The Wildman (27 page)

One small, rational corner of Jeff’s mind told him he was imagining all of this. His mind, stressed by anxiety and danger and exhaustion, only seemed to be sharper than normal. He was more receptive to the night because he was past the point of rationality.

That’s a good thing,
Jeff thought as he moved through the forest, never letting Ben’s wavering flashlight beam ou
t of sight.

The muscles in his arms and legs thrummed with energy and power. He started to imagine what he would do if—not if …
when
he got his hands on
Ben. He would choke him … crush his throat with his bare hands in a surge of savagery and tear him apart with his bare teeth.

He found the primitive imagery that filled his mind unsettling, but Jeff had to be this savage if he was going survive the night.

Because one thing was sure …

Only one of them was going to live to leave the island in the morning, and Jeff was going to make damned sure it was
him.

* * *

Jeff suddenly froze and dropped into a crouch when, up ahead, the dark hulk of the infirmary appeared through a gap in the trees. The oval of Ben’s flashlight beam played across the front of the building. Even at this distance, Jeff heard Ben mutter a growling curse when he saw that the door was wide open.

But where’s Evan?

Tension twisted inside Jeff.

How am I going to save him?

Ben leaped up onto the small porch in front of the door and, leaning against the wall beside the open door, raised his hand. Jeff saw the pistol, held high like the cops did it on TV.

Moving as close as he dared without revealing himself, Jeff held his breath, watching and waiting for Ben to burst into the infirmary, his gun blazing. He narrowed his eyes, surprised by the deep, rumbling growl that escaped his lips as he watched Ben … hoping … praying that—somehow—Evan would get the drop on Ben.

Had Evan heard him coming?

Was he ready?

Even now, was he crouching just inside the door … clutching one of the rocks I gave him … ready to fight?

Ben stood there for a long, tense moment beside the open doorway. He shifted his weight from one foot to the other and then, with a piercing yell, charged around the corner. Jeff checked the impulse to use the noise Ben was making as a cover so he could rush forward and attack Ben from behind. Instead, he stood there, holding his bre
ath and waiting.

“
Fuck!
”

That single word filled the night.

Jeff recognized Ben’s voice, and he knew Even wasn’t inside. An instant later, Ben burst back out onto the porch. Crouching low, he shined the flashlight all around. The beam skimmed across the water-soaked front yard, tracked by the pistol in his other hand.

“
Fuck!
” he shouted again, his voic
e echoing from the woods.

Jeff smiled as he watched Ben jump down to the ground and start moving around the side of the building. His head was bowed. The flashlight was focused on the ground. He was clearly looking for any tracks Evan had left, but Jeff was confident the heavy rain had washed them away.

Ben circled around the infirmary and came back to the front door. He paused by the landing, bending over and studying the ground.

It was obvious he had no idea where Evan had gone or what he should do next. Evan could be hiding anywhere … in the woods, down on the beach, maybe back at the dining hall.

Jeff was afraid Evan wouldn’t last long, not if he was somewhere in the
woods.

I’ll have to find him first,
he thought, but he was just as perplexed as Ben about where Evan might have gone.

After a short, fruitless search, Ben started back down the trail, heading toward the dining hall. Jeff dropped to the damp ground behind some bushes to avoid the flashlight beam as it swept back and forth. He wished he could move silently enough to get behind Ben and jump him, but he had to let him go …

For now.

His first concern was finding Evan and making sure he was still alive. Revenge for what Ben had done to his other three friends could wait a little while.

As soon as Ben was gone, Jeff moved closer to the trail, still keeping close to the woods in case Ben doused his light and tried to sneak back, hoping to lure either him or Evan out into the open.

It struck Jeff as odd that he no longer felt the cold and damp. He wondered if he might already be dying of hypothermia and simply didn’t recognize it yet, but the truth was, if anything, he felt more alive than ever before. His senses were filled with the raw input of the night and the forest, and he was more in turn with life than he had ever been before.

Keeping to the woods, he got as close as he could to the infirmary. Then, crouching low and sitting on his haunches, he waited as he stared at the dark slash of the open door. Taking slow, even breaths, he listened to everything around him. He told himself he could wait here all night if he had to. His eyes were wide as he tried to pierce the darkness, and his ears were pricked as he listened for any indication of danger.

He wasn’t about to risk getting taken by surprise. As tuned as his senses were to everything around him, he wasn’t about to overestimate his abilities … or underestimate Ben’s.

He lost any sense of time, but after a while, something—a shadow darker than the night
—shifted against the foundation of the building.

Is that an animal?

Maybe the raccoon or skunk who burrowed under the old foundation had been frightened away by Ben’s shouting and now was coming back to investigate what might be happening to its lair.

Or maybe it was Ben.

Maybe he had circled around through the woods and was coming around from behind the building to see if either Evan or Jeff had come out of hiding.

Jeff held his breath and stared, wide-eyed. Every fiber of his being tingled with anticipation.

Before long, he heard a low, scrambling sound like someone or something clawing at the ground.

Jeff was convinced it was an animal, but the shadow suddenly grew larger, rising up, dark black etched against the darkness of the infirmary. Jeff held his breath and waited. Then he smiled to himself when he saw that it was a person.

Still, Jeff didn’t move.

He had to know if it was Ben or Evan.

Then a hushed voice whispered in the night, barely audible above the wind overhead.

“
Psst … Hey, Jeff …? You there …?
”

A surge of relief flooded Jeff. Evan must have been hiding in the narrow crawlspace underneath the building. Fortunately, Ben hadn’t thought to check under there.

Still, Jeff didn’t move.

