The Cold Kiss

by John Rector

  I sat for a moment and tried to get my bearings. Once I did, I managed to crawl around to the back of the building and collapse into the snow.

  I heard someone laugh in the distance, then Zack’s voice say, “We could use some help over here, Nate, when you’re done playing around.”

  Then more laughter.

  I stayed on my back and stared up at a sea of silver stars and thought about Sara and the baby. A few minutes later, I heard the plows pass in front of the motel.

  The road was clear.

  The highway was open.

  It was enough to get me going again.

  I leaned against the side of the building and pushed myself to my feet. When I was standing, something warm and wet ran down the side of my face. I reached up and touched it, even though I knew what it was.

  My blood looked black in the moonlight.

  I walked the length of the building, ignoring the new shock of pain in my head. When I got to the end, I looked around the corner at the office.

  Zack was holding Caroline’s body by the shoulders and trying to back out of the door. The blanket I’d wrapped around her head had started to unravel and was now dragging along the ground.

  Zack was saying something to Butch, but I couldn’t hear what. Then Butch yelled, “Just do it, goddamn it.”

  A moment later, they were outside.

  Zack dragged Caroline out, then he stopped and waited for Butch to close the office door. They were talking back and forth, and the conversation looked tense. Eventually, Butch waved him off and picked up Caroline’s feet and they both started moving around the building to the shed.

  I walked around to the front, still balancing myself against the building, and crossed the walkway to the window. There was no light between the curtains and no sounds from inside. I moved to the next room.

  Still nothing.

  “Caroline?”

  The voice sounded panicked.

  I ducked low then pushed myself into a shadow, as close to the building as I could get.

  I saw Marcus come out of one of the rooms across the parking lot. He wasn’t wearing a jacket, and the way he moved through the snow made me think he wasn’t wearing shoes, either.

  “Oh my God, Caroline!”

  Butch and Zack stopped, and I saw Butch say something to Zack, who was holding up his hands in a calming gesture and moving toward Marcus.

  “What happened to her?” Marcus was yelling. “What the hell did you do to her?”

  “Now, settle down,” Zack said.

  Behind him, Butch yelled, “Zack, come on, don’t!”

  But it was too late.

  Zack reached for Syl’s gun in his belt then pointed it at Marcus and fired once.

  The bullet struck Marcus in the throat, and a spray of blood tore out behind him in a dark mist that hung in the cold air before dissolving in the moonlight. A second later, the snow turned dark around him, and he dropped.

  Zack stepped closer.

  Marcus was twitching on the ground, trying to roll over. His glasses had come off one ear and now hung sideways across his face. The thin silver frames reflected clean and white in the moonlight as he struggled to crawl away.

  Zack stood over him, watching, then he lifted the gun and fired.

  This time, Marcus stopped moving.

  Butch went crazy.

  He came across the parking lot, fast, yelling, fists swinging. Zack backed away, but Butch kept coming. I didn’t hear everything he said, but it wasn’t hard to put together. Butch had seen enough.

  He was finished.

  After tearing into Zack for a while, he walked back to the office and slammed the door behind him.

  Zack called after him a couple times, but when he got no answer, he turned and started kicking Caroline’s body again and again. Even from where I sat, I could hear her ribs cracking, one after the other.

  Once he’d calmed down, he picked her up by the shoulders and dragged her through the snow to the shed behind the building.

  I watched all of this from the shadows.

  When he was gone, I looked out at Marcus lying facedown in the parking lot. He was curled in on himself and surrounded by a dark swell, while a galaxy of new snow dropped soft and slow around him.

  I couldn’t stop staring.

  It wasn’t until I saw Zack come back that I realized how much time I’d wasted. It made me wonder how bad I’d hurt my head when I fell.

  I stayed where I was and didn’t move.

  Zack walked out to the center of the parking lot and looked down at Marcus, then he glanced up and scanned the parking lot. “Nate?”

  I kept quiet.

  “I better find what I’m after in your room,” he said. “If I don’t, things are going to be bad for you.”

  He stood there awhile longer.

  At one point I thought he saw me crouched in the shadow against the building, but then he turned away and headed for my room.

  It was time to move.

  36

  The next two rooms I checked were dark, so I kept moving down the row of buildings. When I got to the last one, I noticed a slip of gold light showing between the curtains and I could hear someone talking inside.

  I knelt down and tried to look through the break in the curtains. At first, all I saw was the corner of the bed and a candle burning on the nightstand, then someone passed in front of the window.

  I stepped back and knocked on the glass.

  A second later, the curtains parted and Megan looked out. When she saw me she turned and said, “It’s Nate.”

  I saw Sara behind her. She’d been crying.

  The curtain closed.

  I moved toward the door.

  When I did, I saw Zack coming up the walkway. He had the gun aimed at my head, and he was close enough to where he wouldn’t miss if I tried to run.

  “Where is it?”

  He kept walking toward me, not slowing, then he grabbed the front of my jacket and slammed the butt of the gun against the side of my head.

  I never saw it coming.

  A shower of orange sparks tore through my vision, and I dropped to one knee. When I looked up, Zack was standing over me. His mouth was moving, but there was no sound, only a high screaming whine.

