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Mattie was terribly afraid that hurting her wasexactlywhat he had in mind, but there wasn’t anything she could do about it. She considered running again for a moment as she climbed slowly out of the trunk, but all she could see in her mind’s eye was Luke unloading both barrels of the gun into her back as she fled. She saw herself falling face-down in the forest, bleeding and freezing to death at the same time and the thought was too awful to contemplate.
Luke must have seen the indecision cross her mind because he shook his head and waved the shotgun at her again.
“Uh-uh, Mattie darlin’—don’t even think about it,” he purred. “You don’t want a belly-full of buckshot, now do you? Just come on into the hunting lodge like a good girl. That’s right—right up the path now.” And he waved the gun in the direction of a lighted cabin about a hundred feet away. It was easy to see, even in the falling snow, because it was lit up from within by a weird, red glow.
Mattie absolutely didnotwant to go in there—especially after hearing Amanda screaming—but somehow her feet were carrying her up the snowy path and into the gaping maw of a front door.
Luke came right behind her, prodding her in the back occasionally with the shotgun, as though to remind her it was still there and still aimed at her.
As if I could forget there’s a loaded gun pointed at my back,Mattie thought, half resentful, half scared to death.
At first she couldn’t see anything as she stepped into the cabin but she could certainly smell—there was ahorriblestench in the air, like rotting flesh. Once while she was in college, a rat had died behind the wall of her dorm room—that was the odor she was smelling now, she thought. The odor of death.
But she couldn’t see where the stench was coming from and of course, she was afraid to ask Luke. When her eyes adjusted to the red light, she saw it was coming from several lamps, which had all been draped with crimson shawls. There was a fire in the fireplace too, but it was nothing but glowing embers, which did little to lighten up the smelly gloom.
Then she stumbled over something on the floor and nearly fell.
“What the—!” she gasped, trying to make out what she had tripped on. Had someone left some sticks of firewood lying on the floor? But no…did sticks wear high heels and a long, formal dress?
They certainly did not. Looking more closely, Mattie saw to her horror that what she had tripped over was abody.
She thought it was Amanda, but it was difficult to tell because her head was lying on the floor near the head of the bed—an area filled with shadows. Nor could she tell if the other woman was dead or just passed out—she desperately hoped for the latter. Amanda might be a total bitch, but nobody deserved to die like this!
Other than the body, the cabin or “hunting lodge” as Luke persisted in calling it, was very sparsely decorated. There were no animal heads mounted on the wall or other hunting trophies as far as Mattie could see. Though there was a shelf over the mantelpiece that seemed to be filled with lumpy, vaguely oval objects that might have been a rock collection if the rocks were all fairly large and roughly the same shape. Plus, there was some kind of long, grassy moss growing on most of them. Weird.
“Have a seat,” Luke motioned with the shotgun, indicating the end of the bed, which was placed on the back wall, across from the fireplace. “I have a feeling you might need a little time to get settled.”
Mattie found herself with little choice in the matter. She sat gingerly at the very end of the bed, making certain to keep her feet away from Amanda’s, which hadn’t moved a bit even when she had tripped over them.
The next thing Luke did made her even more nervous. He walked across to the door, shut it, and locked it. Then, grinning at her, he held up the key and put it in his pocket.
“Just in case your Kindred boyfriend gets any ideas,” he remarked. “Not that he can find us way out here, but better safe than sorry, I always say.”
“What…what do you want with me?” Mattie asked, her voice coming out in a frightened whisper.
“Why, I just want to pick up where we left off, darlin’,” Luke said, an easy grin on his face. He put down the shotgun, leaning it carefully against the doorframe, and came over to the bed where she was sitting.
Mattie shrank away from him but he didn’t reach for her—he just stood there, looking down at her.
“You know, I was so young back when you and I went to Prom together,” he remarked. “I hadn’t found my true calling yet. I had afeelingabout it, but I was just finding my way. I wasn’t the same man I am today.”
Mattie had no idea what to say to this strange speech but suddenly a voice whispered in her ear,
“Keep him talking. Whatever you do, daughter—keep him talking!”
The voice didn’t sound like her own inner monolog at all, but it certainly made sense. Plus, hearing it comforted her somehow—as though she had an invisible friend in the room with her. Mattie realized that didn’t make sense but she didn’t care—she decided to heed the mysterious advice.
“Well, we all grow and change,” she said, forcing herself to sound conversational, like they were at a reunion together instead of trapped inside this stinking cabin. She smiled politely but inside, she was wondering if she was fast enough to roll off the bed and grab the shotgun. But…she had never shot a shotgun before, oranygun for that matter. What if the safety was on? Did a gun like thathavea safety? And if so, where was it? What if she grabbed it and then couldn’t get it to work?
“We do…we certainly do grow and change, darlin’,” Luke agreed amiably. “Though I must say, I think I’ve grown and changed more than most.”
“How…how do you mean?” Mattie asked, trying to keep up her end of the conversation.
“Well, I’ve found my calling for one thing,” Luke said, smiling.
“Uh…working at the hardware store?” Mattie asked uneasily.
“Huh? Oh no—I just do that to help out my old man and keep up appearances,” Luke told her. “No, I’m talking about myart.”
