by Mark Lukens
“Did you hurt yourself?” Cole asked again.
“I’m hurt,” Frank finally answered. “It’s pain that you couldn’t possibly imagine.”
“Come on inside, Frank!” Cole yelled to him. “We can help you.”
“Cole,” Jose whispered to him. “There’s something fucked up about Frank.”
Cole glanced at Jose, then at Needles who stood behind Trevor. Cole looked at Stella and David; they both stood closer to the front door of the cabin like they were ready to bolt back inside if they needed to. Stella’s eyes met Cole’s, but she didn’t say anything, she didn’t offer anything. He looked back at Frank, waiting for an answer from him.
“I can’t come inside right now,” Frank answered. “He wants things and you have to give him what he wants.”
“Who wants things?”
“You wouldn’t understand.”
“What does he want?” Cole asked.
“He wants all of the money you took from the bank on the front porch,” Frank told them in his strange guttural voice. His speech was slower, like he was concentrating on every word.
Jose took a step forward and raised his gun up.
“Jose,” Cole growled.
“The money,” Jose hissed. “All of this is about the money.”
“You have four hours to put all of the money on the front porch,” Frank said.
“What if we don’t want to give you the money?” Cole asked Frank.
“Then bad things are going to happen.”
“What if we decide to keep the money?” Cole continued. “What if we decide to leave? Just walk out of here.”
Frank thought for a second and he cocked his head to the side even more like he was listening to a voice that none of them could hear. Then his face lit up suddenly, like all of his facial muscles were pulled up by invisible strings at once, creating that creepy smile on his face again. “You can’t!” he said. “He won’t let you leave.”
“We’ll see about that!” Trevor yelled out to Frank.
Frank’s face fell slack again, the smile gone, his expression blank again. These seemed to be the only two expressions Frank had now. “You have four hours to give him what he wants,” Frank told them, and then he began to back away from them, backing up towards the woods. But it didn’t seem like his feet were moving in the snow. It was almost like he was gliding backwards through the snow towards the trees.
“Cole,” Needles said from behind him, his voice trembling just a bit. “What the hell’s Frank doing? How the hell is he moving through the snow like that?”
“I don’t know,” Cole said, never taking his eyes off of Frank.
“Fuck this,” Trevor grumbled and charged down the steps into the snow, his gun up and aimed at the retreating Frank. “Fuck you!!”
“No!” Cole yelled. “Trevor, wait …”
As Trevor squeezed the trigger, a wave of wind and snow kicked up instantly, a sudden blinding blizzard from nowhere. Trevor fired three quick shots into the swirling snow, but the shots were muffled by the snow and wind. Then Trevor brought his arms up to his face, shielding himself as best as he could from the snow that pelted the exposed flesh of his face like hail. Trevor turned and stumbled blindly back up the steps, nearly tripping as he stepped onto the porch, getting under the cover of the roof.
Cole grabbed his little brother and did his best to shield him from the sudden squall of a snowstorm.
The small whirlwind of snow died down as quickly as it had started – it was completely gone now; the world was calm and peaceful again.
They stared out at the field.
Frank was gone.
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
“Where the fuck did he go?” Trevor asked as he stared out at the empty field of snow.
“I don’t know,” Cole answered.
“I don’t see him anywhere,” Trevor went on, his voice a little shaky. He wiped at his face which was wet and a little red from where the snow had pelted him moments ago. “Do you guys see him in the trees anywhere?”
“We need to get back inside,” Needles said in a trembling voice. His eyes bulged with fear as he stared out at the field of snow. “It’s not safe out here.”
Stella and David didn’t wait for the others. Stella ushered David back inside the doorway.
Needles turned and caught the front door as it began to close. He stared inside at Stella and David. “No way. You’re not going inside by yourself and locking us out here.” Needles hurried in after them.
Cole thought that he’d better get back inside with them, Needles was becoming more and more unglued every second. “Yeah,” he told the others. “Let’s get back inside.”
They all filed back inside the cabin, Cole was the last one inside. He shut and locked the front door. His mind was whirling, spinning. Everything seemed to be happening too fast. He needed things to slow down so he could think.
Jose paced into the kitchen, his movements quick and jerky, he was edgy and upset. “Fuck, man. Frank’s been doing this shit all along. All to get the money.” He looked right at Trevor. “I told you I saw Frank out in the woods. And you guys didn’t believe me.”
Trevor didn’t answer Jose, he looked at Cole instead. “So, what are we gonna do now?”
Cole didn’t answer.
“What do you mean?” Jose nearly screamed as he rushed back into the living room. “What are we gonna do about what?”
“The money,” Trevor said slowly like he was talking to an idiot.
“I’m not giving up my share of the money,” Jose spat the words out. “I’m not putting it out there.”
“I want my share out there,” Needles said quickly.
Stella and David took their spot on the couch. David wasted no time in picking up his spiral notebook. He opened it to the middle, to a page he had left off on, and he started drawing again at a furious pace. Stella tried to peek at what David was drawing, but he shielded the page with his hand and his body. She hadn’t been able to see what he had been drawing at all. She had asked him a few times to see the drawings, but he didn’t want her to. And she didn’t push, if this was his way of dealing with their situation right now, then she had to let him have his escape.
