Shadow in the Pines

by PJ Nunn

  Her watch was hopelessly concealed by the bulk of her coat over the sleeve of her sweatshirt, but the encroaching darkness told her she was rapidly running out of time. She doubted she’d survive the night alone out here with no power and no phone. Especially with no Noah and an unknown assailant intent on her demise.

  As the shadows covered more and more ground, Dani covered less and less. She felt she’d make as much progress by crawling and could only hope she was still moving in the right direction. The road was no longer visible. When she could go no further, she stopped, leaning against the nearest tree and trying to breathe deeply while suppressing the sobs that threatened to rise up and overtake her. She didn’t dare call out for Noah, but his name slammed relentlessly around inside her head, echoing through the canyons of her mind.

  Knowing she had to move, she changed direction slightly. The opening between the trees spread just a few inches and she was able to see a little further. Following it around curves and corners, she finally caught sight of the shed dead ahead. Stopping again to make sure there wasn’t someone waiting and watching, she gasped audibly when she spotted a man’s body, crumpled in a heap about fifteen feet ahead through the trees that circled the back side of the shed.

  Fighting the instinct to turn and run, she crouched low and put one foot in front of the other. Close enough to see that it wasn’t Noah, she heaved a sigh of relief, but it didn’t still the pounding of her heart. Wriggling the fingers that clenched her gun, hoping to restore some of the feeling, she wished like hell someone would wake her up from this nightmare. The fear that gripped her kept her more aware of her surroundings than the tingling pain that signified loss of feeling in her extremities.

  A few steps further and she recognized the man on the ground. It was Dr. Crane. Noah’s prime suspect after Dr. Atkinson. But if Crane was her stalker, and Noah took him down, where was Noah?

  Suddenly, it occurred to her that maybe Noah had followed him here and got the drop on him, then headed straight back across the road to let her know. But if he found her gone, then he was bound to be out here searching for her. They’d not likely cross paths because she came across from his driveway when hers was directly across the street. She contemplated that for a moment. She probably should leave here now and make her way back across the street. But if Noah wasn’t there, or if Crane wasn’t the stalker, she was still in danger and it would be dark soon.

  It will be dark soon, anyway, another voice inside argued back with her. What then? Maybe she should go back now and at least get her flashlight. It would be another hour or more before she could even hope for reinforcements. If something had happened to Noah out here, he could die from exposure in that amount of time. Wait a minute!

  Someone was bleeding, enough to leave a trail. From this distance, she saw no sign of blood on Dr. Crane. Maybe if she got close enough to determine how he came to be lying there, she’d have at least one answer.

  Praying she’d made the right choice, Dani crept closer, then stooped to a squatting position. There, in the middle of his chest, was a bullet hole with a round circle of blood on his shirt that dripped down over his left pocket and disappeared beneath his coat. No way he was shot all the way back by the road. The blood would have drained down toward his belt. He was shot right here. Someone else was bleeding.

  Closing her eyes and taking deep breaths didn’t do much to calm her, or to tell her what to do next. Weary beyond words and entering a chronic state of numbness, Dani got slowly to her feet, looking around the clearing. She wanted to scream Noah’s name at the top of her voice, but doubted she could summon the strength. There was nothing for her but to keep searching. She had no doubt that was what she’d do until she simply couldn’t search any more.

  The shed was the logical place to start. She hadn’t heard a sound except the crackling of ice-laden branches in the wind and the crunch of frozen weeds beneath her feet. All emotion was frozen, she wasn’t even moved by the sight of a dead body less than five feet away, or the thought that he might have been coming for her. This must be what autopilot was like. No feeling, no thinking, just reacting according to how you’ve been programmed to react.

  With another glance around the clearing, she closed the distance between herself and the shed, nudging the door open with her shoulder. The sight of Noah sprawled out in the floor of the shed brought a wave of panic. In an instant, she was by his side, dropping her gun on the ground beside him and fumbling to remove her gloves with fingers that were numb from the cold.

  “Noah!” inside, it sounded like a hoarse scream, but to her ears it was a barely audible hiss. “Noah, please!” Blindly, she groped his neck for a pulse and amazingly enough she found one. Too nervous to tell if it was weak, fast, or slow, it was enough just to know he was still alive.

  Quickly, she looked him over the best she could, trying to see why he was out cold. There was no sign of blood, but it was obvious he wasn’t just sleeping. She’d never be able to move him. At least in here he was protected from the wind. Somehow, she had to get help.

  Getting to her feet, she reached for her gun and turned toward the door. “Please hold on, Noah,” she said, as much for her own benefit as his. Without pausing to look, she burst through the door and started back toward the road.

  “Took you long enough,” an oddly familiar voice stopped her in her tracks and she turned slowly to see a tall figure leaning against the shed. “I was beginning to think you weren’t coming.”

  Dani was painfully aware of the gun in her hand pointing at the ground, but her attention was focused on the rifle cradled in the arms of the hooded figure that spoke.

  “I’m sorry it has to be like this, but it does. Drop the gun and kick it over here.”

