Chapter 3 - The Neighborhood Trap
I stared at the needle in Mrs. Gable's hand, my mind struggling to process this new nightmare.
The sweet old woman who used to bake cookies for my kids was slowly advancing toward me.
"Just hold still, it will only burn for a moment," she coaxed, her voice chillingly calm.
I pushed Ethan and Lily behind the living room sofa to protect them.
I grabbed a heavy crystal vase from her entryway table and held it like a club.
"Stay back, or I swear I will hurt you," I warned, my voice shaking with rage.
She lunged forward with surprising speed for a woman her age.
I sidestepped her attack and swung the heavy vase into her shoulder.
She cried out and dropped the syringe, which shattered onto the hardwood floor.
"Run to the back door!" I shouted to my children.
We scrambled through her immaculate kitchen, slipping on the polished tile.
I unlatched the sliding glass door and pushed the kids out into her muddy backyard.
The rain was falling harder now, masking the sound of our frantic footsteps.
We hopped over her low wooden fence and entered the dense woods that bordered our neighborhood.
"Daddy, I can't run anymore," Lily cried, her small legs trembling with exhaustion.
I scooped her up into my arms and grabbed Ethan by his jacket.
We pushed through the wet branches and thorny bushes, moving deeper into the darkness.
We needed a place to hide and regroup before they organized a search party.
Thunder cracked loudly overhead, briefly illuminating the forest floor.
In the flash of lightning, I saw an old, abandoned hunting cabin hidden among the tall pine trees.
It was a dilapidated wooden structure that teenagers used to party in years ago.
I kicked the rotting door open and rushed my kids inside, out of the freezing rain.
The cabin smelled of damp wood and decaying leaves, but it was dry.
I set Lily down on a dusty mattress in the corner and wrapped my dry jacket around her.
"Are we going to die, Dad?" Ethan asked, his voice cracking with pure terror.
"I will never let anything happen to you," I promised, pulling him into a tight hug.
I pulled out my cell phone, praying I had a signal out here in the woods.
I had one single bar of service.
I dialed 911 and pressed the phone against my wet ear.
A dispatcher answered immediately, her voice calm and professional.
"911 emergency, what is your location?" she asked.
I quickly explained the situation, begging for them to send police to the woods behind the Oak Creek subdivision.
"We have officers on the way, sir, please stay on the line," the dispatcher instructed.
I breathed a heavy sigh of relief, thinking the nightmare was finally ending.
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Then, a familiar, cruel laugh echoed through the phone speaker.
"Did you really think I wouldn't clone your phone, Marcus?" David's voice mocked through the receiver.
