“Where?” Chanel asked, her voice panicked.
“I guess in the trees. But we need to hurry! If he sees us, he’ll start shooting.”
May had no idea where they should go. She just knew that in a few more moments, Jackson was going to erupt from the cabin, armed and dangerous. If they were in the way of that shotgun, it would be bad news.
“This way!” May decided. There was no time for anything clever except to run to the closest cover, because she could already see him coming out.
She grabbed Chanel’s arm.
And then she ran, as fast as she could. At first, she had to tug Chanel along, but then, as the girl recovered and found her strength, she powered alongside May.
They burst into the tree line. Looking around for the best cover, May saw a deadfall, propped up against a solid-looking boulder.
“Here!” May pushed Chanel behind the rock.
“What are we doing?” Chanel sounded breathless.
“Hiding quietly,” May hissed.
A cracking sound split the air and Chanel squawked as a tree branch a few yards to the right fell down with a crashing sound.
“Try not to make a noise,” May whispered, her heart hammering.
“I’ll try,” Chanel whispered back in a shaking voice. “But this is scary. Is he coming our way? What’s he doing now?”
“I’m not sure,” May admitted.
Then she heard him calling, in a weird, wheedling tone.
“It’s all okay,” he said. “You’ll be safe. Trust me. I won’t hurt you. I have no intention of doing that. You’ll be okay.”
“He’s mad,” Chanel whispered. “That’s what he said to me also. Then he stared going on about how I was a bully, and it was because of people like me that his daughter had died, and he didn’t want to hurt me at all, but he wanted others to learn a lesson.” Her voice broke off into a sob.
May was getting a good picture of the killer’s intentions. This was sadly how he had been scarred from the terrible experience of losing his daughter. Gradually, the hurt had festered until it erupted in a murderous spree where he targeted other suspected bullies and killed them.
It was a pity that this information was coming at a time when they were likely to be gunned down at any moment.
“Do you have a gun?” Chanel whispered.
“Um, no,” May admitted. “I lost hold of it when he tried to run me down with his ATV.”
But that question gave her an idea.
He would most definitely want to shoot May. But perhaps, if she was able to distract him, this deranged man might not shoot Chanel just yet. Not if she could get into his mind and press the right buttons. And she thought she knew what they were, and how she might be able to buy some time.
“I think we need to try something,” she whispered.
“What’s that?”
“It might not work. But this man is going to shoot us otherwise.”
They flinched, as a tree the other side of them took a hit, bark exploding everywhere. The sound was deafening. May’s ears were ringing from the blast.
“What can we do?” Chanel hissed, sounding panicked.
“You need to stay calm and call out to him. Say that I’m trying to hurt you. Say that he must come and save you.”
Chanel’s eyes widened. “That? You think he’ll listen?”