  Then, slowly, his voice started to cut through.

  “Answer me, motherfucker!”

  I tried to speak, but nothing came out.

  Zack raised the gun to hit me again, then the door opened and I heard Megan’s voice. “What the hell are you doing?”

  Zack pointed the gun at her and her eyes went wide.

  She backed into the room.

  Sara was inside, and when she saw me she ignored the gun and ran toward me. Zack moved to stop her, but she pushed past him and knelt next to me. I must’ve looked pretty bad because she started crying immediately.

  “Nate, my God, what happened?”

  I didn’t answer.

  I couldn’t answer.

  Zack stood back and pointed the gun at us and said, “Get inside, now.”

  Megan inched closer then bent down and helped Sara move me inside. Things were spinning all around me, but overall, I didn’t feel too bad once I sat down.

  Sara turned to Zack and said, “What the hell is wrong with you?”

  Zack ignored her. “Where is it?”

  I heard Megan moving around in the bathroom. When she came out, she was carrying a wet washcloth. She handed it to me then looked at Zack and said, “Where is what?”

  I touched the washcloth to my head, then Sara took it and started wiping away streaks of blood. She was still crying, but her eyes looked clear.

  “The money,” Zack said. “Where is it?”

  Megan looked at me, then at Sara and shook her head. “I swear I don’t know what the hell you’re talking about.” She looked past him. “Where’s Caroline? Why are you—”

  Zack turned and swung.

  His fist connected with Megan’s jaw, solid and hard. She fell bac
kward and landed on the floor next to the bed.

  I tried to stand.

  Sara grabbed my arm and pulled me back.

  “Nate, don’t.”

  Zack looked at us and smiled. “All a big fucking game to you people, isn’t it? Well, I know what you’re doing, and I’m not going to fall for it. You’ve got it here somewhere.”

  He walked to the other side of the room, opening drawers and kicking over chairs, muttering to himself.

  I looked at Sara and whispered, “Is it here?”

  She nodded. “I’m sorry. She made me.”

  Zack slammed one of the drawers then turned and looked under the bed. When he stood up, he had Syl’s black suitcase. He carried it to the dresser then set it on top and looked at us. “This is it, isn’t it?”

  No one said anything.

  Zack turned back to the bag. He unzipped the top then pulled back the flap.

  He stood for a moment, silent, then said, “Holy shit.”

  Sara reached for my hand. “Nate?”

  Megan had pushed herself into a sitting position next to the bed. She was making a soft clicking sound in her throat, and didn’t seem interested in anything that was happening. There was a bright red welt forming on the side of her jaw, and a thin line of blood ran down her chin and dripped on her shirt. She noticed, then reached up and touched her lip with her fingertip.

  “Megan?”

  She didn’t look up.

  I started moving toward her, but Sara grabbed me again and wouldn’t let go.

  This time I pulled my arm away and said, “I have to see if she’s okay.”

  Sara shook her head.

  At first I didn’t understand, then I looked over at Megan sitting beside the bed. Something had shifted in her eyes, and I felt my skin turn cold.

  “Lilith?”

  She looked up at me and I knew.

  Syl hadn’t been delirious. He’d tried to tell me, but I hadn’t listened. The ransacked rooms, the broken fingers, all of it.

  I didn’t want to believe it.

  Sara squeezed my hand and said, “Can you run?”

  I told her I could, and hoped it was true. I felt sturdy enough, but that might change once I stood up.

  “Be ready,” she said.

  I went over everything Syl had said, and I cursed myself for being stupid and writing him off.

  I should’ve known.

  Zack was still standing in front of the suitcase and passing his hand over the money when Megan reached under the pillow and came out with a gun.

  I had just enough time to register the silencer on the barrel and think, Just like Syl’s, before she was on her feet and firing.

  Even though I knew it was coming, I wasn’t prepared for how fast she moved.

  The first bullet came with a whisper and caught Zack on the side of his face, tearing away a chunk of his cheek and spraying blood across the suitcase and the money.

  Something hit the wall then dropped to the floor by Zack’s feet. When I looked, I saw two broken and bloody teeth lying on the thin motel carpet.

  I couldn’t look away.

  The next bullet would’ve caught him in the head, but Zack dropped and dove toward the bathroom. The wall above him exploded in shards of plaster and dust that choked the air white.

  Sara took my hand and pulled me toward the open door. Megan let us go. She was focused on Zack.

  Then we were outside, running through the snow.

  The pain in my head was electric, and I could feel it radiating down my spine with each step. I still had Sara’s hand, and I could hear her breathing as we ran.

  When we got to the end of the building, Sara slowed down. I turned and saw her looking toward the office and Marcus’s body, lying in the snow.

  I reached for her arm. “Don’t look, come on.”

  “Nate, he’s—”

  I pulled again, harder this time, and it seemed to bring her back. We left Marcus lying in the snow and ran toward the playground at the end of the lot.

  When Sara saw where we were going, she said, “No, the car. We have to get to the car.”

  “We can hide,” I said. “She just wants the money. She’ll take it and leave.”

