“We made it,” Beth whispered. She leaned against him for support. There was a look of wonder in her eyes, like she’d been unexpectedly surprised in a good way. For a moment—just a moment—she looked like Lily.
“I told you we would. I promised to keep you safe.” Beth looked at him quizzically. “Her name was Lily,” he finally confessed. “I should’ve been there for her, and I wasn’t. I thought if I saved you, maybe I could make up for it.” Zack trailed off. They had reached the tower.
The door was unlocked and swung open almost as soon as he touched the knob. Zack led Beth up a winding staircase. The radio tower reminded Zack of a lighthouse he visited once as a child. At night, the tower seemed far less innocuous than the lighthouse he’d toured in the daytime. The metal steps creaked under his weight. By the time they reached the top, he was again out of breath.
“The equipment actually looks functional,” Beth said. She almost smiled.
Zack nodded. The radios appeared new, as did all the other systems on the wall. “Get on the computer. See if you can send a message. I’ll try to use the radios.”
To his surprise, he immediately received a response.
“Hello?” repeated a voice on the other end of the strong signal.
“This is Zack Allen,” he said. “I’m in the radio tower of Drifter’s Folly Memorial Park with another camper. Our friends are dead. We need help.”
There was silence on the other end for a moment, and Zack feared he’d lost the signal.
“Police units have already been dispatched to the park,” the voice said. “They should be arriving shortly.”
Beth stood from the computer and took his hand. Her eyes welled up with tears.
Zack was stunned. The police were already on their way? How was that possible?
“How did you know to find us?” Zack asked.
Someone else must have already phoned in. Relief flooded through him, and he finally allowed himself to start feeling hope. He’d kept his word. They would live. He looked at Beth, and for the first time in a long time he smiled. He no longer wanted to just survive. Zack realized that he wanted to—he could—live again, truly live for something.
That was when he realized that there was still no response on the other end of the radio. Suddenly, all the lights in the tower went dead. Beth’s grip on Zack’s hand tightened.
“Zack, look.” She pointed out the window. Down the path leading from the tower, below the window, they could see the dock. A jet ski was floating near the edge of the fog a short distance away from the boat. It was empty. Its rider was nowhere in sight.
“He’s here,” Zack whispered. His hair stood on end. He could feel Beth start to tremble against him. This couldn’t happen now. They were so close. Help was on the way. Zack gritted his teeth. “We have to go,” he said.
“No,” Beth protested. “We need to find a place to hide.”
“This island is small enough that he’ll find us eventually. We have to get back to the boat. If we can reach the lodge, we should be able to wait for the police. They’re already on their way.”
Beth stared into his eyes as if searching for an answer to an unspoken question. “I’m scared.”
“It’s okay,” he whispered reassuringly, squeezing her shoulder. “We’re going to make it through this. I promise. You just have to be strong a little longer.”
He took her by the hand and led her to the doorway. Zack peered down the staircase and searched for a sign of an intruder in the darkness. There was no trace of Fields. Zack and Beth slowly descended the winding staircase, careful to keep an eye out for the killer. Zack’s heart was pounding. He half-expected the Hunter to spring from the shadows at any second. He winced when the rusty stairs again creaked under their feet.
The door remained open at the base of the staircase, allowing the faint moonlight to spill inside the dark tower.
“Let me go first,” he said when they reached the bottom. “If Fields is waiting out there, he’ll attack me first. If he does, you run for the boat as fast as you can.”
“I’m not leaving you.”
“Yes, you are,” Zack replied forcefully. “If it comes to that.” He hoped it wouldn’t. There wasn’t even a guarantee the boat would start again. Mustering his courage, Zack stepped out into the light.
He was alone. Zack returned to the radio tower. “On three, we’re going to make a run for it.”
Beth nodded. The look of determination had returned to her eyes.
Zack counted down, and the pair raced across the trail back to the boat. The fog had risen around the shore in their absence and virtually concealed the boat. Zack ran his hand along the rope until he found the small fishing vessel. He helped Beth into the boat and joined her.
“Here goes,” he whispered. Starting the boat would inevitably warn Fields of their departure. It would be a race to get back to the lodge, though it was one he believed they would win. He pulled the cord and the engine roared to life.
They sailed through the fog, gaining momentum. Beth huddled close to him, and the two waited for a glimpse of shore.
***
Over the roar of the engine, Zack couldn’t hear the sound of something scratching against the floor of the boat. A pile of nets and ropes moved behind him as a shadowy figure rose from his hiding place. The Hunter pulled his knife and watched the oblivious campers silently. They had taken the bait. He’d known they would. Now there was nowhere left for them to run. They were trapped on the boat, defenseless.
***
Zack felt something moving behind them. He glanced back just in time to see the Hunter swing his blade through the air.
