Snowblind II: The Killing Grounds (13 page)

Blew out his breath.

Thoosh-thoosh-thoosh-thoosh
.

Pulled the trigger.

The bullet punched through the aluminum. Even over the report he heard a thunderous roar.

“
rrrrrrRRRRRaaaaaAAAAHHHHHhhhhrrrrrrr!
”

The body plummeted through the aspens, cartwheeling from the branches. It hit the ground on its side. Made no effort to rise.

Dayton caught just a glimpse of what was left of Seaver’s face before he heard a loud cracking sound behind him.

He glanced back and saw the bottom half of the board over the front window buckle inward.

Movement from the corner of his eye. Low to the ground and streaking across the bedroom from the open window.

Thoosh-thoosh-thoosh-thoosh
.

He grabbed Avery and shoved him toward where the ranger’s body bled the snow red. Shot at the source of the motion. Turned and ran.

The hole near the base of the wall in the dry storage room. He remembered it clearly.

Another cracking sound and the remains of the board over the window clattered to the ground behind him.

Dayton hurdled Seaver’s corpse, plowed through the trees, and dove toward where Avery’s legs disappeared into the wall. Dragged himself inside. Spun around. Fired through the hole.

Listened.

Thoosh-thoosh-thoosh-thoosh
.

The space was small and dark and smelled of earth and mildew. The air was cold and crisp. Zeke’s barking was deafening in the confines.

Woof-woof-woof-woof
.

“Shut him up!”

He needed to be able to think. They were in serious trouble. He had what? Four? Five shots left? He couldn’t remember.

Thoosh-thoosh-thoosh-thoosh
.

He scooted back from the opening. Rolled over onto his chest. Aimed his pistol across the ground toward the front door.

It was so dark he could hardly see a thing. The outlines of the aspen trunks. The ranger’s body, perfectly still. A lump on the ground from which the jacket’s stuffing bloomed. The front door remained barricaded. The snow gusted into the room through the open front window. He didn’t blink for fear of missing the slightest hint of movement.

Thoosh-thoosh-thoosh-thoosh
.

Why weren’t they coming? They had them cornered. Trapped.

Why the hell weren’t they coming?

* * *

Zeke struggled to break free from Avery’s grasp. He had his arm around the shepherd’s neck and was using his body weight to pin the dog’s head to the ground to keep him from barking.

He felt cold stone against his shoulder and the sensation of the ceiling not far above him, although he could see little more than the vague outline of the stones beside the lone entrance. Dayton blocked his view through the hole.

Zeke’s body trembled. His chest swelled and vibrated with a growl.

“Good boy,” Avery whispered. “It’s all right.”

“See if you can find another way out of here,” Dayton whispered.

“I can’t see a thing.”

“Use the lighter?”

“You sure?”

A long pause.

“Yeah. We don’t have a choice. Just be quick about it.”

Avery cautiously released Zeke. He half-expected the dog to round on him and snap at his face, but he just lay there, trembling.

The lighter was in Avery’s front pocket. He had to roll over and sit up to reach it. His head struck the ceiling and his vision filled with sparks. He swore under his breath and struck the flint.

Schick.

Schick
.

There was barely enough butane left to produce a tiny blue flame. They were in a root cellar of some kind. Or at least that’s what he thought it was. The walls were composed of stones and packed dirt. The bare, earthen floor was as cold and hard as ice. There were large dark splotches of discoloration that looked like frozen mud and clumps of dry, brittle hair everywhere. It was the same kind of hair Michelle had hidden in the hole with the camera. And beside Dayton, near the lone egress, were white chips that looked like teeth and fragments of bone. He was about to point them out when he saw the wood around the orifice.

And the words carved into it.

Not just words. Names. Dates. Some of them were so old they’d nearly faded into the grain. Others were new enough that curls of wood still clung to the ends of the strokes. And above them all, a single sentence. Deep and precise, as though honed by each of those who squeezed their names onto the wooden canvas.

THEY COME AT NIGHT.

Avery forgot all about looking for a way out when he saw the date that haunted every aspect of his daily existence.

12/12.

December 12
^th
.

Just over seven years ago.

He tried to stifle a sob to no avail.

“What is it?” Dayton glanced up at the carvings. “Jesus.”

The world tilted under Avery as he read the names beneath the date.

Tamara Withrow

Jeremy Varner

Amy Douglas

Dylan Moore

Michelle Jenkins

Avery stared at her name. Just one of the many that stretched back more than a century. Had all of these people lost their lives in this very place?

The flame died.

Schick-schick
.

He recoiled when the wheel burned his thumb. Blew on it. Tried again.

Schick-schick-schick
.

The flint sparked, but showed no sign of lighting. A quick shake beside his ear confirmed what he already knew. The lighter was empty.

A sniffing sound.

He wrapped his arms around Zeke in the most reassuring manner he could manage. They needed to keep him quiet.

“Shh,” he whispered into the dog’s ear.

Again, he heard the sniffing sound.

It wasn’t coming from the dog.

He listened harder, trying to pinpoint the source of the noise. Several interminable seconds passed in the cold darkness.

There it was again. The sniffing.

