There was a moment of pure shock as Nolan and Jay stared at Caden with wide eyes and mouths hanging open, unable to believe what had just happened. But it was just a single moment, then Nolan ran through the swinging door and down the hall, calling Quentin's name. Jay could see the empty wheelchair just inside the dining room before the door stopped swinging. When the shock passed, he ran over to Caden and punched him in the face, knocking the other boy to the tile floor.

"You bastard! You sick little bastard!" Jay screamed, punching Caden again. "Why did you do that?!"

Caden shoved him away with surprising strength and stood up. He smiled, and it was the most horrifying thing Jay had ever seen. "It was gonna kill one of us. Should I have let it be me?"

Jay was taken aback. "I... I don't know! But I know that was wrong! He was just fourteen! He was in a wheelchair for God's sake! He had the least chance of fighting back and you knew it!"

Caden was eerily calm as he straightened his hoodie. "Yeah, and now that thing is gone. We're all safe for another night. You can hate me all you want, but I'm just being honest. I don't intend to die here."

Jay looked to Diego, hoping for some support, but Diego still seemed to be stunned. He was rooted to the spot, his hands gripping the edge of the counter and his eyes wide and vacant. Nolan returned to the kitchen, snow in his hair and his face red. He was breathing heavily. "I couldn't catch up to them," he said. "Whatever that was, it was moving faster than anything I've ever seen. It headed into the woods."

For a few seconds, Nolan stood leaning against the wall, catching his breath. Then, suddenly, he was gripping Caden by the collar and screaming, "Why?! Why the hell did you do that? You killed him!"

Caden looked him in the eyes. "I did it to save myself, and I'm not ashamed of it. If it came right down to it, and you knew that thing was gonna kill you or Quentin, you'd do the same thing, you damn hypocrite."

Nolan glared right back at him. "No, I wouldn't."

Caden stared at Nolan as if judging the truth of his words, then smiled that same unnerving smile and said, "Well, aren't you noble. Sorry, but that's not the kind of person I am. I'm just a regular filthy human being."

Nolan loosened his grip and Caden pushed him away. Jay stood in front of Diego and gripped his shoulders. "Hey, snap out of it!"

Diego blinked, looked at Jay, then pulled away from the counter and went to the window.

Jay looked at Nolan, who was looking at the floor. "Are you okay?" Jay asked.

Nolan lifted his eyes. They were glassy and red. "We should tell the girls."

Jay nodded, but telling the girls about Quentin was the last thing he felt like doing. He hadn't had the chance to deal with what had happened, what he'd just witnesed, so how was he supposed to explain it to anyone else? But they needed to know, and he knew Nolan couldn't deal with this alone, so the two of them walked together into the living room.

Trinity was on watch, standing near the fire. She had the fire poker in her hands and she looked up sharply when the boys entered the room. "You guys were in the kitchen, right? I thought I heard someone in there but I figured you guys were getting a snack or something."

"Yeah, that's how it started," Jay said.

At that point Trinity must have noticed the looks on their faces because she sat down on the nearest couch and nudged Mickie, who was sleeping there. Within minutes, all of the girls were awake and waiting to hear what had happened.

Nolan explained everything, his voice becoming more strained with every word. Trinity sat down beside him and took one of his hands in her own. Jay noticed that tears were leaking from her eyes. Ginger was crying in Kyrie's arms. Mickie was wiping her eyes, and Kat was curled up on the couch, hugging her knees and staring at the fire with a blank expression.

When finished, Nolan sank into the couch like a deflated balloon. Mickie started toward the kitchen, saying, "Where's Caden?"

"It's no use talking to him," Nolan said. "I think there's something wrong with him, with his mind. I looked straight in his eyes, and there wasn't an ounce of remorse. I think he was actually proud of himself. He's disturbed or broken or something."

Jay resisted the urge to point out that he'd suspected something was off with Caden from the very beginning. What good did being right do now? Instead, he asked, "What do we do now? Whatever that thing was, it was heading right for all five of us. I guess being in a group didn't scare it off."

"I think we should all stay together at night," Trinity said. "No more splitting into boys and girls. Safety in numbers, you know? And everyone be wary of Caden."

