Return to The Quarry

Chapter Thirteen

Jacob made his way up onto the dock. He reached down and helped Emma up onto the planks. The Man in the Hood was nowhere to be seen, but in the lone lights at the end of the dock, they were at their most vulnerable.

"Come on," he whispered. Together, they began going up the dock toward the cover of the boathouse. The boards, not having been tread in a season, had become covered in some sort of grime that became terribly slippery when wet. Emma's shoes skidded on it and she lost balance, falling hard.

"Ow! Dammit!"

"Are you okay?"

She got up, wincing. "Yeah, ow! I just went down hard on my knee."

"Can you walk?"

"I think so."

Jacob, head on a swivel, made sure the fall didn't alert the Man in the Hood. Nothing moved anywhere. Not in the shadows, nor in the woods around.

"We'd better check you out. Come on."

Emma leaned on Jacob as she walked gingerly on her throbbing knee. Together, they wound their way under the cover of the boathouse, where the furniture of the outdoor bar the building had become sat stacked and wrapped in translucent plastic. In the weak light from the distant security lamp, they made their way to the steps that led up to the room above. The door, a new solid metal one which was painted to look like wood, stood locked.

Having furnished Jacob with a hairpin, Emma watched him set about working on the lock.

"Well I guess some things didn't change."

"What's that supposed to mean?" With a click, the door swung open.

"You and a bent paperclip managed to get us into some pretty off limits areas. Mr. Magic Fingers, remember?"

Jacob smiled and rolled his eyes. They entered the dark room, opting not to turn on the overhead light, even if there was power. It looked as though it were some sort of storage room, though the only things in it were boxed up bar glasses and bulk stir sticks.

Emma sat down on an overturned metal trash can and carefully cinched the hem of her pant leg up over her knee.

Jacob knelt down and used his maglite to inspect her injury. He tried to ignore the memory she called to mind.

"You don't have to bring up the cringe things I said back then," he groaned. "I was a kid."

She laughed. "It was only six years ago! Ow!" In the light, her knee did not look all that bad. Probably just the kind of injury that hurt worse than anything. "I'm going to have a hell of a bruise tomorrow."

"Doesn't look like you did any real damage."

"That's good." Looking around, Emma tried to suppress the panic that was making itself known in the back of her mind. "Do you think we're safe here?"

"Unless he has night vision, I think we may have an advantage. He can't see us, but we might see him first."

Emma got to her feet and joined Jacob at the railing. From the shadows, they looked out over the shoreline.

"What about the others?" she asked.

In the distance, Jacob made out movement near a place on the shore where some sort of trellis had been built. He counted twice, finding nine people.

"They're okay!"

"Thank God," breathed Emma. She looked over at Jacob. "I'm glad you're here."

"Yeah."