by Lukens, Mark
This was starting to get on his nerves a little. He wished she would give up her game and come on out.
Matt heard a thumping noise—it seemed to have come from the dry storage area where the canned goods were kept.
He smiled. “I can hear you in there, Gina. Play time’s over.”
He started to march towards the storeroom, trying to keep his voice playful. “When I find you, you’re gonna get it.”
After only three steps across the kitchen, Matt heard a blood-curdling scream coming from somewhere else in the house. And he recognized that scream. It was Gina.
But if Gina was upstairs, then who was in the storeroom?
He wanted to check it out, but he ran out of the kitchen, calling for Gina.
They met in the living room, practically colliding with each other.
“Matt!” Gina screamed. “You’ve got to come upstairs. You’ve got to see this.”
Matt held onto Gina, trying to calm her down, but she seemed more frightened than ever, and for a moment she was getting to him, infecting him with her fear.
“Calm down, Gina.”
But Gina wasn’t calming down. Her body was trembling and her eyes were wide and insane with fright.
“Where were you?” he asked her, trying to get her to talk.
“I was … upstairs …”
“You weren’t down here at all? In the kitchen?”
“No … why?”
“I heard some noises in there.” He shook his head, dismissing it already. “Never mind. It was nothing.”
“Matt, there’s somebody in this house with us. I think Mr. Crow is here.”
“What are you talking about?”
“He’s a killer. You’ve got to come up to the third floor with me. You need to see what’s in his bedroom.”
“What the hell, Gina!” Matt snapped, pushing himself away from her like she suddenly disgusted him. “We’re not supposed to be on the third floor. Remember?”
“It doesn’t matter now.”
“You heard Mr. Yates,” Matt continued like he hadn’t even heard her speak. “You heard the rules. If we break them …”
“There is no thirty thousand dollars!” Gina snapped at him.
That finally stopped Matt. He stared at her. “What are you talking about?”
“We have to get out of here right now.”
“Gina,” Matt said carefully. “I don’t know what’s happening to you, but I’m not going to let you jeopardize this.”
Gina shuddered at his words. “Matt, listen to me. There is no job, okay? There is no money. This was all a setup.”
“I’m not listening to this anymore.”
“You need to come up there with me. You need to see what’s in that room and then you’ll believe me.”
“I’m not going up there. We’re not supposed to be up there.”
She couldn’t get through to him—he wasn’t going to listen to her.
“I’m leaving,” she told him and ran out of the room.
“Gina, wait!”
He rushed after her and found her in the downstairs office and his heart nearly stopped when he saw the phone in her hand. She dialed three numbers.
“Gina, don’t,” he said as he raced across the room.
She put the phone down and stared at him. “It’s not working. Even 911. Mr. Yates said we could call 911 in an emergency, but the phone’s not working.”
Matt stood on the other side of the desk, watching her.
Gina could see something in Matt’s eyes. He was beginning to believe her a little, she could tell.
She turned her attention to the computer. She pushed the ON button, but there was no power to the computer or monitor. She looked behind the computer, but there were no wires coming out of the back. It was all show—like everything else in this house.
“Okay,” Matt said, his hands out like he was trying to calm her down. “You win. I’ll go up there with you.”
Gina stopped and stared at Matt.
“Now will you just calm down a little, please?”
Gina nodded, she was a little calmer. “Yeah. Just come up there with me. It’ll just take a few minutes. And then we can talk about things.”
• • •
Matt and Gina entered Mr. Crow’s bedroom, and Gina headed straight for the door that was still wide open. The padlock was still on the floor where she’d dropped it. She stood beside the door and waited for Matt.
He sighed and shook his head in defeat like he realized that all of this was over; they were going to get caught and Mr. Yates was going to come back and escort them out of the house. All of that money would be gone. Poof. Up in smoke, just like that.
But he was up here, and he had to do something to calm Gina down. He’d never seen her like this before. If he could just peek inside these rooms and give her some kind of rational explanation, then maybe all of this could be salvaged somehow.
His heart stopped for a moment when he stepped inside the room. The walls were paneled and the floor was made up of rough wood planking. Around the room were the oddest trophies yet, including a life-sized human skeleton affixed to some kind of metal rod. All around the room on the walls were large patches of what looked like human skin; Matt even saw faded tattoos on some of the skin.
He felt his stomach twist inside of him, the food he’d eaten earlier threatening to come back up. But he shook his head—there had to be some kind of rational explanation here.
“It’s not real,” he finally said. “These are just fakes.”
Gina didn’t answer. She marched over to a large dresser and opened one of the drawers. “Look in here.”
Matt stumbled over to the dresser drawer on legs that were suddenly made of Jell-O. He looked down and saw two human skulls that had been picked clean of flesh, just gleaming white bone, like they’d been bleached. In small trays in the drawer were dried pieces of human fingers and toes, one of the fingers still had a wedding ring on it. There were human teeth and something unidentifiable floating inside a jar of yellowish liquid.
“These are just fakes,” Matt mumbled, but his voice was losing strength and conviction. “You said the paintings and antiques were fakes, why couldn’t these be fakes?”
