His kiss made her soar, her heart pounding wildly as his thrusts moved within her at a steady, delicious pace. Heat poured through her as excitement rose. She couldn’t breathe but she didn’t need to, her excitement beyond anything she’d yet experienced. Higher and higher pleasure built until it burst into a climax so explosive she cried out. He continued to thrust, and every stroke drew her into another beautiful peak. Whimpering in pleasure, she came apart with hot orgasm. Several more hard thrusts and Cade cried out and shook above her.
He sank down upon her, then immediately slid to the side. He drew her into his arms, his breath coming hard and fast. They rested in the afterglow of contentment.
* * *
“Cade, I don’t think you should do this.” Annabelle hated to beg, but she would if she had to.
Cade gazed out of the window that looked east. “I’ll be all right. We need to get supplies.”
Annabelle wanted to scream. She knew he spoke the truth, but she didn’t want it to be the truth. In total, they’d been in this cabin twelve days. She felt much better, though her strength hadn’t returned to full vigor. They’d managed to clean up every day but it would feel beyond wonderful to have a good shower or soak. Snow had arrived off and on in the last few days, but it hadn’t piled up to significant amounts. “I understand,” she said finally. “I just don’t feel good about this. I should go with you.”
“You aren’t going back.” His face turned to granite, and she’d never seen him this implacable about a decision “You’re not strong enough.” He turned toward her, and drew her into his arms. “The enza could have taken you from me, and I’m not going to let anything or anyone harm you.”
Though her heart brimmed over, it also overflowed with pain. She drew in a ragged breath and hugged him close. He plunged one hand into her hair and held her to his shoulder. They remained silent for a long time before she managed to speak around the chaotic emotions clogging her throat. Emotions too complex to express challenged her.
“You can’t protect me from everything, Cade. No matter what you do, you can’t.”
He drew back, frowning and hard-edged. “I can try. You’re trying to protect me, too.”
She smiled, but knew her expression offered no genuine happiness. “Perhaps we can’t protect each other.”
Worry ate her alive every day. Though staying with Cade in this isolated situation had afforded its own paradise, she couldn’t forget Margaret, Penelope, Lulu, or Nurse Summit. She had no idea what was happening to them, and it gnawed at her.
“You’re right, of course. As usual.”
He smiled. “Don’t sound so resentful. You’ve been right about many things, too.”
“Your equanimity is inspiring.”
He laughed. “Thank you. Now, I’ve got to go.”
She held on to him, tightened her embrace until he returned it with a long, drugging kiss. Silence wrapped them, but she savored the moment. She didn’t know what to think or do without feeling wrong about the conclusion. Gently he moved out of her arms and hoisted the pack he’d made earlier that morning.
He slung his rifle over his shoulder. “I’ll be back tonight. I promise.”
“You had better.” She knew resentment lined her voice, but didn’t care. “Or I’ll be coming after you.”
When he opened the front door, Cade turned to give her stern look. “Lock this door and don’t answer it for anyone but me. I’ll be back tonight at the latest.”
“Before dark.”
“Yes.”
Fear blocked her words and log jammed them in her throat. She wouldn’t cry. She wouldn’t. His eyes shimmered with something unspoken and important, and she held his gaze for a long time. After one last lingering kiss, he headed into the forest.
Chapter 18
Cade stopped at the edge of the asylum, unsure and apprehensive. Trees swayed, their turbulent movement at odds with the area just outside the asylum property. Aspen trees stood like sentinels, their leaves gone in the onslaught of winter. Pine trees dropped needles and cones as they rattled branches like bones. The wind whispered over his face, cold and unforgiving. He could see his breath. Heavy clouds stuffed with moisture hung low over the buildings. As Hemmings had said days ago, the asylum generated its own weather.
