Dead End

by Jeramy Gates

  The barn had a door in the back, which Val hadn’t even thought about in years. Tom had put a padlock on it, because he didn’t want Kyle running in and out of there. As Kyle grew older, the lock remained. It had just always been that way, and they’d gotten used to it. Now, she approached the door with certain tentativeness. Of all the property, that was the only place that seemed unfamiliar. Valkyrie had never stepped through that doorway in all the time she’d lived on the farm.

  Val found the deadbolt unlocked, the padlock gone. A sense of dread came over her. Had the Collector escaped yet again? If he’d left the barn, he could be anywhere by now! Val twisted the handle. She turned it with slow and deliberate caution, just in case he might still be nearby. She tried not to make a sound as she pushed the door wide.

  Outside, a light drizzle rained down. The wind moved in slow gusts, slapping moisture at her face. The scents of the night washed over her: rain, damp earth, wet grass. The killer was nowhere in sight. Bracing herself, Val stepped out. It was an odd sensation. Everything about the place was odd now. This truly was no longer her home.

  The sudden transition from the lit interior to the darkness outside left her nearly blind. Val closed the door, blocking out the remaining light so that her eyes could adjust. A noise came out of the darkness to her right: a rustle of movement, and a heavy step. In that single moment, Val realized she had made a fatal mistake. She spun as Hurt tackled her. The killer hit her with his right shoulder, protecting the side of his body that had been wounded.

  Val landed with a crash on the muddy ground, and something in her back made a snapping sound. She gasped as waves of pain rolled over her. Valkyrie forgot the cane in her left hand and the gun in her right. She saw nothing but darkness, and then the pulsating light of a thousand stars that seemed to burst into flames and then rain down on her face. The sound of her own moans flooded her ears. Her chest rose and fell in quick pants.

  After a few seconds, Valkyrie’s vision began to clear. The Collector appeared, a long black shadow hovering over her. His lips moved, blurred out in his shadow-smothered face, murmuring words that made no sense. Thunderheads churned in the black sky behind him.

  Frustrated, Lester leaned over her. He took Valkyrie by the lapels and yanked her to her feet. She felt a momentary sharp pain, which receded a bit as she stood upright. The killer collected her cane from the ground nearby and handed it to her. He made a motion, and she recognized the shape of her pistol in his hand.

  “Move,” he said, the word forming his lips into an “O.” Val frowned, her eyebrows knotting up. He twisted the gun, pointing it at her face, and shouted “MOVE!”

  Still, she hesitated. Lester’s arm shot out, giving her a shove. Val stumbled, caught herself, and remembered to put her weight on her cane. She straightened, glaring at him. The icy rain washed over her, clearing her head.

  Suddenly she was angry, not so much with him as with herself. She’d let Lester pull the same stunt on her twice. There he was with her gun, ready to kill her, and she almost deserved it. How could she be so stupid? At least it was over, she reasoned. There would be no escape this time. Lester wouldn’t let that happen. In a few minutes, she’d be with Tom and Kyle again. Maybe that was okay. Maybe it was best.

  But what about the Websters? What about that poor family huddled together in the house? What about those helpless little girls? Val couldn’t let Lester kill them. He would do it. She knew he would. They had seen his face. They had his DNA all over them. He’d kill Valkyrie, and then he’d stroll back into the house armed with his knife and her gun, and he’d finish what he started. He’d relive that night six years ago all over again.

  Her mind scrambled, searching for a way out. She thought of the handcuff keys and the knife sewn into her blazer. But that was the other blazer, the one she’d destroyed in her last escape. She hadn’t had time to sew them into this new one. And her weapons in the car… but those weapons were gone now, taken by the FBI. She was as close to helpless now as she’d been in years, and the horror of it made her chest tighten and her guts twist up. How could she possibly be here again, back in this place, just as helpless as when it all started?

