Neil had indulged himself with a very long, hot shower.
He was beginning to feel human again, after the rigours of the futile search out in the forest. A glass or two of fine cognac had helped his recovery and he now stood smiling contentedly, eyes shut, with the full force of the shower on his face. He hadn’t a care in the world.
Shaking his head to clear his ears, he turned off the flow of water. He was reaching for his towel when he heard a loud banging. What was that? He paused, but whatever had caused the noise appeared to have stopped and Neil was unconcerned. He supposed that the plumbing in a building as old and, frankly, substandard as this one, would be cantankerous and prone to bangs and rattles; maybe some air had been trapped in the system of pipes and cisterns.
Then it came to him that the banging had probably been one of the others coming back to the hotel. Damn! Just when things were going so well. Now he’d have to unlock the front doors to let them in and then deal with all their questions. Why aren’t you out there searching like the rest of us? How could you casually take a shower while the kids are lost out in the forest? Blah, blah, blah...Like he cared! He sighed; might as well get it over with.
Wrapping himself in a bath robe, Neil crossed the landing to look down into the darkened lobby. Seeing no one, he was about to continue down the stairs, when a movement caught his eye.
The tall, ragged figure of the Shadowman was standing in the middle of the room. Neil could not yet see its face, but the unnatural thinness, the dark coat and the pale hands with their long, bone white fingers were unnerving enough. Neil began to back away, but his feet, still wet from the shower, slipped on the polished wood and he fell noisily, grabbing at the handrail for support.
The skull face of the Shadowman snapped up towards him and Neil looked down into the depths of those jewel black eyes. Slowly, with menacing deliberation, the Shadowman smiled and Neil blanched at the sight of the sharp, jagged teeth. Too frightened to scream, he suddenly turned and ran, in blind panic, to the nearest room. It was a child’s bedroom and, in the dark, Neil cursed with desperate frustration as he tripped and stumbled over discarded toys and clothes. Arms outstretched, he frantically searched for the doors of the closet. Once inside, he pulled the doors shut and held them closed.
His heart was beating erratically and much too quickly. His breath was coming in short, racing gulps. The rest of his body was frozen. He was tense; listening and wildly staring into the dark. Through the closet door, barely an inch from his face, he could hear the sounds of bedroom doors being opened and closed. Whatever that thing was, it was coming for him; searching from room to room.
And the sounds were getting closer.
Neil held his breath for several, tense seconds as droplets of sweat rolled, tickling, down his face and back. His cramped fingers, gripping the handle of the closet door began to tremble. If that thing came into the room now, there would be no hiding the noise of that vibration. Fighting to control his panic, Neil had to use his last reserve of energy to control his shaking hand. Now he could only wait.
Finally, after many minutes, Neil allowed the unbearable tension in his body to subside; the sounds had died away. Ever cautious though, he decided to remain where he was for a few minutes more, listening intently for any sound of the creature’s return. After maybe five more minutes of absolute silence, save the tiny sounds of his own breathing, he flexed his fingers and prepared to turn the handle. Slowly, with eyes screwed shut in concentration, Neil eased the door open.
He opened his eyes.
The hollow, black eyes were staring right back at him, just inches from his own.
Neil gasped. He was petrified.
In total silence, the Shadowman leant his head first to one side and then to the other, as if studying Neil’s stricken face. He then eased forward, until his pale, lifeless face was almost touching Neil’s. Neil stared maniacally back, his breaths now shallow, staccato, his whole body rigid. Like an insect trapped in the spider’s web, he knew he was about to die but he was too shocked to do anything.
Apparently satisfied, the Shadowman grinned, pulling back his parchment skin to expose the dagger sharp teeth. Neil now had the choking smell of its breath in his nostrils. He couldn’t bear this. He was going to faint.
With a dry, scratching sound, the creature slowly extended its arms. As Neil watched, horrified, the bony hands pulled open both doors of the closet. With an abandonment of all control, urine flooded hot down Neil’s trembling legs, soaking into his bathrobe. He registered the sensation almost as though detached from his own body; he was powerless to prevent it.
The Shadowman tilted his head once more and then, inexplicably, stepped back from the door. Still frozen, Neil continued to stare. What was happening? Why wasn’t he dead? As he stared fixedly into the glittering eyes, his brain slowly began to re-engage with the situation. Perhaps this thing was blind and, if Neil were able to remain absolutely still, he would seem invisible to it. Yes, all he had to do was to wait the creature out. He could do that.
But, as the minutes slipped by, the Shadowman made absolutely no sound and showed no discernible movement. He seemed not even to breathe. Neil, on the other hand, was increasingly consumed with the pain in his tensed muscles. He longed to grimace, to blink his burning eyes. Most of all he wanted to move his arms and legs. In the awful silence of the room, the pain built higher and higher.
