She catches sight of her wrist. The heart there. Pierced black.

“I thought maybe I was like you,” she says. “Without feelings.”

He looks away, toward the darkness. “Last chance. You need to choose.”

“I used to watch you shave when I was a little girl. Do you remember? The day you killed her. You told me not to cry. You said the things I choose to put in my heart will hurt. You said to be careful what I choose. I was careful.”

“You have a choice now.”

She stares at him. She goes on as if he hasn’t spoken.

“I was so careful. Back then I only thought about what I didn’t want in my heart. You. Anything that might hurt. Anyone. I didn’t think about what I did want. Now I know.”

“You don’t know anything.”

“I do. You don’t think so. But I do.”

He watches her, saying nothing. Blue eyes serene in the firelight. Just beneath the surface lies something excruciating. Held there at bay.

“We’re different,” she says. “You and me.”

“Don’t say that.”

“You hurt people.”

“Not you. I never hurt you.”

Her laugh sounds so strange in the silence. The watching trees. It’s all right, she says to herself. You need to be calm. Be steady. Last day on Earth. “I used to dream all the time. Terrible dreams. Do you know what I learned? There is always a monster at the end of the dream.”

“You chose the path, bird. Not me. All followed to this.”

In the darkness she hears something coming. Snowmobiles.

“I didn’t before,” she says. “But I’m choosing now.”

He smiles. His mouth is tight. He shakes his head very slowly. “Even though I could have told you how all of this would end, I want you to remember that I gave you this final chance. One last flicker of hope, before the light goes out.”

“You are a killer.”

“If you have a point to make, don’t be subtle.”

Stillness. The sound of the engines is gone.

The fire pops. Hiss.

“I’m ashamed of you,” she says.

“At last, the truth.”

“The truth—” Her voice catches. “The truth that breaks my heart.”

Something moves behind her. She knows, because suddenly he cocks his head and gazes at something to her right. He stiffens and walks past her at a distance of several feet and unslings the rifle and lifts it up. She turns. Coming in the night between the trees are three men. Headlamps bobbing in the gloom. The cabin is there, in the distance. They are heading toward it.

Now.