Backwards Into Hell

Part Four: Or Do They?

Jake's Diary

Sunday 31st October

Fire. Everywhere.

The Lodge was burning again, and I was in its lobby.

Except this time, everything hurt: my eyes stung and my lungs felt like they were filling with acid. With my powers gone, I had to get out. Out to where Caleb was.

My vision blurred as I stumbled to the kitchen. This must have been how Lottie and David had felt, succumbing to the smoke, and I was ready to faint by the time I shouldered the door open, stumbling into the clean air.

Now, where was he?

If The Man had set this up correctly, then Caleb would be easy to find. I struggled forward, catching my breath and scouting the tree line.

It didn't take me long to spot him.

The boy stood facing me, staring. Fear, I realised. Fear had frozen him to the spot.

I walked over, slowly increasing the pace as my lungs recovered, and tried a queasy smile.

'Help me,' I mouthed with a wheeze, still some metres away and stumbled, clutching my arm and edging forward.

It worked.

Caleb's eyes flooded with confusion, and, little by little, he began to creep forward. I continued to fumble as he covered ground.

It was painful to have to pretend like this. If I wanted to, I could have run—but if he made it into the trees before I did, he could hide. No. I had to be smart.

I deliberately tripped over my right foot, throwing myself to the dusty grass and letting out a groan as I fell. With a final, hesitant glance at the fire behind me, Caleb came forward.

He pushed my shoulder, mumbling. 'Run. Fire.'

'Help me up.' My voice croaked from the smoke, and I held out a hand.

Our eyes met. I did whatever I could to remove what his mother had seen in me. Instead, I filled my head with good things, kindness and love and Rachel and Lily, and hoped it shone through on my face.

Caleb's tiny hand reached out.

Just a little closer and I'd have him.

Seconds before we touched, I lashed out and grabbed at his wrist.

But Caleb yanked his arm back—savvy little thing—and began toward the forest.

'No!' I cried, watching my last hope escape. But by dumb luck, Caleb tripped.

He fell.

I got up as fast as my adult body would allow and before Caleb could stagger to his feet, I was on him. I grasped his ankle and pulled him, kicking and crying, to me.

It was hard to get a grip as he struggled. I was so weak.

Finally, I spun him around, using his shoulders like a pivot and pushed his back to the grass. My fingers found a home around his throat.

His chubby arms thrashed and thrashed, but he was so tiny, so small that he couldn't stop me.

I squeezed tighter, watched his face turn white and eventually, his arms stopped thrashing. He was limp. He sat there like a doll, a perfect cherub with glass blue eyes and soft white skin.

I sat on my knees as my chest fluttered up and down, up and down. I'd done it.

Rachel.

More importantly, I'd pleased The Old Man—completed my task.

A sense of beautiful finality hit me as a figure stood just a few feet ahead. He had his staff back this time but was still young.

I stood up, staggering as the world seemed to shift and waited for the dizziness to disappate. Caleb's body disappeared, fading into space, and without either of us seeming to have moved, The Old Man was barely a foot from me.

'I did it,' I grunted. 'I did it.'

He smiled faintly, and I had that lab-rat feeling again. It made my stomach burn.

'Give her back.'

The Old Man sighed, letting his smile disappear and placed a soft hand on my shoulder.

'I can't.'

My heart sank. 'What...' More spinning. 'What do you mean you can't?'

He'd tormented me for so long. There was so much I'd done for him.

Before I realised it, my fist rattled toward his face. I was no match for him, of course, and he took a deft step to the side.

'Do you really think you deserve it?' he asked, deathly calm.

My mouth pulled into a scowl. 'We had a deal! You liar!'

'Think about it, Jake.' Despite him being in front of me, his voice danced around my head like music in the wind. 'You know how it goes: The good get rewarded and the bad...'

Get punished.

It clicked.

This whole thing was a game, a sick experiment. I was a lab-rat.

'You understand, don't you?' He raised an eyebrow. 'What you did, Jake, only the truly evil and ambitious are capable of.'

My legs gave out, and I dropped to the floor, kneeling like a priest.

'Please.'

This wasn't how it was meant to end.

'Relax.' He chuckled. 'You will see your wife again—just not in the way you think.'

My stomach leapt. What? Was there still a way to do it? A way to win?

I looked up and as he held my gaze, it became obvious what he had meant because in his soft hands was a gun. Small and black and all-around the same as the one Darren had carried.

So that's what had happened to it.

'You're perfect, Jake,' he said.

'Perfect for what?'

He leveled the gun at my forehead. 'My replacement.'

I shivered but I didn't back away.

'There's always been evil in this world, and it's always been human.'

The Old Man crouched, bringing us into the same line.

'No...'

'I am sorry about this. Normally, I'd wait a while, but you see, everyone's so keen to meet you.'