Off Season - Jack Ketchum [39]
In her heart Marjie slaughtered the man.
Dan was watching too, and now he felt half frozen and knew he had begun to tremble. It was no damn good, this watching. And that window was still wide open. He shook himself free. He put his hands on Marjie’s shoulders. She whirled on him.
“Let go!” she screamed. She pushed him away and lunged toward the window. “You bastards!” she screamed at them. “You stinking evil bastards! “All at once she terrified him. She was on the bed, leaning nearly out the window.
His hands went to her shoulders and he pulled her roughly inside. He spun her around. She was still screaming. The palm of his hand whipped twice across her face. She collapsed, sobbing.
“I’m sorry,” he whispered.
And in the silence that followed he heard someone laughing, just outside the front door. The big man.
So he hasn’t gone away, he thought. And had he taken just a few steps toward her he could have pulled Marjie out the window just like they’d done to her sister, and she’d be up there among them right now. My God, he thought, that close.
Something churned violently inside him, galvanizing him into action. He felt himself fill with an icy calm. He turned to her.
“You can’t help her,” he said. “Nobody can. But you can help us. And if you don’t they’ll kill you, too.”
She stared up at him and heard the flat, hard sound of his voice, and then she nodded.
“We’ll do what we can,” he said.
Nick and Laura emerged from the bedroom. Laura looked bad. Her lips were pale and trembling. She held a white robe closed tight around her. Her eyes flickered, wary, uncertain. On the other hand, Nick seemed pretty well recovered. He was dressed and wearing his glasses, and he led Laura slowly through the kitchen to where they stood near the doorway to the living room.
At first Laura appeared not to see them. In the next instant her eyes fixed on the figure sprawled on the bed. Her mouth flew open. For a moment there was no sound. Then she screamed. A high, keening wail. She fought her way out of Nick’s arms and ran back into the bedroom. The door slammed shut. Nick turned to follow.
“Let her stay,” said Dan. “I think she’s safe enough in there for the time being. But you’d better open the door, just in case.”
Nick opened the door and they looked inside. Laura stood bolt upright in the corner behind the door, away from the window. Her eyes were blank and stared straight ahead at the wall.
“That’ll do,” said Dan.
He knew Marjie was going to vomit as soon as he turned back to look at her. Nick saw it too and tried to reach her, but they were too late. She turned away from them and sunk to her knees, pulse pounding and pale as death, and vomited into the thin nightgown covering her lap. She felt Dan’s hands on her but she could not move. Then someone was lifting her up and carrying her into the bedroom.
Dan pulled the nightgown off her and threw it into a corner. He had to move quickly now. There would be only the two of them, and it would have to do. He handed one of the hammers to Nick. “Isn’t there an axe around here somewhere?” he said.
“In the woodshed, dammit,” said Nick.
“Then get another knife out of the drawer,” he said. “In case they try to get in. I’m taking the door off this bedroom.”
He worked on the hinges with the hammer. They slipped out easily. He carried the door into the living room, scooping up a handful of nails on the way. He called to Nick. “Give me a hand.”
Nick came running. Dan saw that he’d found a knife. His eyes had gone bright with excitement. “Where are Jim’s things?” he said.
“In here, I guess. I don’t know. Why?”
“There’s a flight bag,” Nick said. “Jim has a gun.”
“A gun?”
“A pistol, yeah. Big one. In a blue flight bag.”
“Jesus Christ, let’s find the fucker,” said Dan.
They searched the room. They found his suitcase by the fireplace but the bag was not with it. “Shit,” said Nick. “He must have brought it in with him. It was in the trunk.”
“Maybe in the kitchen. We’ll find it. I don’t want this window open, though. Give me a hand a minute.”
Nick held the door against the