Blood Games

    ‘I’m not ashamed of anything.’

    ‘Well, just calm down. ’

    ‘All the shit we’ve been through together,’ Finley said, ‘we shouldn’t let a little thing like this throw us. We heard a creepy story, and some rat-ass teenager fucked us over. That’s really all that’s happened, right? Nobody’s been hurt. We’re all just a bit spooked. So why don’t we just make the best of it?’

    ‘And do what?’ Cora asked.

    ‘Well, I don’t think any of us want to go back inside the lodge tonight. So why don’t we find a nice, hidden place in the woods somewhere? We’ll sack out till morning. Then, when it’s broad daylight, we’ll go back down to the pool and find the keys and get our asses out of here.’

    ‘Spend the night?’ Vivian didn’t sound thrilled by the idea.

    ‘Sounds good to me,’ Abilene said. ‘The only other choice, if we don’t go after the keys, is to hike out. I can’t see the point of that. We’re out in the middle of nowhere.’

    ‘Besides,’ Finley said, ‘we’d have to leave our stuff here. Which means we’d need to come back for it, sooner or later.’

    ‘Let’s stay,’ Cora said.

    Helen nodded.

    ‘First thing in the morning, we’ll go back down to the pool.’

    ‘We can throw everything in the car,’ Abilene said, ‘and just take our sleeping bags. And whatever else we’ll need for the night. Toothbrushes, the water…’

    ‘Let’s do it,’ Cora said.

    Spreading out behind the car, they opened their luggage. Abilene took out her toilet kit, then shut the case.

    Cora climbed into the car and knelt on the back seat. Abilene kept the door open by leaning back against it, her legs braced.

    The others passed suitcases to Cora, and she stowed them in the rear. She placed the wet, loaded towels on the floor in front of the seat. ‘Is that it? What about your camera, Fin?’

    ‘I’ll keep it, thanks. I’m not about to leave it in an unlocked car.’

    ‘You’ll leave your purse, but not your camera?’

    ‘Maybe we ought to take our purses,’ Abilene said.

    ‘Shouldn’t have left them here in the first place with the car unlocked.’

    ‘Good thing we did,’ Cora said. ‘They might’ve ended up in the pool.’

    ‘Well, I think we’d better keep them with us from now on. If we lose our money and credit cards, we’ll really be up the creek.’

    Cora hunted around, and finally handed out the purses. She was holding a roll of toilet paper when she climbed from the car. She tossed it to Helen. Abilene stepped clear of the door, and it fell shut with a solid thud.

    After gathering their things, they trudged uphill past the side of the car. Vivian, holding the lantern, halted. ‘Where to?’ she asked.

    ‘First off,’ Cora said, ‘let’s kill the light.’ She reached out and twisted the knob at its base. The hiss went silent. The brightness faded until the only light came from the hot mantles. They looked like a pair of small, net sacks, glowing white then dimming to red.

    ‘If we’re not going to use the lantern,’ Finley said, ‘why don’t we leave it in the car?’

    ‘We might need it later,’ Cora told her.

    ‘You’ve got the matches?’

    She patted her belly. She had no pockets, so Abilene supposed she must’ve tucked the matchbook under the elastic of her shorts. It was out of sight under the hanging front of her tank top.

    Turning to Finley, Cora said, ‘This is your idea. You want to lead the way?’

    ‘Sure.’

    Cora offered her a flashlight. Finley accepted it, said, ‘You take this,’ and handed the video camera to Cora. ‘Be careful with it.’ Then she started walking. She kept the flashlight off.

    They followed her along the pavement that stretched in front of the porch. Where it met the main driveway, she headed to the right. Away from the lodge.

    ‘Just in case anyone’s watching,’ she explained, ‘we’ll make it look like we’re actually taking off.’

    Abilene turned around. As she walked backward, she gazed at the lodge. With the moon out of sight behind it, the building was masked in black shadow. Someone might be watching -from the porch, from the doorway, from a window, from anywhere. But she saw only darkness.

    She faced the front again. Soon, the driveway began sloping. downward. Gravity pushed at her back as if it wanted to send her running for the bottom. She shortened her strides. Her legs trembled, but she supposed that the shakiness had more to do with her fears than with the exertion of trying to control her descent.

    ‘Are we going all the way to the road?’ Helen asked.

    Finley looked back. They all did. The lodge was out of sight. Abilene could see nothing except the dim, rising lane of the driveway, a few patches of sky through the tree tops, and the dark woods on both sides.

    ‘This is good enough,’ Finley said. She strode to the right and stepped off the driveway. Her sneakers crunched dead leaves and twigs on the forest floor. She ducked under a low branch. Cora went after her, followed by Vivian. Abilene cast a final glance up the deserted lane, saw nobody, and followed Helen into the trees.

    Ahead, she glimpsed a flashlight beam. It dug a bright tunnel through the darkness to the right, then slipped aside and disappeared.