Gasping, she sat up. She was in the vegetable garden, Lily clutching her hand. Frantically, she scrambled to her feet, searching for her father.
Masked men surrounded him.
With a cry, she tried to run to him. Lily hauled on her arm, holding her back with terror in her eyes.
Through the circle, another man approached. Amid the ski masks and rifles, his business suit and uncovered face stood in sharp contrast. Firelight played off his dark hair, turning his eyes into shadowed pits and chiseling his face in strange relief. Several inches taller than anyone around him, he towered like a giant over her father on the ground.
In spite of everything, Patrick tried to stand. Fury surged past the pain on his face, and his hand rose as if to strike the man.
The giant scoffed, and his fingers twitched as though flicking away a fly. Patrick gasped. His back arched sharply. And then he crashed to the ground and didn’t move again.
Ashley couldn’t breathe.
This wasn’t happening.
A smile curled the giant’s mouth as he looked toward the girls in the vegetable garden.
“Get them,” he ordered.
Like unleashed hunting dogs, the men charged.
The sight shattered her paralysis. Ripping her gaze from her father, Ashley spun. Yanking Lily behind her, she tore across the tilled soil, choking back a sob as the soft earth sucked at her feet, slowing her down.
She reached the edge of the garden and took off across the field with no idea of where to go. Lily clung to her, and she could hear the girl crying. Thelma’s house was an eternity away, and she couldn’t see the woman’s porch light. The farmhands’ house was dark. No one had emerged this whole time.
Tears burned her eyes.
She kept running.
Headlights surged over the rise at the edge of the property. With a shriek, Ashley tried to turn, her feet sliding from beneath her on the grass. Lily slammed into her and frantically, Ashley grabbed the girl and shoved her to the side.
Lily rolled away.
Ashley didn’t have time to move.
The car roared straight at her.
*****
As the hours passed, Cole began to wonder if Keller’s definition of ‘close’ had been in relation to another galaxy, or even just the moon.
He scrubbed a hand across his burning eyes, trying to stay focused on the road. An indeterminate number of miles before, they’d passed a large blue sign welcoming them to Montana, so he knew what state they were in, at least. But they’d left the highway a while ago, and had since been following circuitous mountain roads through tiny towns with little more than a street light to separate them from complete oblivion. Occasionally, the pinprick glows of distant farms would appear. Even more rarely, a sign pointed into the black abyss of an adjoining road, denoting other specks of life lost somewhere in the darkness. But town names or mile markers were infrequent at best and he couldn’t make himself believe that anything he saw would guide the police to the other vehicles’ destination very well.
Assuming he could call them.
And he didn’t run out of gas before he got there.
Grimacing, he glanced at his cell phone for the twentieth time in as many minutes. Once they’d left the interstate, the bars of signal had dwindled, and for the past few miles, he’d only seen a tiny message politely notifying him of the utter lack of connection.
It was maddening. All his plans went out the window if he couldn’t do something as simple as call the police.
Taillights flared ahead of him again. For the first hour or so, he’d expected them to notice the luxury sedan pacing them along the miles of interstate – and to make something horrible happen to him as a result. But as time passed, several other cars pulled in behind the leaders, forming a loosely connected caravan, and he realized they’d assumed he was one of them all along.
It wasn’t exactly comforting, though it did mean he probably wouldn’t die before they reached their destination.
Drawing a steadying breath, he shoved the fatalistic thoughts away. Up ahead, Keller’s car veered onto a nearly invisible fork hidden among the trees. The other vehicles disappeared after him, and soon Cole could see glimmers of their headlights twisting down the mountainside.
And as with every other blind, unmarked turn in the past few hours, he gripped the wheel and followed them without the slightest clue where they were going.
The narrow track wound through the forest, rolling with the dips and turns of the steep descent. Trees shadowed the road, obliterating any trace of starlight. Gravel growled beneath his tires, making the sedan feel barely stable on the mountainside.
And then they came around a curve, and the valley opened up below them.
Unconsciously, he eased off the accelerator, barely noticing as the car slowed.
He was too late.
They’d already started.
Fire engulfed the barn on the far side of the valley, lighting the night sky. For the moment, the houses remained untouched, but he knew that would change. Reece and his friends were pulling up to block the drive, and in the flickering light of the flames, he could see dark figures hidden behind hillocks in the ground.
His hand fumbled for the cell phone. Thumbing it on, he cursed vehemently and then tossed the useless thing into the passenger seat.
Crushing the pedal to the floor, he sent the car careening down the mountainside.
His eyes flicked from the road to the houses below. He didn’t know what he was going to do when he got there, but if he could warn them that the weird, glowing men were coming – and that the fire was a trap – maybe they’d stand a chance.
Three figures rushed from the house. One fell.
He swore, the car nearly leaving the road as he careened around another curve.
A burst of light made his gaze snap back to the farm.
The fallen one still lay on the ground, but the two others were gone. A large figure stood over the prone body, while the black-clad vultures circled.
Cole scanned the yard in confusion, and then he spotted them.
The two girls were alive, huddling several yards from where they’d been standing.