Finally, Neil knew he could bear it no longer. He would have to make a dash for the bedroom door. Perhaps, if he locked the door behind him, the delay might give him some chance of escape. It seemed a very faint hope, but the pain was now such that he would almost prefer to be caught and killed than remain like this any longer. He had only to will himself to move. When he did, the movement would have to be fast. He would have to throw himself towards the door at full speed; any hesitation and he would be dead, no question. Looking into those unfathomable eyes, Neil began silently to count down from ten.
Three...Two...One!
Neil exploded from the closet. Dodging low to avoid the creature, he hurled himself at the bedroom door and grabbed for the handle, but it slipped in his sweating hands. He grabbed at it again, but it wouldn’t budge. The door was locked.
Neil was trapped. There was a rustling sound behind him; the thing was moving.
“Fuck!” Neil screamed, rattling the handle.
He was now blinking back tears, weeping at the futility of his attempt to escape and at the certainty of imminent pain and an agonising death. His energy spent, Neil let go of the handle. It was over. Resigned, he let his body relax, his head sinking forward, onto the panel of the door. He closed his eyes and waited for the end.
When no attack came, Neil’s sense of resignation turned to confusion. The thing must have seen him. Why hadn’t it made its move? Was it playing with him; a cat with a cornered mouse? Or, could it be that Neil was now invisible to it again? He hardly dared believe it but, with the most minute and studied of movements, he slowly turned his head. The creature was still in the centre of the room. It had turned towards him, but its head was down, its body motionless again.
Slowly, very slowly, Neil turned. With his back against the door and no sign of the door-key nearby, he scanned the darkened room for an alternative way out. The window was to the right of the creature and Neil peered closely at it, trying to see if it was locked. Glancing back briefly to the creature Neil saw, to his horror, that its head was now lifted and the dreadful eyes were on him again. It had been toying with him, savouring his terror. Neil froze, but this time there was no doubt that the creature could see him. With a scratching, as of a thousand tiny claws, it moved towards him.
Almost before Neil had realised what was happening, an arm had extended. It held still for a moment, high above him, the bony fingers stone-like and cold, drawing Neil’s gaze upward. Then, in a movement that was too rapid for him to follow, the arm slashed down and across his abdomen. Numb with shock, Neil looked down. In the darkness he could see very little, but he could feel something moving, in his guts. Puzzled, he reached down. The sodden bathrobe was ripped apart and Neil’s normally taut skin felt oddly slack. His fingers traced the folds of skin and came to a very straight, deep gash. Pressing through the exposed bands of muscle, he could feel the bulging, warm slipperiness of his own intestines. Blood rose in his throat and he coughed involuntarily. With that, the guts spewed out of him, smothering his hands in a tide of hot blood.
Neil collapsed to his knees, nauseous and light headed. He was aware for a few moments of a burning pain, a searing rawness of his nerves. Then a wash of painless calm came over him. He felt detached from everything, cocooned. It was over. There was no more reason to fight.
Neil let go, and died.
Rita could not persuade Jon to accompany her to the hotel. She watched as he limped away, the sight of his dogged perseverance making her even more determined to get Neil and Phil to rejoin the search. She hurried towards the hotel, slogging through the clinging snow. But just a short distance from the building, she stopped. Something was wrong. The front doors were open, hanging at crazy angles from their hinges.
Rita froze.
Listening, she could hear nothing but the gentle creaking of the shattered doors. She looked from window to window. There was no sign of life. Where was everyone? And what could have caused this damage? Rita’s mind filled with images of ferocious bears and madmen with chainsaws. Feeling the blood drain from her face, she shivered. She could feel herself beginning to panic.
Rita had to clear her mind so she could decide what to do. Her first instinct was to run away, very fast. But Phil and Neil were inside. And there was the old man, Spielman. They could all be hurt or injured. However, there was the additional concern that whatever had caused this damage could also still be inside the hotel.
Eventually, her decision was made for her. As she stood pondering her next move, the skies suddenly darkened and heavy snow began to fall again. With huge flakes falling thickly and forming a dense wall of shifting darkness all around her, the darkened lobby beyond the broken doors now seemed to Rita to be the less threatening option. Gripping her knife more tightly, she moved cautiously up the steps.
Ducking in through the battered doors, she could see very little and, after some moments of indecision, decided that she would have to get some light, even if it drew attention towards her. Grim-faced, with her back braced against the wall and the knife held ready, Rita clicked on the light. She was at first dazzled by the sudden brightness and then amazed to see that the room was exactly as it had been when she left the building earlier. She had been expecting a scene of chaotic devastation, but nothing was out of place, which Rita found even more disturbing. The splintered wood from the doors was scattered inside the doorway, which meant that the force had been directed inward, from outside, but what had happened after that? Had the attacker simply vanished or had there been no one here to offer any resistance? Perhaps Phil, Neil and Spielman had already escaped, or maybe they had hidden. But where were they now?