This time he heard it clearly enough to tell that it was coming from behind him.

On the other side of the stone wall.

* * *

This was all his fault. Dayton had been presented with the opportunity to end this nightmare before it even started. At least for him. He’d recognized the names the moment he glanced up and saw them carved into the wood above the small entryway.

Joel Vigil

Blaine Shore

Todd Baumann

William Coburn

November 20, 2012

Thoosh-thoosh-thoosh-thoosh
.

He wanted to cry. He could only imagine the sheer force of will it must have taken not only to survive such a terrifying ordeal, but to fight his way through the blizzard and these treacherous mountains to reach town.

William Coburn had staggered into the restaurant with the proof of this tragedy under his jacket, thinking he’d finally reached safety. He’d been half-blind, fully delirious, and malnourished to a life-threatening degree. And Dayton had shot him at point-blank range.

If there was indeed such a thing as cosmic justice, this was undoubtedly how it was meted out.

“Do you hear that?” Avery whispered so quietly he could hardly hear him.

Dayton didn’t dare look away from the opening. Something was still out there. He could feel it.

He heard the dog sniffing from somewhere behind him, but that was all.

“It’s coming from behind the wall,” Avery whispered.

A shiver rippled up Dayton’s spine.

Thoosh-thoosh-thoosh-thoosh.

How in the name of God could it have gotten around behind them?

“Do you still have the tracker?” he whispered.

A long pause.

“No…I must have dropped it.”

Dayton edged closer to the hole. The snowflakes settled to the ground right in front of him. Beyond the trees, the world was filled with shadows animated by the blizzard, which raged unimpeded through the gap where the front window had been.

More sniffing from behind him.

Louder.

Thoosh-thoosh-thoosh-thoosh.

He crawled farther still. He could see the outlines of the toppled cans to his right. Scraps of rusted metal from the roof protruding from the accumulation. Spent brass casings on the ground, most of them predating any rifle he’d ever fired.

The ranger’s body. Now partially concealed by the snow, which had already nearly filled the footprints he and Avery had just made, as though erasing them from existence. There weren’t any others.

Thoosh-thoosh-thoosh-thoosh.

He inched forward.

Again, sniffing from behind him.

He could see across the floor all the way to the front door, minus the area directly on the other side of Seaver’s body. There was various debris, the majority of it broken wood, but no sign of the antenna’s distinct silhouette.

That left only one place it could be.

Thoosh-thoosh-thoosh-thoosh.

The monitor had allowed them to track whatever was out there before. If they could find it, then maybe there was still a chance they could get out of here alive.

Dayton stuck his head out just far enough that he could see the hole in the roof, then quickly ducked back inside.

Thooshthooshthooshthoosh.

Nothing.

He did the same thing again, only farther this time.

Summoned every ounce of courage he could muster. Blew out two sharp breaths.

He extended his arms ahead of him and followed his pistol into the storage room. Pushed himself up to his elbows so he could see over the ranger’s remains. There was the antenna. Just as he thought. Avery must have dropped it when he shoved him out of the main room.

Thooshthooshthooshthoosh.

He scrutinized what little he could see of the adjacent room, watching for any sign of movement. It was maybe five feet to the rear wall of the main room, twenty to the front door. Something could have been hiding to either side of the threshold, pressed against the wall, just out of sight. Waiting for him to crawl just a little closer. At that distance, it would be upon him before he could push himself backward into the cellar, let alone collect the antenna and the monitor. What other choice did he have, though?

He lunged over Seaver’s body. Grabbed the antenna. Threw himself back toward the hole. Scooted inside. Dragged the monitor in behind him by the cord.

Thoosh-thoosh-thoosh-thoosh.

He was panting so hard he couldn’t catch his breath.

“I think…” Avery whispered. “I think there’s another way out back here.”

Dayton brushed the snow from the screen on the tracking device. Stared at the red beacon. Tried to gauge its position in relation to theirs.

Thooshthooshthooshthoosh.

A clacking sound behind him. Stone on stone. A grumble of shifting earth.

He felt the sudden movement of air against the back of his neck.

“Christ,” he whispered.

The beacon.

It was right behind them.

Dayton spun and dove for Avery.

Another
clack
as Avery toppled a large rock from where it had been wedged into the back wall.

“No!”

* * *

A wave of freezing air rushed past Avery’s legs.

Zeke started barking again, right beside his ear.

Impact from behind. He toppled forward. Caught a glimpse of the mouth of the tunnel he’d just revealed before his face struck the embedded stones. He saw stars and tasted blood in his mouth.

A horrible smell. Like a dead skunk wrapped in sweaty socks.

He glanced back. Saw Dayton’s silhouette rise from on top of him. Turn toward the tunnel.

“
rrrrrrRRRRRaaaaaAAAAHHHHHhhhhrrrrrrr!
”

The sound was deafening in the close quarters.

Dayton raised his pistol.

A blur of motion from the corner of his eye.

“
rrrrrrRRRRRaaaaaAAAA—
”

A strobe of discharge from the barrel. The
boom
of the report struck him a physical blow, as though someone had hit him in both ears at once.

Another flash. Another.