  Dani squinted at the figure she faced. Tall and lean, the voice sounded almost like a woman, but with a stocking mask much like her own, it was impossible to tell. Her mind raced, considering her options. It was almost completely dark now and she was only a few feet from the trees. She might be able to make it and get lost in there, but there was no help for miles. How far could she run?

  As if reading her mind, the figure let loose a throaty laugh and revelation dawned. Caroline Crane. Unbelievable. “You can run, but if you do, I’ll kill Noah. Is that what you want?”

  “Why?” she asked feebly, unable to comprehend how this high society doctor’s wife could possibly be behind all this.

  She laughed again. “You’d never understand. Besides, it’s not important. It’s enough that you know I’ll do it. Now drop the gun and kick it over here.” The voice had an edge that wasn’t there before and Dani feared she did, indeed, mean what she said.

  She weighed her options and tried desperately to remember all Noah had taught her about using the gun he’d given her. Never pull it unless you intend to use it. Never let someone take it away from you.

  But what about the TV shows where police have to surrender their weapons to protect someone? Not real, Noah’s voice echoed from within. No officer would ever surrender his weapon. He’d die fighting before he’d do that.

  Dani’s shoulders slumped and she hoped she gave off an air of defeat. This woman didn’t fool her. She’d shoot Noah if Dani tried to run, but she’d shoot him if Dani surrendered her weapon too. No way she’d let him walk out of here alive.

  Hoping a straight shot was faster than swiveling a rifle, Dani raised the gun and fired straight at the form that was Caroline Crane. The shot did more than startle her attacker; it knocked her up against the wall of the shed and dropped her on the ground. The rifle discharged into the air as she fell, but once she hit the ground, there was no movement.

  Cautiously, Dani approached the body keeping her eyes glued on the rifle still clasped within the motionless hands. When she got closer, she saw why Caroline carried the rifle the way she did. Blood covered her right shoulder and soaked most of the sleeve. It wasn’t visible from a distance because of the fading light, but up close, the contrast with the royal blue slee
ve was easy to make out. Dani’s bullet hit her square in the chest and another stain was rapidly forming. Leaning over, she pulled the rifle out of her hands and carried it with her into the shed. If the woman was still alive, she wouldn’t be armed and she wouldn’t get far.

  Not knowing what else to do, Dani dropped to the ground and sat beside Noah. Maybe she’d hear when help arrived. Right now, she’d done all she could do. She didn’t know how long she sat staring, or what she thought during that time. It was like her mind was on hold. Numb like the rest of her. It occurred to her at one point that she really should go for help, but there was no way she’d leave Noah. She’d die here with him in the dark if she had to but she wasn’t leaving. Besides, after all that had happened, she doubted if her legs would hold her up anymore.

  She didn’t know how long she’d sat there. Time had lost all meaning. Even the chaos of her thoughts trying to make sense of everything slowly tapered off until Dani just stared at the fading light through the crack in the door. Realizing that daylight would soon be gone, Dani propped the door open a little wider and went looking for anything that might help. She found a firestick right away and was thrilled to see that it had lighter fluid in it. Still, she’d need something to burn. It was hard to tell in encroaching darkness, but that might be a lantern across the room on a shelf.

  Memories of her own snake-filled shed not so long ago made it hard for her search the shelves in near dark but she didn’t want to risk using whatever amount of lighter fluid was in the stick. A low moan captured her attention and she turned.

  “Noah!”

  She flicked the lighter on again and held it where she could see his face. His eyelids were fluttering. “Noah! Noah, wake up!” she demanded in a voice louder than she thought possible. “Noah!” she prodded when he moaned again. Apparently he was coming around but still hadn’t opened his eyes.

  Sweeping the lighter toward the corner, she looked for the lantern. It was there! Now, if only it had fuel in it! She could only hope that Caroline, if she was the stalker, had stashed it here to help her navigate the woods in the night.

  With more energy than she thought she had, Dani scrambled over Noah’s legs and located the lantern, bringing it back to the spot she had staked out. She’d have to be careful of the flame, but she couldn’t even see well enough to light the thing without it. Holding the lighter what she assumed was a safe distance away, she located the wick and tried to free it with her other hand. Miraculously, it lit and Dani choked back a grateful sob.

  Adjusting the flame, she was thrilled to see it illuminated the entire room. Positioning it so she wouldn’t accidentally kick it over, she turned her attention back to Noah and was shocked to find his eyes open, watching her every move.

  “Noah,” she sighed. “You’re alive.”

  “Dani,” his voice was weak, but lucid.

  “Can you move?” she asked, fearing the worst since he lay so still.

  “Head…hurts …like hell.”

  “It’s okay,” she lied. She wasn’t sure anything would ever be okay again.

  “I heard… shot…” he sounded like each word required supreme effort. “Did…you… get him?”

  “Him?”

  “Atkinsssss…”

  Dani’s heart plummeted like a crashing plane. “I found Crane out back,” she told him in a trembling voice, “and I shot Caroline Crane. I haven’t seen Atkinson.”

  “Shit,” he mumbled, struggling to rise up on one elbow. “We’ve… got to get out of here… he’s……… out there.”

  Dani grabbed the gun she had laying on the ground beside her leg and looked fearfully at the darkness beyond the door. “Should I shut off the lantern?” she whispered.

