Page 49

He reaches out toward her. She looks up, dazed, and for a moment she doesn’t seem to see him. Then her eyes focus.

VANESSA: There’s no point. She’s not strong enough.

JEREMY: Shut up!

The Vanessa on the road smiles blandly. No one seems willing to move any closer to her, even Jeremy, his whole body alive with fury. The injured girl lets out a wordless scream and pushes herself back up to her feet, stumbling faster now, her hand outstretched for Nick’s.

VANESSA: Oh? That won’t do.

The imposter strides toward the edge of the road, heading for the injured girl. Nick shouts and lunges to intercept her. The camera swings away and misses the moment of contact. Wehave only the screams and shouts of the others to guess at what happens next.

JEREMY: Damn it!

ANTHONY: Grab her!

MIRANDA: No!

The camera stabilizes as silence falls. The scene is so still it could be a tableau. Nick stands stock-still at the edge of the road. Beside the road, a few inches from the safety of the stone path. His outline wavers, black smoke curling from it.

The injured Vanessa is huddled at the base of a tree just out of reach, arm still stretched out toward him. The imposter stands between them, clear of the others where they gather at the edge of the road.

MEL: Nick?

SARA: Pull him back on!

Mel grabs Nick’s arm—or tries to. Her fingers close around his upper arm and keep closing, cloth and flesh and bone crumpling under her touch like ash still holding the shape of a log. Mel screams, snatching her hand back.

MEL: Oh fuck oh fuck oh—

SARA: What did she do to him? Nick! Talk to me. Come on. You have to get back on the road.

VANESSA: He can’t answer. But don’t worry. You won’t have long to be upset. In a few minutes, you won’t remember him at all. Or any of this.

She bends down, and gently removes the glasses from the injured Vanessa’s face.

VANESSA: You’re distressingly flawed, you know.

She slips the glasses on. And then she grips the girl’s face in one hand, covering it with her palm, fingertips sinking into her skin. Vanessa bucks, screaming, as black rot spreads from her double’s fingers, crawling over her skin, eating away at her with incredible speed. One moment she is arching off the ground, her entire body and voice united in terror and pain, and then she seems to crumble in on herself, turning to ash that scatters on an unseen wind.

The girl is gone; her double remains.

JEREMY: I’m going to kill you.

VANESSA: You’re not. You’re already forgetting why you’re angry.

Jeremy’s expression spasms. The others have oddly vacant looks on their faces, fear giving way to consternation. Nick’s outline blurs more, wavering; he is being undone. More slowly than Vanessa, but steadily, without mercy.

SARA: She’s making us forget.

Her tone is deadened. She blinks.

SARA: She’s making us forget. We’re not going to remember she’s not really Vanessa. We have to—

She can’t seem to finish the thought. She rakes at her hair, slaps herself. Vanessa laughs. Mel whimpers, holding her head in both hands.

SARA: We have to do something!

She yanks open the zipper on her bag and shoves the flashlight into it, pulling out a camera instead. She turns it on with shaking hands, focuses it on Nick. His head turns towardher, the movement barely perceptible. He mouths something. It might be her name. The flash goes off.