“Beth!” he shouted, pushing her to the ground. The Hunter pinned Zack against the floor of the boat. He held the knife out, inching it closer to Zack’s eye. Zack tried pushing him away, but the killer’s strength was too much. The knife slid against his cheek, tearing into his flesh. Zack screamed.
Beth slammed the boat’s lifebuoy against the killer’s head. Snarling, the Hunter punched her in the stomach. The blow sent her sprawling against the deck, where her legs became entangled in the net. The killer raised his knife to finish her, and Zack plowed into him before he could stab her. The impact sent them both sprawling to the back of the boat, knocking over the containers of gasoline. The liquid spilled out over the deck.
As the Hunter started to stand, Zack went for the knife. The Hunter seized his arm, and the blade fell over the side of the boat, vanishing under the water as the boat picked up speed. Ahead, he could see the shore. At the rate they were moving, they would crash against the land if no one took the wheel.
He didn’t have time to digest the sudden revelation. Fields grabbed him and pushed him against the back of the boat. Zack tried to fight back, but his fading strength was nothing compared to Fields’. The killer pushed his head down, closer to the motor. Zack’s hand reached out in desperation and grabbed one of the gasoline containers. He slammed it against the killer’s face, covering the man in the fluid.
“Beth,” he shouted, “get off the boat!” The killer knocked him against the deck.
“I’m going to break her neck,” the Hunter whispered, his hand on Zack’s head. “I’m going to make you watch, and then I’m going to kill you.” He slammed Zack’s body against the deck again. Zack felt himself go limp. His head was spinning.
Beth had just freed herself from the net. They had almost reached the shore. The killer looked at her and smiled, his black eyes shining in the moonlight. Beth was paralyzed with fear. The Hunter stepped toward her, and his boot landed in a puddle of fuel.
“Over here,” Zack said above the roar of the motor, loudly enough for the killer to hear.
Zack held the lighter in his hands. The flame flickered in the darkness. Before the Hunter could react, he threw
the lighter against the deck at the killer’s feet.
Zack saw Beth dive overboard just as the flames engulfed Fields. Zack jumped off the boat, which exploded, crashing against the shore. The impact rattled him, and Zack felt himself falling through the air. Suddenly, he felt the cold sensation of water covering him. Debris and fire rained down around him. He was vaguely aware that he was drowning, but that didn’t matter now. Beth was going to live. He didn’t have to fight anymore. He could finally rest. He closed his eyes.
A hand reached down into the darkness and pulled him up into the moonlight. He gasped for air, blindly spitting out water. He felt himself being paddled to shore. Soon he felt dry land under him.
“It’s going to be okay,” Beth whispered. “I’ve got you.” Zack rested his head in her lap. He could hear sirens in the distance. Keeping Beth alive had given him a reason to live. In the end, Beth had saved him.
Zack would never know if it was his exhaustion, the mist, or something else, but for a moment he saw her in the fog, staring back at him from Dire Lake, and he thought he knew who had steadied his hands earlier.
“Goodbye, Lily,” he mumbled, staring at the specter of the burning lake. Then he closed his eyes and slept.
Epilogue
Saturday, 8:55 pm
The day passed like a dream—or a nightmare. The unfolding light of morning revealed the full magnitude of the previous night’s terrors. Fallen trees, smoking craters, and large holes marred the forest. Drifter’s Folly Memorial Park had fallen silent once more, but it was a haunted silence.
As the day stretched on, the park filled with more people than had occupied its borders in years. They were policemen, detectives, and forensics experts. Eventually, even media representatives showed up, though they were kept at arm’s length.
Morning became afternoon. More bodies were found, each drawing expressions of horror from even the most seasoned officers. It took the entire day to recover all the corpses.
But there was one body that wasn’t recovered. The authorities spread slowly and deliberately across the park with dogs in tow, searching for a sign of the imposter Fields, the man known as the Hunter. They found only Rodney Crowe, the accomplice who took the Hunter’s secrets with him to the grave. The manhunt continued long into the day. Boats were called in to dredge the lake, all to no avail.
Within the forest, a two-way radio roared to life.
“Williams,” a voice echoed over the static. “Do you copy?”
The young officer patrolling the forest dutifully answered the call.
“Where are you?” the voice demanded.
“I’m with Stevens,” Williams replied.
He kept his eyes open for any sign of life. The forest was abandoned. He couldn’t even see any animals.
“Negative,” the voice replied. “Stevens just radioed in. He’s on his way back.”
The wind shifted in his direction, and Williams shivered. He hadn’t realized Stevens was gone.
It’s too easy to get lost in here, he thought.
“Listen,” the voice on the other end of the radio said, “it’s getting dark. We’re calling off the search for tonight. The last thing we need is an officer out there on his own.”
“I understand,” Williams replied.
He looked to the sky. Sure enough, the sun had begun to fade. The light dimmed around him. Williams stood on the edge of the lake, his boots covered in the thick mud that cloaked the shore. Dire Lake was beautiful to behold. It was hard to believe it was the scene of such evil.