Cade’s stomach twisted with nausea for a second, then righted itself. What would he encounter? His internal dialogue rambled in more than one direction, and he didn’t like that. As an officer in the United States Army and a graduate of West Point, he’d always understood his duty and the honor it bestowed upon him and the military. Standing in the forest, looking out over gravestones at the huge asylum, he wondered if he shouldn’t return to the cabin. He could forget this place existed. He could hunt if he had to, the old fashioned way, and find a way to provide for Annabelle. Leaving her at the cabin had almost killed him. The previous night, as he lay in bed with her gathered close to him, he had considered the options. None of them had looked good. None of them had assured that danger wouldn’t come. Even so, he wouldn’t be able to live with himself if he hid. Whatever plagued the asylum, be it death, disease, or demons, he would face it. Once he’d faced whatever lay in wait, he could return to Annabelle. She was a powerful motivator.
With a deep breath, he moved through the graveyard and toward the building. He didn’t see a soul moving around the area, and didn’t hear a sound. He skirted the left side of the buildings and arrived at the front. Time to enter the asylum.
He walked up the front steps slowly. When he opened the front door, it creaked, reminding him of an old ghost story he’d read as a child. The place appeared as quiet as a tomb. He moved inside with caution.
A figure came toward him from the administration area, and that’s when he saw it was Dr. Hollenbeck. Perhaps the dictatorial man had forgotten to eat entirely. Hollenbeck met him halfway. The doctor’s appearance took Cade off guard. His thinning blond hair was tossed this way and that, as if he hadn’t combed it in days. He no longer wore a mask. His narrow, hard mouth wore a coldness more pronounced than Cade remembered. His silvery eyes had all the properties of a wolf on the prowl. His white coat was splattered here and there with blood. Disheveled described the man superficially. As Cade met the man’s eyes, he felt as if Hollenbeck had no soul.
The doctor’s expression was disdainful, his voice taut with anger. “Good of you to finally return.” He eyeballed Cade’s weapon. “Get rid of that weapon. I won’t have it in here. You know it’s not safe.”
“I need it since I plan to go back to the cabin. There is wildlife out there that might decide I’d make a nice meal.”
The doctor shook his head. “It is against the rules, so if you plan to stay here for any length of time, you will give it to me and we’ll lock it up where it belongs. I have enough blood around here to last a lifetime.” He lifted one arm and glanced at the sleeve. “You have missed all the fun. This blood is from all the soldiers who’ve decided to cough up blood. And several of them have.”
Cade couldn’t speak. The man turned his stomach.
“Did you bring Nurse Dorrenti with you? We could use her help around here,” Hollenbeck asked sharply.
“She’s resting at the cabin. Did Hemmings and the nurses tell you what happened there?”
Hollenbeck grunted in what sounded like disdain. “They did. But it was a waste for them to see how you were doing. Hemmings has contracted the influenza. We don’t expect him to make it. We are shorthanded with all the people falling ill.”
“Damn it.”
“If you hadn’t been so cowardly and stayed at the cabin, Hemmings wouldn’t have gone looking for you and probably wouldn’t have gotten the flu.”
Cade towered over him. “That is bullshit and you know it, doctor. Ziggy came back here when we asked him not to. It’s likely he’s the one that infected you all.”
Hollenbeck glared. “It doesn’t matter. It was cowardly of you to—”
“Shut up, Hollenbeck.” Cade almost gr
owled at the self-righteous bastard. “You wouldn’t know bravery if it waltzed up and bit you on the ass. I wasn’t going to leave Annabelle while she was ill.”
Hollenbeck took a step back, obviously a little chastened. “Is she with you now?”
“She’s safe at the cabin. I didn’t know what was going on here. We need more supplies.”
“Good luck. Take what you want since I can’t stop you. I don’t have time.”
Cade didn’t want to play the game of who had the bigger penis, so he calmed his voice. “Is Ziggy still in that dungeon you call a basement?”
“Yes. If it were up to me, I’d have the sheriff here and haul Ziggy to jail for murder. Obviously that won’t work since Simple locked itself down. Several of the nurses have rotated time to take him food and see that he’s all right. Most of them are refusing to go down there anymore. At this rate the man will die of starvation.”
“Are you willing to give him food?” Cade asked sarcastically.
Hollenbeck sniffed. “ Of course not.”
Cade wanted to wrap his hands around the man’s neck and squeeze. “You can’t leave him down there to die.”