Rita dared not call out. If whoever, or whatever, had done this was still inside the building, the light would already have announced her arrival to them; they already had that advantage of her. And while she might hope that they had taken flight on seeing the light come on, she was more concerned that they might still be here. Maybe, even now, they were watching her, alert and ready to pounce. For the moment, Rita remained motionless and silent, not knowing who or what she might face and unsure what she should do next: stalemate, with an unseen and possibly non-existent foe.
She knew that she had three choices. She could turn and run away. This idea had obvious and immediate appeal but, as well as seeming the cowardly option, a glance beyond the wrecked doors showed that the snowfall had not lessened. Alternatively, she could stay exactly where she was and wait for help to arrive, but she had no idea how long it would take for anyone first to realise that help was needed and then to come to her aid. Finally, she could summon all her courage and search the hotel for Phil, Neil and Spielman, with the constant fear that she might find someone or something else, or that it would find her.
It was with sickening dread that Rita resolved to take the third course of action. She would start with the ground floor. Spielman had been in the lounge and Phil seemed to spend a good deal of time in the bar, so she would search these two rooms first. The lounge door was ajar, but again, everything inside was in order. Dying embers of the fire still glowed in the grate. There was no sign of the old man, but also no sign of any struggle. Rita crossed to the bar. She hadn’t been in this room before but again, nothing looked disturbed or damaged and there was no one there. The dining room. The large room was reasonably tidy, considering what inexperienced hands had set and cleared the tables. Again, there was nothing untoward or out of place.
Back in the lobby, Rita had a decision to make: should she go down to the basement, or search the upper floors? It was perhaps the fear of being trapped underground, with no escape route except up via the lobby, that led to Rita climbing the main stairs in order to search the bedrooms first. She went on up to the rooms in the attic and searched each one carefully, thankful that the beds were divans, with no space beneath them to hide an attacker. The closets and bathrooms were also empty and Rita began to allow herself to believe that the attacker had fled the building after demolishing the front doors. She could almost imagine that, at some time in the future, she would look back on her tremulous progress through the hotel and laugh at herself. Almost.
Rita descended to the first floor feeling curiously detached; she was terrified, but nevertheless, here she was, searching an unfamiliar building, alone, with three adults and five children missing and a madman on the loose. It was so unlike her to behave in this way.
She’d always taken pride in having what her mom called ‘good old fashioned common sense’, but usually that good sense served to keep her out of danger, rather than draw her into it. Where had the courage come from to tackle this? Rita had never had to confront a burglar in her home or a mugger on the street, yet now she had accepted that she might have to deal with a kidnapper and murderer. It was bizarre that this should be happening to someone as ordinary as herself, and equally bizarre that she should be rising to the challenge. Only two days ago, her life had seemed so routine, almost humdrum. Nothing had given a clue as the turn her life was about to take. Perhaps it was the unexpectedness of the situation and its remoteness from her normal life that allowed her to cope. Whatever the explanation, Rita felt herself to be changed; she could, and would, cope with this.
With renewed determination, she began to search the first floor bedrooms.
Bill and Annie were slipping and sliding along the treacherous rocks at the river’s edge, heading downstream. Hand in hand, each drew comfort and resolve from the other, but the cold was sapping their strength.
They had been quiet for perhaps an hour when Annie broke the silence.
“Bill, we’ve missed the shack haven’t we?”
“Yeah, Honey, I think we have. If Spielman’s map was anything like to scale we should have got to the clump of trees he talked about, near the falls, way back. But it’s just too dark, we most likely went right by and didn’t see them.”
Annie began to sob quietly.
“Come on, Honey, I could be wrong: maybe we haven’t got there yet. We can’t know for sure, so we’ll keep on looking, OK? We won’t give up.”
He squeezed her hand and she pulled him to her in a brief hug.
“Sure. We’ll keep looking...And we’ll find Lisa and Mikey.”
Bill kissed her, but couldn’t trust himself to speak.
They fell to silence again for some time until, with moonlight reappearing, they could see that the river was dividing into two streams around a rocky outcrop.
“Which should we follow?”
Bill shrugged.
“No idea. I don’t remember Spielman showing the river dividing like this.”
“Well,” Annie sounded very matter of fact, “we’re on this bank so I reckon we should follow this stream.”
“Sounds good to me, Honey. How’re you doing?”
“Hey, don’t you worry about me. I’m OK, especially now I can see where I’m putting my feet.”
Annie managed a brave smile. She and Bill walked on.
“What’s that sound?” she asked.
“I’m not sure, Hon.”
A few minutes passed.
“It’s getting louder.”
“I’ve got a bad feeling about it: I think it might be a waterfall, and it sounds like a big one. If we lose the moonlight I think we should stop in case we get too close to the edge.”
As if on cue, clouds obscured the moon and the light was gone. Abruptly thrown into darkness, Bill and Annie waited, looking skyward to see if a gap in the clouds was imminent. After several minutes, they risked edging forward, very slowly. The noise was becoming a thunder. Fine spray soaked the air.
“I think we should stop.”
Annie sounded anxious.
