Colt would be free to build his army. No one would be looking for him, or keeping an eye on the CGF. Not until it was far too late.
I felt his gaze on me as I figured it out. I couldn’t stop myself twisting around to stare at him in horror and he gazed back at me steadily, eyes utterly cold. I’d been right: he was going to kill me as soon as I’d patched him up. No way he’d leave a witness alive, after all that effort. But that thought was tiny, insignificant. I was one person. He was going to murder everyone in town. Rebecca. Krista. Adele. Lina. Corrigan. All the patients, all the townsfolk. Every one of them, wiped out.
And there was nothing I could do to stop him.
55
Dominic
THIS IS ALL my fault. As I stormed back into the ER, I was panting with fear and guilt. All Beckett had ever asked was to be left alone, to stay safely in her quiet, warm OR. Like an idiot I’d dragged her out of it, and now she was out there, somewhere in the freezing darkness, with a psycho who’d kill her in a heartbeat.
Bartell and the others had gotten Earl’s heart going again. That was good, but I needed to find Beckett, now. I was going out of my mind and I had no idea where to even start looking.
Wait: Seth. Seth might know where his father was holed up. I frantically searched the darkened ER for him, then heard his voice coming from Exam One. I grabbed the curtain to wrench it aside, but froze when his words sank in.
“I know this is crazy.” Seth’s voice was a mirror of his dad’s, deep, but mellow, full of emotion where Colt’s was starkly bare. “I know I don’t know you well. Hardly know you at all. I know you got no reason to trust me, after what my dad did.” He took a deep breath, as if trying to keep his voice level, but I could hear the fear. “But you gotta come with me. Right now. Or you’re going to die.”
A soft moan of dread. Taylor. “Are they coming back here?”
“No. No, they’re gone, for good, but—Look, Bethany, there’s no time. We’ve got to go, right now.” The terror in his voice cut me to the bone. I recognized it because I felt it myself. He was worried about Taylor the way I was worried about Beckett. But why? Taylor was safe in the hospital.
I needed answers. I jerked the curtain aside. Seth was standing there with his hands on Taylor’s shoulders, both of them looking up in shock as I appeared.
“Your dad has Beckett,” I told Seth. “Where are they? And what the hell’s going on? What’s going to happen?”
Seth took a quick, ragged breath, grabbed Taylor’s hand and pulled her towards the hallway. “I’ll tell you,” he said. “But after we’re safe.”
But Taylor snatched her hand back. “No! Tell us what’s going on!” She looked around at the ER. “Is this place in danger?”
“Bethany, please! There’s no time!” Seth was sweating, now, his face pale.
“No! Tell us!”
Seth hissed in a frustrated breath and ran his hands through his hair. For a second he was silent, his eyes flicking between us, judging our expressions. But we just stared back at him, resolute.
“My dad is going to bring down the side of the mountain,” he said in a rush. “He’s going to bury the town.”
“What?” Even though there were several walls between me and it, I automatically looked up towards the mountain and the dark mass of rock poised over the town.
“I didn’t know!” said Seth. “I swear! I only knew about the robbery and—I didn’t think people would get hurt.” He grabbed Taylor’s hand again. “We’ve got to go, now!”
Taylor was still trying to take it in, her eyes huge and scared. “What? No! We’ve got to warn everyone! Evacuate the town!”
“There’s no time! But if we go now, we can make it. Bethany, please!” Seth pulled her closer and, when she didn’t start walking, he hooked a hand around her waist and dragged her along.
She shook her head and struggled out of his grip. “No! I’m not leaving everyone to die! There must be something we can do!”
Seth closed his eyes for a second and I could tell he was silently cursing. This is why he hadn’t wanted to tell her.
There were tears in Taylor’s eyes. “You were going to just get me out of town and—and not tell me and—”
“I just wanted to save you!” yelled Seth.
She shook her head. “I never would have forgiven you.”
He stared back at her, his jaw set... and nodded. He could have lived with that... as long as she was safe.
Taylor bit her lip, blinked back tears and looked away. “There must be some safe place,” she croaked. “If we got everyone out of town….”