Needles looked at Cole, Trevor, and then Jose with frightened eyes. He was scared, more scared than any of them had ever seen him. He nodded his head quickly. “I want my share of the money out there,” he repeated.
“You’re fucking nuts,” Jose said to Needles. “It’s just Frank out there. Not the boogeyman or the devil.”
“So where did that wall of snow come from when Trevor tried to shoot at Frank?” Needles asked Jose. “You saw that … that thing out there. That wasn’t Frank. That was … was something else. You saw the way he was sliding through the snow back to the trees. How was he doing that?”
“Fuck this,” Jose grumbled. “I’m not having a conversation with a lunatic.”
Cole looked at Trevor. “What about you, Trevor? What do you want to do about the money?”
“I don’t know yet,” he answered.
“Are all of you crazy?!” Jose shouted.
Cole looked at Jose. “Jose, you need to think about this. There are some strange things happening here. Things that aren’t easily explained.”
“It’s just Frank.”
“Why would Frank go through all of this trouble?” Cole asked Jose. “Like Trevor said before, why didn’t Frank just take all of the money when he went outside in the middle of the night while we were asleep? Or why didn’t he just shoot us?”
“I don’t know,” Jose snapped at Cole. “I don’t know why he’s doing this. Or how. Or who else is helping him. I just know that I’m not giving them my share of the money.”
Jose took a few steps away, and then he turned back to Cole and Trevor. “Somebody has to be making Frank do this. It’s the only thing that makes any sense. Whoever took Frank in the middle of the night sent him back to get the money.” Jose looked at Stella. “Whoever sh
e’s running from followed her here and realized that we were the bank robbers who had stolen the money from the bank. And now they want it all.”
Stella stared at Jose as he walked towards her.
“Who’s following you?” Jose demanded from Stella.
David put his pen inside his notebook and closed it. He clutched onto Stella with his notebook in his lap and stared at Jose with wide, unblinking eyes.
“Jose,” Cole warned.
Jose turned and stared at Cole. “Why do you keep protecting them?”
“We’re not going to go over all of that again, are we?” Cole said. “None of us are involved in this. When are you going to get that through your head?”
“Okay,” Jose said, nodding his head quickly. “If that’s true, then why don’t we do a little test? None of us put our money out there. Call Frank’s bluff, or whoever’s out there with him. Call their bluff.”
The cabin was quiet for a moment.
Cole finally shrugged. “Why not?” Cole looked at Trevor. “What do you think?”
“I don’t want to give my money away,” Trevor answered. “I worked hard for this.”
Needles stood in front of the recliner, his crucifix swinging back and forth slightly from his necklace, his wild hair spiked out in different directions, his eyes bulging. “No, I want my share out there. I’m not messing with the devil.”
“It’s not the devil,” Jose said. “I’m so sick of hearing you say that.”
“I get a vote,” Needles continued. “And I want my share of the money out there on the porch.”
“You get a vote,” Cole agreed. “We all get a vote. But this is going to be a majority rule.”
Needles looked like he was on the verge of panicking. “Why can’t we just split the money up now? We each hold on to our own share. We each do whatever we want with it.”
“You know we don’t split the money up until we’re ready to go our separate ways,” Cole said. It was something they had always agreed on. Until they were in a safe place where they could all leave, they didn’t split the money up. It was too easy and tempting for one person to take his share and leave. With the money all in one place and with all of their eyes on it, it gave the group safety.
“You’re such a pussy,” Jose said to Needles.
“Enough, Jose,” Cole said. “Let’s take a vote. We know what your votes are Jose and Needles.” Cole turned to Trevor. “What about you?”
Trevor thought it over for a moment. He looked at the two cases of money on the fireplace hearth, and then he looked back at Cole. “I think someone out there is after this money. They don’t want to charge in here and take it so they sent Frank back. I say we call their bluff and see what they do. I say we find a way to get to them, a way to get Frank back.”
They were silent for a moment, and then Jose looked at Cole.
“And what about you, Cole?”
Cole sighed. “I agree. We keep the money and find out who’s out there.”
“There’s an easier way of finding out who’s out there doing this,” Jose said as he rushed towards Stella and David. “Who the fuck’s out there?!” Jose screamed at Stella.
Jose pulled his gun out and aimed it at Stella. He stared at her with cold, dark eyes.
Cole crossed the room in a hurry. “What the hell do you think you’re doing?”
“Getting some answers from this bitch,” Jose said. “Once and for all.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
Stella stared up at Jose as David clung to her; but she didn’t flinch. She was afraid, but she couldn’t show fear of him, she needed to be strong. David inhaled sharply when Jose jabbed his gun at them; he ducked his head underneath Stella’s arm and hid behind her.
Stella knew she needed to be strong for David, but a small voice whispered at her from somewhere in the back of her mind. Maybe it wouldn’t be so bad, the voice whispered. Just let him shoot, and it would all be over for her. She wouldn’t have to go through this anymore. She wouldn’t have to go through this again.