“OK, Honey, we’ll wait for the light.”
Stopping where they were, their patience was soon rewarded as a veil of thinner cloud skimmed in front of the moon. They gasped and instinctively drew closer together. They were teetering on a wide slab of rock that overhung the waterfall. Looking ahead there was only empty space and looking to the side, their gaze was drawn almost hypnotically down into the plummeting maelstrom.
“Jeez that was close!” Bill whispered through clenched teeth.
Annie was already beginning to move away from the precipice, gently pulling him to follow.
“Bill, come on. Don’t look down.”
She could see that Bill was becoming transfixed by the water falling away into the mist, far below them. Fringed in waterlogged moss, the rock on which they were standing was itself slippery; Annie and Bill were in great danger. Bill was physically exhausted and had been stressed beyond endurance. He was now being lulled into a stupor by the falling water. Annie had to get him to concentrate on moving away from the edge, but she didn’t want to startle him. She had to raise her voice above the din, but she spoke slowly, with gentle insistence.
“Bill? Bill, come on. Come with me.”
At this, Bill dragged his attention from the falling wall of water and stared, uncomprehending, into Annie’s eyes.
“That’s it, my love,” she soothed, “Come with me.”
Still in a dream, Bill allowed Annie to lead him back into the trees.
Rather than try to retrace their steps, clambering back along the riverbank, with the risk of slipping into the river so near the head of the waterfall, Annie decided to strike out into the trees. She had no idea in which direction she was leading Bill. She knew only that she had to keep going. She surprised herself with the force of her own single-mindedness. They would find Lisa and Mikey, or they would die in the attempt.
With the moonlight still strong and clear, Dave and Lou were making slow but steady progress through the trees.
Since Jeff’s departure, Lou hadn’t said a word. As she led the way, with Dave following in her wake, her mind was turning over and over. She knew that she had no basis by which to judge which direction they should take, but she walked on, willing this route to be the right one, praying that she would stumble on some clue, some evidence that Ethan was still alive. She had to believe that she would find him; she could not live if she were to give up on her son now. He was her future. She simply had to find him.
Left to his own musing, Dave suddenly had a worrying thought.
“Lou! Lou listen to me.”
Lou slowed her pace, but continued walking.
“What?”
“The man who had Emma obviously thought the kids were still at the hotel, so he can’t have been the one who kidnapped them.”
“Yeah. So?”
“Well, they wouldn’t have just wandered off on their own, would they? So someone else must have taken them. We should be careful; there’s more than one of them out here.”
They both began to look around, scanning the area.
“I wish we had the flashlight,” said Dave.
“I wish we had the knife.”
Annie was stumbling now. Neither she nor Bill felt they had any heat left in their bodies. The snow was making their movements tortuously slow and the bitter cold was unrelenting. Bill was moving now as if in his sleep; fighting to keep his eyes open, but beginning to lose the battle. His walk had been reduced to a painful shuffle.
They were barely moving and Annie knew that they were not going to survive the night. Her earlier dispassionate conclusion, that she did not want to live if her children were dead, was again in the forefront of her mind, so she was unafraid at the prospect of her own death. She was not alone now; she and Bill would die here together. They would be with Lisa and Mikey soon.
A sense of peaceful resignation calmed her.
“Bill,” she whispered, “I think we should rest a while.”
Bill turned his drowsy eyes to hers. He was awake enough to know what Annie meant. If they sat down to rest out here, they would sleep and never wake.
At first he thought to argue, but he had no strength left. He was close to collapse. He nodded to Annie and they sank to the ground. They kissed each other for the last time, then closed their eyes. They lay together, in an embrace, waiting for sleep and oblivion.
Travelling alone, Jeff had journeyed upstream without mishap and was now at the foot of the icy rockface.
He used the flashlight, low against the rock, to highlight handholds and ledges, but then had to switch off and stow the light, to free both hands for climbing. After all the night’s exertions, his legs trembled as he supported all his weight on his toes. His cold fingers felt numb and awkward as he felt for the holds. He was making progress up the rockface, but it was unbearably slow. Then, just as he neared the top, he heard a crashing, snapping sound above the thunder of the water. Jeff hung on, listening. His fingers were beginning to cramp and the back of his calves were shaking quite violently. He gasped. Unable to support his weight for much longer, he would either have to scramble for the top now, or fall. Suddenly there was something above him: a head. Spielman!
The old man dropped to his knees and hauled Jeff up to the top. Then as Jeff looked up and saw Emma, Spielman clamped a hand over Jeff’s mouth.
“Yuh musn’t make a sound. It’s in the hotel. Y’understand? We gotta get outa here, right now.”
Overjoyed in spite of Spielman’s warning, Jeff and Emma hugged each other. Jeff kissed his daughter’s hair, and wept through his smiles. But, watching their reunion, Spielman was becomming increasingly agitated.
“We really gotta go.”
He pulled at Jeff’s sleeve and led them upstream, along the top of the rockface.
