42097609460

She was closing in on the car when her foot hit something hard,
making her stumble. Spotting the gun she’d tripped on, she
picked it up and started toward the car again.
Ahead, the door of the car pushed open slightly, but it was
blocked by debris on either side. She felt a surge of relief that Alex
was alive at the same instant she remembered that Josh and
Kristen were missing.
“Alex!” she cried. She reached the back of the jeep and started to
pound on it. “You have to get out! The kids are out there—need to
find them!”
The door was still jammed but he was able to roll down the
window. When he leaned out, she saw he was bleeding from his
forehead and his voice was weak. “They’re okay… I brought them
to your house…”
Ice flooded her veins. “Oh, my God,” she croaked out, thinking,
No, no, no… “Hurry up!” She pounded the rear of the car. “Get
out! Kevin just left!” She could hear the raw fear in her own voice.
“That’s the direction he went!”
The pain in his hand was beyond anything he’d ever experienced,
and he felt dizzy from blood loss. Nothing was making any sense,
and his hand was useless now. He heard the sirens coming but he
would wait for Erin at her house, because he knew she would be
home tonight or tomorrow.
He parked behind the other, deserted cottage. Strangely, he saw
Amber standing behind a tree, asking if he wanted to buy her a
drink, but then her image vanished. He remembered that he had
cleaned the house and mowed the lawn but he had never learned
how to do laundry and now Erin was calling herself Katie.
There was nothing to drink and he was getting so tired. Blood
stained his pants and he realized that his fingers and arm were
bleeding, too, but he couldn’t remember how that had happened.