“No one’s ever been here before.”
“Maybe your cousin is back,” she said, but even as the words were out, the hairs on her nape raised, and though she didn’t see or hear anything, she thought she sensed a presence nearby, something evil and dark. She shivered. “I think maybe we should leave.”
But he was moving forward. “Something’s wrong about this.”
She felt a little tingle of dread. “Look, Jeff. If you’re trying to scare me again, mission accomplished.”
Was that rustle the wind sighing through brittle tree branches, or something else?
He kept moving cautiously forward.
“And if this is a joke, it’s not funny.”
“No joke.” He’d reached the truck and was scraping away the snow, peering inside when the door that hadn’t been quite latched creaked open.
A man slid out, landing hard in the snow.
Becca screamed.
Jeff leapt back. “Holy shit!”
And then she saw the blood, red splotches covering his jacket. His face, distorted and nearly blue, was twisted to look at her.
She screamed again, the sound tearing through the forest.
The bloody man didn’t so much as twitch.
“He’s dead. Shot.” Jeff’s eyes were bulging from his head as he peered into the cab. “Oh, shit, there’s another one in there.”
“What?”
“Another dead guy.”
He backed up so fast that he nearly knocked her over. “Come on!”
Heart pounding, fear nearly paralyzing her, Becca fumbled for her phone, drawing it from her pocket as Jeff grabbed her hand and pulled her back the way they’d come. Still holding on to her pole, she nearly fell, juggling the iPhone and her pole. Both items dropped into a heavy drift. “Come on!” Jeff said, grabbing her hand and tugging. “Leave it!”
“No.” She lunged for her phone.
“Fucking leave it!” He was practically shrieking, his eyes wide with fear. “That guy was shot! So was his buddy!”
Her pulse hammered in her ears. “But we need to help—”
“They’re beyond help! Whoever did it could still be here. Oh, Jesus. Oh, Jesus.” He was dragging her now, pounding through the snow, and she was scrambling through the drifts. “They were murdered, Becca! We have to get out of here. Oh, Jesus.” She didn’t argue, just kept up with him, moving as fast as she could, nearly running in the snowshoes as best as she could, pushing her one pole into the deep powder, the landscape now seeming treacherous.
Vicious.
Something evil lurking in the shadows.
Dreading what she might see, she glanced over her shoulder half expecting to witness the dead guys stumble out of the truck and zombie-walk after them. Or . . . as Jeff had said, whoever shot the men could still be around. He mentioned the cabin....
Darkness was closing fast, Jeff’s SUV a mile or so away. At any moment someone could jump out from behind a tree and . . . oh, God.
Adrenaline fired her blood, urged her forward. Her legs ached and her lungs burned but she didn’t care. Nothing mattered but escape. If only they could break out of the woods, make it to the car before the murderer who had killed the two men caught up to her.
She thought she heard a keening wail and nearly fainted till she realized it was her own howling voice. She clamped her lips shut and scrambled away as fast as she could.
Chapter 26