  He motioned again, and this time Valkyrie obeyed. She walked around him, taking inventory of herself as she moved. The usual jolts of pain in her back were strangely absent. In fact, her legs and back felt strangely numb. That couldn’t be good. She listened to the sound of her footsteps on the ground, the breath rushing in and out of her lungs. She felt the cool drizzle on her face, the sensation of the rain weighing down her hair and her jacket.

  They crossed the driveway. Out of the darkness, the well rose up before them. It was a shadowy projection, thrusting up out of the earth like a tombstone. She paused ten feet away, and turned to face him.

  “Full circle,” she muttered, a distant look on her face.

  Lester stared at her. “What?”

  “Full circle. This is what you meant. This place, the well. That’s why you brought me here. It’s just like that night, all over again.”

  “Duh,” he smirked. “It seems fitting, don’t you think?” He gave a nod of his chin. “All right. Now get in.”

  Val straightened her shoulders. She tossed her cane to the ground. Lester squeezed his eyebrows together. “What are you doing?”

  “Go ahead and shoot me. I’m not going into that well.”

  “Yes, you are. If I have to shoot you and carry you over there myself, you’re still going in.”

  “You’re in no shape to carry anyone. You can barely hold that gun.”

  Anger flashed in his eyes. He raised the weapon and fired a shot. It whistled past her and hit the well with a crack! The booming report echoed across the plains and came back at them, fading into the storm like thunder. “Go on,” he snarled. “I swear, I’ll put every bullet in you, and you’ll still be wide awake when you go into that well.”

  Val drew her gaze back and forth across the property. Something changed in her face. She gave him a peculiar look, and turned and headed for the well. She walked with slow, deliberate steps, leaving the end of the drive and moving through the edge of the field. Finally, right next to the well, she turned back to face her nemesis.

  “Good,” he said. “I’m glad you decided to make this easy.”

  Val stared at him. A mysterious smile curled up the edges of her mouth. This seemed to infuriate the Collector. He lifted the pistol and fired a shot over her shoulder. The bullet whizzed by her head. She heard the whistle, and felt the wind of it on her cheek.

  “Get in,” he ordered.

  “All right.” Instead of crawling over the edge right there, she circled to the far side. “Will this work?”

  He gave her a baffled look. “What are you doing? Just climb in!”

  The mysterious smile returned. “Sorry,” she said. “I was just giving him room.”

  Her gaze strayed beyond the Collector, as if she were staring at something behind him. He rolled his eyes, thinking it was a trick. He turned halfway round. Too late, he saw the silhouette of Paul Webster standing in the driveway with his rifle at his shoulder. The instant his mind registered this fact, something hit him in the gut like a cannonball. There was a powerful ka-BOOM! and a flash of light. The bullet’s impact sent a shockwave through his circulatory system that set his nerves on fire and blinded him. Lester fell, unable to hear the rattling screams that emanated from his own lungs. He felt flames gnawing at his flesh as darkness closed in around him, the blisters peeling away in a torturous pain worse than anything he’d ever imagined or done.

  From Valkyrie’s perspective, the Collector simply took a step backwards, clutching at his gut, and toppled. He screamed as he fell, but the back of his head struck the well and he went silent. Valkyrie circled closer. She hovered over him, gazing down into his face. There was a sort of confusion there at first, a wave of disbelief that lasted only a moment. Then his eyes glazed over, and a quiet exhale, and he was gone.

  The killer’s b
ody became so still that it seemed unnatural. A strange sensation came over Valkyrie, causing the hairs to rise on the back of her neck. It almost seemed to Val that she could sense the killer’s presence next to her, as if his disembodied spirit had risen to stand at her side. Then she heard something chilling, like a distant muffled scream resonating up from the bottom of the well.

  Thunder rumbled over the mountains. Cold air caressed her face. The moment passed, and Paul appeared next to her, rifle still in hand. He stared down at the body, and then locked gazes with her. “Are you all right?” he said. “Did he hurt you?”

  “No… I’m fine.” Her eyebrows knotted up as she frowned at him. “Did you hear that?”

  “Hear what?”

  She glanced at the body, and then at the circle of darkness inside the well. “Nothing,” she said absently. “Just my imagination.”

