “Why would someone do that?”

“I don’t think it was a robbery,” Cole answered. “It doesn’t look like anything was taken. It doesn’t even look like anything was searched through.”

“Then why, Sherlock?” Jose asked. “Someone just killed this guy for the hell of it. Just for shits and giggles?”

“Maybe he had some enemies,” Trevor said. “Maybe he owed someone some money.” Trevor and Frank locked eyes for the briefest of moments.

“Then this place would’ve been ransacked,” Cole answered quickly. “They would’ve looked for the money in here.”

“Then it’s some fucking psycho,” Jose said. “Some psycho who just likes to kill.” Jose glanced at the front door of the cabin. “Maybe he’s still out there. Maybe he saw us pull up here in front of the cabin.”

Stella and David stood up from the couch and started to walk towards the hallway until Frank’s voice stopped them in their tracks.

“Where the hell do you think you’re going?”

Stella stared at Frank. “We’re going to the bathroom,” she answered in a strong voice.

“Both of you?”

“There might be a crazy person out there. I’m not letting David out of my sight.”

Frank sighed and made a go-ahead gesture. He turned back to the others.

Cole glanced at the hall. He waited until he heard the bathroom door close and lock. A thought occurred to him, a thought he didn’t want to say aloud. Maybe whoever Stella and David were running from did this to Tom Gordon.

Stella closed and locked the bathroom door. She looked at David.

“It’s happening again,” David whispered; his voice trembled as he stared up at her with his dark eyes.

Stella nodded. “I know.”

“You said we would be safe,” he whispered to her. “You said it wasn’t going to follow us.”

A pang of guilt ran through Stella. “I know. I’m sorry.”

“It’s going to start asking for things,” David said, his voice getting louder.

“Sssh,” Stella said as she glanced at the bathroom door, and then she looked back at David, locking eyes with him. “David, listen to me. This is very important. I know you’re scared. I’m scared too. But we have to be strong. We can’t let them know what we know. Do you understand?”

David just stared at her.

“We can’t let them know that we’ve seen this before. We have to try and survive. You know what’s going to happen at first. We have to be patient and plan a way out of this. Just like last time. Okay?”

David finally nodded.

“Can you be strong?”

David nodded. “I’ll try.”

“Good,” she said. She got down on one knee and hugged him, holding his trembling body tight. “I’m going to protect you again. I swear I will. You believe me, don’t you?”

David nodded as she held him. “Yes,” he said into her shoulder.

Stella and David both jumped from a sudden loud knocking at the bathroom door. “Let’s not make a career out of this in there,” they heard Jose say from the other side of the door.

Stella and David looked at each other. “A career?” Stella said, and she couldn’t help it – she burst out laughing. David began to laugh a little, but Stella couldn’t stop. It wasn’t even funny, but that made it somehow funnier in her mind.

Finally, they regained their composure. Stella flushed the toilet to make it seem like they had used it. Then she washed her face in the sink and then she washed David’s face with the warm water and a wash cloth. “We’re going to be okay,” she whispered to him. “We’re going to get through this. I promise.”

They all watched Stella and David as they came out of the bathroom and walked back to the couch and sat down. Stella stared at Frank. Frank could see something different in her eyes – defiance, a lack of fear.

Frank finally tore his eyes away from Stella. He turned to Trevor. “Find some blankets and sheets. Pillows. Sleeping bags. Anything you can find. We’re all sleeping out here in the living room together where we can keep an eye on each other.”

Trevor took off down the hall for the bedrooms.

Frank looked at Cole. “Tomorrow, when the storm lets up, you check out Stella’s truck – see if it can be fixed.”

Cole nodded.

“Check out that other truck out there, too. And the garage. Maybe you can use some parts from that truck on Stella’s truck.”

Cole shrugged, but he didn’t look too hopeful. “Yeah, maybe.”

Trevor came back with an armload of blankets, sheets, and pillows. He dumped them on the floor, but he kicked a blue sleeping bag away from the blankets and sheets. “I got dibs on the sleeping bag,” he called out to everyone.

“We’ll sleep in watches tonight,” Frank said. “I’ll take the first watch.”

CHAPTER ELEVEN

Cole’s eyes popped open in the murky, early morning light that invaded the dark cabin. Something had woken him. A noise – some kind of thumping noise. Over and over again. And it was cold in the living room, like someone had turned off the heat.