The Quiet

“But you can’t die,” I heard myself say.

Maddox smiled sadly. “An hour or so ago you wanted my head on a platter. It’s interesting how quickly things change.”

“That’s true,” Lena said. “What do we have to worry about with this Traven guy?”

Maddox sighed. “He’s dangerous, like I said. He will not hesitate on anything. If he thinks you should be injured, he will do it with no problem.”

“And what about killing us?” Clay said.

“He enjoys murder,” Maddox replied, his voice tight. “It’s sick to watch him kill countless people and never flinch.”

Clay gripped my hand tightly. I saw him take Lena’s other hand. He would protect us, I knew that. But I couldn’t bare it if anything happened to him, to any of them.

“How do we stop him?” I asked.

Maddox didn’t reply. He stared around the room, looking for something. Before we could ask him anything, his phone rang. He answered it at once. When he was done, his face was pale.

“What is it?” Lena asked.

“He’s coming,” whispered Maddox, his voice strained. Then he said a little louder, “Get out of here! Go to the police.”

None of us moved.

“What are you staring at?” he hissed, standing up. “Get going!”

Lena screamed suddenly, her eyes wide.

I followed her gaze to the other side of the room, where there were two windows. One was closed tightly. But the other was opening slowly. I could see some kind of shadow come over the bottom part of the window.

Someone was coming inside.