“But—” I stopped. What could I say? I wanted to get out of here so badly. My senses were on trip wires, turned out to the trees, the clearing in front of the lodge, the wide-open sky and silvery light of the thin, waning moon. Provost and Cabe were out there, probably armed just like Valenti.
Lee went to take charge of the other arm. Together, they hauled the body upright, its arms over their shoulders. The head flopped. I found the handgun, then the rifle, lying where I’d tossed them away, and followed them back to the lodge, looking over my shoulders for whoever else was ou
t there.
They entered the front door, and I followed, closing and locking the door behind me, just as Tina screamed, a short burst of shock.
“Oh, my God,” Jeffrey said at the same time.
Anastasia dropped the body in a heap, startling Lee into dropping his half, leaving it in a lopsided heap on the floor. Not very delicate.
There was a sound of retching—Conrad, it seemed, had rejoined the group just in time to see this presentation. He’d turned away, both hands covering his mouth.
“Is that—” Gemma started the question. Didn’t have to finish.
“Now we know it’s an inside job,” Anastasia said, with false brightness. “Sorry I couldn’t save you any, dear. You’ll get the next.”
“I think I’ve lost my appetite,” Gemma said, grimacing.
Conrad had turned back around and looked as bloodless as the corpse. “Do you mean… does that mean… you didn’t… oh, my God!” He stumbled away from Anastasia, even though he was already across the room from her. Couldn’t say I blamed him, but it was still pathetic. Anastasia just rolled her eyes at him. She knelt and started patting down the body, searching all those pockets and pouches.
Odysseus Grant was the only one to regard the corpse without horror. Instead, he wore the pursed lips and creased brow of concentration.
“Can you shed any light on this?” Anastasia asked him, the pointed lilt to her voice even more pronounced.
He said, “Only that it confirms what we already suspected. Though I’m almost impressed. I had assumed they set this up on behalf of someone else. But it’s all them.”
Anastasia collected a pile of odds and ends from Valenti’s person: a box of bullets, a rolled-up wire, a vial of clear liquid—Anastasia put this quickly away from her—and a walkie-talkie the size of a cell phone, turned off.
“Where’s Ariel?” I said to Tina.
“We put her with Dorian.”
I nodded. Wiped my eyes before the stinging got too bad.
“What do we do now?” Jeffrey said.
A horror movie was well under way, and I wanted it over and done with. But no end was in sight. They’d get us all if we didn’t do something. Other than run screaming into the night, at least.
I regarded the group gathered around the crumpled body of Ron Valenti. “The show was a trap. That’s clear. But they’re not just hunting us to kill us. They could have just blown up the house, or fired at us all when we went outside. This is a game. A challenge. They’re setting traps, a different one for each of us. I think they’re going to draw this out, killing us one at a time, because they think we can’t get away. And they think we won’t fight back. But this is a war now. When the others figure out what happened to him, they’ll hit us hard.”
“So what are we going to do?” Tina said.
“I’m getting out of here,” Conrad said. The look on his face was a bit—if I had to put a word to it—feral. Wide eyes, tight jaw, teeth nearly bared. Grant raised an inquiring brow. The rest of us were dumbstruck and silent. “I’m not putting up with this anymore. I’m out of here.”
He grabbed a flashlight and headed for the door. I blocked him. “Are you crazy?”
He shook his head and smiled, but the expression was wild, trembling with terror. He was acting out of panic and desperation. Always a bad idea.
“No. Getting away from here is going to save me. You—you all are monsters. Those maniacs—they’re hunting monsters. That’s the whole point, isn’t it? I shouldn’t even be here. They won’t go after me, don’t you see? I’m just collateral damage. An accident. You all are the real targets. So the farther away from you I get, the better off I’ll be.”
I blocked the door with my arm, keeping him from reaching for the knob. “You want to talk about stories? You know what happens to the guy who runs out into the woods all by himself, don’t you? We’re safer together, Conrad.”
His frown became a snarl. “Being together hasn’t been safe so far, has it?”
“You don’t know that they won’t go after you, too. They’ve already proven they don’t want witnesses,” I said.
“I’ll take my chances. Look, I’ve got my phone. I’ll hike to someplace where there’s a signal and call for help. Let me go.” He raised the flashlight like he was going to use it as a weapon. Maybe he expected me to flinch back. To feel threatened by his panicked little body.