Andrew looked so tired. He’d aged five years overnight. The dark circles under his eyes looked as if they were in competition with her own. He ran a hand over his face, the bristles of his beard scratching like sandpaper. “Well, if it wants us afraid, it’s working. The question is, why does it want to keep us trapped? I saw that thing. It doesn’t look all that capable of complex thought. Maybe there’s something in here that it’s afraid of.”

Kate looked around the cottage. “I think we all know it’s not us. And I can’t see anything here that would scare any animal that could turn a car into a pile of broken metal and glass with its bare hands.”

He reached into the refrigerator and grabbed a bottle of beer. “This is all insane. I’d hoped when I woke up that everything would be back to normal. You know? Like maybe I’d had way too much to drink with your brother and Nikki and just had the nightmare of a lifetime.”

She hugged him, loving the strength of his body and the musk of his neck and hair.

When he suddenly pulled away, she had to flail for the counter’s edge to keep from falling.

“What time is it?” he said.

“I don’t know.”

He hurried to get his phone from the floor. He’d left it next to the rifle.

“Crap.”

“What’s wrong?”

“It’s almost time for their morning kayak on the lake.”

“What? Who?”

With haunted eyes, he hissed, “Henry and Ida. They’ll be here any minute!”

* * *

Andrew tore at the furniture and mattress plastered against the back doors, startling Nikki and Ryker awake.

“What on earth are you doing?” Nikki cried, pulling herself up by the arm of Ryker’s chair. His eyes were open but he was silent. His lips looked far too swollen for speech.

“The old couple will be coming by,” Andrew said frantically. “We have to tell them to call the cops and send an ambulance.”

“What are you going on about?”

“Just help me, please!”

“And let that thing inside? Andy, just stop and think.”

Kate stood beside her brother. He looked up at her with glassy, uncomprehending eyes. “There’s an old couple that kayaks by the house every morning,” she told Nikki. “They may be our only chance to get outside help.”

“But if we expose the door…”

Nikki had her hands on her hips, adamant that they needed to keep the door barricaded.

“It won’t come in,” Kate said.

“Is everyone taking the piss?” Nikki said. “You’ve all lost your fucking minds, and you’re going to get us killed.”

“Just trust us,” Kate said.

She could see Nikki wavering. “We have to try so we can get Ryker to the hospital.”