“Maybe someone was playing a prank on you.”
“I thought that too. So I asked the cabin owner if there were any kids in the area.”
“What did she say?”
“She gave me a weird look, shook her head and walked away. I figured she knew I was on drugs. Probably thought I was hallucinating. I’m not sure I wasn’t.”
“So what did you do?”
“The next time I was in Hinton getting groceries, I hunted down a dealer in the park and bought two Vicodin tablets. To numb the weird visions, I told myself. Figured I’d be back to normal after that and wouldn’t need anything else.”
“But it didn’t work,” she guessed.
“Yeah. I kept seeing those children. Two days later, I bought a vial of heroin and a package of hypodermic needles from a kid in the park. I don’t remember much. I spent two days lying on the couch in a dazed stupor. Then I got the call that Ryan and Jane had been in a car accident. I got into my car and drove. But I didn’t get there in time.”
“I’m so sorry, Marcus. I can tell you loved them very much.”
“They were my world. Until drugs took over my life. They died because of me.”
“It wasn’t your fault,” she argued.
“Yes it was. Jane was driving out to see me, probably to bring me home.”
“Still…” She paused, searching for the right words. “It wasn’t your fault. It was an accident. An awful twist of fate.”
She heard more noises on the other end. Then a horn blared. Since when did they have horns like that in an office building? “Marcus, where are you?”
“I’m on the highway.”
She was instantly filled with hope. “You’re looking for us?”
“Yes.”
She blinked back the tears. “I thought you were at the 911 center.”
“I’m calling you from my cell phone, so just hit redial if you need to call me back.”
“Don’t you have others looking for us?”
“I’m going to be honest with you, Rebecca. We have too many rescue vehicles already in the field at other locations. When you called in, we were down to our last police car.”
“No!” she cried out, then muffled a sob. “So other than one police car, no one else is looking for us?”
“I am.” His voice was firm this time, full of resolve. “I’ll be there soon. You have to hang up now. I’ll call you in five minutes.”
“You really are a superhero,” she said with a whimper.
She disconnected the call and slipped the phone between her bra and her skin. “Colton? How are you doing back there?”
No answer.
She strained to listen and heard the familiar sounds of soft snoring. Colton was okay. It was probably better that he was sleeping. At least that way he wasn’t feeling the cold.
Speaking of cold…
She wiggled her toes in her shoes. She could barely feel them, or the cheap leather of her last Payless splurge. But she did feel something. Water on her ankles.
The interior lights flickered on and off like a strobe light. She didn’t want to think of what would happen once the lights turned off and they were plunged into complete darkness. The mere thought made her body quake.
Plucking the phone from her bra, she shone the light from it toward the floor. Murky brown water covered her ankles completely.
If she wasn’t found soon, hypothermia would set in. If it hadn’t already.
She thought about Colton. His leg was trapped, which meant his foot was sitting in freezing water too.
She shone her phone toward the back seat and angled the mirror so she could see him. He’d managed to find his hockey gear and had a sweatshirt draped across Ella. His leggings and other gear were piled on top of him, not much of a barrier to the cold.
“Oh, Colton… Ella…” she sobbed.
One of Colton’s shoulder pads rolled off him and landed on the floor.
Marcus had made her promise to call if the water rose.
She pointed the soft light from her cell phone at the windshield, but could see nothing beyond the glass. Just black oblivion.
What if we’re already underwater?
Bile rose in her throat, and she battled to keep it at bay. Her stomach clenched, then lurched. Grabbing the steering wheel for balance with her good hand, she leaned as far as she could toward the passenger seat and threw up. The smell was overwhelming, a combination of sourness and sulfur. Fear and death.
She opened her phone, saw Marcus’s phone number and hit call.
Chapter Nineteen
It had been about twenty minutes since Marcus had left Edson and the rain had finally let up. But still no sign of Rebecca’s Hyundai. He hadn’t seen any fresh tracks leading to any of the side roads. Had he already passed the area where Rebecca had been forced from the highway?
He was about to turn around when a shiver slid over his body. All the hairs on his arms stood up. The sensation made him think of the cabin in Cadomin, the one he’d stayed in before Jane and Ryan’s accident. The one with the ghostly children in the woods.
The headlights of his SUV swept over something in the middle of the road.
He slammed on the brakes. Jane?
He blinked, but the vision of his dead wife remained. She stood in the middle of the road, pointing ahead as if telling him to keep driving.
Then she vanished.
“Keep driving!” he snarled. He’d deal with Jane’s ghost later.
The phone rang.
“Everything okay, Rebecca?”
“Yeah, if you call being trapped in a car in the river ‘okay.’” There was a hint of dry humor in her voice, but worry quickly followed. “The water’s rising, Marcus.”
Shit! That was the last thing they needed. “Are you still moving?”
“Yeah, but not as much.”
His bad feeling turned rancid. Rebecca had driven off the highway, into the trees, for God knows how long. There were a few lakes in the area, and the McLeod River with all its tributaries. The second attack from the mysterious truck driver could have pushed Rebecca’s vehicle into the river.
“Are you sure you didn’t see anything before you left the highway?” he asked. “Something in the woods or along the highway, maybe? I need to figure out where you went off the road.”
“All I saw were trees. I’m not even sure I turned down an actual road. It could’ve been a damned footpath for all I know.”
Marcus gazed out the window as his SUV sped down the highway, his eyes darting from side to side. There were numerous unpaved roads and dirt trails that led into the bushes on either side. This was quad country.
“What about Colton?” he said suddenly.
“He’s sleeping.” She sounded like she was on the brink of crying.
“Maybe he saw something. You were driving, trying to see the road ahead. Maybe he saw something you missed. Ask him.”
“Colton?” she called, her voice stronger. “Wake up, honey. I have a question for you. Did you see anything when we went off the road?”
Marcus couldn’t make out Colton’s answer.
Seconds later, Rebecca came back on the line. “He says he saw pigs. Flying pigs.” She let out a sob. “Oh God, he’s hallucinating. I think Colton’s going into shock. I think you’re too late.”
“Don’t say that. I’m still here, still looking.”
“If you’re too late, I want you to promise me something.”
“Hey,” he said, trying to sound jovial, “we’re not doing this right now. None of this kind of talk.”
“Marcus, listen to me. Please.” He heard her inhale. “If we don’t make it, I’d hate it if you blamed yourself. You’ve done everything anyone could ask for and more. Fate, remember?”