“At this point I have little choice. There are too many people ill and not enough staff to help.”
Cade grunted. “Right. How many people are ill?”
“So far we’ve had five soldiers and two nurses die, but there are twenty soldiers ill right now and three nurses sick in their beds. This institution is falling apart at the seams. And that young pup Antrim disappeared and we cannot find him.”
“How long ago did he disappear?”
“Not long after those nurses and Hemmings returned from the cabin. Now if you’ll excuse me.”
“Who is in charge here?”
Hollenbeck smiled, and for the first time Cade saw his crooked yellow teeth. “Why, I am.”
Hollenbeck headed to the ward, and Cade stared at the man with a lingering disquiet. A shiver worked its way up and down Cade’s spine as he watched the scarecrow of a man meander down the hall. And meander he did. From one side of the hall to the next as though he was drunk.
Disturbed and determined, Cade stomped toward the administration offices to see if he could find Nurse Summit. What he found was disarray. Nurse Summit wasn’t there. No one was.
Cade used the only word he could think of that would convey his feelings. “Fuck.”
Ten days had changed the world, apparently. An eerie silence had settled over the area, as if the entire place had died and left him nothing but corpses. He headed toward the ward where he’d expect to see soldiers. If no one was in charge, it was time to take charge.
What he found confirmed some of his worst fears. As he walked into the ward and checked the games room, he discovered them empty. So was the parlor. He headed toward the rooms where soldiers would sleep. He found Hemmings lying in his bed at the first room he came to. Margaret sat at his bedside, her mask gone. She held his hand, her expression bleak and tears running down her face. He stood at the door, for a moment paralyzed by the grief he could feel coming off Margaret. Hemmings face had a bluish tinge to it, and Cade felt his stomach drop.
She glanced up, and her eyes widened the slightest bit. She released Hemmings’ hand and came to Cade’s side, a weak smile curving her pretty mouth. “Captain Hale. How good to see you safe.” She glanced behind him. “Is Annabelle with you? Is she all right?”
He kept his voice low. “She’s still at the cabin. I came to get supplies, and I didn’t want her here in case it wasn’t safe.”
Margaret’s eyes were haunted, a hollow expression of grief and despair etched into her expression. “I’m glad she’s all right and not here, because this isn’t a safe place.”
Cade barely knew what to say. “How is Hemmings?”
“Fading fast. I think he has a few hours at most. I wouldn’t advise getting close to him, though.”
“You have. And you took off your mask.”
“I don’t think the masks matter one bit, Captain Hale. Do you?”
He shook his head. “Probably not.”
“Penelope is ill. But it doesn’t appear as serious as Hemmings. She’s in her room right now and Nurse Summit has checked on her every hour.”
“Good news that she’s not as bad. Very good news. I’ll tell Annabelle when I go back.”
Margaret patted his shoulder. “I don’t know if you’re a praying man, but if you are, this might be the time to do it.”
As he left the room he heard Hemmings coughing, and the nurse’s murmur of comfort. He had a feeling it might be the last time he ever saw the woman. He hoped he was wrong.
Nurse Summit came down the hall, her steps quick and sure. She acknowledged him with a nod. “Captain Hale. How are you? Where is Annabelle?”
“She’s doing well, but I didn’t want her to come here.”
Nurse Summit smiled as relief touched her features. “Good. I’m not sure you should be here, either.”
“What happened to Antrim? Hollenbeck said he’s missing.”
“It’s amazing how people keep disappearing,” Nurse Summit said. She’d abandoned her nurse’s cap, her long graying hair pouring down her back. She’d taken off her mask, too. “The superintendent went missing one night and no one has seen him since. We have no idea where he went. We have Hollenbeck on staff but we are down by eight nurses.”
“Is there anything I can do?”
“Leave here and take care of Annabelle. Get your supplies and go. That’s all you can do.”
Helplessness threatened to creep up on Cade, but he forced it into submission. “I can’t stand around and do nothing.”