  Chapter 36

  Paul saw Valkyrie’s cane at the end of the drive, and he fetched it for her. He retrieved her handgun as well. Val was grateful. She didn’t want to strain her back any more than she already had. Paul handed her the weapon, and she thanked him.

  The front door swung open, and Lynette appeared with both girls in tow. Paul’s face lit up. He hurried to join his family. He rested the rifle against the doorframe as he looked his wife over. Lynette’s left hand was broken, and hung limp at her side. Blood oozed from the rope burns on her wrists. She was in shock, he thought, but the pain wasn’t bad and the wounds were relatively minor. She would be okay.

  He pulled her close, smelling her hair as tears flooded his eyes. Lynette returned his embrace and then Paul turned to pick up the girls, one in each arm. He mumbled something about how worried he had been, and he reassured them that they were all safe now. “That man can never hurt us,” he said, glancing at Lynette. “He can never hurt anyone again.”

  “But what if there’s another bad man?” said Sophie.

  “I’ll bite him,” Ava announced with unflinching confidence.

  Paul and Lynette held one another’s gaze. “Maybe we should get a puppy,” he said. And an alarm, and a better gun… But he didn’t speak those thoughts aloud, of course. The girls let out a cheer at the word “puppy,” and Lynette gave him a surprised look. She didn’t argue, though. There would be no argument on this subject, or on the others…

  Paul turned to say something to Valkyrie, and frowned as he realized she wasn’t there. He turned, searching the property.

  “What’s the matter?” Lynette said. Then it hit her. She drew her gaze up the drive, looking for Valkyrie’s car. She saw the dim glow of headlights beyond the field, almost to the highway. “She’s gone.”

  “Who was that woman?” Paul said.

  Lynette started to answer, but then caught herself. The police would be here soon, she realized, and they would want to know the same thing. Maybe that was why Valkyrie had disappeared so suddenly. Maybe she didn’t want to answer their questions… But it was Paul who had killed the man, not Valkyrie. Maybe it was better for Valkyrie if no one knew she had been there. In fact, there really was no evidence to prove she had ever been there. And why bother her with all the questions and investigating that were bound to follow? Clearly, she wanted no part of it. She had already suffered enough, hadn’t she?

  Paul gave his wife a mystified look. “Well? Do you know her?”

  “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Lynette said with a mysterious smile. “There hasn’t been anyone here but us.”

  Chapter 37

  Back inside the Packard, Val realized Matt was still on the line. During the struggle, she must have lost her Com, but the phone had maintained the call. She tapped the speakerphone button.

  “Matt? Are you still there?”

  “Val! What happened?”

  “It’s all right, Matt. It’s done.”

  “Done? As in-”

  “He’s dead. The Collector is dead.”

  “My God. Are you okay?”

  “I’m probably going to need an x-ray. Other than that, I’m fine.”

  “What happened? Did you shoot him?”

  “Not exactly. I’ll tell you about it later.”

  “I can’t believe it’s over. Just like that. All these years, and now… I can hardly believe it. You’re sure he’s dead this time?”

  “I’m sure.”

  Matt made a sighing sound. “Uh, Val, where are you?”

  “In the car.”

  “Yeah, I know that. But I mean where? ‘Cause I may have panicked a little…”

  “Spit it out, Matt.”

  “I called the cops.”

  “It’s all right. I’m halfway back to town.”

  “Oh, good. That’s a relief. What did you tell the Webster family?”

  She frowned. “Tell them? Was I supposed to tell them something?”

  There was a long pause. Finally, Matt said, “Never mind. Call me when you can.”

  Val hung up, feeling a little mystified. The Websters were okay. A little traumatized perhaps, but they would be fine. In fact, they could move forward now in a way that Val hadn’t been able to when it happened to her. The closure she had sought for all these years had just been handed to them. The family was whole, safe, and perhaps a little wiser than before. Sure, they had learned the same hard lessons Val had, but with a different ending. For them, it was over. They could move on.

