His hands were stuck beneath Rav, trapped in his pockets.
The car bore down on him.
He heard Luke scream, then his hands were on his waist, pulling him upwards.
For a second, Rav’s full weight came with him.Hudson struggled, wriggling, finally pulling free.By the time he got to his feet, it was too late.He braced for impact.
He had no sense of himself in the next few moments.A sudden force.Then flying through space, rolling.A rush of something passing beneath him.
As he struck the ground and his whole body jarred with pain, his ears were filled with the grinding of metal.
As he lay on the ground, unable to move, he knew what had happened.Corman had crashed into the back of Luke’s stationary car.He opened his eyes, blinking to find some focus.It was all a blur.
His vision slowly returned.And with it, a sinister silhouette against the haze of the wreckage.Corman.Each step forward was staggered, but he held the axe with menacing confidence.Hudson tried to move, but pain rooted him to the ground.He couldn’t even raise a hand.
Corman’s face came into focus.The Baby Face mask hung on a string around his neck.His face was bloody, one eye closed, but his expression was filled with cold determination.In that moment, it seemed like Corman no longer existed.He’d been taken over by the Baby Face persona and was living out his twisted dream.About to make a long-held fantasy come true.
He straddled Hudson’s waist, licked his swollen lips, and raised the axe.
Hudson prepared for the inevitable.
As Corman’s axe began its last, deadly descent, a figure loomed behind him.Luke, battered but determined, raised something in both hands.He swung hard.Hudson heard the impact and a smashing of ceramic as it exploded on Corman’s head.
The force of the blow swept Corman sideways, knocking him off his feet.
The axe clattered to the ground, missing Hudson by inches.
Corman was on his knees, rising to come at him again.Then Luke was there, smashing into him with fast-moving fists.Luke roared with rage and anger as his jabbed the killer again and again.
Hudson’s focus began to waver.The lights, the sounds began to blur.
In the distance, what sounded like a police siren.
Could be a TV, he thought fuzzily.
And then the dizziness overwhelmed him before he fell down into darkness.
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Getting Answers
Despite the impact of the collision, Hudson was fortunate that his injuries were no more serious than a fractured coccyx and severe concussion.He was kept in hospital overnight for observation.
“Where’s Luke?”he asked the nurse who attended him the following morning.
“I don’t know who you mean,” she said with a concerned smile.“The police want to speak to you, but the doctor has forbidden it until he gives you the all-clear.He’ll be making his rounds soon.”
Hudson shuffled up the bed, wincing at the pain in his lower back, and eased his weight onto his side.His head was woozy.He didn’t know if that was from the knock he had taken, or the drugs they had given him.Either way, he felt like shit.Despite all that, he had a clear memory of everything leading up to the crash last night.Rav’s murder, Amber, Corman, those vile masks.
“I want Luke,” he said.“I’m not speaking to anyone until I know that he’s okay.”
The nurse frowned.“Try not to get yourself agitated and I’ll see what I can do.”
When she left, he gripped the rail on the side of the bed and pulled himself fully over onto his left side.That felt better.He’d known a stuntman once who had broken his coccyx several times over.Hudson had thought he was exaggerating about the pain—now he realised he had underplayed it.
At least he was alive.
Thanks to Luke.If he hadn’t attacked Corman when he did, Hudson wouldn’t be here.He’d have ended his days with a split skull, dying on that driveway beside Rav.
