“No power,” Slade said, to no one in particular. His eyes seemed dark and vacant. “No power.”
“I’m afraid that’s the size of it,” Maureen said, batting back tears. “I like to think of myself as a miracle worker. But even I can’t make a radio work without power.”
“No power,” Slade mumbled. He staggered, leaning against the wall. “No power.”
Ben couldn’t believe it. This horrible man who had once stood so tall and defiant-now he was babbling like an escaped mental patient. All of his toughness, all of his swagger and menace-it was all gone now. There was nothing left but a pathetic wretch who realized he was facing death.
“Isn’t there some way to recharge the batteries?” Ben asked.
“They’re not rechargeable,” Maureen answered.
“Maybe there are some other batteries.”
Maureen rummaged through the closet. “Sorry. Nothing.”
“Damn.” Ben bit down on a knuckle. There had to be something. Something he was missing, something he hadn’t thought of. But what?
“It’s over,” Slade said. His face seemed to disintegrate; those strong chiseled features were melting away. “It’s over.”
“Get a grip,” Ben said, disgusted.
Slade didn’t hear him. He began to laugh, a bitter, eerie laugh. “After all I’ve done, all my plans …” He laughed even louder. “And now it comes down to this. Burning alive in some godforsaken shack in a goddamn forest!”
“Stop it, Slade,” Ben said. “Stop it now.”
Slade continued his maniacal laughter, even louder and creepier than before. “You just don’t get it, do you? We’re doomed. We’re going to die in flames, in our own personal hell. Do you know what it is to burn to death? Do you have any idea how painful it is?”
“Stop it!” Ben shouted. Sweat flew off his face. He was feeling it, too-the heat, the sense of desperation. It would be much easier to be like Slade, to just relent. To give up. But if he did that, they were all finished.
“There must be some other way,” Ben said. “There must be some other means of generating power.”
“Power,” Slade murmured, wiping his eyes.
“Right. Some other way to power the radio.”
Slade’s hand pressed against his chest. Ben could see he was having trouble breathing. The smoke was everywhere. “There’s a-a-”
Ben squatted beside him. “What?”
“A-” He took a deep breath. “An emergency generator. In the other room. But that powers the lights, the fuses …”
“The radio has an AC plug!” Maureen shouted. “It could work. If you’ve got an extension cord and you could get some juice in the fuse … it just might work!”
Slade seemed stunned, dazed, as if he couldn’t process the information quickly enough. “It can’t …” he mumbled, barely rational. “Can’t-”
Ben jerked him to his feet. “Come on, Slade. Show me where the generator is. Now!”
Ten minutes later, they had the generator going. Maureen found an extension cord, plugged the radio in, and began broadcasting. It wasn’t easy. She had to try several frequencies, and broadcast conditions weren’t ideal. For one thing, they were atop a mountain, deep in a forest. For another, they were surrounded by flames. Fortunately Maureen knew what she was doing.
During the tense minutes Maureen spent broadcasting her signal, Ben managed to bite every fingernail he had down to the nub. “Damn!” Her voice was cracking with desperation. “I’m not getting anything.”
“But are they getting you?” Ben asked. “That’s the important thing.”
“I don’t know. I can’t tell. I’m not hearing anything.”
“We’re going to be cooked,” Slade pronounced.
“I won’t accept that,” Ben said. “Even if the interference prevents us from hearing them, they might hear us. They could be on the way.”
“Wouldn’t matter if they were.” Slade glanced toward the window, forcing Ben to follow his gaze.
The heat radiating through the closed window was so intense Ben had to take several steps back. His vision blurred; wavy lines of heat made the image before him seem to shimmer and float. But that didn’t prevent him from seeing what was happening outside.
The fire had come closer-much, much closer. The perimeter of the flames was barely twenty feet from the shack. Maybe closer.
“We don’t have time for a rescue,” Slade said, his voice in his throat. “We don’t have ten minutes.”