Nick swung around toward the fire. With his right arm inside the shirt, Julie hadn't been able to button it.
"How you doing?" Karen asked him.
"A little better. Kind of sick."
Benny looked over his shoulder. Karen nodded to him, and he brought his legs around. He leaned close to the fire.
"Guess she's trying to whittle us down," Nick said.
"Apt phrase, that," Karen told him.
"I think she's planning to freeze us to death," Julie said. She stepped to the fire. Karen could see her shaking. "What the hell," she said. "Since I'm freezing anyway, I might as well go ahead and get the packs."
Nick gaped at her.
"Why not? I'm already soaked."
"Let's just leave them till morning," Karen said.
"We don't even know for sure our sleeping bags are wet. They're in stuff bags. They might be fairly dry. Besides, there's the food, the first-aid kit. Especially the first-aid kit. It's got disinfectant. We can put a real bandage on you, Nick. It'd.sure be better than keeping you all strapped up."
"You can't do it," he said.
"We know right where the packs are."
"What if she's there?" Benny said.
"You think she's gonna stay in the lake all night, just hoping we'll go back in?"
"Maybe she knows. Maybe she's willing you."
"Don't be a dork."
Karen sighed. "It's not a smart idea, Julie. She could be waiting."
"If she is, she hasn't got a knife."
"We don't know that for sure," Nick said.
"If she had another one, she would've used it on you."
"You don't need a knife to kill someone," Karen said.
"Killing can go both ways," Julie said. She stepped over to Nick and lifted the sheath knife from his lap. He clutched her wrist.
"You can't," he said.
"We need those packs. Don't tell me no, or I'd just have to go against you."
"Julie."
She leaned closer and kissed his mouth. Then she whispered to him. He whispered back, and released her wrist. "Keep the fire hot for me," she said. "I'll need it."
She moved closer to the flames. She pulled off her belt and slid the sheath onto it. Sitting on a rock beside Benny, she took off her boots and socks. She stripped down to her bra and panties. "You want to heat these up for me?" she asked, offering the wet clothes to Karen.
"I'm going with you."
"You don't have to."
Karen smiled. "Sure I do."
"We'll all go," Nick said.
"You and Benny aren't wet."
"We can stay on shore. At least we'll be close by in case something happens."
Julie nodded. She strapped the belt around her waist, and slid the knife to her hip. While Nick and Benny got to their feet, she arranged her clothing on rocks near the fire.
Karen spread her jeans over the rock where she'd been sitting.
"Let's get this show on the road," Julie said.
Julie cringed as she stepped into the water. Earlier, when she'd rushed in to help Nick, she'd been so overwhelmed by the urgency of getting to him that she'd hardly noticed the cold. Now, her whole body trembled as she waded deeper.
"Dive under fast," Nick suggested.
"Easy for you to say," she called back.
Karen, just ahead of her and thigh-deep, was pulling up the bottom of her sweatshirt to keep it out of the water. She turned to face Julie. Her small pocketknife was clamped between her teeth. She took it out. "This good?" she asked. Her voice was pitched higher than usual.
"Fine."
"It'll be quicker if we both dive for 'em."
"We'd just get tangled." Julie moved past Karen. She took a sharp breath when the frigid water lapped her groin. With another step, she was covered to the waist. She sucked in her belly as if to draw it away from the painful touch. "God," she gasped. She turned around. "I'll pass you three. Take the last one myself."
"Right," Karen said.
"Then we'll get our asses over to the fire."
"I'm for that."
"Here goes!" she called to the others.
Nick, standing at the edge of the lake, waved his hatchet overhead. Benny, beside him, shined the flashlight in her eyes. The glare hurt. She flinched away from it and muttered, "Thanks a lot."
Then she waded out farther. The icy water soaked through her bra, washed over her shoulders. She turned to the right, and began searching. The water buoyed her up so her feet hardly touched the slippery rocks. She took long, slow steps, stroking the water with her arms to propel herself forward.
Then she toed something that wasn't rock. She explored it with her foot. It was a backpack. "Got one," she said.
Karen, waiting a couple of yards away in water up to her waist, nodded and clamped the knife between her teeth. Julie took a deep breath. Then she dived. She kept her eyes open, but saw only black as she clutched the sides of the pack, planted her feet on the slick rocks, and lifted. The pack felt nearly weightless.
She surfaced, and filled her lungs with air. Hugging the pack, she took a few slow-motion strides toward Karen. The woman reached out, took it from her, turned away, and started wading for shore.
Julie swung around. She swam a few strokes. Lowering her legs, she searched with her feet. As they swept over the rocks, she glanced to the side. Karen was ashore, bending down, lowering the pack.
Her toes caught a strap. She plunged and gripped it with her right hand. It felt like leather. Must be Karen's Bergen. She pulled against it, and felt the pack start to rise as she brought her legs down toward the bottom.
Someone kicked her. The toenails raked her thigh. Ow! What's Karen doing under me?
It's not Karen!
A hand clawed her behind the shoulders, pulling her down. Another dug into her back. They held her tight against a bare, twisting body while legs hooked around her. Teeth ripped at her shoulder. Jerking with pain, she grasped long ropes of hair and tugged. The teeth held. They clamped harder. Her shoulder burned with agony. She wanted to cry out, but kept her lips clenched. The teeth released her. She tried to keep the head back, but it darted in, hair sliding through her fingers, and the teeth snapped shut on her collarbone.
She remembered Karen's warning. You don't need a knife to kill someone.
Just teeth. Rip out the jugular.
Knife.
The teeth let go.
Now for the throat.
She bent her head sideways and thrust her shoulder toward her ear. The teeth nipped her cheek, tried to get under her jaw. Then a spasm shook the woman as Julie rammed the six-inch blade into her back. Her fingernails pierced Julie's skin. She bucked and squirmed. Julie yanked the knife out and drove it in. She shoved a hand against the woman's face, pushed her away, and thrust the blade into her belly. Feet on the lake bottom, she clutched the knife with both hands and forced it upward.
Benny shined his flashlight on the water where Julie had gone under. The surface looked more turbulent there. She'd been down for a long time. Longer than it should take to lift up a pack.
Nick was watching, though. He didn't seem worried.
Karen was wading out quickly, but not as if she thought anything was wrong.
Then a head broke the surface. The beam of Benny's light reached to a face that sent a shock through him. The eyes were rolled up so that only the whites showed. The mouth was wide open, lips peeled back in a grimace. Blood spilled down the chin.
A scream filled Benny's throat. She was rising as if about to soar from the lake. Her shoulders burst from the surface. Her arms flapped wildly. Her bare breasts shook.