"Also," Mickie said, returning to the group, "I think it would be worth our time to go back to the fence tomorrow if the weather allows it. If we walk along it, we might find an opening of some kind."

Nolan nodded and several people voiced agreement. Jay moved to the window and and watched the faintly falling snow. The sky looked mostly clear, and the light from the moon, almost full, illuminated the yard. The snow glittered like diamond sand. "Looks like it'll be clear by morning," he said.

Jay nodded off about an hour before sunrise, so he woke up feeling exhausted and, upon remembering the events of the night before, sick to his stomach as well. But they had to go back into the woods. They had to find a way out of there. He glanced around at the others, some napping but most of them lying awake or sitting up. He wondered which one of them would disappear into the darkness again, and it made him feel even sicker.

It took around two hours for everyone to get up, have breakfast, which Nolan insisted on, and dress in their warmest clothes. Kat and Kyrie both remained on the couch in their jeans and sweaters. "Aren't you coming?" Jay asked them.

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Kat looked up from the book in her lap. "No thanks. I doubt you'll find a way out, and if you do, you can send help."

Trinity looked at Kyrie. "What about you?"

Kyrie wouldn't meet anyone's eyes. "I just don't think there's any point," she muttered.

"Alright," Nolan said, opening the door, "we'll send help if we find a way out."

Outside, it was as cold as ever, but the snow was so light that they could barely see the flakes falling. They walked as a group around the building until they found the now familiar large footprints in the snow along with red spots leading into the woods. Mickie glanced at the blood and then shot Caden a look, but he didn't seem to be bothered by it in the least. They followed the trail, and when they reached the interior of the forest, Nolan stopped and faced them.

"Everyone stay together. This is really important. Keep your hands in your pockets as much as possible to prevent exposure. If anyone starts to feel weak or tired or too cold, let someone know."

They moved through the trees, following the footprints, without talking. Just as before, the footprints stopped in the middle of the woods, and just as before, Jay and the others kept going in the direction the prints had been leading. When they reached the metal fence, those who hadn't seen it before looked at it in awe.

"This thing is huge," Diego said, looking straight up.

Ginger reached out a hand to touch it, but Jay stopped her, saying, "Be careful, the metal's so cold, it feels like it's burning your skin if you touch it." She withdrew her hand quickly and shoved it back in her coat pocket.

"Let's see how big this place is," Nolan said, beginning to move east along the fence. Everyone else followed.

After walking for thirty minutes, Ginger sneezed and wiped her nose. "It's too cold out here. Maybe we should go back."

Trinity wrapped an arm around her. "Here, this might keep us both warmer," she said.

They pressed on, and eventually reached a gate with tall metal bars the color of charcoal and a huge padlock visible on the outside. Nolan shoved the gate hard, but it didn't budge at all. Mickie shook the metal bars and screamed, "Hey! Can anyone hear us? We need help!"

Jay joined her at the gate, yelling, "Let us out! There's a killer in here with us!"

After several minutes of screaming and no response, the two of them walked dejectedly away from the gate.

Diego crossed his arms over his chest. "You think they're gonna let us out just because we ask?"

"Actually, I was hoping a passerby might hear us and come investigate," Mickie said.

Trinity reached through the bars and checked the padlock. "Too bad we don't have anything to cut this with."

"Could we dig underneath the gate and escape that way?" Ginger asked.

Nolan smiled at her. "That's a good idea, but right now the ground is frozen, so it would be too hard even if we had a shovel."

"So do we keep following the fence or what?" Jay asked.

Trinity nodded. "We might as well see how far it goes. Is everyone okay with that?"

There were reluctant nods all around, then the group continued moving. They trudged through the snow for another half hour before Nolan, in front, stopped suddenly. The others peered around him and saw what had made him freeze.

The fence itself was connected to an enormous, steep cliff that jutted out from a tall hillside. And nestled inside that cliff was a rather large cave opening. Jay heard small gasps behind him as they made their way toward the cave and then stood in a half-circle, facing it.

Diego tried to look inside, but kept his distance. "What is this?"

