He hated her. Truly, utterly hated her.
Suzanne took hold of Madeline’s face to get her attention. “Honey,” she said. “You need to move back. You’re making things worse. He’s deranged. Just move back.”
Once again Madeline thought of a rabid dog. The way the ranger spoke of him, he might as well be.
Steve pushed hard against Noah, trying to restrain him, gas soaking the naturalist’s clothes as well. “Help!” Steve said to Suzanne. “I’m not trained for this sort of thing.”
The law enforcement ranger moved in. She grasped Noah in a painful-looking hold, with his arm twisted severely behind his back. Noah grimaced and sucked in breath sharply. She pushed him against the car and pulled out her handcuffs. Slapping them on his wrists, she cursed, “Where the hell are the other rangers? We radioed them ten minutes ago!”
As if on cue, sirens blared in the distance then died out just as quickly. Two park service trucks pulled onto the campground road, approaching rapidly.
Noah twisted in Suzanne’s grasp, but she held on tightly, one strong hand on his shoulder.
The two rangers driving the trucks leapt out and rushed to her side.
“Took you guys long enough,” she said.
They grabbed Noah, one on each side.
“And be careful. He’s covered in gasoline.”
“He’s not the only one,” Steve put in.
“So we smell,” quipped one of the backup rangers.
Madeline rushed forward to Suzanne’s side as the two rangers wrestled Noah into the back of one truck.
“What are they going to do with him?”
She squinted at the truck as it pulled away with Noah inside. Through the window he glared at Madeline with palpable hatred.
“Unfortunately, we can’t do much. We’re not cops. Unless a serious crime happens, we don’t even call in the Feds.”
Madeline stood stunned. A serious crime. What, like murder? she thought sarcastically. How about five of them? And that’s just so far.
Suzanne went on. “He didn’t hurt anyone, though he seemed pretty ready to do you harm.” She paused, scrutinizing Madeline. “Do you know what he was talking about?”
She froze.
“Was it the same thing you say you saw on the mountain?”
Finally she nodded.
The law enforcement ranger looked at her with concern. “Maybe you should talk to a counselor when you get home. Surviving a frightening experience like a flash flood can be traumatic and have deleterious effects.”
Madeline opened her mouth to protest and looked over at Steve, who was vigorously shaking his head no behind the ranger’s back. “I think several of us are going to need a therapist when this is all over with,” she said.
“Can I get a phone number so I’ll know where they’re taking him?” But even as she said it, the painful lump that swelled in her throat descended heavily to her gut. She was unwelcome. She had made things worse.
With a shudder she recalled the burning look in his eyes. Had she really messed everything up? For once in her life she’d felt a purpose, had begun to make sense of her gift and how she could use it to benefit others. Had she been so caught up in self-righteousness that she got careless and made things worse?
He had been ready to kill her just now. Only Steve and Suzanne had stopped him from trying.
That cut her deeply. Her protector, her knight from the mountain, wanted her dead. Her head began to pound.
Suzanne pressed a small card into her hand. It had the number written on it.
“Thanks,” she said shakily and turned away.
“Wait!” Steve called. He caught up to her. She could actually see the shimmer of fumes rising from his clothes. “Are you going to be okay?”
Clutching the card, she looked at him, trying to swallow back the painful lump that had risen once again at his kind words. “I don’t know,” she said honestly. “But I think I’m going to go home. There’s nothing I can do here now.”
She started to walk back toward her Rabbit. Steve followed, throwing a cautious glance back at Suzanne. She was climbing into her car, well out of earshot. “But what about the… thing?”
She stopped and looked at him, squinting in the bright afternoon sun. “It’s still out there,” she told him. “And I have no idea what it’s planning next. I only know we’ve lost our only weapon and our best warrior.”
She turned then and walked back toward her car. Steve didn’t try to follow. When she glanced back, he had turned, walking slowly back to the truck one of the backup rangers had left behind.
She felt bad, just leaving him like this. But if Noah was right about the creature, then unless Steve got in the way again, he was safe from Stefan. She couldn’t say the same about herself. But because the creature had had the opportunity to kill her and hadn’t, the fear that once consumed her had dulled slightly. That can make you careless, she thought.
With RVs and cars pulling around her as the road cleared, she walked slowly back to her car, wondering about Noah and if she’d ever see him again.
And if she did, would he be waiting some night with jagged claws, eager to tear through her flesh as the creature had longed to do-the hero having become the monster?
17
MADELINE opened the car door and climbed in, closing it with a soft click. In front of her most of the RVs and other cars had started their engines and driven off.
Instinctively Madeline locked the door. Home. That’s where she would go now.
There was nothing left for her to do here. If the creature came for her now, she may as well be home instead of here. At least there she had friends who could help her.
A couple cars impatiently moved around her, and her attention returned to the present.
Inserting the key into the ignition, she started the car. It roared to life, and she checked the mirror and pulled forward. The car sputtered, jerked, and went dead. She tried to start it again. It tried to turn over but didn’t catch. She let it sit for a moment. The reek of gasoline was still strong, and she rolled down the window in an attempt to get some fresh air.
Instead, a fresh wave of gasoline fumes bloomed into the car. Madeline coughed, tried the engine again. For a moment both car and person sputtered simultaneously. She looked down at the gas gauge. Impossibly, it read empty, even though she’d filled it a few days before and had driven it only thirty miles since.
She turned the key off, opened the door, and climbed out, pulling the neck of her shirt up over her nose to filter out some of the overpowering reek. She walked around the edge of her car and saw a large puddle of gasoline pooling beneath it.
Three cars drove by, no one stopping to see if she needed help, just concerned to be on their own hurried way.
Kneeling down, she peered under the car where the gas tank was. The metal fuel line lay broken and twisted, hanging down to the asphalt. The fuel filter was completely missing, and through a gash on the underside of the tank dripped the last remnants of fuel.
Something had utterly demolished her fuel system, and fear seized Madeline like a plunge into an icy-cold lake. Snapping her head up, she gazed frantically in all directions.
Another car drove by, the passenger giving her an unfriendly look that said, “What are you doing parked in the middle of the road?” No offer of help. No “Are you okay?” Just “Get out of my way.”
She straightened up, heart threatening to beat right out of her chest. The thing must have done it while she was talking to Noah. It was possible Stefan had damaged her car earlier, but the stink of gasoline surely would have tipped her off when she climbed into her car back at the cabin.
No. This was fresh.
He’d done it while everyone was focused on Noah. Which meant Stefan had healed.
The damn creature had snuck up here while she was only yards away and tore up her precious VW. And with Noah hauled off by the rangers, it was her only means of escape.