And then the men started coming for them.
He hit the gravel track bordering the property, and instantly, the embankments obscured his view. Gasping, he glanced to the road. He was running out of time.
A dead body was sprawled across the lane.
Shouting, he swerved. At full speed, the car rushed up the embankment and charged over the rise.
A girl was directly in his path.
Frantically, he hauled on the wheel and the emergency brake, sending the vehicle whirling in a tight arc around the girl and missing her by inches. Grass and dirt flew everywhere as the car spun to a halt between her and the men.
He couldn’t believe he’d just done that.
Gasping, he flung himself at the passenger door, throwing it open.
“Get in!” he shouted.
The driver’s side window shattered.
Lunging forward, the older girl grabbed the younger one and propelled the child into the car before tumbling in behind.
Cole’s foot hit the floor, taking the gas pedal with it.
The engine roared as he whipped the car around. Dirt spewing from beneath the tires, the vehicle surged toward the far edge of the property.
He glanced over as the older girl let out a choked cry. Another house. More bodies. A bloodied floral dress and a glimpse of a dead man with white hair were all he saw before the car rushed past and left the carnage behind.
Gripping the wheel, he braced himself as the sedan flew over the embankment and crashed back down onto the path. Gravel spit furiously from beneath them as the car fishtailed.
The tires caught. The sedan righted itself with a lurch. Headlights flooded his rearview mirror.
Reece and his friends were coming.
The car raced for the mountain road.
“Are you hurt?�
�� he yelled over the growl of the gravel.
No response.
He looked over quickly. Eyes glazed, the older one stared at the floor. The younger had her head buried in the other girl’s lap.
Drawing a breath, he checked out the window as the sedan wound up the mountainside. The other cars weren’t too far behind, but the turnoff was ahead. And then the main road. And then the interstate.
If he could reach it in time.
Slowing as much as he dared, he started to turn.
Headlights surged into view. A horn blared. Hitting the brakes, he swerved madly as a pickup truck veered out of the way and smashed into the trees behind him.
With a cornering ability born of being too expensive for its own good, the sedan snapped back onto the concrete. Hanging onto the wheel with a white-knuckled grip, Cole risked a hasty glance in the rearview mirror.
The driver was getting out and shouting after him. But his truck was blocking the road Reece and the others were driving. Relief at the latter, and guilt at the former, warred inside Cole momentarily before he settled on just being glad the three of them were alive.
Except now he was going in the wrong direction.
And he couldn’t believe that little roadblock would slow them for long.
“Hey,” he called, looking swiftly to the older girl.
No response.
“Hey!”
The girl flinched, and then slowly, her eyes tracked over to him.
“Where’s this road go?” he asked, clenching the wheel as they flew around another turn.
Incrementally, her gaze turned to the darkness, and lingered there.
He grimaced. She wasn’t even seeing the road right now.
“Girl!” he called, trying to draw her back.
“I don’t know,” she answered numbly. She blinked a few times, and then her gaze dropped to her lap. Gently, she ran her fingers over her sister’s black hair.
He looked back at the road, trying not to swear.
The road crested and then began to descend in a rapid series of dips and curves. On the left side of the car, the foliage-covered mountainside disappeared, leaving only a steep drop-off. Slender trees clung to the cliff, the only real barrier between the car, the open air, and the shimmering river a terrifyingly long distance below.
He swallowed hard, focusing on staying on the road. A bit farther downhill, a wide bridge arched across the river. Under the starlight, the open space seemed cavernous, welcoming anyone chasing them to see their car from miles away. Taking a breath, he guided the sedan into the winding curves, fighting the urge to just floor it.
The tires hit ice.
Frantically, he cranked the wheel and hit the brakes, feeling them pulse madly beneath his feet. Skidding sideways, the sedan careened through the turn and caught a tree against the rear door. The impact whipped the frontend around hard, and in an instant, they slammed into the trees.
Someone was screaming. Sluggishly, he looked around. The girls were pressed against him and the noise was the ringing in his ears. But his face was warm. With a thick hand, he reached up, smearing the blood trickling down his cheek.
A small gash. Nothing bad. Debris from the rear window was all.
Details started to play back through his mind.
Blinking slowly, he looked to the left. All the side airbags had deployed, saving him from impaling his skull on the broken window, but he couldn’t see anything past the gaps between them. It was just black. And then he glanced up at the windshield.
The truth hit him like ice water.
They were resting against the trees. The tiny slivers of trees clinging to the sheer edge of the mountainside.
His head turned, though his body was afraid to move. The older girl raised her head and looked at him dazedly.
“Get out,” he said, his tone meticulously calm. “Climb out the passenger side right now.”
Her gaze moved to the windshield, to the trees, and then to the darkness. Already pale, her face lost every shred of color it still possessed.
Shaking her sister’s shoulder, she roused the child and then motioned jerkily for the girl to climb out over her. Trembling, the child obeyed.
“Come on,” the older girl said to him, her voice tense.
“Just go.”
She reached over, taking his hand and pulling him with her.