Trinity was squatting down just outside the mouth of the cave, looking at the snow. "I'm guessing this is where our monster lives. Look," she said, pointing at the ground, "more footprints."

Sure enough, the distinctive large footprints were leading into the cave. Jay shivered, realizing they were dangerously close to the creature he'd seen last night. Nolan began walking toward the cave entrance. "I'll check it out," he said.

Before any of them could stop him, a voice rang out behind them, yelling, "Don't go in the cave!"

They all whirled around to find the source of the voice. Jay quickly spotted a woman in the distance, standing among the trees. She wore a long brown coat and had dark hair that whipped around her in the wind.

"Who the hell is that?" Diego demanded.

"Someone who has answers!" Trinity said, taking off in a run toward the woman, who disappeared into the woods.

The others followed Trinity, chasing after the mysterious woman. They ran for several minutes, following the set of light footprints as they zigzagged through the trees. The woman was obviously trying to lose them. Jay was beginning to feel out of breath, and Ginger was slowing down, so he stopped running and walked beside the younger girl. In front of him, the others began to slow to a jog, then stop altogether.

"The trail ends here," Trinity said. Indeed, the footprints seemed to have stopped all at once, just like the larger ones they'd followed earlier.

"What is going on in this forest?" Jay asked, catching his breath. He definitely wasn't used to running very much.

Diego was panting beside him. "I just wanna know who that was. If she's been trapped in here with us all this time, why haven't we seen her before?"

"She might be the one who trapped us here in the first place," Mickie said.

Trinity's eyes lit up. "In that case she might have a key to the padlock!"

"Yeah, but she's gone now," Jay told her, motioning to the now dead trail.

"We might run into her again," Nolan said.

Mickie looked up at the sky. "Clouds are rolling in. It'll be dark soon. We should probably head back to the camp."

Ginger began crying then, burying her face in her hands and shaking as she choked out, "I can't! I can't take another night there! I don't want to end up like Quentin!"

Jay stopped and put an arm around her. "We're all gonna stay together tonight," he said, "so don't worry. We'll kill whoever or whatever that was and then we'll find that woman and make her let us out."

Ginger wiped away the tears on her face. "I know everyone thinks I'm acting like a baby. But I'm scared! I've never been away from my grandparents before. Not even for one night! And now we're all gonna die out here!"

Trinity walked over and firmly grabbed Ginger's shoulder. "We're not all gonna die! We'll make it out of here and go home, I promise."

Ginger sniffled and nodded, and the group headed back to the camp.

When they arrived, Kat and Kyrie were still on the couch, and Jay wondered if they'd ever moved. Nolan told them about the gate, the cave, and the woman in the woods. Kyrie listened with great interest but Kat seemed to care little about the new information. When finished, Nolan asked them if they'd seen or heard anything.

"Nope," Kat said, still flipping through an old book, "but I did find something useful." Without looking away from the book, she reached behind a throw pillow and pulled out a flashlight.

"Where did you find that?" Nolan asked.

"In one of the kitchen cabinets."

"That could be really handy tonight," Jay said, sitting down near Kat.

Trinity sat down with them and said, "Can I?" before taking the flashlight from Kat's hand. She checked that it worked and then handed it back to Kat. "This could be a big help. We're definitely at a disadvantage at night because the lights go out and we can't see very clearly."

Kat pushed the flashlight back into Trinity's hands. "You hold onto it," she said. "You'll get more use out of it than I will."

"Are you sure?" Trinity asked.

"Yep."

Trinity stood up and slipped the flashlight into the pocket of her jacket.

That evening, everyone had dinner and then gathered in the living room when the sun went down. They huddled together near the fire, holding fire pokers, knives, and other makeshift weapons as the lights went out. Ginger planted herself between Nolan and Kyrie, and even in the dim,flickering light of the fire, Jay could see that she was trembling.

Outside, the wind blew wildly as the snow picked up again, and something began to howl. As they sat shivering from fear rather than cold, the sharp sound of glass breaking came from the hallway that led to the bedrooms, and much colder air drifted in. People began to panic and scream, and amidst the chaos, Jay could hear Caden laughing hysterically.