“Thatis my deal! Now you’d better get up and start running, or I’ll be forced to explain to my wife that I left her best friend behind to die because she was too full of herself to listen!” Lee shouts the last part, spit flying out of his mouth as the vein in his forehead pulsates viciously.
I’ve never seen this man scared before. It just now dawns on me that I should be scared, too. That fear kicks into overdrive the minute the axe-wielding crazy person strikes the door behind me again.
“Well then!” I yell at Lee. “Lead the way since you seem to know everything!”
He grabs my arm, and we bolt toward the back of the house, or at least I think it’s the back. I’ve obviously never been here before, and I don’t know why I’m here now.
The last thing I remember is answering the knock at my door, Josh strolling into my room with a smirk…and then…smoke?
No. There was another knock on the door right after Josh said he needed to take a shower. Someone threw something into my room that gassed us.
Lee throws open another door at the end of the hall, and we plunge inside. He locks the door behind us as I quickly scan the room for whatever I can use to block the door from the axe-wielding psychopath out there.
Who gassed us earlier? And why the hell is there a person with an axe coming after us now?
“Come help me with this!” I shout, struggling to push a heavy wooden dresser toward the door. It’s a solid piece of furniture, heavy and sturdy, unlike that crap particle wood they sell nowadays.
With his help, we get the door blocked and stand in silence, listening for noises outside of our heavy, panicked breathing. I’m too out of breath to speak, but I desperately want to grill Lee with questions.
Why are we here?
How did we get here?
Where are Josh, Capri, and Teagan?
What was the smoke that filled my room, and did it happen to him, too?
Lee stares at me, and I swear his mind links to mine because he finally whispers, “Do you know what’s happening?”
I shake my head. “Do you?” I whisper back.
He rolls his eyes and shakes his head.
“Look, I get that you’re confused. I am too. But I’m not going to put up with your crap like your wife does. You don’t need to roll your eyes at me,” I whisper-yell over the deafening silence.
He takes a step closer to me and opens his mouth in retort when we hear a scraping noise coming down the hall. Our eyes widen at the same moment.
“We need to get out of here,” Lee says calmly, even though his whole body quivers. “Now.”
My eyes dart from wall to wall, looking for an escape route that doesn’t involve facing the person trying to murder us with an axe on the other side of the door. I run to the only other door in the room and throw it open, praying that it isn’t a closet full of dingy plaid flannels and dirt-stained Levi jeans. I nearly weep with relief when I see it’s a small bathroom.
“Here!” I shout at Lee, pointing toward the small window sitting above a clawfoot tub. “Hoist me up!”
Lee doesn’t hesitate before grabbing me around my waist and lifting me, his arms shaking in protest as I shimmy the window open as far as it’ll let me.
The axe slams against the bedroom door, making us both jump.
“Lexi, you need to get out of here!” Lee shouts while pushing me through the small gap.
The window isn’t large by any means, but it’s wide enough for an adult to squeeze through. And I do just that. My dress snags and tears as I shuffle through with Lee’s help. The cabin must be built into the earth because the drop from the window is only about three feet. I fall to the ground with a loud yelp, wincing when the pine needles covering the damp ground dig into my exposed flesh.
“What about you?” I scream, throwing my hands through the window as Lee backs away, tightening the sash around his robe. “Grab my hand, Lee! You can’t die here! Capri will never recover from this!”
The axe hits the door again, making an even bigger hole.
Lee looks up at me, fear flooding his features. “Lexi, get out of here. You’re not strong enough to pull me up, and we both know it. Find Capri and get her out of this place! Promise me!” he shouts, pleading in a way that breaks something in me.
Hot, wet tears fall from my face as I shake my head at him and throw myself back through the window, my stupid sequins getting caught again and tugging me backward. “I can’t just leave you here to die! We can fight him off together!”
