Chapter 11
With flashlights in hands, Zach and Reese crept through the forest. The element of surprise was not an issue for them. If the killer knew where they were, hopefully he would come to them and save the long search. But they needed the silence in order to hear any approach.
And still, Zach could not keep quiet.
He bothered Reese about what his plan was for taking the killer, about Gunner’s guilt and distraction, about how wonderful it was to have Greg back. The subjects didn’t concern him as much as the need to distract himself from his own nervousness. Reese may have seemed sure of this plan of action, but Zach had his doubts.
Reese, meanwhile, had his doubts about bringing his friend along. He kept telling Zach to shut up. Repeated punches to the arm (how it must have been bruised by now!) didn’t even bring an end to his gabbing.
“If you hit me one more time,” Zach finally complained, “I’ll hit you back.”
“Go ahead,” he snorted. “I’ll hit you harder.”
As if an invitation, Zach hit him in the arm. Reese didn’t flinch. He didn’t stop walking. But with an evil grin, he punched Zach again in the arm with enough force to earn a squeal.
“I warned you.”
Zach nursed his shoulder, playing for sympathy, though it didn’t hurt enough to win his silence. “I’ll get you back, you know,” finally getting a laugh from Reese.
“With those arms, Zach, I consider myself on notice.”
Zach prepared to hurl another witty retort, but Reese stopped him. The killer’s hide-out appeared in view and required their attention instead.
“What’s the plan,” Zach whispered.
Reese cocked his head with a smirk. “We go up there and say hello.”
With Reese keeping nothing but his flashlight, Zach took out his knife and held it ready. They marched up to the shed, watching the woods around them for any sign of movement. With the door missing from the shed, they could already see it was empty. Reese continued inside to take a look anyway. He saw the same log table and pile of blankets Gunner had seen. Then he noticed the candle. Searching around, he found a pack of matches on the floor. Only a couple remained in the pack, but they were enough.
Outside, Zach scanned the forest with his flashlight. He identified a couple breaks in the wall of trees and shrubs that may have been other trails leading outward. One, if it continued straight, headed out to that dirt road. The other trail went off in the opposite direction, to parts of the woods they knew not of. Either could serve as the killer’s point of entry, but he couldn’t keep watch on both.
Zach approached the shed to retrieve Reese. His friend had just lit the nub of candle, holding it cautiously to see if the flame would take hold.
“What are you doing,” he asked him.
Reese answered by kneeling down. The floor gave a creak beneath his weight. The boards were so rotted, another pound on his frame would have crashed through. Yet it didn’t really matter for what he planned. The big guy touched the candle to the frayed edge of one of the blankets. The candle flame jumped to the cloth. Certain the flame took hold, Reese stood once again. He watched the flames grow and fan out. Tossing the candle onto the center of the pile, he backed out of the shed. He then picked up some of the wood that had once been the door, and tossed it in to fuel the fire.
The flames grew, climbing the wall, singeing the fraying plywood, and burning through gaps between the sheets, widening them, bringing in more air for the flames. They took hold on every rotten surface throughout that shed, burning and climbing, finally taking the roof. Within a mere minute, the shed was engulfed, threatening the trees around it.
“So much for the fire danger,” Zach noted.
“He won’t need this place anymore.”
“Yeah, but now what?
Reese just shrugged his shoulders. He clearly wasn’t thinking that far in advance. “That asshole should see that and come running.”
Zach couldn’t hide what a stupid plan this was. To think the killer would see this fire from whatever corner of the forest he was hiding in and come running. It made more sense the camp was his focus. He regretted following Reese out here because the killer more than likely would have come to them.
And yet for all his doubt, a man indeed stepped from the woods.
The pair trained their flashlights on him. He was the same shabbily-dressed, shaggy-haired creature Gunner had witnessed stabbing his brother. He carried the ax dangling from his right hand. His left hand bore a large knife bearing the characteristically curved spine of a Bowie. If this had been the blade used to slash the tires on the van, it had to be a quality knife, and not one of those cheap, tourist knock-offs sold in all the backwoods rest spots.
Zach tightened the grip on his own knife, wishing he had something with a larger blade. Reese merely tightened his free fist. Both stared down their opponent, waiting for him to make the first move. Instead of charging as expected, the man took his weapons and fled down the second mystery trail.
Reese started after him, but Zach hesitated.
“Come on,” Reese shouted. “We can’t let him get away!”
“He had the upper hand, and he ran. He’s leading us into a trap.”
“This is our chance to stop him and pay him back for what he did to Greg.”
Reese sprinted off after the killer. Without a choice, Zach followed. The burning shed disappeared behind them. Its firelight leaving them, they had to rely on their flashlights to keep to the trail. The killer’s footsteps sounded clearly ahead of them, but they could not make up ground. He was faster than either man would have guessed.
And to Zach’s dismay, the speed Reese demonstrated that morning was no fluke. The bigger man placed more and more distance between them. While Reese kept checking over his shoulder to make sure Zach was behind him, his friend’s flashlight fell further and further back.
“Hurry up,” Reese shouted. Another peek and Zach’s light was gone. Worse, the killer’s footsteps melded into the background noise in the woods. He could not stop for his friend if he wanted to catch this guy, so he kept running.
As he checked one last time to find Zach was gone, he failed to notice the clearing he broke into, or the river it lined. With his attention diverted, his feet struck a rock sending him into the water.
Some ways back, Zach gave up trying to keep pace with Reese. He called out for his friend, but heard nothing back. Even the footsteps grew quiet.
“Jesus Christ, Reese,” he muttered, “don’t leave me out here.”
He stopped to listen for any signs of life. The usual soundtrack of the nighttime forest had to be filtered out. Zach turned to one side of the trail, then to the other to make sure the killer hadn’t slipped into the wild and hidden himself in wait. As he was about to deem this spot safe, he heard a rustling sound behind him.
Zach swallowed hard and tightened the grip on his knife. Before his courage could leave, he spun around and stabbed…
…a tree.
It would have been funny had he not been alone in the woods with a killer. He dropped the knife back to his side and took up the flashlight. Anxious to resume the chase, he aimed it back to the trail ahead, but its light marked a figure blocking his path. Zach fell backwards, losing the knife and landing on his ass.
A drenched Reese laughed at his misfortune. “It’s just me.”
“You scared me!”
“Sorry.”
Reese couldn’t help the surprise. He had lost his flashlight in the river, leaving him to fumble through the dark woods back to Zach. But reunited with his friend and his light, he was anxious to continue the chase. First, he needed to show Zach the reason for his wet state.
Some distance and several minutes ahead, the guys found the river. The water seemed still in the reflection of the moon. Zach’s light however, penetrated beneath the surface and hinted to the swift current hiding in the peace.
“You lost him in the river?” Zach trained the light across, but could not find the opposite bank.
“He didn’t cross. It’s faster than it looks.” Reese grabbed Zach’s hand and aimed his light along the bank downstream. Either the summer dry spell receded the river from the forest edge, or the trees were afraid to grow to close. The way, both up and down stream was clear. “He went that way.”
Zach turned his light onto the bank running upstream. “How do you know he didn’t go that way?”
“That way goes further away from our camp.”