“We’re not staying here tonight?” The idea of spending the night in a house with corpses made her skin crawl, but they had shelter here, something they might not have if they went out there again.
“No. There are too many ways someone could get inside to defend them all. Someone could enter without us knowing.”
Mollie hid her disappointment; he was right after all, but she was less than thrilled about having to return to the woods. She would have loved the chance to give her aching feet and legs a break. She was used to hiking, physically fit, and thankfully she’d swapped her clothes and dress shoes for sneakers after the funeral, but she was not used to this terrain, walking for so many hours, and going without water. Adrenaline continued to be her primary source of fuel, but exhaustion was starting to win out. However, she would keep going no matter what it took, and she would not complain about it.
Together, they made their way back through the rooms on the first floor before climbing to the second. Three doors led off the shadowed hall there, and they were all open to reveal the bedrooms beyond.
Mollie was halfway through searching the second bedroom when she realized the house didn’t have a bathroom in it. She paused for a moment as it hit her just how frozen in time this place was. Again, she had the feeling of being watched, but she refused to give in to the impulse to look behind her as she worked, because if she saw a ghost family, it might be the straw that broke the camel’s back.
In the last bedroom, an old trunk sat at the foot of the bed. Mollie blew the coating of dust off the cover, then coughed and waved her hand in front of her face when the particles floated into the air around her. Opening the trunk, she bit back a delighted cry when she spotted the quilt inside.
She pulled the thin blanket from the cedar chest and shook it out. Age had yellowed the white patches on it, but the blue and green diamond pattern was still evident. The reek of mildew clung to it, but the quilt was in good shape. Refolding it, Mollie tucked it beneath her arm and closed the trunk. It would be annoying to carry, but she didn’t care, she wasn’t giving up the blanket.
“Did you find anything?” Mike asked when he appeared in the doorway. He’d gone back downstairs to raid the kitchen.
Mollie held up her quilt. “I did. How about you?”
He pointed to a tarnished silver cup and small pot; he’d slid his belt through the handles to secure his find to his waist. He’d been careful to keep them apart, so they wouldn’t clink together when he moved. “For when we find water for you.”
She would have drooled at the prospect, if her mouth wasn’t so dry.
* * *
The sun was touchingthe edge of the horizon when Mike discovered the small alcove created by a pile of rocks. Years of erosion caused the stones to rise out of the earth and lean against each other in such a way they created a small cave.
Mike bent to peer inside the alcove. The space was about five feet deep and four feet high and would help keep them warm against the growing wind coming off the ocean only fifty yards away.
“We can stay here for the night,” Mike said as he rose to survey the woods. “I’ll gather some branches to cover the entrance and mask our scents.”
“I’ll help you.”
Mollie tossed the quilt into the shelter and went to help Mike gather dead branches and rocks. When they had enough supplies, they crawled inside the small cave and used them to block the entrance. They worked until only a bit of fading sunlight filtered through the branches covering the opening. Mike used some of the smaller rocks, dirt, and forest debris to plug the larger holes while Mollie retreated to the back of the shelter.
Her breath sounded abnormally loud in the small space as she gathered the quilt and settled against the rocks at the back. Draping the blanket around her shoulders, she used it to block out the coldness of the stones. She propped the rifle against her knees while she watched the daylight fade completely.
“What if they find us?” she whispered.
“Then we’ll kill them.”
He said this as if taking a life was so simple, but then, if it came between her and one of those things, Mollie would gladly take them all down. Her fingers stroked the barrel of the gun as she strained to hear anything beyond the rocks.
Aida. Closing her eyes, she refused to shed the tears that thoughts of her sister brought to her eyes.
A strange, animalistic howl pierced the night. Mollie gripped the rifle closer as a shiver ran down her spine. “Are there wolves in Canada?”
“That wasn’t a wolf,” Mike said.
“Then what was it?”
“The Savages are hunting.”
Mollie gulped. “They’re not very stealthy about it.”
Mike turned away from the barrier, and undoing his belt, he pulled the pot and cup free. Setting them on the ground, he crept toward her. When he settled in beside her, his shoulder brushed hers in the small space.
“They’ll be stealthy when they’re homing in on someone; now, they’re trying to intimidate their prey,” he said.
“So, when they go silent someone is in trouble?”