Nurse Summit hesitated, then said, “I won’t send one of the nurses or the soldiers down to Ziggy. Some have gone to feed him, but he’s talking more madness since he’s been in the cell.”
“It’s the evil, isn’t it?”
Her voice, when it came, was soft. “It is hard to say. Whatever is turning this place into a nightmare must be stopped.”
Cade knew, somehow, that it would be up to him.
She reached into her pocket and handed Cade a set of keys. “Take them.”
“What are these for?”
“I insisted that Hollenbeck give me these keys after Antrim went missing. Between you and me, I don’t think Hollenbeck is entirely himself.”
“He seemed ... odd.”
“To say the least. In the last several hours, he’s said some very strange things.”
“About?”
“He said that it was up to him to prove that all this ghost and haunting nonsense was ridiculous. He said that Dr. Antrim and Dr. Prever had given into the insanity of this place and perhaps the asylum was better off without them here.”
“You don’t agree with that.”
“No.”
He jiggled the keys in his hands. “Why do I have these?”
“Go and see Ziggy. Take him some food. The cook is doing her best but she’s short staffed. I wouldn’t ask anyone else to do this, Captain Hale. But I know you’re mentally strong enough to resist whatever is going on in this place. I trust you.”
“I hope I can live up to that trust.”
After she showed him which key opened the basement door and which one opened the cells below, he left Nurse Summit and went to the kitchen. The cook was nowhere to be seen, so he took some bread and a water skin. He also grabbed some hard tack. He didn’t want to give Ziggy utensils. God knows what he’d do with them.
As he walked through the asylum on the way to see Ziggy, he felt the atmosphere. A miasma had crept over the building. The isolation of this place was hollow and bleak. Evil had filled the spaces and brought a texture and taste to the echoing halls that disturbed him on a level he didn’t understand. Fear had driven him to survive in France. It had given him the push he needed and the drive to perform. This sensation held him captive, a noose around his throat, a threat he couldn’t see and didn’t totally comprehend.
T
he stench hit him. Stretchers were lined up against one wall. In flashback he saw gurneys in France loaded with bodies. One after the other after the other. He swallowed as bile hit his throat. He choked it back. He thought he heard bombing in the distance, the barrage of artillery. He backed against the wall opposite the gurneys, away from the other three gurney’s lining the hallway. Shapes lay under white sheets.
So many dead. So many. A hand lay outside the sheet, fingers slightly crooked. Blue. The skin was a dark blue. No. He wasn’t in France. This was Tranquil View Asylum.
He returned to the present with a gasp. “Jesus.”
He didn’t dare take a deep breath. A nurse hurried down the hallway. He’d seen her before, but she seemed as shell-shocked as a soldier on the battlefield. When she saw him, she almost stumbled. She righted herself and came his way.
“What are these bodies doing out here?” he asked.
Though she wore a mask, her hair was uncovered. Dark circles lined her eyes. “Captain Hale is it?”
“Yes.”
“I heard you’re taking care of Annabelle at the cabin in the woods. Thank God for that. We have too many sick here.”
“So Nurse Summit said. Now what are the bodies doing here?”
“The basement is full. If we put any more down there ..."
He wanted to curse, but he managed to hold back in front of the woman. “And Ziggy is down there. How long have the bodies been down there?”
“Over the last five days. I don’t know.”
He couldn’t help the curse that came out of him now. “Son-of-a-bitch.”
Her eyes widened. “Really, Captain, is that necessary?”
“It is. I can’t believe you people would keep him down with decomposing bodies.”
He knew what he had to do then, and headed for the basement.
“Captain Hale!” the nurse called after him.
He ignored her and pressed onward, water bag over his shoulder, bread and hard tack in the bag next to it. He approached the basement with trepidation, his heartbeat thudding in his ears. Bravery required that he move forward, but he must stay cautious. He withdrew the keys from his pocket as he approached the basement door. At least they’d closed it. Going into this damned place would be one of the hardest things he’d done, but he wouldn’t leave Ziggy to die. He struggled with the keys, and when the door opened, it shrieked like a woman’s scream. No one could miss knowing the basement door had been opened.
Shadows Rise Page 23