still unsteady on his feet, but with Jeff’s help he made it to the wall beside the door.
“I gotta get back there,” Jeff said, “but I’ll be back for you. Trust me.”
“How long, do you think?”
“I have no idea, but believe me, I’m not going to let that son of a bitch get away with anything.”
“He plans to kill us all, you know,” Evan said in a flat voice heavy with resignation. “That’s been his plan all along.”
Jeff nodded grimly and said, “I know. But he hasn’t done it yet.”
Even as he said it, the fear that it was just a matter of time before Ben got them all of them, picking them off one by one, sliced into him with the cold chill of a razorblade.
CHAPTER TEN
Drowning
Jeff was filled with trepidation when he closed the infirmary door and stepped out into the night. The lock and latch were smashed beyond repair, so if Ben came out here now, he’d know right away that Evan had help escaping. And it wouldn’t take him long to figure out who had done it since Jeff was the only one who had left the dining hall alone.
As he started back to the beach, he shined his flashlight into the woods along the trail, looking for something—a stick or anything—he could use as a weapon. He found a broken birch branch that wasn’t too rotten, but he knew it wouldn’t be enough … not if Ben had a gun.
And he had no doubt Ben had a gun.
From what Evan had told him, he obviously had the whole thing planned out. Jeff wondered if, even now, he was playing into Ben’s hands just the way he wanted. Maybe Ben had even anticipated that he would find Evan, and he couldn’t help but wonder why Ben hadn’t killed all of them already, the first night they were here.
He remembered how on edge he had felt all last night and hadn’t gotten much sleep. Sleep deprivation and raw nerves plus exposure to the rain and cold were starting to take their toll. He was wrung out and weakening; he jumped at the slightest sound. He doubted he’d have the necessary endurance to do what he had to do tonight.
When he rounded a turn in the trail and saw the dining hall, he turned off his flashlight. Gripping the birch stick tightly, he slowed down, moving slowly and ready to react the instant he sensed danger. The overcast looked deeper, and he was afraid it might start raining again soon. He was sure the worst of the storm hadn’t passed.
He wondered how he was going to warn the others about what was going on without alerting Ben.
What if, while he was gone, Ben had already taken killed the others? What if they were dead, and Ben was sitting there, waiting for him to come back?
Or what if—even now—Ben was standing unseen behind him, drawing a bead on him and was about to shoot him without warning?
Jeff shivered as he looked around. Moisture from the trees fell on his face. The visibility wasn’t good, but as he moved forward, getting closer to the dining hall, he saw a faint glow of light far down on the beach.
Something was happening, but he held back, staying out of sight until he figured out what it was. For all he knew, Fred might still be wandering around, stewing about the confession he’d made to them.
Jeff found it easy to imagine he was twelve years old again, playing hide-‘n-seek as he hunkered down in the wet brush. Then, as quietly as possible, he started moving from tree to tree, always keeping cover. He watched both the dining hall and the ever-increasing glow of light on the beach, and when he was about a hundred yards from the beach, he saw a second flashlight beam. They wavered back and forth in the night, sweeping the beach and lake. As he came even closer, the sound of voices came to him, but the gusting wind carried away whatever was said.
One of the beams of light came to rest, fixed on one spot. Two figures were standing there, hunkered over a dark shape lying on the sand. Jeff’s throat closed off when he realized it was a body—a human body.
He had an immediate flashback to that summer long ago when, from almost the exact same spot he was standing now, he watched the emergency workers carry the body of Jimmy Foster out to the waiting warden