  “Turn it…down…not off…” he said.

  “It must be after six by now,” Dani said, hoping. “Your friends should be here soon, right?”

  Noah groaned. “Atkinson……… called…told them… I won’t be there…”

  “He told you that?” she couldn’t believe it.

  He nodded. Even in the weak light, his face looked pale.

  “Tell me what to do, Noah,” she was out of ideas. Out of answers. Almost out of hope.

  “Can you… make it…to the road?” he croaked.

  “What’s the point?” she asked wearily. “There’s no help for miles. I’ll freeze to death before I get there if Atkinson doesn’t shoot me first.”

  “Take the lantern……… and… set my house…on fire…”

  Dani looked at him incredulously. “You can’t seriously mean that.”

  “Yes……… Dani…I’m not okay……… and you’ll freeze… in here…we have to get……help…”

  Dani considered what he said. Maybe he was concussed and not thinking rationally. There had to be a better way.

  “But Noah, if I take the lantern, I’ll be a moving target for Atkinson. If he shoots me out there, they’ll never find you in time.”

  “Turn it off……… light it…again…when you get there…”

  As bad as she hated to admit it, if he was right and Atkinson called and told them Noah wouldn’t be in today, they might not come looking for him tonight. Meanwhile, Atkinson was still out there and ready to kill them both. And, she had no idea what Noah’s wounds were but it wasn’t hard to tell that he wasn’t doing very well. He might not survive the night out here, even if she did.

  “All right,” she agreed. “Here,” she placed the rifle on his chest. “Can you use it?”

  “Damn straight,” he tried to smile.

  “Noah… I love you,” she said, hoping it wasn’t the last chance she had to tell him.

  “Dani, I can……… beat that,” he managed a crooked grin. “I… love you…too.”

  With great apprehension, Dani extinguished the lantern and held it in her left hand, wrapping her right firmly around the handle of the .38. She waited a moment for her eyes to adjust, then ventured to the doorway.

  “Dani…”

  She looked back over her shoulder, unable to see his face anymore in the darkness. “Yeah, Noah.”

  “I mean it.”

  Chapter Twenty Five

  Dani slipped out under the cover of night, ignoring the glimpse of Caroline’s splayed legs still lying where they fell. Ready to shoot anything that moved, Dani picked her way carefully through the trees with nothing to guide her besides an image in her mind and an occasional glimpse of the moon peeking between the clouds. She hardly noticed the cold anymore and wondered if the beginnings of hypothermia had already set in.

  The weight of the lantern was cumbersome, but the warmth it emitted when it brushed up against her leg was her only assurance that she wasn’t totally numb. Her body was certain it was well after midnight by now, but her intellect reminded her it was probably around seven. Stumbling and bouncing off trees she didn’t see until she ran into them, she made her way back toward the road, hoping and praying she was moving in the right direction. Pausing once in awhile to get her bearings and listen to the stillness that surrounded her, she was rewarded finally, with the sound of a car motor.

  Holding her breath, although it wasn’t really necessary, she waited, wondering if it was help or the enemy patrolling the edge of the woods. A glimpse of headlights through the trees told her she’d gone off course and she redirected, aware for the first time that she had no idea what Atkinson looked like.

  Driven by the hope of help, she hurried through the trees toward the road, knowing somehow she’d just have to figure it out when she got there. She might have a nervous breakdown for shooting Caroline Crane later, but right now it was pure survival instinct. If she had to do it again, she didn’t doubt that she could.

  There was no sign of light as she approached the road, so she stopped at the edge of the trees and waited, hearing only the sound of her heart in her ears and the whish of her own exhale through the knit fabric of the mask she’d adjusted to cover her mouth. She could just make out the shape of her dark house in the ho
llow, so she turned right and followed the tree line toward Noah’s. She couldn’t picture herself actually setting fire to the house, but she had to figure out something. She wondered if she could blow up the truck and cause enough of a blaze to be seen by someone who’d care enough to call it in. On the heels of that thought came a mild chuckle that she was even considering such a thing seriously. Funny how priorities change and what seemed reasonable in a time of panic.

  She stopped suddenly at the sight of a red glow near Noah’s house. Moving more cautiously, she soon saw that it was brake lights on a car in his driveway parked right behind the truck. She hesitated to cross the road, not knowing who might be in the car, but didn’t see any other option. Hoping she wouldn’t slip and go skidding across, she stepped tentatively out in the open and moved as quickly as she dared to the trees on the other side. Once there, she disappeared into their welcoming branches, making surprisingly little noise in the process.

  Hiding inside the branches of an evergreen that lined his drive, she caught a glimpse of a flashlight shining around the front porch area. Was it Atkinson looking for her? She waited, relaxing a little as the flashlight edged toward the other side of the house. The car lights were still on. Could she make it to the car and get away, leaving him there? That would be a much better idea than blowing something up.

  Silently, she crept toward the back of the car, still hugging the trees until she got closer. When she reached the back end of the car, she held her breath, prayed she’d make it and lunged for the driver’s door, jerking it open in one swift move, realizing too late that the passenger seat was occupied!