Frank just stood there in the snow, still smiling, his head still cocked to the side.

After five backwards steps through the deep snow, Jose turned and ran for the cabin. He’d never been this frightened in his life. He never knew anyone could experience terror like this. He ran in a blind panic. He ran towards the only safety left that he knew of right now – the cabin. But even in his white-hot panic, he knew that the cabin wasn’t safe anymore. Nowhere was safe anymore.

Jose stumbled up the porch steps, gibbering, not even sure what he was saying, not sure what he was thinking, everything was just a blur of white panic. It was like his brain had seen something so horrible and unimaginable that it was beginning to shut down.

Cole helped Jose up the steps. Jose’s gun slipped from his fingers and clunked down onto the floorboards of the porch. Cole picked up the gun while still holding on to Jose.

“What’s wrong, Jose?” Cole asked. He could hear the panic in his own voice. “What did you see?”

“He … he … he’s not …” Jose stammered. He couldn’t get the words out. “Insides …” he whispered.

Just then they heard a scream from inside the cabin – David’s scream.

“David!” Stella yelled and she bolted for the front door.

CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE

Stella rushed inside to see Needles chasing David with a gigantic kitchen knife. Needles sliced the knife down through the air, stabbing at David. But David managed to duck out of the way of the deadly swing just in time.

Stella didn’t even think about it, she rushed right at Needles and slammed into him.

Needles was thrown off balance from both surprise and because Stella had hit him that hard.

“NOOO!!!” Stella screamed as she tackled Needles and drove him back into his recliner. They both fell over the recliner and Stella heard the satisfactory sound of the knife clattering to the floor.

Cole was inside the cabin right after Stella. He saw Needles try to stab David with the knife, but Stella had reacted a split second before Cole had, and he watched her tackle Needles over the recliner. Both of them fell to a heap on the floor on the other side of the recliner and Cole was sure at least one of them had fallen on the knife, but then he heard it drop on the floor

Jose stumbled inside the cabin and shut the door. He fumbled with the lock with his shaking hands. He knew the locks wouldn’t hold back whatever was out there, but he locked the door anyway. He stumbled over to the dining room table, oblivious to the fight in the living room between Stella and Needles. Jose plopped down in one of the dining room chairs as his mind replayed what he’d seen out there in the snow – Frank’s hollowed-out body.

On the floor beside the recliner, Needles kicked Stella off of him. He had been surprised by her strength, caught off guard for a moment, but Needles was stronger than she was and his kick sent her through the air where she landed on the Native American rug in the center of the room. Needles rolled over in a quick movement and grabbed the dropped knife from the floor.

As Stella struggled back to her feet, Cole shot across her vision like a blur of movement. She watched Cole punch Needles in the jaw as he tried to stand up. In less than two seconds Cole hit Needles again and again in the face until he dropped the knife.

Cole tackled Needles, who was already woozy from the punches to his face, and then he drove him into the wall. They both slid down the wall to the floor as pictures crashed from the wall to the floor all around them. Needles fell over onto his stomach, and before Needles had a chance to turn over, Cole crawled on top of his back like an MMA fighter; he held him face-down as he wrenched one of Needles’ arms behind his back and held it there. Needles wailed out in pain.

“Get me something to tie his hands with!” Cole yelled at Jose.

But Jose wasn’t listening. He stared down at the table, his mind tuning out everything around him. He kept seeing Frank’s body in his mind’s eye, his hollow body, the red and glistening walls of flesh inside of his torso and head.

Stella jumped up from the floor. Her stomach hurt from where Needles had kicked her, but she could tell there was no serious damage. She ran to the kitchen counter and grabbed the balled-up telephone cord Cole had tossed there what seemed like so long ago. She grabbed it and ran back to Cole.

“Tie it around his wrist!” Cole screamed at Stella.

Needles tried to fight back, but he couldn’t buck Cole off of his back. Cole had a handful of Needles’ hair in his other hand and he slammed Needles’ face down onto the wood floor, nearly knocking him out, definitely dazing him for a moment.

Stella tied the cord tightly around Needles’ wrist, a double knot.

“Hold the cord,” Cole told her as he grabbed Needles’ other arm. Needles tried to struggle, but he was too dazed and Cole was too strong. Cole brought Needles’ wrists together and he didn’t even have to tell Stella what to do – she wrapped the cord around both wrists several times and tied it tight.

Cole tested the bonds and after he was satisfied that they were tight, he sat back on his butt on the floor as Needles writhed beside him and worked his way up into a sitting position, his back and bound hands against the wall. There were tears in Needles’ eyes and blood trickled from his nose down into his mouth. “You don’t understand,” he told Cole. “I had to do it. I had to.”

“Shut up,” Cole said as he exhaled a long breath.

“David,” Stella whispered. She ran over to the couch but David wasn’t there. “David!” she called out. She went to the end of the couch and found David crouched down beside the end of it, hiding from Needles. He looked up at her with his dark eyes full of fear.

She dropped down to her knees and reached out for him. “It’s okay,” she told him. “He’s tied up now. He won’t get you.”

David jumped into her arms and hugged her.

Stella cried as David held onto her. “I’m sorry,” she said. “I’m sorry I left you in here with him. I should’ve known.”

David pulled away from Stella and he nodded at her. “It’s okay,” he told her in his soft voice. He smiled. “I’m okay now.”

Stella let out a laugh even though she was still crying a little bit. She wiped away at her tears. She looked him over quickly even though he told her he was okay; she didn’t see any wounds of any kind on him. “You’re not hurt anywhere, are you?”

“No. I’m okay.”

Stella exhaled a deep breath. “Thank God.”

Cole watched Stella and David for a moment, and then he looked at Needles who was still sitting against the wall. Needles looked at Cole with his tear-streaked face. “You don’t understand what’s going on here, Cole. That kid’s a demon. He’s doing all of this on his own. He’s not a child, he’s a monster.”

“Shut up, Needles.”

“He’s the devil. He’s the one you should be afraid of, not me.”

“I swear to God, Needles, if you don’t shut the fuck up …” Cole let his words trail off.

Needles became very quiet and suddenly calm. A strange smile appeared on his face. “You’ll see,” he whispered to Cole. “You’ll see soon enough.”

Cole walked away from Needles – he had to get away from him or he was afraid he was going to hit him again. Besides, Cole had another concern at this moment – Jose.

He walked over to Jose and stared at him.

Jose sat in the dining room table chair, his body slouched, his eyes distant, his head hung down.

“Jose,” Cole said in a soft voice. He pulled out a chair and moved it over so that he sat down right in front of Jose.

Jose didn’t respond.

“Jose!” Cole said a little louder.

Jose looked at Cole. “We have to give him what he wants,” Jose said in an emotionless voice. “We have to give him anything he asks for.”

“What’s wrong, Jose?” Cole asked. “What did you see out there?”