It won’t take much to stop it, she thought. Not much at all.

There was more crashing just outside the door.

Kate opened a patch.

The door shook on its hinges as the beast bashed it with its fist.

She found a pen on the dresser.

Whump!

Another blow to the door.

Kate jabbed the pen into the center of the jelly-filled patch.

She slapped it on her arm.

Wham!

A giant crack zigzagged on the door.

She opened another patch, poked a hole, and stuck it on her chest.

A hand shot through the door, pulling the wood apart. She saw its yellow eyes first, run riot with bursting red veins.

The rush of fentanyl set her on her ass.

Her pain, her ever-present pain, began to ebb.

The creature yanked the door off, but was too weak to step into the room. It collapsed on the threshold, staring at her with bewilderment.

“I’m so sorry,” she said, not to the beast, but to the spirits of the people she loved most.

She hoped they could hear her as she closed her eyes.

* * *

Andrew couldn’t believe how much he hurt.

He’d found the canoe on the shore of the house hidden in the trees.

He’d also found the bodies of an older woman and a small child, both ripped in half and left to rot on the dock.

He’d had to step over the girl to get to the canoe. Her glazed eyes had looked up at him. If the bottom half of her body hadn’t been several feet away, he would almost have thought she was gazing at the clouds.

Unable to find the canoe paddle, he’d used the kayak paddle to get back to the cottage.

It was difficult, but he labored on.

After leaping out of the canoe the instant it touched the shore, he sprinted up to the house.

His heart nearly stopped when he saw the additional carnage.

He was too late.

“Kate!”

Buttons barked in the next room.

He saw the creature lying on its stomach, blocking the doorway to the bedroom. Andrew jumped over it.

Kate was on her side, several feet away from its outstretched hand.

Buttons ran in circles, yipping excitedly, almost mournfully.

“Kate.”

He dropped beside her, lifting her onto his lap.

She was so, so cold. Her lips had turned a light shade of blue.

He was terrified to check for a pulse.

Fingers fluttering, he pushed them against her neck. He couldn’t feel anything. He was also numb with shock and exhaustion and refused to trust his senses.

“Kate, can you hear me? Kate?”

He kissed her blue lips, crushing her against his chest.

“An…drew?”

Her eyes slowly opened. They were starting to gray, but he saw recognition in them.

“Yes, I’m here, baby,” he said.

She reached up and touched his face.

“Priest…or canoe?”

Despite the sorrow threatening to swallow him whole, Andrew smiled.