“In his closet there are clothes, shoes, wallets, purses, jewelry,” Gina said, ignoring his attempt at an explanation.
Matt shook his head no. He wanted to tear his eyes away from the grizzly items in the dresser drawer, but he couldn’t. There were many other drawers beneath this one. What did those drawers hold? He didn’t want to see, he didn’t want to know.
“Mr. Crow is collecting these people like trophies,” Gina said. “Like animals he has hunted.”
Matt swallowed hard and finally looked at Gina. “This can’t be real,” he whispered. “This can’t be happening.”
They heard a banging noise from somewhere far below them. The kitchen, Matt thought.
They looked into each other’s eyes—this was really happening.
4.
THE HUNT
Matt and Gina ran down the stairs to the second floor hall in a wild panic. They ran past the stairs that led down to the first floor, but they didn’t see anyone moving around down there in their peripheral vision. They made it to their bedroom door and rushed inside. They closed the door, locked it, and leaned against it.
It was past time to be quiet now. Mr. Crow knew they were up here somewhere. And he knew they had seen his collection now. They had been to the third floor where they were forbidden to go—and now it was time for their punishment.
Gina backed away from the door, glancing around at their bedroom. A thought suddenly occurred to her: What if Mr. Crow was in their room right now?
Matt looked at her and she mimed that they should check out the bedroom.
He understood right away and he took off to the bathroom. He peeked inside and then entered the bathroom. He was in there for only a few seconds, and then he was back out again. He shook his head no and hurried over
to the walk-in closet. Nobody in there either.
They were safe, but only for the moment.
“What are we going to do?” Gina whispered. She felt like screaming at him that he should’ve listened to her, he should’ve believed her. But she didn’t.
“Let me just think for a minute,” Matt said as he paced around, running a hand through his hair.
“All of those hunting trophies down there,” Gina said. “You remember what Mr. Yates said, Mr. Crow has hunted every animal in the world.”
“Gina, please. Let me think for a minute.”
“That’s what all of this is about. It’s all a setup to get us locked inside so this maniac can hunt us down like animals.”
Matt still didn’t say anything; he kept pacing the room in a wide circle.
“That’s why there were all of those questions in the interview about our families and closest relatives. They wanted to find a couple who could disappear easily. A couple who wouldn’t drum up much attention.”
“Thanks for the summary of our situation,” Matt hissed at her. “Yes, I feel stupid. I feel responsible. Is that what you want to hear?”
“No, I just want to get out of here.”
“That’s what I’m trying to do.”
Gina gave Matt a moment to pace around and think some more. She looked at their bedroom door and tried to listen for any sounds coming from out in the hall or downstairs.
Matt rushed over to one of the windows and ripped the drapes to the side. He pulled the blinds up so hard he nearly pulled them off the top of the window. He lifted up on the window, but it wouldn’t budge. And even if it did, there were decorative bars on the outside of the glass that were probably bolted in place.
“Okay, the windows are out of the question,” Matt said in a defeated tone.
They both stared at the bedroom door, listening for any sounds.
“There’s got to be a way out of this,” Matt whispered. “We just need to think of something.”
“Obviously the phones and computers were never hooked up,” Gina said.
Matt nodded.
“And we can’t hide up here forever,” she continued.
Matt looked at Gina like he’d gotten an idea. “What about the front door?”
“The key,” Gina said, but then the idea of fakes came to her. “Yeah, but they wouldn’t give us an easy way out like that, would they?”
“I don’t know. Maybe it’s part of their game; part of the hunt. Maybe it’s not exciting enough for them unless there’s a chance that the prey could get away.”
It seemed to make sense to Gina, and they couldn’t think of anything else to do.
“We need to be careful,” Matt said. “We don’t know where Mr. Crow is. We don’t know what kind of weapon he’s using.” He stared at Gina. “Maybe you should wait up here until I get the front door open.”
“No. I don’t want to split up.”
“It might be safer for you to wait in here with the door locked.”
“No. We’re going together.”
Matt sighed. “Okay.”
Gina grabbed at Matt before he could move, and she stared into his eyes. She could already feel the tears welling up in her own eyes. “Matt, there’s something I need to tell you.”
“What?”
“I … I wanted to tell you before …”
“What is it?”
“I’m pregnant.”
For a moment Matt couldn’t speak, he moved his mouth but the words weren’t coming out—it seemed to be an even bigger shock to him than being hunted by a millionaire in a mansion.
“What?” Matt finally whispered out a word. “When? Are you sure?”
Tears slipped out of Gina’s eyes as she nodded that she was sure. For a terrible moment Gina didn’t think Matt was happy, and she regretted telling him. But she was afraid they might not make it, and she wanted him to know.
Matt grabbed her and hugged her hard, but then he let go like he was afraid he might hurt her. There were tears in his eyes now. “Oh God, Gina, I love you.”
“I wanted to tell you before,” Gina cried, “I swear, but I was trying to wait for the right time.” She wiped at her eyes. “This isn’t how I imagined breaking the news.”
