Voracious - Alice Henderson [126]
Madeline slowed the bouncing Toyota on the pitted, dirt road and came to a halt, switching the headlights off.
The lights ahead, perfectly square, gleamed from the cabin only three hundred feet away. She studied the windows for any hint of movement, but it was simply too far away to see.
Not switching the headlights back on, she pulled the car off the road and parked it beneath a large hemlock. She switched the motor off. As quietly as possible, she opened the car door and climbed out. Locking it, she pressed it closed with her hip and pocketed the keys with nervous, trembling hands.
Ahead lay darkened clusters of pine trees and the glowing windows of the cabin beyond. She crept around the car and moved forward, the pine needles muffling her approach.
Two hundred feet.
One hundred feet.
As she drew closer, a large, hulking shape came into view, obstructing the light from one of the windows. Madeline’s heart jumped until she realized it was just the bulky, dark dimensions of Noah’s Jeep. He had parked right in front.
Bold.
Or stupid.
If Noah was alone in there, he was going about his assassination attempt in a dangerous way, parking his Jeep in full view and turning on all the lights. It wasn’t something she thought he’d do. He was either desperate and not thinking clearly, or something had gone wrong.
Ducking down low to stay out of the cabin’s light, she crept to the front door. Squatting next to it, she reached one shaking hand up to the handle.
Noah arriving at the cabin, full of despair, sobbing …
Leaving the safety of the Jeep, tentatively approaching the front door, determined and full of terror …
Reaching in through the broken pane of glass in the door, letting himself in. Planning to lie in wait behind the bedroom door, intentionally leaving his car in plain sight so the creature would know he was there and be braced for a confrontation, perhaps get his heart pumping so that when Noah cut him, the blood would flow that much more freely into Noah’s waiting mouth …
Noah imagining himself manifesting the gleaming spikes from each arm, impaling the screaming creature against one wall of the cabin, then detaching the spike so the creature could never rise again …
Madeline released her grip on the handle and exhaled, clearing her mind. Bracing her back against the cool wood of the cabin’s wall, she remained in shadow. She studied the front door of the cabin. She saw the broken pane but didn’t know if Noah had entered already, as he’d intended to do in the vision. She would have to touch the inside doorknob to know that.
Silently, heart threatening to beat right out of her chest, mouth gone dry, knees trembling, Madeline approached one of the front windows at an angle. Trying to remain out of sight, she stared in from one far corner, keeping her distance from the pane.
She didn’t see anyone, just the empty front room and the kitchen beyond.
She strained her ears.
The wind in the boughs.
A bat emitting a high-pitched squeak as it hunted moths in the tree canopy above.
Crickets singing.
The roar of a distant waterfall.
Stepping forward, she pressed one ear against the wooden wall of the cabin. For several long moments she remained there, straining to hear anything within.
She heard nothing.
Ducking beneath the window, she crept toward the front door again, her feet shuffling in the soft bed of pine needles. She waited a moment, wide eyes searching the darkness around the cabin to be sure she was alone.
Then, standing up slowly, back pressed against the wall, she peered in at an angle through the windows in the front door. She saw tile and a well-worn welcome mat.
Biting her lower lip and holding her breath, she snaked her hand in through the broken pane, fingers groping for the doorknob on the other side. Her hand closed around a cold, metal knob.
Noah unlocking and opening the door. Walking inside.
Exploring the cabin. Finding it empty. Returning to relock the front door and then lie in wait in the bedroom.
An agonized scream rang out, clipped off abruptly by a strangled choke.
Startled,