Free Time Will Tell by Jody Morse, Jayme Morse

Mary-Kate was threatening to kill him, all he needed to do was find a way to outsmart her. At least she didn’t have control over his mind the way Rhonda had, and physically, Gabe had some advantage over Mary-Kate.
    “Get out of the car, Gabe,” Mary-Kate said as she turned off the ignition. She glanced over at him, a serious look on her face. “We’re going to be walking the rest of the way . . . after I show you what’s inside the trunk. I suppose you can say it’s a present.” 
    A bad feeling formed in the pit of his stomach, as Gabe glanced over at her with wide eyes . Unsure of what her “present” could be, he reluctantly climbed out of the car and onto the black pavement. He walked to the back of the car, waiting for Mary-Kate.
    “Wait till you see what’s inside. Or who’s inside, I guess I should say,” Mary-Kate said with a devilish grin, before opening the trunk. As it popped open, the scent of garlic wafted into Gabe’s nostrils. The scent was strong, and it made his eyes burn.
    Gabe gasped when he saw the three bodies that were inside the trunk; it was a woman with dark curly hair and two children, who were slumped against her. They were all blindfolded with their wrists and ankles tied with rope, but it didn’t take Gabe long to figure out who they were—Lexi’s stepmom, Darlene, and her two half-siblings, Erica and Connor.
    A knot tightened in his stomach, and he tur ned to Mary-Kate. “You didn’t.”
    “Oh, but that’s where you’re wrong, Gabe. I did. I so did,” Mary-Kate said, as she laughed sinisterly.
    “How long have you had them in there?” Gabe questioned, as he realized how crazy Mary-Kate actually was.
    “Oh, don’t worry about them,” Mary-Kate said with a hand wave. “I’ve had them for a few days, but they haven’t been in the trunk this whole time. I put them in there when we left this morning. They were in the same abandoned building I was keeping you in the rest of the time.” She glanced up at him. Noting his concern, she rolled her eyes. “And don’t worry. I’ve been feeding them and watering them and all that. I wasn’t trying to kill them. They would be of no use to me if they were already dead.”
    “What do you mean if they were already dead?” Gabe asked. “You’re not planning to kill them, are you?”
    “ I’m not,” Mary-Kate replied with a smile. “But they’ll probably die, anyway. You’re going to help me walk the kids to the Briar Creek town square, where we’re going to offer their blood up to everyone with Wilkins’ Syndrome, including my mother. She gets to drink first, since she’s very close to death.”
    Gabe could feel his own jaw drop. Was Mary-Kate really that sick that she would feed these kids to a bunch of vampires who were like hungry lio ns, desperate for their blood?
    When Gabe met her eyes, and noticed how serious she looked, he knew the answer. She was serious. She was dead serious.
    “Come on, Gabe,” Mary-Kate said. “Help me get them out of the trunk. They’re too heavy for me to move on my own. I’m not sure how I even managed to get them in the trunk in the first place.”
    Gabe didn’t hesitate to do what she said. He reached into the trunk and pulled Lexi’s sister out first and then her brother, setting them both carefully down on the ground. Gabe felt bad about the fact that they had all been squished together inside the trunk; it was probably difficult for them to breathe in there, and he knew that they were probably cold since it was still winter.
    Once the kids were standing on the ground, with their eyes still covered by the blindfolds and terrified looks on their faces, Gabe reached into the car to help Darlene out of the car, when Mary-Kate batted at his hand.
    “What do you think you’re doing?” she asked, eyeing him accusingly. “Dar lene is staying in the trunk.”
    “But we can’t just leave her here,” Gabe protested, feeling a twinge of guilt about leaving the woman there w