“Anyone else want to run?” he asks, turning and aiming that gun at the rest of us. There are only four of us left now, and I can see from the murderous glint in his eye that Harold is itching to kill again. He pauses for a moment, before turning to Natalie. “Get on the ground,” he tells her.
“Why?” she asks.
“Get on the ground!”
Clearly too terrified to resist, she does as she’s told.
“Use these,” Harold says, tossing a couple of wooden pegs at one of the other women, Elizabeth. “Drive them through her palms.”
“I can’t,” Elizabeth replies, dropping the pegs.
“Do it or you’re dead,” he continues. “Only one of you four ladies gets to survive this night, and it’ll be the one who pleases me the most. Now drive the goddamn pegs through her goddamn hands!”
“No!” Natalie shouts, trying to get up before the fourth woman, Miranda, suddenly drops down and holds her in place.
“Do it!” Miranda hisses at Elizabeth. “We have to save ourselves!”
I watch, stunned, as Elizabeth takes the pegs and kneels next to the struggling Natalie. There’s fear and shock in Elizabeth’s eyes, but nevertheless she starts forcing a peg through the palm of Natalie’s left hand, ignoring the woman’s screams as she carries out her orders.
I take a step forward to stop her, but Harold aims his gun straight at me.
“Want another shot?” he asks calmly. “One can most definitely be arranged.”
Staring at the gun, I realize that although I need to stop him, I can’t just lunge at him wildly. Hearing another scream from nearby, I turn and see that Elizabeth has finished driving the pegs through Natalie’s hands.
“Very good,” Harold says with a smile. “I want all four of you in the same position. After that, we’ll work out who I let go.”
“How do we know you won’t just kill us all?” Elizabeth asks, her voice trembling with fear.
“You don’t,” he says firmly. “I guess you’re just going to have to trust me.”
He’s lying, of course. I remember seeing the bodies of his torture victims from the previous town and I don’t believe for one second that he’s even capable of showing mercy. I watch in horror as Miranda and Elizabeth tentatively sit on the ground and settle flat on their backs, as if they genuinely believe they can survive if they just give him what he wants.
“You know what to do,” Harold mutters, tossing some wooden pegs at me. When I let them fall to the ground, he smiles. “I don’t have to explain it to you again, do I?” he asks, stepping closer. “One of you gets to live, but only by obeying every order I give.” He pauses, eying me with a hint of caution. “I’d like it to be you, Iris. I feel we made a connection when we talked earlier, but you need to prove that I can trust you. Get on the floor.”
I shake my head.
“No?” he replies. “You don’t believe me?”
I want to tell him that I’ve seen his murderous work first-hand, but of course I can’t say a word.
“Do it,” he says firmly.
I pause, before shaking my head again.
He stares at me for a moment, before taking a step closer.
I wait for him to say something, but he seems to be studying me.
“Go to hell,” I mouth silently, hoping he can understand.
He smiles.
Suddenly he cracks the handle of his gun against my face, sending me stumbling back as a sharp pain radiates across one side of my head. Dropping down, I blink several times, but the sight in my left eye seems blurred now. When I reach up, I feel a tender spot at the edge of the eye socket, and I realize he must have cracked the bone. Wincing, I’m about to get to my feet when he grabs me from behind and pushes me down. Before I can react, he drives one of the sharp wooden pegs through my left hand, pinning me to the ground. I cry out, but a moment later he does the same thing to my right hand.
“There!” he sneers, leaning close to my face. “Now, let’s hope I’ve managed to attract Asher’s attention!”
Chapter Forty-five
By the time I reach the fence at the edge of Steadfall, I realize I’m too late. The whole town is burning.
Flames are racing through the huts, some of which have already begun to collapse. I climb over the fence and make my way toward the large fire in the main clearing, but I stop when I see that there are several dead bodies burning in the nearest hut. With a sickening sensation in my gut, I head over to take a closer look, but all I can do once I reach the doorway is stare inside and watch as the flesh on one of the corpses continues to burn away, exposing the increasingly-charred skull beneath.
They’re dead.
All of them.
Spotting another dead body on the ground nearby, I make my way over and see to my surprise that it’s Leanne. Her eyes are wide open and there’s discoloration around her neck, as if she was strangled.
At least someone managed to fight back.
Maybe there are more.
Maybe someone managed to escape.
Just as I’m about to turn and look at the other huts, I realize I can hear a scream in the distance. With Ben’s gun still in my hand, I make my way around the edge of the clearing and over to the fence on the far side, and now I can hear the scream more clearly, along with a couple more. Clambering over the fence, I start to make my way past the tree-line. The first rays of morning sun are starting to appear now, spreading a low, misty light through the forest, so I make my way cautiously, in case someone spots me. Keeping low, I head toward the source of the screams, and finally I drop down behind a tree when I realize I can see figures on the ground up ahead, along with another figure who seems to be kneeling next to them.
Peering around the edge of the tree, I have to squint to see properly. A flash of pure anger ripples through my chest when I see that the kneeling figure is Harold. The four on the floor are all women from the town, and I quickly recognize Miranda and Natalie. The figure next to Harold, meanwhile, has a bloodied belly, but I finally realize that it’s Elizabeth. Squinting a little more, I try to make out the fourth figure.
Suddenly I see her features.
It’s Iris.
I don’t know how, but Iris is back.
I look down at the gun in my hand and see that the charge is low. These things can pick up power from the sun, but part of the charge unit is cracked and, besides, the long night means it’ll take a while before the gun can fire much more than a few more shots. As I examine the casing around the trigger, I start to feel as if I’ve handled this type of weapon many times before, back in the—
Suddenly an agonized cry fills the air, and I look around the side of the tree just in time to see that Harold seems to be cutting Elizabeth’s belly open. Realizing that I can’t waste another moment, I get to my feet and hurry toward them, while aiming the gun directly at Harold’s face.
Just as I fire, he glances in this direction and sees me. He ducks out of the way and grabs a gun, quickly firing back at me.
I step behind a tree as the blast misses by a couple of inches. Several more blasts flash through the air, hitting the ground a little further away. I wait, taking slow, deep breaths in an attempt to stay calm, and then I duck down before peering around the edge. At first I don’t see Harold at all, only the four women staked to the ground, but a moment later I spot movement behind one of the trees. Several more energy blasts slam into the ground next to me and I take cover again.
Checking the charge unit on my gun, I realize I only have two or three shots left for now.
I need to make them count.
Stepping out from behind the tree, I fire at Harold just as he tries to grab something from the ground. I almost hit him, but he ducks out of the way just in time.