It was possible Evan had just walked blindly into Ben’s trap. As much as he wanted to save Evan, he wasn’t about to do anything foolish … not if he could help it.

He watched as Evan crept over to the porch in front of the building. He was holding something, and Jeff realized he had a large rock in each hand.

Evan stepped cautiously up onto the landing and then, leaning into the doorway, checked inside the infirmary. Satisfied that it was empty, he turned around and leaned against the doorframe. He raised his arms as if hugging himself against the cold. Even at this distance, Jeff heard Evan’s teeth chatter.

Finally, once he was positive Ben was nowhere around, Jeff broke cover and came forward. Evan didn’t notice him until he was less than twenty feet from the infirmary. He jumped and let out a frightened grunt as he raised his right hand, ready to attack.

“
Easy there,” Jeff said. “It’s me.”

Jeff took a step back and raised both hands as though surrendering.

“
Christ! D
on’t
do
that! Y
ou scared the shit out of me!” Evan paused and swallowed hard. “Where the hell were you?”

Jeff nodded back down the trail and said, “In the woods,” as if that were answer enough.

“
He was here,” Evan said. “Ben came out looking for me.”

“
I know. I saw him. And it’s a damned good thing he didn’t find you. He’s got a gun, and he’ll use it. He already has. He killed Fred and Mike and, I think, Tyler.”

“
Oh, Jesus. Are you sure?”

“
Positive. I saw it.”

Evan lowered his gaze to the muddy ground.

“
What about Tyler? Where’s he?” Evan asked, his teeth still chattering.

“
I’m not sure, but I don’t hold out much hope for him, either.”

Jeff clenched his fists as a sudden rush of indescribable rage filled him. It pounded through his veins and nerves, giving him a surge of energy.

“
This guy’s totally lost his mind,” Jeff said, “and he plans to kill you and me before we can get off this goddamned island.”

Evan groaned softly and seemed to fold in on himself. With his new found perception, Jeff imagined he see his friend’s life force draining away from him. Reaching out and grabbing Evan by the shoulders, he gave him a bracing shake.

“
You can’t punk out on me now. We’re not dead yet, and we’re not gonna let him get us.”

Evan groaned even louder and turned his head away as if he was too embarrassed to face Jeff.

“
What good am I gonna be,” he said in a frail voice. “I can hardly walk, much less fight if we have to.” He took a whistling breath through his nose. “How ‘bout you leave me here and go back to the mainland and bring the police back? I can hide out ‘till morning. I’ll crawl back under the infirmary foundation. He’ll never find me.”

“
If he does, you’d be trapped,” Jeff said. “You were lucky he didn’t find you there already. He’ll think of it sooner or later.”

“
But if I can find—”

Before he finished, Jeff gave him another, harder shake.

“
No! … There’s no way,” he said in a low growl. “I’m not gonna let this asshole get me or you the way he got the other, and I’m definitely not leaving you here. You’re coming with me whether you want to or not.”

“
But I’ll just hold you back.”

There was a crazed, frightened gleam in Evan’s eyes that made Jeff wonder if he might have already snapped from the time he’d been locked in a closet without food or water.

How much can the human mind and body take?
he wondered, but he had a sickening feeling, before the night was over, they were both go
ing to find out.

CHAPTER TWELVE

Illuminations

Jeff had no idea what he should do next. He wanted to get back to the dining hall so he could grab some food and maybe a bottle of rum, but it didn’t look good. Evan told him he had collected some rainwater to drink, but his stomach had been empty for so long he vomited it back up after only a couple of sips.

“
It’s gonna be a while before you get your strength back,” he told him, trying not to think that Evan was probably going to end up in the hospital hooked up to an IV for at least a few days.

“
So what’s the plan?” Evan asked.

“
I’m not sure.”

“
That’s not much of a plan.”

Jeff stepped to one side so Evan could hook his arm around his shoulder and use him for support.

“
We’ve got to get to the boat. That’s our only chance. Even if the engine’s fucked, we’ll row back to the mainland if we have to.

“
As long as Ben hasn’t take the oars.”

“
Yeah … There’s that.”

“
You don’t think he’d think of that?” Evan shook his head. “He’s been planning this for a long time. Chances are, he’s got his bases covered.”

Jeff sniffed with grim laughter and shook his head.

“Yeah, but he hasn’t counted on the human element.”

Or the
inhuman
element,
he thought, still confounded by the transformation he’d experienced in the woods. Al
though his senses weren’t as keen right now as they had been, he was sure something fundamental him had changed inside … some primitive part of his brain that had been dormant had been unlocked or re-awakened, and was working in ways he still had trouble comprehending. But he couldn’t deny he could sense things that even yesterday—although yesterday seemed so long ago—would have slipped past him without a ripple.

“
We’ll swim over if we have to,” Jeff said. He gripped Evan by the waist, hooking his fingers around his belt for support. “First thing, though, we have to get down to the lake and see what’s what. He’s just one man. He can’t be everywhere at once.”

Evan chuckled and said, “Right. It’s not like he’s Hobomock or something.”

He had said it in jest, but Jeff’s immediate thought
was,
Yeah, maybe
he’s
not Hobomock … but
I
am.

He almost said it out loud, but let it drop. On a purely rational level, he knew it wasn’t true. I couldn’t be. He hadn’t been possessed by any Indian spirit or demon. There must be a simpler explanation for what had happened to him. The threat to his own life had kick-started some weird defense mechanism in his brain. It was probably something everyone had, but society or “civilization” buried it so deeply beneath layers and layers of laziness and complacency that we were no longer aware of it … unless or until we needed it.