Needles pushed himself back into the recliner, leaning against it, his hands clawing at the floor, searching his body and the floor for his gun. He tried to scream again, but only a whisper of sound would come out of his mouth. It was like being stuck in a nightmare where you tried to scream but no sound would come out, or you tried to run and the ax-wielding killer caught up anyway.

Tom Gordon turned his head to stare at Needles; the frozen flesh crackled with every move, his bluish skin sparkled with ice crystals. Even though Tom Gordon didn’t have eyes anymore, he stared right at Needles like he could see him. And then Tom Gordon smiled.

Needles shook his head no. He tried to scream again, tried to plead with this thing that used to be the owner of this cabin. But he still couldn’t utter a sound, and he still couldn’t move. And he still couldn’t find his gun.

Tom Gordon got out of the freezer faster than Needles would’ve expected. He crawled out, his bent limbs somehow cracking and straightening. It sounded like his bones were popping back into place.

Needles was finally able to move. He turned back to the others. One of them had to be awake by now, one of them had to have heard the freezer lid fly open and hit the wall, one of them had to have heard all of that crackling and popping of frozen flesh and bone.

Needles found his gun underneath the chair – he wasn’t sure why it was under there, and he didn’t have time to think about it right now. His fingers wrapped around the handle and he pulled it out and turned back to the kitchen, but he was suddenly face to face with Tom Gordon who was only inches away from him. Needles was sure that his heart was going to come to a stop, he was sure that his breath was going to dry up right in his lungs from fright. He stared at the bluish skin of Tom Gordon’s face, the deep black holes where his eyes used to be. Tom Gordon’s mouth opened, his mouth was a yawning black maw with jagged yellow teeth; his breath came out in a plume of frost as he whispered to Needles. “You know what to do. You know what needs to be done.”

Needles snapped into action. He brought his gun up and fired. He squeezed the trigger over and over again, just shooting and shooting. He was on his feet without realizing it, holding his gun in both hands, trying to still his trembling arms as he squeezed off more rounds. He was screaming continuously without being aware of it.

The others woke up and jumped to their feet.

Cole was the first one at Needles’ side, and Cole had his own gun in his hand, ready to shoot. “What is it?!” Cole yelled at Needles. “What’s going on?!”

Needles pulled the trigger again and again, but the gun only clicked. He was out of ammo.

Cole aimed his gun into the kitchen where Needles had been shooting; he stared into the kitchen which was lit up somewhat by the light over the stove. There were bullet holes in the logs of the far wall, and two bullets in the freezer. But Cole didn’t see anyone in the kitchen; he didn’t see what Needles had been shooting at. “What was it?” he asked Needles.

“It was the guy from the freezer,” Needles finally whispered in a trembling voice.

“Tom Gordon?”

“Yeah,” Needles answered. “He got out of the freezer.”

CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT

“Needles,” Cole said in a gentle voice. “Put your gun down.”

Needles kept his gun aimed at the kitchen even though there were no more bullets in the clip. His arms trembled as he aimed his gun at the freezer. “I saw him, Cole. I saw him get out of that freezer.”

“Needles, lower your gun. Let me take it. We don’t want any accidents.”

Needles did not lower his gun.

Stella and David sat up on the couch. Jose stood on his bedroll, his gun down at his side; his eyes were puffy, and he swayed just a bit from the buzz of the whiskey a few hours earlier, and from exhaustion. He looked into the kitchen; he looked at the bullet holes on the wall and at the two bullet holes in the freezer, which was now leaking water from underneath it. Jose looked back at Cole and Needles.

“Needles,” Cole said again, his voice lower and firmer. “Lower your weapon.”

Needles finally lowered his gun, but it was more out of sheer exhaustion than from Cole’s orders. He looked at Cole with red-rimmed eyes. Tears slipped out of the corners of his eyes. “You don’t believe me, do you?”

“I didn’t say that, Needles. Let me see your gun. We don’t want another accident. Remember the old man in the bank?”

Needles nodded as he let out a shuddering breath. He handed his gun to Cole.

Cole took the gun and shoved it into the waistband of his pants. He felt a little relieved now that Needles didn’t have a weapon. He planned on getting all of the extra clips Needles had for the gun, but not right now.

Needles looked back at the kitchen and wiped at the snot and tears on his face. “Go look, Cole,” he said as he stared at the freezer. “Go look and see if that guy’s still in there.”

“It was just a nightmare,” Cole said in a soothing voice. “We’re all scared and tired. Stressed out. You just had a – ”

“No, Cole!” Needles screamed at him and he looked at him with wide frightened eyes. “It wasn’t a fucking nightmare. I know what I saw. It was that guy, Tom Gordon; he sat up in the freezer. I saw him get out and walk towards me.”

“Maybe you were still half asleep,” Cole offered, trying to keep his cool. “Maybe your eyes were open, but you were still dreaming. That happens. Especially when people are very tired and stressed out.”

Needles shook his head no. “I know what I saw.”

Cole looked at Jose and gestured for Jose to check out the freezer.

As Jose went to the kitchen, Cole looked at Stella and David. “You two see anything?”

They both shook their heads no.

“Nothing to say?” Cole asked Stella.

Stella shook her head no.

Jose stood in front of the freezer, his gun still in his hand. He opened the freezer lid and looked down inside.

“Is he still in there?” Needles asked Jose, on the verge of tears again, panic in his voice.

Jose looked back at Cole. “Cole, come over here.”

“Is he in there?!” Needles screamed.

“Yes, damn it!” Jose yelled at Needles, but he looked at Cole. “Cole?”

Cole hurried across the wood floor to the kitchen. He still had his gun in his hand, and he could feel the heat from Needles’ pistol shoved down in the waistband of his pants. He stood beside Jose and looked down at Tom Gordon’s body. He was still in the freezer, but his body looked different. It looked like he was in a different position, and some of the ice that had covered his body before looked cracked now.

Cole and Jose looked at each other, but they didn’t say anything out loud and Cole was thankful for that, he didn’t want to hear Needles ranting and raving again. Something seemed strange about this, but Cole was a rational man who didn’t believe in the supernatural. His mind was already coming up with possibilities. Maybe they had forgotten exactly what position Tom Gordon had been in when they saw him the first time. Maybe the bullets from Needles’ gun had shattered the ice all over Tom Gordon’s body. It had to be something like that, Cole thought, something rational.

Jose shut the lid. They glanced at each other but didn’t say anything. Cole noticed a gash in the log wall behind the freezer; it looked like it was from the freezer lid being slammed into the wall. But it could’ve been there before and they just noticed it now.

Cole looked down at the kitchen floor and noticed ice chips and crystals all over the floor, but the water leaking from the freezer was reaching out for the ice chips and melting them. Cole looked away.

Needles was having a waking nightmare, Cole thought. That’s all. He woke up from a nightmare and panicked, and then he started shooting. Cole had taken Needles’ gun, and that was the right thing to do for now.