Beauty or not, the idea of being alone in the woods after dark was far from appealing. He turned to begin the trek uphill. Trees towered around him in every direction.
That was when he spotted it. Something on the forest floor glimmered among the fallen leaves. Williams’ brow furrowed. He approached the curious object, inexplicably drawn to it. The policeman knelt down and picked the item up. It fit almost perfectly into his palm.
What is this? Williams thought. He turned the object over in his hands. It looked like a necklace of some kind, though he had never seen anything like it before.
Whispers echoed through the trees, and the wind intensified, scattering leaves around him. Williams glanced up and froze. A set of human footprints led away from the shore, exactly to the spot where he found the strange necklace. His pulse raced as a cold realization settled over him. Someone had emerged from the lake and made their way to shore, leaving the necklace behind.
Something moved at his back. Williams jumped to his feet and pulled his gun from its holster.
“Who’s there?” he demanded. The offender, a small bird, flew into the distance. Williams took a few steps back, farther into the forest.
“Williams?” the voice said over the radio.
The police officer ignored it. He followed the path of the footprints with his gaze, searching for where they ended.
When he heard the sound above him, it was already too late. The Hunter came crashing down from the branches where he had hidden, waiting for someone to see the necklace and take the bait. Williams didn’t have time to fire in the seconds before the killer landed on him. The two rolled downhill, and Williams lost his grip on the gun. The Hunter was on him in a flash. The killer picked up a rock and bludgeoned the officer’s head until he fell still.
The Hunter stared at his kill for a moment, his heart pounding. He was weakened, dehydrated, and covered in burns. His prey had eluded him long ago. He had lost the game.
His gaze fell on the necklace. It called to him as the darkness began to settle in.
The dead policeman’s radio sounded again.
“Williams? Do you copy?”
The Hunter snatched the radio from the ground. Fields was dead. He could be Williams for a while yet. Long enough to escape Drifter’s Folly and recover. After enough time had passed, he would find Zack Allen and finish what he started.
“Copy that,” he said into the radio.
He removed Williams’ uniform and dressed himself in the dead man’s clothes.
The necklace was right. He hadn’t lost. The game had only just begun.
Acknowledgments
I came up with the idea for this book as I was freezing to death.
I was a senior in high school at the time, and some friends invited me to go camping with them one chilly October evening at Green River Lake. On a dare, I went into the lake after nightfall. The temperature quickly plummeted, and even with layers of clothes and blankets, I was so cold I couldn’t sleep. I lay there in the dark for hours, my teeth chattering, unable to rest long after the others had fallen asleep.
There’s something vulnerable about sleeping in a tent in the middle of nowhere. As I listened to the noises outside the tent, imagining what might be lurking in the dark, the broad strokes of A Sound in the Dark began to form. Well before dawn, the cold finally proved too much for me, and I sought refuge in the warmth of my car. The satisfaction I felt when my teeth stopped chattering on the way home quickly faded when I realized that I had lost my way in the wee hours of the morning.
I received my first laptop for Christmas that year and immediately began working on the story. A Sound in the Dark was the first manuscript that I ever attempted to write, but I eventually set it aside without completing it. Many years later, I was finishing my first year of medical school when the rest of the story came to me. So although A Sound in the Dark was the first book idea I came up with, it ended up being my eighth completed manuscript!
From the start, A Sound in the Dark was always going to be a different animal. Unlike most of my books, it takes place over a single night of terror. I wanted it to be a tight, fast-paced thriller full of twists and turns; as a result, most of the chapters are shorter than usual, with cliffhanger endings intended to keep the reader turning to the next page. A
t its core, the book is about someone who has lost his sense of purpose finding a reason to keep going. At the time I wrote the book, I was at a crossroads with medical school, unsure whether or not I would make it through, and this theme had a lot of resonance with me. As with many of these stories, writing A Sound in the Dark was a way to work out the issues I was facing with school. I also wanted to explore the idea that horrific situations can bring out the best and the worst in people, as we see with Zack and Will, respectively.
There are many people I would like to acknowledge for their help with this book. First off, a huge thank you to my mother—Pam Romines—who was the first to read the manuscript (and then read it over and over again), along with my father—Robert Romines—and my sisters—Allie Romines and Megan White—for their feedback. I would like to acknowledge Michael Garrett, who edited the book. Additionally, I want to thank Betty Ewing and June Anderson for proofreading the story while it was still in the manuscript stage. I also want to thank Streetlight Graphics, the production team that put this book together, including cover design and interior formatting.
And finally, thank you for reading! If you enjoyed the story, I encourage you to let me know by leaving a review on Amazon or Goodreads. If you are interested in reading more by me, be sure to check my amazon author page for a list of all my books currently available for purchase. And of course, feel free to contact me if you wish to discuss this story or anything else.
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