She knew that. “She could be me,” Noelle whispered as she stared up at his face. Her own light was hitting the ground, so she couldn’t see his expression. “I was alone. I was trapped. The only person with me was a dead man.”
His hold tightened on her.
“I was bound to a chair. If the cops hadn’t found me...” A tip. They’d gotten a tip, which no one had ever been able to trace. “I could’ve died in that cabin.” Starved to death, slowly. But Jenny wouldn’t have to worry about death by starvation. Not when it was so bitterly cold outside.
She’ll freeze to death by morning.
“You’re not her.” His voice was grim. “And I’ll be damned if I let you die for her. You are coming with me. One way or—”
A scream ripped through the silence of the night.
Thomas stilled. Then, in the next instant, he’d torn away from Noelle. His gun was in his hand again as he rushed toward that dying sound.
A sound that hadn’t come from high up on the mountain, but one that had come from the right. Farther into the woods.
They fought their way through those trees, ran ahead even as another scream echoed in the night.
Then Noelle saw it. The hard, stark outline of a little cabin.
The cabin waited. The doors shut. “Please...please don’t make me go back in there....”
Those words whispered through her mind. Noelle’s own words, her broken voice, and she shook her head, hard, as she drew closer.
The cabin was pitch black. Thomas’s flashlight hit the shut front door.
He ran toward it and kicked it in.
Another scream came then.
Noelle rushed in behind Thomas, providing cover for him. But there was no attacker in the room.
A young girl sat in the middle of the room, a rickety, wooden chair beneath her. Her arms were pulled behind her back. A blindfold covered her eyes.
The cabin was so familiar, for an instant, Noelle remembered... “Please, I don’t want to be alone! Don’t leave me alone!”
And a man’s voice had replied to her.
He’d said, “I’ll always be with you.”
Hard shudders shook Noelle’s body as the past and present seemed to merge around her.
Thomas crouched in front of the girl. “Jenny Tucker?”
She jerked. “Yes! Yes, help me!”
Noelle surged forward. She ran behind the girl and yanked until the binds around Jenny’s wrists were gone. The girl’s skin was icy. Her fingers... Her fingers were blue.
“H-he’s c-coming back.”
Thomas pulled the blindfold from Jenny’s eyes. Jenny blinked up at him.
Noelle tugged Jenny to her feet. “He’s not going to hurt you anymore. We’re going to get you out of here.”
Jenny shook her head. Tears slid down her cheeks. “I’m sorry...”
Noelle’s nose burned. What was that acrid scent?
Her flashlight hit the walls. They looked...wet.
“We need to get out of here,” Noelle yelled as she realized that, yes, Thomas had been right. They’d walked straight into a trap.
That smell—it was the heavy scent of gasoline.
Thomas picked Jenny up in his arms and sprinted for the door.
“H-he told me to scream...to scream until help came.”
They were almost at the door but—
A blast seemed to shake the cabin. Fire blazed inside, rushing toward them, following the trail of fuel spread throughout the cabin.
Jenny screamed.
And the fire raged.
There was only one window in that cabin. One to the left, and fire already covered it. The front door was gone. A wall of flames stood in its place.
Thomas sat Jenny down on her feet. The girl immediately fell, and Noelle ran toward her, pulling her up before the flames could lick across the girl’s skin.
Thomas shrugged out of his coat and wrapped it around Jenny’s body. His gaze lifted and met Noelle’s. “You get out first.”
Uh, how?
“Cover up with your coat. Make sure none of your flesh is vulnerable.” He coughed a bit because the smoke was rising fast. “The coat is going to ignite, so you’ll have to strip and roll in the snow as soon as you get outside.”
He wanted her to run through the fire. Right. But... “You don’t have a coat.” He’d just given his only protection to Jenny.
His jaw locked. The blaze let her see him clearly. “I’ll be right behind you.”
He’ll burn. “Thomas...”
The flames flared higher. “Go!”
Tears stung Noelle’s eyes.
“He could be waiting out there,” Thomas warned her. “Get your gun, and cover me when I come out. I need you to get out there and cover me.”
She was supposed to let him get hurt?
“Go, Noelle, go... I’ll be right behind you.”
And, over the roar of the fire, the voice from the darkness of her past spoke again. I’ll always be with you.
A long tremor shook her body. Noelle ran toward the flaming doorway, and she jumped through the fire. There was a loud whoosh of sound, which seemed to fill her ears. Heat surrounded her, so hot, so—
Her body flew through the air, and she hit the snow. She rolled because Thomas had been right. Her clothes were on fire. She pushed out of her coat and kept rolling, then hurried back up to her feet, even as she pulled out her weapon.
I’m not burned. I’m not—
Thomas flew through the fire. The flames came with him when he left the cabin. He hit the snow, too, hard, and Jenny tumbled out of his hands. The coat Jenny wore was blazing. Noelle shoved it away, even as Jenny yelled for help.
Jenny wasn’t burned, though; she was safe.
“Thomas?” Noelle whispered.
He yanked off the smoking ski mask he’d used to cover his face. He was twisting, trying to put out the fire consuming his clothes and pants.
Noelle helped him, securing her weapon and slapping at the blaze. Her gloves burned away.
The fire died.
Thomas glanced up at her.
“Are you hurt?” Noelle whispered. She didn’t see any burns, but maybe it was just too dark to notice them.
He caught her hands. Her gloves were gone, only bits of fabric remained. “Are you?” Thomas demanded his voice an angry growl.
Noelle shook her head.
Somehow, they’d both made it out of that hell.
Jenny was sobbing.
Thomas rose to his feet. He picked Jenny up in his arms. “Watch my back,” he told Noelle.
She had her weapon ready again. The killer had to be close. He’d set the fire just moments before, but...