CHAPTER 6 — “The Woman Everyone Thought Was Dead Opened the Cabin Door.”
The engines stopped.
Silence.
Ethan grabbed the hunting rifle his father had left behind years ago.
He whispered to Lily,
"Hide under the floor."
She obeyed without a word.
Heavy footsteps approached the front porch.
One...
Two...
Three.
A knock echoed through the cabin.
Then a woman's voice.
"Ethan."
His finger tightened on the trigger.
"I know you're in there."
He recognized that voice instantly.
Impossible.
Slowly, he opened the door.
Standing in the rain was...
Evelyn.
Alive.
Wearing a hospital gown stained with blood.
Barefoot.
Shivering.
"Evelyn?"
She collapsed into his arms.
"They're coming," she gasped.
"We don't have much time."
Ethan stared at her in disbelief.
"The doctors said you were still unconscious."
"They wanted you to believe that."
She looked over her shoulder toward the dark forest.
"They're close."
Before Ethan could ask another question, a deafening explosion lit up the night.
The family's abandoned van erupted into flames.
Someone had planted a bomb.
Evelyn looked at him with tears streaming down her face.
"I lied to you for five years."
"But I never lied about loving you."
Then she reached into the pocket of her hospital gown and handed Ethan a worn photograph.
It showed three children standing together.
One was Lily.
The second had the exact same face as Lily.
The third child had been burned out of the picture.
Written across the bottom in faded ink were six chilling words:
May you like
ONLY ONE OF THEM SURVIVED… OR SO THEY THOUGHT.
TO BE CONTINUED...
