Chapter 6

Alton's entire existence shifted. The cabin was no longer a place to die; it was a place to protect.

He stripped off his shirt and went to work. He hauled massive, raw tree trunks from the woods, driving them deep into the dirt around the cabin. His muscles bulged and strained, working with the relentless efficiency of a machine.

He built a six-foot-tall, anti-peeping wooden fence. Then, he wired the high-voltage electric grid along the top. He carefully calibrated the voltage dial, setting it to a non-lethal shock level. He couldn't risk Eden accidentally touching it when she learned to walk.

Just as he was welding the final steel gate, Cletus's truck pulled up to the dirt road.

Cletus stepped out, followed by his sister-in-law, Tammy-Lynn. She wore skin-tight jeans and a low-cut top that barely contained her chest. She held a freshly baked apple pie. Her eyes hungrily devoured Alton's sweating, scarred torso.

"Brought you the final deed copies, Combs," Cletus coughed. He nudged Tammy-Lynn. "Tammy here wanted to welcome you properly."

Tammy-Lynn swayed her hips as she walked up to the fence. She pressed her chest against the wood.

"You got a body on you, mister," she purred, her voice dripping with cheap perfume and desperation.

Alton didn't look at her. He grabbed his power drill and drove a screw into the steel plate. The deafening screech of metal on metal completely drowned out her flirting.

Tammy-Lynn's smile faltered, but she didn't give up. She tried to slide the pie through a gap in the gate.

"Don't you get lonely out here all by yourself?" she cooed, lowering her neckline. "I could come in and help you... relax."

Alton stopped drilling. He slowly turned his head. His cold, dead eyes locked onto her heavily made-up face.

He walked toward the gate. He didn't reach for the pie. He reached for the red button on the wall box.

He pressed it.

Blue electricity crackled violently across the wire. A spark jumped and zapped Tammy-Lynn's fingers.

She shrieked in pain, leaping backward. The apple pie hit the mud and shattered.

Alton stared at the ruined food with disgust. "Get out."

Tammy-Lynn's face flushed dark red. "You ungrateful psycho!" she screamed, clutching her hand.

Cletus puffed his chest out. "You don't disrespect my family in this town, Combs! You're gonna regret that!"

Alton's hand dropped to his belt. In a fraction of a second, he drew his hunting knife and hurled it.

The heavy blade flew past Cletus's ear, slicing a few hairs off his head. It buried itself to the hilt in the front tire of the pickup truck.

The tire exploded with a deafening BANG.

Cletus and Tammy-Lynn screamed, dropping to the mud and covering their heads.

Alton walked to the gate and looked down at them. "Next time anyone comes within thirty feet of this fence, the knife goes through a throat, not rubber."

Cletus swallowed his own spit. He finally realized he wasn't dealing with a broken man. He was dealing with a monster. He grabbed Tammy-Lynn and scrambled into the crippled truck, driving away on the rim.

Alton yanked his knife out of the tire track and walked back inside.

A soft, distressed cry came from the bedroom. Eden was hungry.

Instantly, the terrifying killer aura vanished from Alton's body. He rushed to the kitchen, his rough hands moving with extreme care as he mixed warm water and formula.

He walked to the bed and gently pressed the bottle to Eden's lips. His eyes softened into warm pools of devotion.

Eden drank greedily. Her tiny hand reached up and wrapped tightly around his index finger.

"No one will ever hurt you," Alton whispered to her. "I'll build you a fortress-the strongest protection I can offer."

Miles away, Tammy-Lynn rubbed her burnt finger. Her eyes burned with venom. She picked up her phone and started calling the town gossips. She was going to find out what that psycho was hiding in that cabin.