Hostage

'Is that you, fat boy?'

Nothing.

'Kevin, if that's you, say something, goddamnit. Mars said you left.'

Nothing.

De

'Kevin, what the fuck? Get up.'

A deep trembling started at his center, filling him, growing until his entire body shook and the light beam danced mindlessly around the small room.

'Kevin, get up.'

De

The fat boy and the girl could not have done this.

Mars.

Mars lied.

Mars killed Kevin.

De

'Mars!'

He took the stairs two at a time, intent only on finding Mars, killing him. Halfway up, he heard the girl scream.

'MARS!'

De

'You're dead, you fuck.'

Mars calmly pulled the girl in front of him, blocking De

Mars smiled at De

'What's wrong, dude? What are you so pissed off about?'

De

'Please.'

De

'This fuck killed Kevin. He cut his damned throat. There's blood everywhere.'

Like he needed her absolution.

The girl closed her eyes and cried harder.

De

And then it was too late.

Mars lifted the girl by the neck and rushed forward, charging De

Rational thought was beyond him; he was filled with a suffocating fear that drove him to run, to get out, to move. Thomas did not know that he screamed. He slipped in the blood, falling hard into the red pool, then slipped again as he climbed onto the washer. He clambered up into the crawl space, cutting his hands and knees as he scrambled across the rafters. He couldn't move fast enough, once banging his head so hard that he saw bright flashes. He had the gun now. He could save himself. His only thought was to reach Je

Thomas heard Je

Then Mars pushed Je

'Jen! C'mon!'

Thomas darted past Mars into the hall, and grabbed Je

'Run!'

The two of them stumbled away as Mars heaved to his feet. His eyes were wild and darting. He was bigger, stronger, faster; Thomas knew that he would catch them.

Thomas whirled around and jerked up the pistol with both hands.

'I'll shoot you!'

Mars stopped. He was streaked with blood, and breathing hard. Blood dripped from his face. Even more blood painted the walls and floor. De

The pistol was heavy and hard to hold. It wobbled, even though Thomas held it with both hands. Je

'Keep going. Let's get out of here.'

They backed away, Thomas trying to hold the gun steady.

Mars walked after them, matching them step for step.

Thomas pushed the gun at him.

'Stay away! I'll shoot you!'

Mars spread his arms as if to embrace them. He continued walking.

'Remember what I told you when I tied you to your bed?'

Thomas remembered: I'm going to eat your heart.

They reached the landing. Je

Mars walked faster.

'I'm going to cut out your heart. But I'm going to cut out your sister's heart first, so you can watch.'

'Stay away!'

Fear amped through Thomas like electric current. His body shook with it, and his bladder let go. He didn't want to shoot; he was scared to shoot, scared that it would be wrong even though he feared for his life, scared that he would be punished for it and would burn in hell and branded a bad person who had made a terrible awful mistake, but Mars came on and he was too scared not to shoot, too scared of that awful knife and the blood that dripped and ran over everything and that Mars really would do it, would cut out his heart, and Je

Thomas pulled the trigger.

Click!

Mars stopped, frozen at the sharp sound.

Click!

The gun didn't fire.

All the things that his father had showed him at the pistol range came flooding back. He gripped the slide hard and pulled back to load a bullet into the chamber, but the slide locked open and did not close. Thomas glanced down into the open action. The magazine was empty. The pistol was unloaded. There were no bullets. There were no bullets!

When Thomas looked up again, Mars smiled.

'Welcome to my nightmare.'

Je

Thomas threw the gun at Mars and ran, following Je

'Open it!'

'The deadbolt is locked! Where's the key?'

The key wasn't in the lock. Thomas knew with certain dread that it was probably upstairs in De

Mars pounded down the stairs, closing the ground between them. He would be on them in seconds. They would never reach the French doors or garage before he caught them.

Je

'This way! Run!'

She pulled him toward their parents' room. Thomas realized that she was taking him to the safest place in the house, but Mars was getting closer, off the stairs now and out of the entry and right behind them.

Thomas raced after his sister down the hall, through their parents' bedroom, and into the security room. They slammed the steel door and threw the bolt in the same moment that Mars crashed into the other side of the door.

The world was silent.

Thomas and Je

Then Mars pounded on the door, slow, rhythmic thuds that echoed through the tiny room… boom… boom… boom.