Chapter 6 - The Fall at Miller's Creek
The car spun 180 degrees, the world outside dissolving into a dizzying whirl of pine boughs, muddy earth, and glaring truck lights. Margaret slammed on the brakes, but the wet tires found no purchase on the mossy verge. With a sickening crunch of metal, the Volvo’s rear end slammed into a sturdy oak tree hanging over the lip of the ravine, jolting them to a dead stop.
The engine sputtered and died, smoke curling from under the crumpled hood.
"Everyone out! Now!" Margaret commanded, coughing as the cabin filled with the acrid smell of burnt rubber and deploying airbags. The rear driver-side door was jammed, but Chloe managed to kick open the passenger side, tumbling out onto the wet forest floor and pulling Lily with her.
A hundred yards up the trail, David's pickup came to a sliding halt. He stepped out slowly, leaving the headlights on, casting long, menacing shadows across the clearing. In his right hand, the gun was down by his side, but his steps were measured, confident. He knew they were cornered.
"Nowhere left to run, Mom," David called out, his voice unnervingly steady over the roar of the rushing creek forty feet below. "The car is dead. The woods are freezing. Give me the drive, and I’ll put you all in the truck. We can still figure this out."
"You killed Julian!" Margaret screamed into the darkness, standing tall between her son and the shivering figures of Chloe and Lily clinging to the roots of the oak tree. "You watched your own blood die for paper!"
David stopped ten paces away. The glare of his headlights illuminated the bloody gash on his forehead where the gravel had struck him, giving him a demonic, fractured appearance. "Julian was reckless! He thought he could play god with people who butcher men for pocket change. I didn't kill him, Mom. I just didn't die with him. There's a difference."
He raised the weapon, pointing it directly at Margaret's heart. "Give me the tape, Lily. Come to Daddy."
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Lily didn't move. She clutched the wrapped parcel to her chest, her hazel eyes wide with pure betrayal. "You promised you wouldn't hurt Mommy," she whispered.
David took one step forward. But before he could speak, a deafening crack of thunder shook the ground—not from the sky, but from the crumbling embankment beneath Margaret's feet. The earth gave way, and Chloe screamed as the roots snapped.
