As she hurtled through open air, gravity sucking hungrily at her, Halo groped blindly with both hands, desperate for something. Anything. Behind her, she heard the cracking and groaning of the tree she had abandoned. Something struck her in the face and her hands seized it, finding bark and bough and leaves. She opened her eyes and found herself clinging to a new tree. She could hardly believe she'd made it.

A tremendous eruption seemed to shake the woods. Halo realized it was her first tree's colossal weight hitting the earth.

Determined not to look down, she concentrated on swinging herself toward the trunk, searching with her feet for a bough below. Nothing presented itself, so she made her way monkey style along the heavy branch, sweat running into her eyes.

Upon reaching the trunk, she allowed herself a whole minute to breathe, eyes closed. In through the nose and out through the mouth. All the time, listening out for Jason. The fat crunch of his footsteps. The whistle of his machete through the air. Most of all, the thunk of the blade in her new tree's base.

None of these sounds reached her.

Finally, she opened her eyes, her heart slowing from a frantic techno pace to more of a strident tribal drum.

Then she allowed herself to look down. At the wreckage of the tree, which had fallen away from her.

Where was Jason? He was nowhere to be seen. Halo blinked. Was she simply missing him? Was he standing there in the shadows, looking up at her, silently taunting?

Narrowing her eyes and concentrating, she peered down. In the process of leaping to this tree, she had descended a few feet, so the ground was now a mere ten below. If he was there, she should be able to spy him.

Then movement—a slight shift in her field of vision. Where was it? She stared into the gloom, until it happened again.

Then she saw Jason.

He was lying on his back, directly beneath the fallen tree. It had landed along his body's length, very effectively pinning him down and resting on the right side of his head. The movement that Halo had detected was one of his fists. It was flexing, stretching, trying to reach something.

...

Halo stepped back as the whole tree juddered. It was a spasm of rage. Unmistakable. She retreated again, still holding the machete. The tree shook again. This time, she could see that Jason was writhing beneath it, trying to move that incredible weight. Halo suddenly wished she had killed him. Would her own sense of decency prove her undoing?

There’s still time, she thought. Step back in and finish it, for everyone’s sake.

Another violent jolt made leaves rustle along the tree’s length.

Halo shook her head. As she did so, Jason became motionless and gripped her with his foul gaze. The child’s voice was no more: it seemed he was done with the mind games. Right there and then, she understood that he would stop at absolutely nothing, in order to end her life. Him being pinned to the ground beneath a huge tree merely granted her a temporary stay of execution.

As she swung on her heels and ran on hollow legs, Halo wondered why her mercy had so enraged him. Was it because he resented the power she had momentarily held over him? Or was it because some part of him wanted to die?

Not really important, she told herself, the machete cutting effortlessly through the air as she gathered speed. One of her hips was killing her.

Back over her shoulder, rumbles and crackles continued to denote Jason’s systematic bids for freedom. It didn’t take long for the realization to dawn: even though she was running away from him, those sounds were getting louder.

Eventually, they stopped altogether. Had he given up, or was he free again? Halo tried not to think about it.

Chapter 14, Friday the 13th: Hate Kill Repeat