“Have you noticed how Buttons doesn’t give a fig about your monster?” Nikki said. She crossed her right leg over her left, the caked-on blood crackling. “It’s because he’s known all along that beast is you.”

“I can’t believe that,” Kate said.

Had Andrew and Nikki utterly lost their minds? It was very plausible, considering what they’d been through.

“It’s not up for debate,” Nikki said. “I bet your friend is still out there. I’m sure it would be happy to see you.” She got up from the chair, knocking it backward.

“Nikki, don’t!” Andrew said.

She ran to the back door and ripped the blanket down.

Kate shrieked, backpedaling in the bed to get as far away as possible.

The creature’s sick eyes grew wide when it saw her.

“Get the gun, Andrew!” she shouted.

Instead of scrambling for the rifle, Andrew laid his arm over her chest. Her destroyed shoulder brushed against his arm and she saw stars.

“Kate, it’s not going to come in,” he said, his tone not quite matching the words. It was plain to her that he was nervous he could be wrong. Oh, how she wanted him to be wrong.

“Then kill it!”

“I can’t, Kate. I can’t.”

Nikki stepped away from the door. “Take a look at its shoulder, Katy.”

She had turned away, unable to face the grisly vision in the doorway. It was beyond horrible in the light of day. Monsters were only for the night. They were never supposed to walk during the daytime.

Monsters aren’t supposed to be real no matter what time of day, she reminded herself.

“Katy, I said look!”

She did.

The creature’s left shoulder was in the shape of a U, the impression of the axe handle impossible to miss. She looked at her own matching indentation on her left shoulder. The pain suddenly seemed worse than ever.

Why wasn’t it breaking through the glass? Why was it staring at them like that?

“You see?” Nikki said. “Twinsies.” A cruel smile curled her lips.

The gore-covered woman had endured what no person should ever suffer, and there was no coming back.

“What the hell is the matter with you?” Andrew said, getting up and retrieving the blanket. He tried to put it back over the door, but Nikki just wrenched it back down.

“I want her to see.”

“Why? Aren’t things bad enough?”

She slowly shook her head. “I don’t think Katy’s fully convinced.”

Kate barely had time to scream when Nikki lunged onto the mattress. Her sister-in-law grabbed the middle finger of Kate’s hand that was in the sling and bent it back until it made the sound of a walnut cracking.

Kate wailed in pain, her body gone painfully stiff, as if she’d just grabbed a live wire. Andrew grabbed Nikki and flung her across the room.