The car shuddered as they moved, and if he’d had anything left in his stomach, it would’ve risked coming back up right then. His arms felt like lead, and his body was thoroughly engaged in hating him for all he’d put it through. At the edge of the seat, the girl paused, waiting as he scooted over the console and inched toward her.
She yanked him with her as she fled the car. Stumbling out after her, he swallowed hard, while the car sagged farther into the creaking embrace of the trees.
“Thanks,” he said.
With a tiny nod, she stared at the car, and then her eyes went to the road.
He followed her gaze. A hundred yards ahead, the bridge waited, its broad expanse practically glowing beneath the starlight. It’d take forever to cross, and they’d be visible the whole time. And even if they reached the opposite side, without a car they’d still be sitting ducks for everyone chasing them down this road.
Which left heading up.
He glanced at the mountainside, his eyes tracing the treacherous path to the top. If they could reach that, and the damned cell phone started working, maybe they could hide long enough for help to arrive.
Taking a breath, he reached carefully back into the car. The girl made an incredulous noise, and then stared at him like he was insane when he eased back out.
He held up the cell phone and gun. “Come on,” he said, walking past her toward the slope with much more composure than he felt.
Gripping her sister’s hand, she followed.
“Who are you?” she asked quietly.
He glanced back. “Cole.” It wasn’t an explanation. It wasn’t even much of an answer, honestly. But the truth was complicated, and he couldn’t begin to think of what else to say.
Her brow furrowed. “Okay.” A pause. “I’m Ashley.”
They reached the side of the road and the conversation died.
Tucking the phone into his pocket and the gun into the back of his jeans, he headed for the first of the fallen rocks dotting the mountainside. Hoisting himself up, he grimaced against the protests raised by every muscle he owned. Behind him, Ashley boosted her sister onto the rocks, and then pulled herself up after them.
Moss carpeted the boulders protruding from the slope, threatening to dislodge him from every inch of height he gained. Scraggly bushes clung to scraps of soil beneath trees twisting at awkward angles toward the sky. The road grew more obscured as they climbed, and soon nothing of it was visible beyond the brush.
At the first level area, he turned and grabbed the younger girl, pulling her up to his side. Blue eyes like a moonlit pool stared up at him from beneath a mop of jet black hair, and then dropped worriedly away to find her sister. Gripping the rocks determinedly, Ashley hauled herself over the edge and then took the little girl’s hand.
He glanced around. Forest surrounded them, but farther on, he could see the mountain continuing to rise. He let out a breath, energy draining at the prospect of more climbing.
Tires screeched to a halt on the road. Doors slammed. A voice, muffled and angry, snarled orders and, a heartbeat later, a car sped away.
Ashley’s eyes found his, and he could see her shaking.
Rustles carried from the bushes below.
The men had split up and they were climbing. Fast.
He scooped the child into his arms and took off through the forest with Ashley a step behind.
The tree cover broke ahead of them. For fifty yards, a sparsely wooded plateau stretched across the mountainside, the product of falling rocks barreling through the forest in an old avalanche. Without pausing, he and Ashley tore across the distance, racing for the densel
y packed trees on the far side.
A gunshot shattered the silence.
Ashley screamed.
Skidding on the dirt, Cole turned. Ashley lay on the ground, clutching her leg as blood soaked her jeans. In his arms, the younger girl twisted, fighting to return to her sister.
His grip on the child tightened as his gaze went to the forest. Black-clad men emerged between the trees, and one of them was glowing.
He recognized Reece and his blood went cold. Keller was nowhere to be seen.
Frantically, Ashley fumbled a knife from her pocket and then flicked it open, pointing it at the men as she struggled to rise.
“Run!” she shouted at Cole.
He ignored her, yanking out the gun. “Get away from her!” he yelled, clutching the little girl with one arm as he aimed the weapon at the men.
He felt the gunshot before he heard it.
Pain tore through his shoulder. He stumbled back.
And then there was only air.
The little girl screamed as they fell into the night.
*****
The bullet flew past her and she heard Lily scream. Spinning around, she saw the boy stumble, agony twisting his face.
And then they were gone.
Ashley stared.
Lily was gone.
She flinched as the cries cut off. With a gasp, she pushed away from the ground and ran for the cliff. Lily couldn’t have fallen. Lily couldn’t have…
Her leg gave out beneath her in an explosion of pain and she crashed down, hands skidding across the dirt and the knife flying away to clatter against a boulder. Eyes locked on the space where the boy had stood, she scrambled at the soil, hauling herself toward the ledge.
Hands grabbed her, dragging her backward and shoving her down till her face smashed into the dirt. Wrenching her arms behind her, they crushed a knee into her back and shouted for her to remain still.
A cry tore from her throat as she tried to fight.
Lily couldn’t…
A fist came out of nowhere. Slamming her face with a dazzling display of red and white light, it drove her back to the ground, and she couldn’t do anything but struggle to breathe around the pain. Tears burned in her eyes, her head rang, and her cheekbone felt shattered. Choking, she opened an eye, staring through a blurry haze toward the cliff.
The Children and the Blood Page 6