But she must have knocked herself silly when she fell, because she was a little dizzy. It wouldn’t be smart to head out too soon and fall again, really hurt herself. She’d sit there for another minute or so, see what happened to Darwin. Maybe she’d get to watch him kill the big dude.
So she sat very still, even though the ground was so cold the sensation went through her clothes like a sharp knife, even though her ass got wet, and she watched as Lorelei Helton came rushing out of the darkness, a stick raised high, and hit Darwin in the head with it. It didn’t slow him down much, but it distracted him, and suddenly Niki knew this wasn’t going to end well for Darwin. Two against one just wasn’t fair.
Then Lorelei began beating at Darwin with the stick, over and over, whap whap whap. He’d had the big man down, but he let Lorelei get to him, and he rushed at her. Niki closed her eyes in disgust. Darwin never could plan worth a damn. That left the big man free, which was so damn stupid, and then of course the fight was over and Darwin was whining in that way that got on her nerves so bad. All she could do was shake her head. She couldn’t help him, she had nothing except an empty pistol. Darwin was on his own in this, the stupid shit.
Her head felt better, the dizziness had subsided. Silently, while they were preoccupied with Darwin, she got to her feet and began easing away. The sound of renewed struggle made her stop and look again, and she saw the big man smash his elbow into Darwin’s face, saw the way Darwin just sort of went down like an empty skin sack, and she knew he was dead. She’d seen enough dead people to recognize how they flopped, as if their bones had all of a sudden turned mushy.
She never had been able to depend on the dick-head, and now he’d gone and gotten himself killed.
Carefully, as silently as possible, she worked her way out of the woods. Twice there were really loud cracks and it scared the crap out of her until she figured out what had happened. Limbs were breaking off the damn trees. All around her, tree limbs were drooping under the weight of the ice; one of them could come down on her, at any time. This shit was creepy.
When she reached the road, she was so relieved to be out of those damn woods that she forgot about the ice and tried to run. Her feet immediately went out from under her and she went down hard on her knees. The pain was excruciating. Niki ground out a few cuss words as she slowly stood. She remained bent over for a moment, rubbing her knees, until she thought she could walk again. This time she eased to the shoulder—what there was of it—where she had better traction, and continued uphill at a much slower pace.
The cold, the darkness, the keening wind, the creepy ice … all of it surrounded her, and she realized how alone she was, how horribly alone, with no one to turn to. Darwin hadn’t been much, but at least he’d been there. Now he was dead, because that big man was a murdering bastard. He was dead, she was alone, and she was outnumbered. On the up side, the Blazer belonged to her now. It wasn’t as if Darwin would be needing it again.
As she walked, Niki got more and more pissed. If it hadn’t been for that bitch Lorelei, Darwin might’ve won the fight, and instead of walking back to the house alone, she’d have Darwin beside her now. They’d get warm, do some meth to celebrate their victory, and maybe screw in Lorelei’s bed.
Ice pelted her face, and she didn’t like it. It was too fucking cold out here, and everything had gone wrong. Everything! They should’ve just robbed the grocery store this afternoon and gotten the hell out of town. Nothing had gone right from the minute she’d seen Miss Lorelei Bitch in her fancy Mercedes.
She caught a wisp of a voice on the wind and turned around to look down the long, winding driveway. Lorelei and the big guy were behind her, walking back to what they probably thought was safety. For a moment she saw a flash of light, and then it was gone. Like her, they were keeping to the side of the road and staying in the dark.
An idea came to her, and slowly she began to smile, even as a gust of stinging wind caught her full in the face. If things turned out right, when she left here she’d be driving that Mercedes instead of Darwin’s piece-of-shit old Blazer, and those two would wish they’d never tangled with her … for a little while, anyway, then they’d never wish for anything again.
“As soon as we’re around this curve, we should see the lights,” Lolly said. Gabriel didn’t know if she was encouraging him, or herself. Laboriously they plodded forward, rounded the curve, and she stopped as she searched the darkness for the beacon of the porch light that would encourage them to keep going, to reach the warmth and safety of the house.
There was nothing. The darkness was absolute. “The power’s out,” she said thinly.
“Yeah.” Gabriel urged her forward, his arm literally propelling her. He wasn’t surprised by the loss of electricity, though he wished they’d at least made it back before the lines went down. Going toward a warm, brightly lit house was more of a psychological lift than seeing nothing but darkness at the end of the road. He needed something besides his own strength to keep them going, because he was fast running out of it.
Lolly was slowing down, her steps becoming heavier and more laborious; both of them had lost enough coordination that he was concerned. The cold was sapping her strength. She was about to give out, but he couldn’t allow her to stop, not when they were so close to shelter. Shelter meant survival, and he couldn’t afford to think of anything else.
He steadied Lolly, made sure they continued to move forward, and at the same time kept an eye out for Niki, who from all he could tell was no less deadly than her friend had been. Without a gun, would she even try to take him on? Experience with meth addicts said she would. She might try to get past him, get to Lolly. Even an empty pistol could kill, if you hit someone in the vulnerable temple area with it. Lolly was protected by all the stuff she’d tied over her head, but that was no guarantee she couldn’t be hurt or killed.