and hide somewhere on the island. Hide as long as possible and maybe you can outlast them.”
“But only if they’re really going to try and kill us, right?”
“Right,” Abigail said. “We don’t know what’s going to happen.”
Abigail listened to Jill breathe for a moment. Loud, damp breaths.
“Tell me your story,” Jill said. “Why are they after you, too?”
Abigail began to tell her, not really wanting to, but knowing that it was better if they kept talking. Hearing each other’s voice made it less scary. She told Jill about the one-night stand in California and how it had been a setup. She was still talking when she heard the hollow clip-clop of steps outside in the hallway, then the door was opening, light penetrating the darkness.
CHAPTER 26
It took a moment for her eyes to adjust to the sudden light, but Abigail could see Chip filling the doorway. He wore a light brown collared shirt with a green vest over it, his red hair seeming to glow. Jill began to scream. Abigail turned toward her, instinctually reaching out before being yanked back by the handcuffs. Jill, now that Abigail could see her, was still dressed in the bloodied nightgown she’d been wearing when Abigail had last seen her. Her hair was dirty and matted on one side with pine needles. Chip said nothing, but went toward Jill, and Abigail heard a cracking that sounded a little like a slap. Jill stopped screaming, her body stiffening.
Abigail was now screaming, too, as another man entered the room—the pilot with the lengthy blond hair, holding what looked like an electric razor in his hand. She batted at him with her free hand when he got close, but he easily dodged her. Abigail saw that his lips were wet. He struck her in the chest and she heard a loud crack, her body surging with pain. All her muscles froze, and strange lights flashed in her vision. She thought she was dead and in that brief moment was struck by the ridiculousness of her death.
Then a hood was shoved over her head, everything dark again.
“You’ll feel a little prick,” came a voice, distant, mocking, and there was a sharp sensation in her shoulder muscle, almost as though she were being pinched. There was almost relief as the world went dark again.
Cold air moved around her, carrying voices with it. She lifted her head, and there was the semblance of light, yellow flickers cutting through the blackness. Her face itched, her skin was hot, and she began reflexively to shake her head. She felt a tug and the cloth hood that had been put over her head was pulled away. Squeezing her eyes shut, she found herself taking in deep lungfuls of air.
When she finally opened her eyes, the world in front of her tilted precariously and she shut them again. Her stomach roiled, and she thought she was going to be sick, so she leaned forward, pressing her head to her knees. It felt as though she was on a wooden chair, and it didn’t seem as though she was tied up.
“Wakey, wakey,” came a voice. She sat up, opened her eyes again, and kept them open. The scene in front of her slid into blurry place. It was nighttime. She was in the woods, and a cold wind was moving steadily through the trees. The right side of her body was warmer than the left, and she turned to find a fire in a pit, its flames almost as high as the men who stood around it. She squinted to bring them into focus, and one of them laughed, the sound familiar. Bruce, in a turtleneck sweater and jeans, the skin of his face yellow in the firelight. Oddly, disturbingly, he was holding a glass in his hand, what looked like a whiskey, as though he were at a party.
“Yep, she’s awake,” Bruce said.
Abigail wanted to say something, but when she went to move her lips they barely responded. She ran her tongue over her teeth and lips. Her teeth felt large and strange, and her lips were like rubber.
You drugged me, she said to the men, although the words were only in her head. She closed her eyes again.
She woke to laughter, and lifted her heavy head.
A man danced in front of her, his knees bent at almost right angles, hopping from foot to foot. She couldn’t tell who he was because he was wearing a mask that obscured the top half of his