  For Val, it was different. The Collector was dead now, but that wouldn’t bring her family back. She had lost everything, and that emptiness that had haunted her all those years still remained. Nothing could fill it. She knew that. She accepted it. She would have to satisfy herself with the knowledge that other families, like the Websters, could go about their lives peacefully, never knowing the kind of pain and loss she had experienced.

  That was her reward. Not closure, but peace. For now, it was enough.

  Chapter 38

  Two days later…

  The storm had passed, but the rain and the cool north wind left a chill in the air. It had been frosty that morning. It almost seemed as if winter couldn’t quite let go -as if spring was having a hard time getting back on its feet. It seemed that the entire world had decided it was time to stop and take a breath.

  Val made the short climb into the Hilltop Cemetery just outside Idaho Falls in silence. She passed through the tall wrought-iron fence, gliding like a wraith over the damp earth as she followed the path between gravestones under the trees. The scent of damp soil mingled with the faint perfume of roses and carnations. A gust of wind shook the treetops.

  She came to a secluded site at the base of an ancient elm tree. There, she knelt to place flowers on two graves; one marked Thomas E. Smith, Loving Father, the other Kyle R. Smith, Beloved Son.

  It pained her to straighten. After a night in the hospital and an MRI to verify the extent of the damage to her back, the doctors had determined that Valkyrie had suffered a broken rib and a pinched nerve. After some adjustments, a refill of her prescription pain meds, and an anti-inflammatory steroid shot, she felt halfway human again. At least as close to human as she could, all things considered. The rib would heal. The spine never would. But it wasn’t the broken bones that haunted her so much as the other things that were broken.

  Val stared down at the graves, both hands resting on her cane in front of her. The cold wind shook her long wool coat and tied her hair into knots. She didn’t notice.

  “I finished it,” she said in a quiet voice. “It’s all over now.”

  A dull ache tugged at her chest. She fought the urge to drop to her knees and weep. Instead, she held her shoulders back and sucked in a deep breath of icy cold air.

  It’s okay to cry, said the voice of a therapist in the back of her head. It’s okay to feel. Let yourself experience the pain, so you can let it go…

  But she couldn’t. She couldn’t let herself do it. To feel again would be to open herself up to that pain again, and she couldn’t even bear the thought of it. She couldn’t ever
feel that pain again. It would kill her. She was better this way. No pain, no fear. She might be less than human, Val thought, but somehow that made her exactly what she needed to be. After all, if not for her broken heart, the Collector would still be out there. Dozens more would be dead already. The law wouldn’t have stopped him. The people who’d created him wouldn’t have, either. Only Valkyrie had the ferocity, the fearlessness and determination to bring the killer to justice.

  No, she decided. I’m better off the way I am. I’m better off broken…

  Back in the car, the phone rang as she cruised toward the highway. It was Matt. “Hey kid,” she said. “How are you?”

  “I should ask you that,” he responded. “How did the back adjustment go?”

  “About like I expected.”

  “I’m sorry.”

  “I’ll be fine. What’s up?”

  “Oh, I just called to tell you I decided to take that job.”

  “That’s great. Was Jennifer okay with it?”

  “Yeah, it turns out I won’t actually have to move. The company has an office right here in Boston. That’s where I’ll be working for now.”

  “No kidding! Doing What?”

  “Software engineer. Nothing exciting. Geek stuff. But it’s a big company, so who knows where it might lead.”

  “That’s great. A little strange, though. When we talked about it before, it sounded like more of a Silicon Valley job.”

  “Yeah. It’s not.”

  Val narrowed her eyebrows. She had the sudden feeling that Matt was holding something back. “Matt, is there more to this than you’re telling me?”

  There was a long pause. “Matt?”

  “Val… Look, I want you to understand what an opportunity this is for me. The pay is great, and I’ll be able to finish out my college-”

  “Matt! What are you trying to tell me?”

  “The company I’m working for, Val. It’s Blackstar. I’m sorry. I wanted to tell you before. And I tried to find something else, but-”