“I’ve got a flashlight,” Jeff whispered above the noise of the water.
“No! No light. It’ll see us. We gotta get away from here or it’ll hunt us down. Yuh gotta move faster, son.”
“What is it?” Jeff whispered, “What’s in the hotel?”
“It’s what yuh daughter here calls the Shadowman. It’s killed before an’ it’ll kill again. We gotta get away. Yuh can hide out in my trailer.”
Jeff looked down at Emma’s frightened face.
“It’s true Dad,” she whispered, “The Shadowman killed Bill and he forced me to go to the hotel. Me and Mr Spielman only just got out of the hotel in time. We heard the Shadowman hammering on the front door when we sneaked out the back.”
Jeff put a reassuring arm around her shoulders and felt the shudders as Emma tried to stifle her tears.
They hurried on, following the course of the river, until a fast flowing tributary joined it to their left. Here, they turned and followed the new water course into the trees. Where the terrain became too steep, Spielman led them away from the stream, striking out into the forest. Soon, Emma and her father began to flag. The cold chilled them and the rough, snow-covered ground had them stumbling clumsily. Eventually, Spielman signalled to them to stop and rest. While they leant back against tree trunks he kept up a watch, looking back and forth and listening for any movement.
“OK we should go now. My trailer ain’t far. I had t’bring yuh a long ways around in case it was lookin’ for us.”
Spielman led the exhausted pair to a small clearing, in the middle of which stood his trailer. It was essentially a large, battered metal box; not a thing of beauty, and it was surrounded by piles of cut logs, covered with faded tarpaulins and deep snow. Oil-coated components from a variety of partially dismantled vehicles also littered the site. Spielman led Jeff and Emma to the door and ushered them inside.
The accommodation was basic, but after a night spent in the snowy wilderness of the forest, it seemed quite wonderful. Spielman took a pile of clean blankets out of a cupboard and showed Emma where she could sleep. Soon she was comfortably tucked up in a cozy makeshift bed but, before she let herself sleep, she urgently pulled Jeff closer.
“Dad, when the Shadowman realises I’ve got away, he’s going to go back to his cabin and Dave’s there. He’s going to kill Dave. You have to stop him.”
“Shh. Don’t worry. Dave’s not in that shack any more. Lou and I went there looking for you and the other kids. We found Dave and cut him free. He told me that you’d been there. That’s how I knew to come back upstream to the hotel to find you.”
“Oh Dad, you’re brilliant! I love you.”
Jeff could hardly hold back the tears. Emma had said she loved him. She’d called him brilliant. His heart felt full to overflowing.
“God, I love you too, Emma,” he squeezed her hand, “Now, you get some rest, OK?”
Emma nodded and snuggled down into the blankets. Jeff sat with her for a few minutes until her hand became limp in his and she began to snore gently. He tucked her hand under the blankets and went back outside to talk to the old man.
“Thank you so much for getting her out of the hotel.”
Spielman nodded.
“I’m gonna make me some coffee. Yuh wanna cup?”
Jeff nodded, but watched with increasing concern as the old man made up a fire from some of the wood lying around the trailer.
“Won’t the smoke give us away?”
“No, this wood’s very dry; ain’t much steam. Also, there ain’t much wind so what smoke there is should go straight up,” he explained, “The gas cylinder in the trailer don’t switch on right. Need to get it fixed. Generally, I’d use the generator, but that’s one noisy contraption, so I won’t be usin’ it till things is safe again.”
Soon the fire was lit and an ancient black kettle set to heat up over the flames. Spielman shovelled grounds into the boiling water and poured them both a steaming cup of strong coffee. They drank in silence for a few minutes, allowing the warmth to spread through their bodies.
Spielman spoke first.
“It ain’t human. That thing in the hotel. We were lucky to get away.”
Jeff decided not to address what the creature might be. He had more pressing worries.
“I have to go back.”
“No, son, yuh should stay here. It’ll kill again.”
“Rita, my wife, is going to go back there. She’s somewhere in the forest now, searching for Emma and the other missing children, but she’ll go back to the hotel sometime soon and she’ll have no idea what’s waiting there. I have to go back.”
Spielman looked anxious. He knew what Jeff would ask of him and he dreaded it.
“Would you look after Emma till I get back?”
The old man looked very worried indeed.
“Yuh shouldn’t go. That Shadowman’ll kill yuh.”
“I have to go back. Rita could walk into a trap. Please, I need you to look after Em.”
Spielman angrily cast the grounds of his coffee into the fire. As the flames fizzed and spat, the old man paced back and forth.
“Aw heck! Alright. But yuh get back here as soon as yuh can.”
“That’s a promise.”
Spielman noticed the knife in Jeff’s belt.
“I jus’ hope yuh know how t’use that.”
Jeff tried to look confident, but he couldn’t judge from Spielman’s expression whether he had succeeded. The old man looked very edgy and Jeff certainly felt very frightened himself.
