AllFreeNovel
Share Us
He screamed again.
This time she rolled and thrashed with every ounce of her energy, pulling herself free of his grip. She stood and staggered toward the cabin.
She could hear him running after her.
Good. Follow me, bastard.
She knew she’d have a better chance of losing him if she ran for the trees, but losing him wasn’t the plan.
Not this time.
She picked up speed and slid through the cabin’s open doorway. He was a heartbeat behind. He pulled open the door, knocking aside the small tree branch she’d used to prop it open.
He barreled inside. The door closed and locked behind him, pulled by the spring door closer she had installed only hours before.
She retreated to the farthest point of the cabin’s main room, illuminated in a golden glow by the two glass oil lanterns.
He moved toward her and smiled. “I’m afraid you’ve made a grave error in judgment.”
She grabbed one of the oil lanterns and held it up. He hadn’t seen the bolts, hinges, and empty containers of odorless paint thinner scattered on the floor next to the door. “Have I?”
He nodded. “But I’ve changed my mind. I’ll make it quick. You won’t suffer, Tricia.”
She stared him in the eye as she raised the lantern. His circle-square neck tattoo almost seemed to dance in the flickering light. “No, butyouwill suffer.”
She hurled the glass lantern to the floor in front of him, and it exploded in a fireball!
Tricia turned and bolted through the rear doorway. She swung down a two-by-four over the pair of iron barricade brackets she’d bolted to the exterior doorframe.
She could hear him pounding on the door over the sound of the roaring flames.
She backed away. She had drenched the floor and walls with the flammable paint thinner. It wouldn’t take long.
Milo was now trying the boarded-up windows. He pounded and screamed, but the boards didn’t budge.
She picked up the tire iron she’d placed outside the cabin just in case he’d manage to break free. Then she backed even farther away from the burning, crackling cabin as the flames consumed it from within.
Milo’s pounding and screaming stopped. Surely nothing could be alive in there.
“Bitch!”
Milo had broken through one of the windows and was coming after her again! His shirt was on fire and his face was twisted and pain-racked as he tore after her.
She braced herself and swung the tire iron and struck him in the shoulder. He acted as if he didn’t even feel it. Maybe he didn’t, she thought frantically. His expression looked crazed as he moved toward her again.
She swung the tire iron again and this time hit his cheekbone. Oh, he felt that, she thought fiercely. He screamed and then lunged forward, his hands outstretched.
“Get down, Tricia. Now!”
It was Kendra’s voice, Tricia thought dazedly.
“Tricia, drop to the ground! Do it!” Though she couldn’t see her, Tricia instinctively obeyed the order and dropped onto her stomach.
And from there she saw Lynch close in on Milo. His arm was around Milo’s neck, and he was jerking it back. The fire had been extinguished from Milo’s shirt, but flames had spread down to his pants as he tried to wriggle free.
Milo looked down at Tricia. In that moment, his agonized look was replaced with one of eerie calm. Even as the flames spread past his knees, Milo reached into his charred jacket and pulled out a handgun. He raised it toward Tricia’s head.
Crack.
