The sound of a gunshot splits the night. It strikes terror through you...

...but the sound of a body falling heavily to the ground scares you more.

You whirl around to see Ivy lying on her front on the dirt. A black spot has appeared between her shoulder blades. In the light of the merciless moon, it slowly grows.

One step back is all you manage before Wes's sharp voice interrupts you: "Stop, or this one's goin' in your head!"

He's striding toward you, his boots crunching in the gravel, and the gun he holds gleams in the starlight, leveled directly at you. You slowly raise your hands, knowing that if you run again, you'll end up like Ivy.

The shock of her sudden end is too much for you to properly grasp. You are distantly aware that a normal person would scream, would cry, but you cannot seem to access this side of your emotions.

Wes stops a few feet from you. He cocks his head, giving you that handsome devil's smile. "That was messier than I like. You gonna try to run on me again, darlin'?"

You slowly shake your head.

"I'm glad. Now...You know where you're supposed to be," Wes says in a quiet, patient tone.

Glancing back toward the barn, you swallow. "Wes—"

His sharp exhalation of impatience is enough to convince you that reasoning with him is impossible, at least right now. Your choices are to obey him or to meet an untimely end, and there's still enough hope and fight left in you to see a possible escape if you buy yourself some time.

You turn away from him and head back into the barn, back toward the stall in which you woke up, your legs trembling beneath you.

It's difficult not to cry when you pass back through that rickety gate.

"On your knees," Wes says.

You lower yourself slowly down to your knees on the weathered floorboards.

Wes keeps the gun trained on you with one hand as he reaches into his back pocket. He produces another length of that cord. "I'm gonna get you settled in again," he says in that same soft, patient, dangerous tone. "And just a little reminder, Kendall: move, and I'll put a bullet in your head."

Tears blur your vision, but it doesn't matter; it's hard to see anything in the gloom, anyway. You lower your head and stay still as he kneels beside you. Working with the gun still held loosely in his hand, he deftly ties a noose in one end of the rope. He loops this around both of your wrists. With one jerk of his arm, he cinches your wrists together, and you gasp, pulled slightly toward him by the force of his tug.

Now that you're partially secure, he sets the gun on his other side, just out of your reach, and quickly loops the trailing end of your lead around a thick, sturdy beam forming part of the wall of the stall. This positions your wrists slightly above your head. You don't look as he continues his work, tying you very securely to the beam.

"There," he says with a note of pleasure in his voice. The gun is back in his hand when you look at him. "Comfortable?"

You don't reply.

"Kendall." There's a cruel undercurrent in his words. He reaches out with the barrel of the gun and gently lifts the training end of the noose which has hung around your neck since you awoke in this place. You shiver. He says, "I asked you a question."

You can't keep the bite from your voice when you reply, "Yes. I'm very comfortable, Wes. Thank you." You wonder if he can hear that you're verge of tears.

"Good. Now, I'm gonna go see to the lady out front. You just take you a little sleep, Kendall. It's been a long day."

He stands up. You hear him uncock the gun, and then he slides it into his waist band and walks out of the stall, swinging the door shut behind him. His footsteps recede. The barn door creaks closed...The chain rattles...

...And you're alone.

Some things in this game of life are out of our control, Kendall. It's devastating, but it's true.

This is one of those moments. Everything you have done thus far to shape your path has brought you to to this crossroads, and now, trapped in this barn, alone, you have no choices...no control.

Chance will decide. Pray that fortune favors you and select one of the following paths:

[[Go to Chapter 82.]]

[[Go to Chapter 83.]]