Matt nodded, kissed her, and then wiped his tears away. “It’s okay. Right now we need to get out of here. We have to protect you and our baby.”
Gina nodded and couldn’t help the flood of tears that came. Her throat choked up.
Matt turned to the closet like he had a new sense of purpose now, a new and stronger determination in his eyes. “We need to get a jacket for each of us. It’ll be cold out there.”
Moments later Matt and Gina poked their heads out of their bedroom into the hallway. They looked up and down the hall—it was all clear as far as they could see. The house was eerily silent, but they knew that their hunter waited for them somewhere down below.
Matt stepped out into the hallway and he felt a tingly sensation on his skin like he was walking through a thunderstorm and lightning might strike at any moment. He also had a sensation that none of this was real, that this couldn’t be happening. But he had to push those feelings back and move. He turned to Gina who waited inside the doorway and he motioned for her to follow him down the hall.
They made it to the top of the stairs and stared down at the first floor, crouching by the corner of the bannister. From here they could see most of the foyer below and the doorways that led to the library and the first living room. They didn’t see anyone or hear anything.
Matt took a deep breath and hurried down the carpeted steps without a sound. When he got to the bottom, he stopped and tried to look everywhere at once, ready to grab Gina and run if they needed to.
Run where? his mind whispered to him, but he tried to ignore it.
It was now or never; he looked at Gina and nodded that he was ready to run across the foyer to the front door.
And they were running. They tried to be as quiet as they could, but there was some noise, and one accidental squeak of rubber on the marble floor from Matt’s sneaker. They got to the side table with the (fake) Ming vase on top and they crouched down. They were exposed right here, but it made them feel safer to be crouched down by the table like it could somehow be used as a shield.
Gina kept her head on a swivel, looking around and trying to spot any kind of movement. She didn’t see their hunter, but she could feel him. He was close, she was sure of it; she would’ve bet their thirty-five thousand on it.
Matt didn’t waste any time. He had the drawer open and he fumbled inside for the one key on the overly large key ring. For a split second he couldn’t find it and he almost panicked, but then he reached farther back into the drawer and his fingers closed around it. He pulled it out and went straight for the door. He stuck the key in, tried to turn it, but the lock wasn’t budging.
Gina watched Matt as he jiggled the key furiously, making more noise than he should. He caught her eyes.
What’s wrong? Gina’s eyes asked.
Matt shook his head no, indicating that the key wasn’t working.
It was never going to work, Gina thought. The hunter, Mr. Crow, wasn’t going to give them a sporting chance—this was just a ploy to flush them out into the open.
A second later an arrow whizzed through the air and plunked into the front door, inches away from Matt’s head.
“Go!” Matt screamed, and he shot across the foyer in a flash of movement and grabbed Gina’s sweatshirt sleeve.
They ran across the living room, both of them expecting to be skewered with an arrow at any second, but they made it into the vast living room and they dove behind one of the leather couches.
They looked at each other, their eyes bulging orbs of terror.
Matt put a finger to his lips and motioned with his eyes that he was going to take a peek from the top of the couch.
There wasn’t a sound anywhere in the house as Matt rose up slowly and poked his head up above
the couch. He scanned the cluttered room, but he didn’t see any movement anywhere.
Then he saw the display of medieval weapons that he’d seen on their tour with Mr. Yates the first day they were here. There was a shield, two swords, a mace, and a dagger. Maybe not the best defense against a crossbow, but better than nothing.
He dropped back down behind the couch and looked at Gina. He pointed at the weapons and hoped she understood what he meant. Then he motioned for her to stay put.
Matt scrambled to the end of the couch and poked his head out and searched the room again with his eyes. No movement. No sounds. He took a breath and shot out from behind the couch to the weapons attached to a giant wood plaque on the wall. He grabbed one of the swords that looked like they were just lying on top of metal hooks. As soon as he had the sword in his hands he knew something was wrong. The sword disintegrated in his hands, turning to white flakes of confetti. The weapons were fakes, made from Styrofoam and painted to look real.
An arrow hit the wall right next to the weapons.
Matt fell to his hands and knees and scrambled back behind the couch.
Shit, he knows where we are, Matt thought as he crouched down next to Gina.
“Did you see him?” Gina hissed.
Matt shook his head no and looked behind them. He saw the archway that led to other rooms: the office, the greenhouse, the trophy room, the other living room. He looked back at Gina and motioned for her to follow him.
They were on their feet and sprinting for the archway. Gina was a step ahead of Matt, and just as they crossed the archway she stumbled across a tripwire set along the floor. There was a groaning sound, and she saw out of the corner of her eye something massive moving out from the wall. She turned and saw the gigantic grandfather clock tipping over quickly and crashing down on them.
Gina just made it out of the way, but Matt wasn’t so lucky; the corner of the clock caught him in the shoulder and smashed him down to the floor. But he could still move, and they scampered to the wall in the next room and hid there for a moment.
“You okay?” Gina whispered. “Is it broken?”
Matt shook his head no and pointed at the doorway to a sitting room across this next living room.