But she knew what would happen to her body even after she was dead.
She sat very still as she stared at the barrel of Jose’s gun pointed at her. She had seen things far worse than anything Jose could do to her, so she showed no fear of him. Let him shoot you, that small voice whispered again. And then all of this will be over.
But she had to protect David. She still had him to think about; it was the only thing that kept her going.
“I don’t know what’s out there,” Stella answered Jose. “And that’s the truth.”
Cole moved closer to Jose, trying to calm him down, talking to him in a soothing voice. “What are you going to do, kill the only person who might know anything about what’s going on out there?”
“Not unless she tells me what’s going on here,” Jose growled.
It was like this before at the dig site, Stella thought. But those people were scientists; they were reasonable – at least they were reasonable in the beginning before things got too bad. But these men in the cabin were bank robbers. They were criminals. And they had murdered at least one person that she knew about; the old man in the bank that they kept talking about. She couldn’t risk it much longer. She had to tell them something, but she knew she couldn’t tell them everything.
“What do you mean, you don’t know what’s out there?” Jose asked Stella.
“It’s not people out there,” Stella told Jose.
“I told you,” Needles said and jumped to his feet, a strange smile of victory on his face – a lunatic smile. “I told you the devil’s out there.”
Jose glanced quickly at Needles, and then he looked back at Stella.
“Is that what you’re trying to say?” Jose asked her. “The devil’s out there? The devil’s the one that’s following you?”
“I don’t know what it is.”
Jose was about to explode with anger. Stella could see his finger tightening around the trigger.
“I swear, that’s the truth!” Stella yelled at Jose. “Something’s out there, but I don’t know what it is!”
“Let her talk,” Cole said, trying to keep Jose calm. “Let her explain.”
“The dig site where we came from,” Stella continued quickly. “Something like this happened there. People were taken. One by one. I took David and we managed to get to my truck and get away.”
Jose stared at her.
“That’s the truth.”
Stella could see a movement out of the corner of her eye, Trevor sneaking up behind Jose, but she made herself look back at Jose.
Cole stared at Needles who seemed like he was about to alert Jose about Trevor, but after the look from Cole, Needles slumped back down in the recliner and didn’t say anything.
Cole turned and looked at Stella with compassion. He’s trying a different approach, she thought.
“Stella, we need your help,” Cole said. “Whatever you know about what’s going on out there could help us. I wish you would tell us.”
“You need my help?” Stella asked sarcastically and she couldn’t help the bark of a laugh that came out of her. “You run us off the road, carjack us, bring us to the middle of nowhere in a snowstorm, point guns at our faces, threaten to torture and kill us, and then you want my help?”
Cole sighed.
Stella could see Trevor creeping up right behind Jose, but she wouldn’t give him away.
“I’m not helping you,” Stella went on, trying to distract Jose from Trevor sneaking up behind him. “Not until you stop pointing your guns at me and threatening us.”
Trevor aimed his gun at the back of Jose’s head, the barrel touching his head. “She’s right,” he told Jose. “Lower your gun.”
“What the fuck, man?” Jose said, and a nervous laugh escaped him. “You’re going to shoot me over this woman?”
“And that kid,” Trevor said. “You heard Cole. We’re not going to kill anyone else. Especially not a woman and a child.”
“But they know something.”
“I don’t care.”
Jose sighed and dropped his gun hand. He shoved his gun into the waistband of his pants, and then he walked away. He shook his head as he stared at Cole and Trevor. “You guys are making a big mistake.”
“We’re going to wait here for the next four hours and see what happens,” Trevor told Jose, his eyes dead on him, his gun still in his hand. “We’re going to call their bluff, just like we all agreed.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
Five hours later the afternoon shadows grew longer, stretching across the snow as the sun dipped lower behind the trees.
Inside the cabin, Trevor sat at the dining room table with another hand of solitaire laid out in front of him. His gun was close by, and he was ready to grab it if he needed to.
Everyone was tense as they waited.
Needles looked even more nervous now that their four hours were up. He glanced over at the two metal cases of money on the fireplace hearth like he was ready to grab them and bolt for the door, throw them outside in the hopes that it wasn’t too late. But he didn’t get out of his recliner. He just looked at the front door, and then he looked back down at the rug on the floor. The rug was colorful, full of patterns that seemed to change shape after a while. The more Needles stared at the colors and patterns, the more they seemed to change and move, morphing into something unworldly.
Jose paced from the living room to the kitchen, then back to the living room again. He couldn’t sit still. He looked at Cole who sat at the dining room table with his brother, another cup of coffee in front of Cole.
“What’s our plan now?” Jose asked Cole.
“We sit tight for a little bit,” Cole answered. “See what they do next.”
“It’s been longer than four hours,” Jose reminded him. “Frank said we had four hours, and it’s been longer than four hours. Nothing’s happened. Nobody’s coming for us.”
Cole sipped his coffee.
“We gotta do something soon,” Jose continued. “It’s going to be dark in a few hours. Then we’ll have to stay another night.”
Cole still didn’t answer.