I pull back my foot and give my grandfather a solid kick to the kidneys. He lets out a very satisfying oof and slumps back to the floor as I run for the front entrance.
Kiernan is just ahead, still carrying Martha. Although he seemed okay when we jumped in, his limp is back, probably because the leg is used to carrying Kiernan’s weight, not an additional hundred pounds. The fact that Martha is fighting him clearly isn’t helping his progress, so I catch up with them quickly, just a few yards beyond the tree where I parked my bike on our first trip to God’s Hollow.
“Why didn’t you wait?” I say, yanking off my mask.
Kiernan pulls up his mask as well, his face conflicted. “Sorry, but you weren’t standing where I was, Kate. I could see . . . I wasn’t gonna let him touch her like that.”
Martha stops trying to get away when she hears him speak, and then she looks over at me. “You’re . . . before. Y’all were here . . . before.” Her eyes are still wide, but a bit of reason seems to be coming back into them.
“Yes,” I say. “Martha, we need to get you out of here, before Saul comes to. Can you walk on your own? Maybe even run a little?”
She nods, and Kiernan slides her to the ground.
“Maybe we should all leave?”
Kiernan shakes his head. “No. We need the sample. And I don’t want to come back.” He pats his pocket. “I’ve got my pistol. I’ll keep an eye on the church. If I see him, I’ll jump straight to the rendezvous point. You just get Martha there.”
I tiptoe up to kiss him on the cheek. “Be careful.”
“I’m always careful.” He tips the mask back down, then hands me the pipe wrench and hurries around the back of the church toward the well.
I grab Martha’s arm. “Come on, sweetie. We need to hurry.”
“Where’s he going?”
“He needs to get a sample of . . . the poison. We need to find out what Saul used—”
Her lower lip begins to quiver, so I just tug her arm again. “Let’s just go, okay? He’ll be right behind us.”
We run down the path toward the bridge and have just passed the point where Martha and the twins were playing catch when she stops suddenly. “Miss Kate, what about the other fella?”
My heart stops in midjog, and the wrench falls to the ground. “What other fellow?”
“The one he’s travelin’ with. Said his name was Grant.”
Oh my God. I glance back over my shoulder at the village and then toss the mask to her. “Get across the bridge, Martha. Wait in the woods on the other side, okay? Hurry!”
I take off at top speed for the village, but I’ve barely started when the front door of the church opens. I dive into the tall grass on the side of the road and peer through the weeds as Saul staggers out, his hand pressed to the back of his head. He looks to the right first, and I guess he sees Kiernan, because he doesn’t even bother to look my way. He shambles off toward the well, and as soon as he rounds the corner of the church, I pull my gun out and fire a warning shot into the air, just in case Kiernan doesn’t see him coming.
Then I run, scanning the village ahead for any sort of movement. About the time I veer over to cut through the field, there’s a gunshot. It doesn’t sound like the Colts we’ve been firing, so it must be Saul. Or maybe Grant. I pull to a halt at the corner of the chapel, peeking around the edge before I approach.
Saul leans against the side of the chicken coop, one hand against the back of his head. The chickens are all silent, red and white piles in the deep brown muck, most of them only a few feet from the water trough.
At first, I don’t see any sign of Kiernan. Then I notice the blue glow of his CHRONOS key behind the well.
And so does Saul.
He hurries toward the well, his gun raised, as I dart around the corner of the church, ducking behind the chicken coop for cover. I point my gun at Saul’s back, hoping Kiernan will disappear before I have to shoot.
Saul swings out to the left a few steps, pivoting the gun toward the well. The glow is still there, which means Kiernan is still there, and I have maybe a second left before Saul reaches him.
I lift the gun, aim, and fire.
The shot echoes strangely. Small fragments fly into the air as a bullet hits the upper edge of the well. Then I see Saul on his knees, clutching his right arm, his gun a few feet away.
It wasn’t my bullet that hit the well. That was the second shot, from Saul’s gun.
And the blue glow is gone.
I crouch behind the chicken coop and tug my key out. My hands are shaking as I pull up the coordinates for the spot across the bridge where we stashed the bikes. I set the time back four minutes, hoping Martha and Kiernan will both be there when I open my eyes.
They aren’t, but I hear feet crossing the bridge. A shot rings out in the distance as I step out to look down the road—I think it’s the warning shot I fired. Then I hear a noise behind me, and Kiernan’s arms encircle me. He squeezes me to his chest, pressing his lips against my hair.
“Where is Martha?” I ask.
“She’s coming—”
Just then Martha bursts through the underbrush and sees us. She gasps and takes a step backward too quickly, landing on her bottom.
She looks back toward the village. “How did you . . .”
I kneel down beside her. “Martha, we’ll explain soon, but two quick questions, okay?”
She closes her mouth and nods.
“How did . . . those men get here? Did they drive?”
“Men?” Kiernan asks.
“Later.” I look back at Martha, eyebrows raised. “They had a car?”
“An old red truck. Told Sister they was studyin’ for the ministry up in Athens and wondered—”
I shake my head. “Later, okay? Where’s the truck?”
“Down by Earl’s place.” She turns her head back toward town as two shots fire in rapid succession, but she continues. “That’s where they was sleepin’ before . . .”
Kiernan and I both yank out our keys.
“I’m going,” I say. “You can’t risk another jump.”
“I know that. But I’m the one who set the stable point outside of Earl’s shop. It’s not on your key.” He transfers the coordinates to my medallion, and then I blink back to six minutes ago, when all four of us were in the church.
I don’t see the truck at first, but then I spot it across the road. A collection of tools hangs on the shop walls. I scan quickly for something that will pierce tires, settling on a large pair of shears. I dart across the road and plunge the shears hard into one of the rear tires. Moving to the front of the truck, I raise my arm to puncture a second tire but then realize it’s unlikely Saul will have two spares. I need to slow him down, but he still has to get back to his stable point to return home. So I drop the shears and jump back to Kiernan and Martha.
She looks like she’s going to throw up.
“Let her touch the medallion,” I say.
“Why?”
“I have no idea why, but it seems to help.”
He still looks skeptical but grabs her hand and presses it to the CHRONOS key.
“I’ve probably only bought us a few minutes. We need to get her out of here.”
Kiernan glances at Martha, whose color does seem to be improving a bit from the greenish shade she was a moment before. “Martha,” he says. “Have you ever ridden a bicycle?”
She shakes her head. “I can ride a horse. But I’m guessing they’re all dead now, like Bull.”
He looks back at me. “You said men. Who’s with him?”
“She said Grant. I never saw him. Martha, when did you last see the other man?”
“I ain’t seen him since Saul shut me in the cellar.”
“How long were you there?” Kiernan asks.
“I don’t know. I was down there with Bull part of yesterday and all night. He brought us some bread and water this mornin’, and then Bull started gettin’ sick, so Saul let him out, but he made me stay down there till he come and got me. I still didn’ see the other guy. Maybe he got sick, too.”