to 911. They’re sending helicopters. There’s been some kind of manhunt for these guys.”
Hank heads for the door as he asks Jimmy. “Where’d she go?’
Curtis answers, “She’s out to get the last guy.”
Hank finds this information hard to process. Why? What does he mean? On purpose? In the distance, shots are fired. Hank sprints for the door. Dan emerges from the kitchen with an ax and several butcher knives. Dan and Grant, both suffering from heartbreaking loss, are unwilling to sit and wait.
“Let’s go get this motherfucker,” Dan says.
Bella asks, “Are you sure you should go out there?”
Jimmy implores, “Dad, don’t. Please don’t go.”
Hank looks into his son’s face, “Jimmy, she’s alone.”
“Dad!” Jimmy’s confused, “She didn’t look…normal.”
Hank kisses his son on the top of his head and turns for the door. Bella steps forward and puts her arm around Jimmy. The three men head for the door.
Grant yells back, “Barricade after we’re gone.”
“Hey,” Curtis yells after them, “Don’t sneak up on her. Really.”
Dan, Grant, and Hank run into the woods.
* * *
Chapter Seventeen
Alison glides surefooted away from camp, purposefully drawing Ben away from her family. Ben pursues. He will get her. He will absolutely get her. His rage is cold. Now, it is just the woods and them. Alison slows her pace. Where should she lead him? Ben listens for the break of a branch, the swish of a twig. He studies her tracks; deeper, closer footprints in the mud indicate she is walking now - strategizing. They begin a deadly mime dance for survival. She has one goal: to draw him as far away from Jimmy as she can and the farther she travels into the woods the safer she now feels. It is no longer her enemy, but her cover, her friend. The sky lightens. A red watercolor dawn spreads out along the horizon. The storm has ended. She dreads the light having come to rely on the erasure of night.
Adeptly, Alison uses a few rocks as steps and propels herself up to a tree branch where she can climb a little higher and look around. During last night, long buried animal instincts crept to the surface of her, and she knows now that Ben is there, just as he knows she is near. A mighty cord has formed attaching them, bonding them. When they caught each other’s eyes, it was clear that both of them would not, could not survive: one of them will come to the end - and they must play it out - to that end - until it’s over. They are joined in an epic fight: eye for eye, family for family, one winner. Perched on this tree limb, she begins to feel the ache in her bones. Her head swims and she starts to break down. She tells herself that even if I die now they will have had time to prepare back at the camp. They will be okay. She could give in, let go, and suddenly that is exactly what she wants. What if she just lies down in the brush? Maybe he finds her, maybe he doesn’t. What if she just lies down still? She wants to lie down; she aches to lie down, please can she lie down and let be what will be. She is suddenly so tired. Her head falls forward. Her beaten body wavers on the branch. Her arms are too heavy to lift. Her legs throb. Emotion crawls up her parched throat. She’s done enough. Hasn’t she done enough? Two dark spots form in her mind’s eye. Slowly, the illusion takes shape - they are the eyes of Ben. The eyes she saw right before she ran. Then, she knows. He’ll go back. She knows this is the truth: he will go back and kill her family. He will drag back her body, show it to her son, and then kill them slowly. They do not understand him. She doesn’t know why she understands him; she just knows that she does - deep in the core of her she knows who he is, what he will do. She opens her eyes. Something moves! Over to the left. She strains to see through the wall of green. Yes, a body, Ben’s body moving cautiously because he senses her too, but he does not think to look up. This will end it. Her eyes clear and her hand steadies. She aims at his head. Confident. She will hit him. She pulls the trigger. Instead of the