Dillon hit a switch on the console marked: “Exterior Perimeter Lights.” The perimeter of the cabin was bathed in halogen lights, mounted high in the surrounding treetops.

“Jesus,” Quentin said. “Look—there by the road.” Howlers stood in the county road at the entrance to the ranch, caught by the bright high-powered spotlights.

“There must be fifty of them,” Dillon said, looking at a monitor whose screen was dedicated to the ranch’s entrance.

Quentin sat in the second chair. “More,” he said. “More, I think.”

Dillon studied the console’s various switches, all of them marked with red-plastic labels.

“This guy was meticulous,” Dillon said.

“Yeah, Chuck was that, all right,” Quentin said.

“Exterior Sound,” Dillon said, reading one of the labeled switches. Under that switch were several other clearly labeled switches: Driveway, Rear of Cabin, West Side of Cabin, East Side of Cabin. Dillon hit the Driveway switch and they could hear howling on the speaker above them. It was eerie.

“They call to others, like wolves,” Dillon said. He watched the monitor showing the gathering of Howlers on the road, many of them on their haunches howling like dogs: men, women, children.

Watching the monitor, Quentin still couldn’t believe what had happened. Only yesterday morning he was worried about butterflies on the way to have breakfast with Patty. Now one of his daughters was dead, and the world he’d known was gone forever. At first he thought it was a nightmare; even when Poole had woken him, he was sure he’d dreamt it all and would wake up to find Marie lying next to him. But it wasn’t to be. It was Poole who’d told him that he wasn’t crazy, that the world had gone mad. When the doctor had left him in the room, lying on the cot, he’d broken down and cried, sobbing like a child with his daughter in his arms.

“Yeah, seems so,” Quentin said. “Turn it off. I got a headache.”

Dillon flipped the audio switch back to the off position and the howling stopped.

“How are those girls and Bell going to get in here? There are hundreds of them out there,” Quentin said. “We’ll have to call them, warn them that we’re surrounded.”

“I—that’s my ex-wife—Patty Tyson, with Rebecca,” Dillon said. He’d heard from Miles that his wife had been traveling with Miles and the doctor.

Quentin shot Dillon a look.

“You know her?”

“Yeah, we’ve met,” Quentin said. “She’s a ranger up at Emigrant Gap.”

“Yeah,” Dillon said, looking at him carefully. “I wanted to patch it up with her. We have a kid.”

Quentin stood up. He felt dizzy and sat down again.

“Are you okay?” Miles asked. He’d come in the room last and was standing behind Quentin.

“Yes. No. I don’t know,” Quentin said. The room was spinning and he felt drunk. Quentin closed his eyes and opened them again. The spinning stopped.

“I wouldn’t have let them stay if I’d thought they couldn’t get back,” Miles said.

For the second time in his life Quentin Collier realized he had no answers. When Marie had been sick he’d scoured the Internet looking for any kind of cure, or possible cure, for her cancer. He’d discovered that the Internet was populated by horrible, cretinous faith-healers and quacks of the worst kind. That was the first time, late one night, he had to admit he was powerless in a way he’d never been before. God was going to steal something from him that he loved and he could do nothing to stop it.

He asked God, why his wife? Why the one person in the world he truly felt at ease with, the one person in the world he couldn’t afford to lose? He’d walked out of the house, the Sierra above him, cold-faced and hard looking in early autumn—the Indian summer gone, with winter waiting to come on. He’d broken into a run until he’d fallen down exhausted and hating God. Everything he’d believed in seemed to be a lie. There was no God, and there was no mercy in life. He’d stood up and swore to himself that he would never pray again, or believe in God again. Marie died two days later while he was down the hallway looking for a nurse. He’d collapsed when Lacy told him, refusing to believe she was dead.

“I don’t know what to do,” Quentin said. He was looking at the scene on the monitor.

“He’s dug an escape tunnel. It comes out about here,” Dillon said. He picked up the printout from Phelps’s Apple laptop. He showed Quentin the spot. “We could go out there and kill them all,” Dillon said, tapping the spot on the map with a pencil. “Why not?”

“Because there are fifty of them, or more. And there’ll be even more soon,” Quentin said. He stood up again. His head felt like it was going to split open.

“Well we have to do something,” Dillon said. “We can’t just let my wife and the girl die.”

“Ex-wife,” Quentin said. “We were seeing each other. Patty and I. You should know that.”

“I’m still in love with her,” Dillon said.

“Yeah? So what,” Quentin said and walked out. His vision was blurry.

Enfilading and Escape

Quentin, if you’re reading these instructions, I’m not there to help you or the people with you, so please read these instructions carefully.

There are two tunnels (West and East tunnels) both run parallel and on either side of the cabin’s driveway. Each of the two tunnels ends at the county road. And each tunnel can be used as escape route, should escape from the cabin be necessary. However, their primary function is to bring enfilading fire on the driveway and for ambushing the enemy from behind, should that become necessary.

The tunnels are each exactly four-feet wide and four-feet high to allow for easy movement of men and weapons. The tunnels are made of reinforced concrete. You will find each tunnel has two rolling platforms that will allow you to pull yourself along the tunnel. Each sled is six feet long and three feet wide. The sleds are designed to carry two men and ammunition. There are two escape hatches/cum ambush platforms along the tunnels: one at the very end of the tunnel and located exactly at the edge of the property—a few yards from the county road, and a second one midway down the driveway and exactly 50 yards from the cabin’s front porch.

The tunnel exits are marked by a red rope. If you want to open the tunnel, you must first pull the red rope . This will open a hatch cover, which is camouflaged.

First West Hatch:  The driveway will be exactly twenty feet to your immediate right. Warning : in the wintertime, these hatch covers may well be covered with snow, which could block the way as you exit the hatch! There will be a flood light in the tree directly above you and facing the driveway, so an attack at night is possible. These outdoor lights are controlled from the control room.

First East Hatch: Ditto but the driveway will be to your LEFT .

Note that I’ve designed the hatch covers so that they will swing away from opening so it is possible to stand in the tunnel and fire from the opening, providing you protection and escape as the hatch can be closed manually by simply pulling it back into place with the red rope.

Remember: He who dares, wins!

Chuck.