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That kind of love doesn’t just go away, Jackson’s calming voice repeats in her mind as she considers her own family waiting for her somewhere on the mountain.

But it certainly might if they really knew the truth.

Jane silently holds out the flannel for him, imagining that thread between them snapping in an instant. When a few seconds pass where he doesn’t take it, she looks up to see his eyes have gone completely wide.

Jane turns, following his stare toward the other end of the aisle, where Kimi and Ashley now stand. Behind them is Jim.

Aiming the shotgun.

Ashley takes a small step forward. Her clothes are stained in Sheila’s blood, though she doesn’t seem bothered by it; in fact, the only thing that seems to be troubling her is the proximity between Jane and Jackson.

“Jane, we need you to come back to the office,” she says. Her eyes flick from Jackson’s lean build down to where his arm barely brushes against Jane’s. “Now, please,” she adds, before stepping back in line with Kimi.

Their shoulders are set in sharp, tense lines. Even Jim, with the many beers sloshing around inside of him, now has an unnerving focus, staring down the gun’s barrel with one eye pinched shut.

Open season.

“What’s this about, guys?” says Jackson, and when Jim steps forward with the gun, he holds up his hands, angling his body in front of Jane. “Whoa, wait a minute. Why don’t you put the gun down, alright? Let’s just talk this out.”

Jim doesn’t move. “Come on over here, girl,” he says, though his hard eyes remain pinned on Jackson.

Panic swells within Jane’s gut, and she instinctively grips tighter to the skillet in her hand. “I don’t understand,” she says, glancing between Jackson and the others. “What’s wrong? Why are you aiming at us?”

“Not you, girl,” Jim says.

Kimi eliminates the space between them then, marching down the aisle even as Jim calls out warnings against it. She holds out a hand for Jane, flashing urgent eyes. “Thomas needs you, Jane. Please, just come back with us.”

A flare goes up in Jane’s blood almost instantly. She looks up at Jackson, frowning at the new sheen of fear in his hazel eyes.

“Go ahead,” he says, and at her hesitation, he gives a small reassuring nod. “It’s alright, Jane. Go find your brother.”

She keeps looking back at him as Kimi calmly guides her down the aisle, past Jim carrying his gun. “Come here, Winnie. Come on, sweetie,” Ashley calls while leaning down with a Milk-Bone in hand. The woman’s face is cool and steady, though Jane glimpses her trembling hand as the German shepherd trots forward with an excited yip. Ashley grabs the dog by the collar, flashing another Milk-Bone as she leads Winnie away.

Jane pauses at the end of the aisle, pulling away from Kimi’s grasp. “Why is she taking Winnie?” she asks.

Then there’s a dull thud like a sack of flour being dropped. She turns in time to see Jackson collapse to the ground, Jim standing above him with the butt of the gun angled toward the ground. From the shelf behind him, he grabs an iron fire poker.

Kimi covers Jane’s mouth, muffling the scream. The cashier’s arms are strong, squeezing Jane like a snake choking its prey. Then Jane is being dragged away from aisle nine, until she can no longer see where Jim hovers over Jackson’s sluggish form.

Jane thrashes around in Kimi’s grasp, though when it doesn’t loosen, she bites down on the cashier’s hand. “What are you doing!” Jane cries out, laying an elbow into her gut. “Let me go!”

Kimi grunts as she takes the jab to her stomach, yanking Jane forward toward the office door. “That’s not Jackson,” she hisses before shoving her inside the office. “It’s the Mimic, Jane! It got a hold of him when you guys went outside to get Sheila.”

Jane stumbles forward, barely catching herself on an old rolling chair before she whips back toward the exit. Ashley and Kimi both stand blocking the doorway, assessing her like she’s a rabid animal.

“You need to listen to us,” Ashley says, raising both hands.

Jane rushes them, pushing and sinking fingernails into arms, stepping on feet, all while Winnie’s grating bark fills up the small room.

Kimi grunts and curses, gripping Jane’s wrists. “We’re trying to help you!” she shouts, shoving hard enough that Jane falls down to the ground and lands on her butt.

The office door slams shut. From the outside, a lock turns into place.

“We’re sorry it had to happen like this, Jane, but there’s no time,” Ashley’s voice says through the door. “We’ll come back when it’s over.”

The slam of the door still seems to ring out in the office, jolting through Jane’s legs. She launches up and beats at the door, then throws herself against it a few times before realizing it’s useless; the past two months have turned her body into a weak paper version of itself.

Winnie jumps up at her side with a loud bark, nearly knocking Jane over again. The dog runs up to the closed door, sniffing at the thin line of space beneath it where the lights glow through.