The snow swirled and danced around him and Jack stuck out his tongue to catch a flake as it tumbled towards him; he marvelled at the infinite variations of white in a white on white landscape; he watched in fascination as the steam from his piss rose in the still air. He did all this and more, noticing every minute detail of the world around him. Anything to stave off thoughts of what he was headed towards... Chase... Liz... what she might have done, what she might do next. There were so many possibilities, every single one of them monstrous.
It would have been so much better to have told Kim and Chase he was alive, but in hiding. Kim would now be a new mother with a one month old son, Chase would be at home with his family where he belonged and Angie would be the adoring big sister, unburdened by nightmares.
Taking a bandana from his pocket, Jack removed his Raybans and wiped his eyes as he laboured up the steep hill. The trees grew thicker here and a heavy silence hung over the woods, every sound absorbed by the lightly falling snow. Several times a fleeting movement would catch the corner of his eye and make him turn quickly, but there was never anything there.
The sense of being watched was with him again as he approached the crest of the hill. He paused to look around but could see nothing apart from more trees and more snow. Pulling out the compass, he shook it slightly in a futile attempt to ensure it was working correctly before checking his position on the topo map. After the long and exhausting slog through the snow all day yesterday, he was finally getting close to Azalea Lake, the first of the three sister lakes.
Finishing the energy bar, Jack stuffed the wrapper in the side pocket of his snow pants then continued down through the trees, his snowshoes making easy work of the slippery slope. He made his way through heavy spruce cover and emerged onto a rocky outcrop, the weak sunshine trying to break through the snow clouds.
Jack felt a shiver of foreboding run down his back. The lake below was black, the surrounding steep hills of snow covered spruce reflected off the ice of the lake to somehow form a black chasm. It was menacing, eerie, and Jack didn't tarry, his sense of unease now increasing with every mile covered. He didn't know if it was the landscape, his concern for Chase, or fear of Liz. Whatever it was, he'd be pleased to be away from here. The peaks of the old Donner Pass Trail were close by, he wondered if perhaps that was the source of his disquiet.
Checking his map again, Jack headed south for another two hours. He took a narrow pass between the hills and on past Flora Lake which he could barely glimpse through the trees. Finally, after another hour or so of easy going over a less wooded rise he arrived on the banks of Lake Angela. The lake was massive, sprawled over open terrain and Jack was pleased it held none of the sinister atmosphere of Azalea.
Pulling out his binoculars, Jack lay prone and began a sweep across the south end of the lakeshore. All their intel indicated Chase was here somewhere, all he needed to do was pinpoint the location. The clouds parted briefly overhead and rays of sunlight spread over the white landscape in a dazzling display of beauty. Jack closed his eyes against the intense glare but not before he had seen the glint of reflection.
Putting on his Raybans again, Jack tried to focus but the images were now too dark. Slipping the sunglasses up to the top of his head, he waited for his eyes to adjust before focusing in again. It was almost completely obscured by the thick snow, but a window glinted under the sunlight; a cabin was tucked away into a stand of spruce and larch.
There was no sign of activity; no smoke from either of the two chimneys, nor any tracks in the deep snow, but at least it was a place to begin his search. Packing up the
binoculars, he checked his gun. This time he'd make sure she stayed dead.
Jack approached from the west then completed a full circuit of the log cabin which confirmed the snow lay undisturbed all around. His heart sank at the realisation that this wasn't the location. Chloe had stated no significant snow had fallen in the last two weeks so the cabin hadn't been visited recently. He would still need to check it out though, it could prove useful later as a bolt hole in an emergency.
Struggling out of his pack, Jack placed it on the porch as he unstrapped his snow shoes. Beating the encrusted ice off them, he placed them with his pack as he stepped up onto the porch and tried the door. To his surprise it was unlocked and it swung silently open at his touch. Pulling his gun, he waited a moment to calm his breathing before stepping inside.
The single room took up almost the entire cabin and was brightly lit from the reflected sunlight as it steamed in through the two large picture windows. The view out over the lake was stunning but it didn't even register with Jack. He only had eyes for the king-size bed which dominated the room. A sheet lay half on the floor and he could see it was stained with blood, vomit and God knows what else. Restraints hung from the four bedposts and he could see a vibrator tossed on the floor alongside several strap-on dildos and other sex toys.
In a cold fury Jack searched the cabin thoroughly, but it was clear no one had been here recently. So where had they gone?
But something was missing here, clues... the lack of clues. If Liz had taken Chase elsewhere she would have left a sign but he had been over the cabin in detail and there were no clues. That surely meant Chase was still here... but where? Both Angie and Rosie had said he was in the dark and cold, yet Jack hadn't found any access to a cellar. And the snow was banked up high around the cabin so even if there was an external access, it was now blocked by snow.
Pulling out his flashlight, Jack got on hands and knees to begin the search over again, inch by painstaking inch across the floor. There must be a trapdoor he reasoned, there must be. He finally found it next to the kitchen counter, the opening cleverly concealed by the pattern of the linoleum which ran through the kitchen area.
After checking for booby traps he tucked the flashlight in his pocket, held his gun ready, and slowly began to pull up the door. He gagged as the stench hit him. A nauseating mixture of human waste, rotten flesh and the rank smell of fear. Dry heaves racked his body at the knowledge of what he would find down in the darkness and the trapdoor dropped closed with a clang as he leaned over, his hands on his knees for support, as he waited for the convulsions to end.
Calming, he took a deep breath and pulled the trapdoor open again. Turning on the flashlight he descended down the wooden steps into a space only slightly smaller than the cabin above. The flooring was raw concrete which had cracked and buckled from the cold. Jack shivered as the damp chill bit into his exposed flesh of face and hands.
"Chase?" he called softly, but there was no response, not that he expected any. The smell of death and decay was strong and he swung the light in a wild circle, looking for a sign of hope. A mound in the corner caught his eye and he approached only to turn away, repelled. The bodies of a dozen or more rats lay tangled, their tails thick and sinuous, the yellow teeth bared in death. That explained the odor of rotten flesh, he could see some of the carcasses were weeks old.
He continued the beam along the wall, the space empty until he came to a bucket overflowing with human waste. Passing quickly, he sped the light along, almost dropping the flashlight in shock when he found Chase sitting against the wall watching him, a hand over his eyes to shield them from the unaccustomed light. Jack pulled the light back and angled it to the floor, but he knew he'd never be able to forget that initial glimpse...
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