“Take that path there. It’ll take yuh to the track that yuh drove in on when yuh came t’ the hotel. Turn left and follow the track, but keep off it. Stay in the trees where yuh got some cover and be careful, yuh hear?”
Jeff’s heart was thumping. He was quite terrified, but he managed to control his voice.
“Thanks,” he muttered, “I’ll do that.”
“Good luck, son.”
“Thanks for everything. Take good care of Emma.”
Spielman nodded and Jeff set off to return to the hotel, alone.
Jon was forcing his way through the trees.
He had wandered this forest in every season, so a covering of snow presented no problem; it could not completely disguise the familiar landmarks. He was travelling, as quickly as possible, back to his cave to get supplies. It was a desperately long journey when the fate of several children hung in the balance, but Jon knew that he would have need of every arrow and knife he owned if he were to defeat the monster he had seen in the shack all those years ago. Even with all his resources, Jon was not wholly convinced that the thing could be killed. But he knew he had to try.
He was nearing the stream that led to his cave when he noticed a disturbance of the fallen snow; something large had crossed his intended path, recently. With sudden dread, Jon faced the possibility that the monster had somehow overtaken him and cut him off from the sanctuary of his cave. Very well; if their confrontation was to be sooner than he had hoped, Jon’s best chance lay in catching the creature off guard. With luck, it might not realise that Jon was so close. Jon would follow its tracks, stalk it and attack it, hopefully before it was even aware of him.
Trusting to this plan, and to good fortune, Jon turned to follow the tracks. Fully alert, moving as quietly as possible, he crept cautiously forward, but found the tracks ending abruptly at a mound in the snow. Jon carefully approached it and saw that it was moving very slowly; almost imperceptibly rising and falling.
It was a body, no, two bodies. Jon brushed the light dusting of snow from them; a man and a woman. They were barely alive. The man, was very cold and near death; Jon would have to act swiftly to save him. With a grunt he lifted Bill up onto his back and set off, with as much speed as possible, to the cave.
He scrambled up the rocks and into the hidden entrance, then stopped in his tracks. There, lying together under some of Jon’s animal furs were three small children. They were fast asleep, but looked in good health. Recovering from the shock, Jon remembered the man he was carrying. He lowered Bill gently onto the floor and covered him with animal skins. Working quickly, he began to rub Bill’s arms and legs and, after much frantic effort, was rewarded by a hint of colour returning to Bill’s skin.
Jon tucked the furs around Bill, then hurried off to recover the woman.
Left without even the small amount of heat from Bill’s body to warm her, Annie was fading fast. When Jon lifted her, he could feel the lifeless chill in her body. Ignoring his own safety he ran for the cave, with reckless speed. He slid her under the furs, next to Bill and rubbed furiously at her limbs to warm her. For a long time she remained deathly pale, her breathing almost undetectable, but Jon persisted and slowly she began to come back from the edge of lifelessness.
Wearied by the effort, Jon sat back. Wrapping himself in a fur, he took a few moments to survey his home. His possessions were all neatly stowed in their usual places but this familiar tidiness and order seemed completely at odds with the fact that, to his left, two adults were now sleeping under his warmest furs, while three children were snuffling contentedly as they slept under furs to his right.
How had these young ones found this place, one small cave in such a vast forest? Jon mulled over this problem as he made up a small fire. It was inconceivable that the children could have found this place without help. Who had brought them here?
Keeping watch, warming himself by the fire, it suddenly occurred to Jon that the children could have been hidden here, in his cave, by the creature that he had been arming himself to kill. It was possible that the evil he had feared all these years had finally discovered his sanctuary. If this was so, there would be no place of safety and Jon would have to go far away and find himself a new home, if were ever to feel safe again. He had to find out if his dread was justified. The children could tell him who had brought them here, but Jon couldn’t face their shock on seeing him. He felt foolish; he was in his own cave, his home, and yet he was afraid to wake one of his uninvited guests for fear of their reaction. He decided that he would wake the woman. She could question the children while he hid his face.
He shook Annie’s shoulder and prepared to quickly cover her mouth if she began to make too much noise. Annie opened her eyes.
“Holy shit!”
Her hand went to her mouth.
Jon put a finger to his lips, but Annie ignored it.
“Get away from me!”
Her voice was very loud, reverberating in the cave. Jon clamped his hand over her mouth.
“I not hurt you. Please, not noise.”
Annie’s eyes were wide and staring at him. She was in shock and though Jon hated to be examined so closely, he gave her a few seconds before trying again.
“I not hurt you. Please you not noise.”
He judged it was now safe to remove his hand. Annie continued to stare at him, as he eased back to squat by the fire.
“Who are you?”
“Jon.”
“Where’s my husband?”
She turned and saw Bill lying next to her.
“Bill. Bill, are you OK?”
Bill stirred, but didn’t wake.
“He very near dead. Now OK.”
“How did we get here?”
“I carry.”
Annie absorbed this and felt contrite.
