Priorities
The day turned to night, and she didn’t want to leave the girls. After Nicole woke again, she fed her a half cup of oatmeal watered down with reconstituted milk. She’d hoped this would be gentle enough for her to keep down. Nicole fell asleep again, having never been alerted to her father’s presence earlier. Sloane thought it was best this way. Once the girl was better, they’d figure out what to do with her, but living with Doug in his current state was out of the question.
Wren said she had watched as Doug shut himself back inside his house, gnarly knife and all, and hadn’t left the residence again. They kept up the vigil, but as the evening came, Sloane decided to take the dogs back to their designated houses.
She went alone this time since the girls were scared after what they’d witnessed earlier in the day. She’d left both of her daughters locked in her room, as before, with the same orders. If Doug shows up here, shoot him dead. She set up the neighbors’ yards in a different arrangement than the night before and waved to Wren whenever she could to ease her fears. She had to keep up the illusion that Trent was home or Doug would be at her door again in the morning.
She needed to recheck the hoses, feed the dogs, and lock up for the night. She’d begun varying her routine so that no one watching could surprise her. This time, she began with the Millers, who now had a solar lantern on in their dining room, and then the Bakers, who had closed their downstairs windows and opened the upstairs ones. Finally, as she and Ace walked into the Carsons’ house, it was pitch black. She and Ace were making their way to the kitchen when the tiny hairs along her neck stood up. She began to turn on her little flashlight when, all of a sudden, Ace began to growl, low and ominous. Fear shot through her in an instant.
Someone was in there, in the dark. She turned on the flashlight and saw the blood drops along the carpeted entry. Doug! She turned to leave when she heard him speak.
“Trent! I’m going to get you before you get me!”
She turned around and Doug was on top of her. She saw a glint of a knife above her, followed by a sudden impact and a sharp pain. She felt him tug at the handle that now was a part of her somehow. Ace lunged at him. A mauling sound made Doug pierce the night air with a high-pitched scream.
She staggered backwards and ran for the doorway. When she stumbled out into the night, the screaming and growling followed her. She drew her gun, but not before she looked down and saw the knife embedded to the hilt into her shoulder, the handle sticking out before her. The pain hit her and she fell to her knees.
Ace emitted a painful shriek from within the house. A sound erupted from the opposite side of the street and when she looked up at her own bedroom window, she saw her girls were screaming in horror and pointing behind her. She turned again and saw Doug running toward her with a murderous, deranged look on his face. He thought she was Trent. She raised the Glock and fired at him. He never slowed down. He kept coming for her. She fired again and again, and still he was coming at her. She felt the dark closing in. She was fainting and he was nearly on top of her. She fired once more and then her head fell backwards and slammed into the pavement of Horseshoe Lane.
Her eyes flickered toward the girls in the window. Their mouths agape, she could no longer hear their screams. Her own heartbeat was somehow too loud and crowded out their cries. Above her, the stars twinkled, the moon was full and bright, and then it all died out into the night.