  I don’t think Sara agreed, but she trusted me, and she followed me the rest of the way to the playground. When we got there we crawled under the turtle slide and waited.

  We didn’t wait long.

  I sat up on my knees and looked out over the parking lot through the slot in the turtle’s shell. At first, everything was quiet, then I saw Zack come out of the room.

  He staggered a bit, then walked out into the snow. He’d gone about ten feet before two tiny sprays of blood blew out from his chest and he dropped to his knees.

  A moment later, Megan came outside. But this was no longer Megan. Everything about her had changed. She was a different person, the way she walked, the way she moved, all of it.

  This was Lilith.

  I watched her stand under the walkway and adjust Syl’s suitcase in her left hand, then she crossed into the parking lot and went straight for Zack.

  There was no hesitation.

  When she got close, she raised the gun and fired.

  Zack’s head opened onto the snow and he fell forward.

  “What’s happening?” Sara asked.

  I held up my hand, stopping her.

  Lilith stood over Zack for a moment longer, then she looked up and scanned the parking lot and the buildings.

  I waited for her to get in the car and go, but instead, she looked down and started searching for something on the ground.

  “Nate, what’s going on?”

  “I don’t know,” I said. “She’s looking for something.”

  “What?”

  I shook my head and watched.

  Lilith took several steps toward her room then turned and walked back out to the parking lot. She was still searching the ground as she went, then she stopped and lifted her head.

  She was staring directly at the playground.

  All at once, I understood.

  She’d been looking for footprints in the snow.

  And she’d found them.

  37

  “Is she coming?”

  Lilith started across the parking lot toward the playground. She never took her eyes off the slide.

  “Nate?”

  There was panic in her voice, so I turned around and said, “We need to get out of here.”

  “No.” She looked past me. “Are you sure?”

  When I didn’t answer, Sara moaned and pushed herself back against the edge of the shell. She tucked her legs into her chest then buried her head behind her knees and began whispering to herself.

  It sounded like a prayer.

  I tried to think.

  We could run toward one of the buildings, or maybe north through the field, but I knew once we were out in the open, we’d be a target.

  There were no good options.

  I looked at Sara. She didn’t have a coat, and she was shivering. I unzipped my jacket and said, “Here, take this.”

  Sara reached for the coat. “She’s coming, isn’t she?”

  “Just put this on and don’t make a sound.”

  “Why is she doing this?”

  I got up and looked out through the slot toward the parking lot. Lilith was close. She still had the suitcase, and when she got to the edge of the playground, she lifted the gun and aimed at the slide.

  I turned and jumped on top of Sara, pushing her down into the snow. There was a series of metallic clanks and the whisper of air, then several bullets tore through the turtle shell, splintering the plastic.

  Sara screamed.

  I squeezed her under me, trying to shield her with my body. A second later, several more bullets came through. This time I felt a dull thud on the back of my arm and up to my shoulder, then a deep burn.

  Sara was still screaming. I wanted to tell her I was sorry, that all of this was my fault, but nothing cam
e out.

  More bullets buzzed past us, hitting the ground and spraying snow and dirt into the air. I could feel blood running over my shoulder and soaking into my shirt.

  I closed my eyes and waited.

  A second later, there was a loud crash and Sara stopped screaming. It sounded like—

  A shotgun?

  I opened my eyes and looked out under the edge of the shell. All I saw were Lilith’s legs. She had her back to us and was facing out toward the parking lot. Beyond her, coming into the playground, I saw a pair of dirty jeans and work boots.

  Lilith took a step back, staggered, then dropped the suitcase. It hit the snow by her feet and landed on its side. A moment later, Lilith’s legs gave out and she fell backward into the snow. The gun flew from her hand and landed a few feet away.

  I stared at it.

  Sara was whimpering under me. I looked down and said, “Are you okay?”

  She didn’t answer.

  I tried to push myself up, but my left arm collapsed under me and I rolled to the side and bit down hard against the pain. All I could hear was Sara’s breathing and the footsteps in the snow, coming closer.

  We watched the work boots stop next to the suitcase. Then we heard Butch’s voice.

  “Come out of there.”

  Neither one of us moved.

  “Unless you’re both dead, you’d better come out.”

  I eased myself over and started to crawl out. When I did, I heard Sara’s breath catch in her throat.

  I looked down and saw blood on the snow, then I reached back and felt my shoulder.

  There was a line of torn skin where the bullet had hit, but I didn’t feel a puncture wound. I was pretty sure the bullet hadn’t gone in, and even though it was bleeding a lot, I knew things could’ve been much worse.

  I was lucky.

  We crawled the rest of the way out then stood up.

  Butch was kneeling next to the suitcase. He had the top open and was staring at the blood-stained money inside. When he saw us, he zipped the flap and stood up.

  He kept the shotgun at his waist, pointed at us.

  A few feet away, Lilith was lying on her side in the snow. When Sara saw her, she put one hand to her mouth and turned away.

  Lilith wasn’t dead, but the left side of her chest had been torn open from her armpit to her waist, and the snow around her was wet and still in the moonlight. I could hear her talking, but her voice was soft and the words were lost.