“Thank you, Jon.”
She looked around her.
“Where are we?”
“I live here.”
“In a cave?”
Annie had spoken hastily and was immediately concerned that Jon might have taken offence at her tone, but he seemed not to have noticed.
“Yes.”
“Really?” she tried to hide her disbelief, “It’s...It’s lovely.”
Annie found her eyes drawn back to the scar disfiguring Jon’s face. She very much wanted to ask him about it, but she doubted his vocabulary could frame a useful answer. She turned her attention back to Bill.
“He will be OK, yes?”
“He rest. Be OK.”
Annie nodded and leaned over to give her sleeping husband a gentle kiss. She felt the warmth of his face and remembered with a shudder their last kiss, as they had lain down to die. How chill his lips had been then. Jon was right, Bill must have been very close to death. If this strange man hadn’t brought them here, they would probably both be dead by now.
She felt oddly ambivalent about still being alive; if they didn’t find the children, then she might regret Jon’s kindness. As soon as Bill had recovered they would have to go back out to the search.
Jon got to his feet.
“You come please.”
Puzzled and a little disconcerted, Annie stood up, but held back. Jon motioned her to follow him and led her to the other side of the cave.
“My God!” Annie shrieked, “Lisa! Mikey! Wake up! Mommy’s here.”
Annie was simultaneously laughing and crying, overjoyed at seeing her children alive and well. Lisa woke first, rubbing her eyes and yawning.
“Hi Mom.”
They hugged as Mikey began to stir.
“Mommy, Mommy, Mommy!” he yelled, throwing himself into her arms.
Disturbed by all the commotion, Ethan began to moan. Annie shepherded the others away so that the small boy could sleep on. As they neared Jon, he stepped away into the shadows and the children, noticing him for the first time, leaned back against their mother.
Annie was about to reassure them and tell them not to be frightened, that Jon was a good man who had saved their lives, but before the words had formed, a thought suddenly came to her: why were her children here? Was Jon the kidnapper? Had he taken them from the hotel? Straightening, she protectively pushed Lisa and Mikey behind her.
“Jon, tell me, how did these children get here?”
Jon shook his head and Annie narrowed her eyes. Had he not understood her, or was he avoiding her question? She would have her answer. She wasn’t afraid of this man. If he had done anything to harm her children, he would suffer for it. Angry now, she spoke the words with cold clarity.
“I asked you a question, Jon. Did you bring these children here?”
“No, Mom,” Lisa interjected before Jon could reply, “We came here with Laura.”
Lisa looked around.
“Where is she Mom? Where’s Laura?”
“I don’t know, Sweetie. I haven’t seen her.”
Annie turned to Jon, her tone now less hostile.
“Jon, where is Laura?”
“I not know Laura.”
“Laura...she’s a girl.”
Jon pointed at Lisa.
“Laura?”
“No, I’m Lisa.”
“No, Jon,” said Annie, “Not Lisa: another girl.”
“Not know. Lisa say Laura find here?”
He was beginning to understand. A girl, called Laura, had brought the three children to his cave. But why? Who was she?
“I not know Laura.”
“Her parents run a hotel, here in the forest.”
“Hotel? Children missing, hotel.”
“Yes,” Annie said, drawing her children close, “These children. These are the missing children.”
Jon was baffled. He could not understand how the girl had led three small children many miles from the hotel, through freezing temperatures and deep snow, to his small cave, in safety. How was it possible?
“We need to get back to the hotel.”
“No,” Jon was alarmed, “Not go in forest. Evil in forest.”
“What d’you mean? We have to tell the others that the children are safe.”
“What about Laura, Mom?”
“Yes, yes, we have to find Laura, and Emma too.”
“You stay in here...cave. I find Laura and Emmatoo.”
Lisa giggled. Annie nudged her to be quiet.
“You don’t understand, Jon. There are other people, our friends, looking for these children. We must tell them that these three are safe.”
“Please not. Not go in forest. Big evil in forest. I kill.”
Annie gasped.
“No,” Jon said quickly, “I kill evil.”
With a moan, Bill stirred.
“Annie, Annie? Where are you?”
“Daddy!”
Lisa and Mikey rushed to their father, taking him completely by surprise. He could hardly believe the evidence of his eyes.
“Lisa? Mikey? My God, it’s really you!”
With tears pouring down his cheeks, Bill hugged his children to him. Annie joined them and tenderly stroked her children’s hair as Bill continued to hug them so tight that they could barely breathe. Annie told him that Laura had brought the children to the cave.
“Why? Why did she take you?”
“It was a game,” said Lisa.
“Darling?” said Annie, “Did Laura make you leave the hotel?”
“No, she didn’t make us. We were just playing and she brought us here. It’s an adventure, like back when there were pirates.”
Annie frowned.
“Darling, tell Mommy, did you meet anyone who was mean to you? Were there any pirates?”
Lisa gave her mother a disparaging look.
