And then she starts to raise the gun again. Oh my God. This is really happening. In a second, I’m going to be joining Warner on the floor.
My eyes flutter shut, bracing myself. But a split second later, I hear Lindsay scream, and my eyes fly open. Noah is behind her, and his Swiss Army knife is sticking out of her right shoulder. The sleeve of her pink T-shirt quickly darkens with blood as the gun tumbles to the floor.
“Claire!” Noah snaps at me. “Get the gun! Now!”
I know what he’s telling me to do. I’ve got to pick up the gun. But I feel like I’m in a trance. I can’t move. “But…”
“Claire! Get! The! Gun!”
His shouts snap me out of my trance. I scramble for the gun on the floor, although I’ve never held a gun before and I’m not entirely sure how to. I’m only vaguely sure the barrel isn’t pointed in my direction.
Lindsay sinks to the ground as the crimson stain on her T-shirt continues to grow. I try to hold the gun steady, but my hands won’t stop shaking.
“Claire,” she croaks. “Put the gun down. I know you’re not going to shoot me.”
Noah glares at her. He’s got the Swiss Army knife in his right hand and it’s slick with her blood. “Claire might not.” He firmly pulls the gun from my hands, and I let him. “But I sure would.”
I look over at him. He’s got Lindsay’s gun and he’s pointing it at her. His hands are surprisingly steady, considering I’ve never seen him aim a gun before. I believe he would shoot her. He would do what he has to do to defend us both. After all, he promised me he would get us home.
“Are you okay with handling that?” I ask quietly.
Noah nods briskly. “I can handle it. Just get away from her.”
I feel sick as I look down at my former best friend, lying on the ground of the cabin. Her face is the color of a sheet. I don’t know if she’s going to make it through this. I’m not sure if I hope she does or doesn’t. She wipes her forehead and smears blood all over her hair
“I’m sorry, Claire,” she whispers.
Noah puts his hand on my shoulder. He gently turns me away from Lindsay so I don’t have to see the life drain out of her.
Epilogue
CLAIRE
Emma launches herself at me so rapidly, I nearly fall over. If I thought she was clinging hard to me before I left for the trip, it’s about a million times harder now. But this time, I’m clinging to her just as hard.
I look over to my right, and the usually reserved Aidan is clinging to Noah. Any second, we’re probably going to have to trade kids. Although I’d really like to hug both at once. I didn’t think I’d see either of them ever again.
When we were an hour away from the house, I called my sister to bring the kids by. Now she’s standing in the middle of our living room, looking a little misty-eyed herself. She knew the first night that something was wrong but nobody would start searching until the second day, when we missed our reservation.
“Glad you made it back, sis,” Penny says.
I look up from my Emma-hug and hold out my arms. She comes in for a hug on top of Emma. And then Aiden wants to be part of it too. Eventually, all five of us are hugging together. It’s a little ridiculous, but it makes me happy. There were moments when I was so sure I would never get to hug any of these people again.
The police arrived only ten minutes after Noah stabbed Lindsay. Warner had a device to block our cell phone signals, but before Noah could figure out how to turn it off, the police were there. Lindsay had placed a tearful call earlier, saying that Warner was threatening them with a gun and to come right away. She had set the stage.
According to the police, Warner’s real name was Donald Regis. He was wanted in two other states in connection with multiple murders. If everything had gone according to plan for Lindsay, he would have served as the perfect scapegoat. Especially since he was dead and couldn’t defend himself.
The man who owned the cabin was a recluse named Henry Callahan. Lindsay and Warner had never met him before, but his cabin was in a perfect location. That’s why they murdered him. Bad luck on his part.
Lindsay, on the other hand, survived. She was still breathing when the paramedics took her away. But she’ll be serving significant time for four murders. Well, at least four murders. It’s not clear how many people Lindsay killed throughout her life. I’m not sure we’ll ever know.
Jack and Michelle are dead. Just before we left, one of the officers reported they found Michelle’s body. She was stabbed to death like Jack—there was no wild animal involved. Lindsay and her boyfriend made all those claw marks themselves in advance to throw us off their scent. They used a magnet on Jack’s compass to lead us exactly where they wanted us to go.