And then, all at once, he was lunging up out of the water at her. He grabbed her around the neck, trying to pull her out of the boat.

She tried to pry off Boone's fingers. But now his other hand clamped down on her long wavy hair and he yanked her head down. Was he insane? Why was he being so rough?

Her head banged down hard against the wooden ridge of the canoe. And again. And in the violence and confusion Monique saw for the first time that it wasn't Boone at all. It was someone much larger with a white hockey mask covering his face. And now the man's arm was raised above her. And now it was coming down---again and again.

A moment later---

Boone lunged back into the other side of the boat, yelling, “Surprise!”

He was expecting Monique to scream. He was expecting the canoe to tip over from his weight. Neither of those things happened. The boat tipped wildly, to be sure, but he was able to make it into the canoe's bottom, and then the boat righted itself.

The pretty French girl was slumped down at the other end of the canoe, the paddle at her feet. “Monique?”

She didn't answer. Giving him a little of his own medicine, he realized. He liked that---a girl who likes to tease.

He started his crouch-walk toward the other end of the canoe. “Monique?”

It was then that he saw the blood trickling into the water at the bottom of the canoe. The dark redness was spreading toward him fast, as if it were out to get him.

“Monique!” He moved forward as quick as he could. Boone was almost upon her when he froze. Monique's clothes were slashed and drenched with blood.

Boone had no idea who had done this. But in one split second he instinctively realized that he was next.

He picked up the paddle from the bottom of the canoe and stood up straight. He was just in time. Because at that moment the hunter attacked again.

Boone swung the paddle with all his might.

On a playing field, it was the kind of swing that would have produced either a home run or a strikeout. This time the paddle caught the hunter just under the mask---right in the throat.

   Friday the 13th: Mother's Day, chapter 15