“I’m eight years old, Mom. It was just a game; there aren’t really any pirates.”
“Good, good. Mommy’s glad to hear that.”
Bill looked up.
“Honey, how did we get here?”
“This guy, over here,” she motioned to Jon, “saved both of us; carried us here, when we were all but frozen to death.”
Bill looked up, but Jon stayed back in the shadows. Annie beckoned to him again.
“Jon, why don’t you come say hello?”
“Jon?” said Bill, “Is that your name, sir? I’m Bill and I want to thank you, from the bottom of my heart, for saving my lovely wife and children, and me too.”
With some difficulty, Bill stood up.
“Please, Jon. I’d like to shake your hand.”
Jon reluctantly edged forward, into the firelight. Bill saw the scar, but his own smile never faltered. He walked forward and took Jon’s hand.
“Thank you, Jon. I owe you, big time.”
Jon was astounded. No one had ever reacted in this way. Even Suzie had been frightened at first sight, but this man didn’t flinch. He showed Jon only sincere gratitude and respect. Jon was dumbfounded.
“Jon, when I was waking just now, you were saying something about evil in the forest.”
Jon picked out a few of the words, but wasn’t sure that a question was being asked of him. He frowned and shook his head.
“Keep it simple, Honey, I don’t think Jon speaks english.”
Bill looked directly into Jon’s eyes.
“I speak too fast?”
Jon nodded.
“I am sorry, Jon. Is there evil in the forest?”
“Yes, evil, yes. You stay here. Not go forest. I go find Laura and Emmatoo.”
“Laura and Emma.”
“Emma,” Jon repeated.
“But will evil harm you?”
Jon looked blank, so Bill tried again.
“Evil kill Jon?”
“No. Jon kill evil. Find Laura and...Emma”
Bill turned to Annie.
“He’s going to go out there and look for the girls and I’ve seen what’s out there. I’ve seen the thing that’s got Emma. I can’t let him face that alone. Will you stay here and watch over the kids -”
“No, Bill!”
Annie could see where the conversation was going and she didn’t like it.
“Don’t say another word. We both nearly died out there. The kids are safe now and I won’t let you risk yourself going out there again. Please Bill.”
“Annie, he’s going out to look for Emma and Laura. I can’t let him go alone. I have to go.”
“OK then, why don’t you stay here with the kids and I’ll go and play the hero out in the forest.”
“The kids need their mother.”
“Yeah? Well they need their father too and you’ll be no use to us dead.”
“I know that, Honey. I won’t do anything stupid.”
“Going back out there is stupid!”
“Annie, I can’t let him go against that thing alone. I couldn’t live with myself. It’s...it’s not like anything you’ve ever seen. And we have to try to get Emma back, and find Laura.”
“Huh! That stupid girl shouldn’t have taken the kids out of the hotel in the first place. I don’t want you dying to save her.”
“Annie, don’t talk like that. Rita said Laura’s simple. You can’t blame the poor kid.”
“Yeah? Well I do. This is all her fault”
Annie didn’t really mean any of this, but she was very frightened for Bill. The recent memory of his ice cold lips and skin was painfully vivid; she had come too close to losing him already. But, no matter how much she might wish otherwise, Annie knew that Bill would go. He simply could not stand by and ignore someone in need of help. He was always selfless. It was one of his most wonderful and endearing characteristics; one of the reasons she loved him.
“Annie, please try to understand.”
Annie understood. She knew that Bill’s selflessness could be the cause of her losing him. She knew it, but there was nothing she could do to prevent it.
“Go then. See if I care.”
Bill hugged her.
“Thanks Annie, and I promise, I’ll be careful.”
“You’re a stubborn fool, Bill Clearwater. And you’d better take care of yourself, or so help me...”
Bill squeezed her hand.
“Jon,” he said, “I come with you. Find Emma and Laura.”
Jon looked Bill up and down. A short time ago, this man had been near death and now he wanted to go back out into the forest. Perhaps he was crazy. He didn’t look crazy, but he didn’t look like much of a fighter either. Also, he had shown Jon immediate respect and acceptance. No one had ever done that; Jon didn’t want to see him hurt.
“No.”
“Jon?”
“No.”
“Jon, you need help.”
“No. You stay here in cave. Not go in forest. I go find Laura and Emma.”
“I insist. I go find Laura and Emma with Jon.”
Jon shook his head. He was sure that taking this man with him would be a mistake. At the very least Bill would slow him down and, should the worst happen, Bill would be of little use against the evil. But time was pressing and it seemed that he was not going to be able to convince Bill to stay.
He nodded.
“You eat.”
Jon took some dried meats and fruits from his food store for Annie, Bill and the children to share. While they were eating, he took containers down to the stream and filled them with water. Returning, he showed Annie where he stored kindling and wood for the fire.
It was time to leave. Annie was trying to be brave for the sakes of Lisa and Mikey, but a tear was trembling on her eyelashes as she and Bill made their farewell.