Backwards Into Hell

Part Three: Everybody Dies

Jake's Diary

Sunday 31st October

I couldn't leave before I knew.

Lottie.

Why was she here? She appeared perfectly amiable with a distinct, frustrating lack of secrets. Regardless, I pounded up to her room, determined to fish out whatever was under the surface.

I'd deal with her first, I decided, and then David, but the smoke rose so quickly there was hardly time. I remembered something Dad had told me (he was a firefighter, and, ironically, it had been fire that killed him).

It isn't the flames that get you. It's the smoke.

I reached her door and, for no apparent reason, knocked. Wet rags were stuffed along the bottom. Either David had already been here, or she'd smelt the burning herself.

Lottie wasn't going to answer.

That was no issue.

I took the screwdriver, not bothering with the master key, and drilled through the lock. The door swung open a tad but was blocked by the rag. I shoved it hard.

Lottie, who had a suitcase open on her bed, cowered in the far corner. She looked like a hamster, shaking with her hands to her mouth. I suppressed a chuckle as smoke ran inside. She didn't have long.

'Hello Lottie,' I said, playing with her name and crouching before her. She flinched, not meeting my eyes, and gave a little squeal. 'Before this is all over, I wanted to ask you something.'

Her lip quivered. Was she trying to speak?

'Why are you here, Lottie?' I sat back on the floor and stretched my legs. Casual. 'Everyone else, they've done something. They were terrible people, to put it bluntly. But you...' I finally caught her eyes. 'What did you do?'

Her voice had been captured by terror. It was fun, almost, watching it, but I found myself impatient.

She gasped. 'Noth... nothing.'

'Oh, come on.' The grin was still clear on my face. 'There's something, isn't there? A sordid little secret? You can tell me.'

The room was so smoky it was hard to see. Lottie coughed, eyes sleepy.

'I... I swear...'

That wouldn't do.

I rushed forward, putting my hand to her throat and pinning her against the wall.

'Tell me,' I commanded.

I tried to listen to her mind but she was quiet. In fact, most people had been lately. I was starting to care less and less about what they thought.

'Tell me!'

It was no use. I squeezed harder, tightening until Lottie made a final, terrible gurgle and her eyes shut for good. It had been too much.

I'd never know.

I stood up, crying with frustration and kicked the bed. Her chest still rose up and down, but she would be gone soon, and with her went her secrets.

I'd never know.

I growled, gave a final blow to her stomach for good measure and left her to rot.

After that I paced across the hall for a final chat with David and noted he'd left Lottie to die there alone. Coward.

I didn't knock this time. My entire body was burning with the need for a good ending—a fitting one. Neat, and with a bow tied around it.

The door flew off its hinges with the lightest tap from my foot, revealing David collapsed in the corner of his room. He was in a similar position to Lottie, eyes already closed.

'No!' I screamed, shaking him as hard as I could. 'Wake up!'

His head bounded from shoulder to shoulder and, by some kind of sick miracle, his eyes fluttered open, and David, strong brave David, smiled.

'What?' He murmured weakly. 'Not going to plan?'

What did he mean? He couldn't know about my need for a poetic end. He couldn't.

My mind ran through the events of the last hour. I'd done nothing wrong. They were all going to die: Lottie, him and... Caleb.

Where was Caleb?

I dropped David, and my eyes searched the room. He wasn't there.

'Where is he?' I shook David again, but he was already gone, eyes welded shut.

Shit.

I stood in the smoky room and thought. Where would the kid have gone? Not far, he could barely walk, but if David wanted him safe, he'd be somewhere outside The Lodge. I had to find him.

That's when I spotted the window—it was wide open and the curtains blew through the room. I raced to it. Metres below us was a trail of bedsheets. They'd become untied as Caleb had tottered away, leaving a snowy-white chain. If I followed it, I'd find him.

I raced downstairs as the steps splintered and burned. No matter. Some gave way and I picked up a few spiky splinters before I reached the lobby. The front doors were still intact, so I rushed to the kitchen and as I passed through the lobby door, a beam, huge, thick, and burning, groaned and fell from the roof.

It crashed behind me, sending shockwaves through The Lodge, which—and if you've never seen a building on the verge of collapse, dear reader, you may not believe me—began to sway. The dining room distorted into a bright rhombus, and I wasted no time reaching the kitchen and kicking the back door open.

The fresh air hit me like a shot of adrenaline. I breathed deep in the cooling rain and listened as a siren sounded in the distance.

What was that?

Didn't matter.

Caleb wasn't out the back. I followed the bedsheet trail before deciding he must be hiding in the treeline. When I reached the forest, I searched for as long as I could, but in my heart I knew he was gone.

I punched a tree, and it split against my burning hand.

I'd failed.

As blue lights danced over the horizon, I heard something.

A faint, baby-like sob.