They had opened their bodies up to each other but that was only part of it. Maybe it was corny but he felt it was time for them to open up their hearts as well. Way past time. You gotta for that, Jack thought, If you really want making love to mean something, if you really want it to be making love rather than just screwing. He felt really close to Marcie now and he wanted to feel closer. They had to talk about it. Life was too short.

Something dripped down onto his forehead.

'What the hell?' he thought, 'Don't tell me the damn roof looks'. But Neddie's mattress was directly above him, not the roof. He wiped his forehead and squinted at his fingers in the light from the flickering candle. His fingers were streaked with red.

"What the—"

Something moved beneath him and before he had time to react, an arm flashed out from underneath the bed and he felt a strong hand clamp down on him. Powerful fingers pressed his head against the pillow, pinning him down and even as he gasped and jerked, startled, something pricked the back of his head. Something that came up from beneath the bed, pushing through the mattress.

Pain suddenly shocked through him as the razor sharp hunting arrow ripped through his throat. The hand pushing it through the mattress, twisting the aluminum shaft, forcing it up to tear through the soft flesh beneath the Adam's apple. He opened his mouth to scream, but only gagging sounds came from his ruined throat as the razor headed arrow impaled him through the neck, flooding his mouth with blood from his severed arteries, choking him. He thrashed against the powerful grip but it was too late. His failing vision saw the triangular tip of the arrow come bursting through his neck. Visible, now thrusting up just below his chin as blood came plummeting out in a fountain. And then there was time only for a few fragmented fleeting thoughts. The realization that he was dying, already dead, he agonized, not knowing who or why and one last searing flash of pain. A whiteness bursting against his eyes so bright, so incredibly painfully bright.

Chapter 5

Chapter 5