Return to The Quarry

Chapter Nineteen

Jacob tripped running up the stairs to the loft where Emma stood, crouched down out of sight of the windows behind more sheet-covered furniture.

"Whoa!" said Emma, "Relax! Everything's fine."

Jacob, panting, came to kneel next to Emma. "Okay, okay. What's up?"

Pointing out into the darkness, Emma directed Jacob's eyes to the moonlit treetops in the distance.

"I saw lights. Over there."

"What kind of lights?"

"I think they were those street light things. They went on and then off in a sequence, kind of like, I don't know. Like the lights were being turned on by someone walking under them."

"What, are they motion sensors?"

"Maybe."

In the distance, the lights came on again, only this time much further away.

"Do you see that?" Emma whispered. "That's the cabins, right?"

Jacob nodded. "It's like someone is moving away from the cabins." He hoped it wasn't one of the others, moving in such a conspicuous way. They'd be caught and killed for sure.

Minutes later, a slight blue flash bobbed in and out of the trees and brush at the side of the road, still off in the distance somewhat but comparatively closer than the street lights.

Emma pointed it out to Jacob, who leaned closer and peered into the dark.

"It's . . . It's Grace!" he said. "It's the light from her camera."

The light drifted in and out of the trees in an odd, yet seemingly deliberate pattern.

Emma frowned. "What is she doing?"

"It looks like she's working her way to us."

"Is everyone else with her?"

Jacob sighed. "Two other people. Only those three."

Emma sat back heavily against the sheeted furniture. Even in the dark, Jacob could see her clasp and unclasp her hands.

"Oh God," she whimpered.

"It doesn't mean they're . . ." Jacob stopped himself from saying anything further. Instead, he knelt down and took Emma's hand in his own. "Do you think you can go over to the other loft? I want to be able to cover them if that guy comes back."

Emma looked up at him. Again, she marveled at how much he had matured. In a flash, she dared to wonder how things would have gone if he had been like this back at camp. Would she have given the long distance thing a chance? Would she have put her own dreams on hold and gone with him?

She climbed to her feet and made her way carefully to the top of the stairs. Emma turned, about to ask about what Jacob planned to do if he saw the guy. She found him checking the bullets in his gun's cylinder.

"Okay," Emma said instead. "I'll let you know if I see anything."

Drifting down the stairs to the second floor, Emma took note of how much more comfortable she was getting at being on her own. She only hoped that the others were faring as well out there in the dark, with the Man in the Hood.

Please, she begged any celestial entity who would hear her, let them be okay.

* * *

Max, Nick and Abi crouched in the brush, holding their breath as they watched the area of the resort that used to be the cabins. There was activity ahead, and each was of the same mind, that until they knew for certain who – or what – was moving up ahead, they should stay silent and out of sight.