Chapter 10 - Beneath the Foundation
Before Cole could reach the cellar door, a deafening crash echoed from the back pantry. A heavy glass jar of preserved peaches shattered against the floorboards, followed by the scramble of small feet. Ruth burst from the pantry, clutching the screaming infant against her chest, running straight for the back screen door.
"Get her!" Vance roared, lunging forward.
Sarah threw herself into Vance’s path, her arms wrapping around the sheriff’s heavy canvas jacket, dragging him sideways into the kitchen table. Plates and tin mugs clattered to the floor as Vance cursed, his heavy elbow catching Sarah across the temple, sending her crashing against the cast-iron stove. White-hot pain flared behind her eyes, the room spinning into blackness for a terrifying second.
Cole bypassed the scramble, his long legs crossing the kitchen in three strides. He caught Ruth by the collar of her oversized flannel shirt just as she hit the back door latch, lifting her off her feet. The girl shrieked, twisting like a wild animal, sinking her teeth deep into Cole’s wrist.
The deputy yelled in pain, dropping the shotgun onto the wet floor as he instinctively shook his arm to dislodge her. The baby slipped from Ruth’s grip, falling toward the floorboards. Sarah, blinking through the haze of blood running down her own temple, lunged across the linoleum, catching the wrapped infant inches before he hit the splintered pine.
At that exact moment, the oak cellar door exploded outward.
Thomas charged through the splintered wood, wielding an old iron tire iron he had retrieved from the dark depths of the foundation. He struck Cole across the shoulder, sending the deputy sprawling into the pantry shelves, burying him beneath wooden crates and shattered glass jars.
Vance drew his service weapon, his eyes bloodshot, aiming directly at Thomas’s chest. "You should have stayed dead, Miller!"
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Thomas didn't hesitate. He swung the tire iron again, smashing the bulb of the kerosene lamp hanging from the ceiling. A sheet of yellow fire poured across the wooden floorboards between them, creating a raging wall of smoke and flame.
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