Snow

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Eddie stood maybe ten yards ahead of Todd in what appeared to be an open field of snow. Like Todd, Eddie was down on his knees, eye level with the little girl who stood in front of him. She was wearing a pink snow parka with the hood drawn up over her face, the hood itself rimmed in grayish brown faux fur. Mittens hung from the parka’s sleeves by colored string.

Jesus, Todd thought. His daughter.

Both Eddie and the little girl turned and looked at Todd. After a moment, Eddie stood, clumps of fresh snow falling off his knees.

The girl had no face.

A grin broke out across Eddie’s face. “Come with us, Todd.” The grin widened—impossibly wide. “It’ll be warm…”

For Deb, my shelter in the storm.

PROLOGUE

“Mr. Farmer? Is that you?”

But she knew it wasn’t George Farmer. Even if it looked like him, it wasn’t George Farmer.

Wiping strands of sweat-slicked hair from her face, Shawna Dupree crouched below the counter inside the deserted Pack-N-Go. Too frightened to sit up and peer over the countertop, she managed to survey the store in the reflection of the tortoiseshell antitheft mirror above her head. The blood on her hands was starting to freeze to the rifle’s cold steel.

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