Total pages in book: 65
Estimated words: 62782 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 314(@200wpm)___ 251(@250wpm)___ 209(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 62782 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 314(@200wpm)___ 251(@250wpm)___ 209(@300wpm)
Cy casts a glance over his shoulder at Cash. “Your brother. Van.”
“What about him?” Cash grits out.
“Showed up on our porch. He’s, uh,” Cy hedges, “he’s injured. They think an animal got him.”
Cash leans forward. “Like the wolf I saw the other day?”
“Doubtful,” Cy grumbles. “Probably a bear. They said Wyatt went after it with his gun. Finnick is also out there looking.”
The next leg of the drive is tense. I’m worried about Cash’s brother. Cy says it was probably a bear, but I know that’s for Cash’s benefit. I can hear his thoughts. He thinks it’s the same creature or person responsible for the recent deaths around town. Worse, he thinks it’s possible whoever did this could be who killed my family.
That idea is alarming. My hackles raise, and the urge to hunt down the monster makes my hands tremble. If that thing has come back, it might finish the job. Or it could take more from me. Like Cash.
What if it takes my pack?
Thoughts of Rey’s neck mutilated or Finnick’s skull crushed in or Ewan’s limbs ripped off or Judd’s stomach gashed open are painful lashes at my heart.
And then I imagine that thing taking him.
Cy.
My asshole warden.
I would destroy that monster. Rip its head from its spine. Cut it from throat to gut, disemboweling it and stomping on the sticky innards.
All thoughts of blood and violence take me back to that night. I’m thrown so harshly into the memory that I have no way to defend against it.
“I want s’mores,” I tell Mom. “You said we could have s’mores.”
“Hush, Remington.”
The harshness in her tone has me straightening my spine. Hope smirks at me.
“Stop looking at me like that,” I bark at my sister. “I said stop!”
“Remington!” Mom snatches me by the elbow, hissing me. “Enough, son. You’ll attract unwanted visitors.”
“Like bears,” Hope says unhelpfully. “Bears like to eat little loudmouths.”
I wave my middle finger at her behind Mom’s back. She scratches her nose with hers, making me giggle. My sister’s snotty expression fades as she grins for a fleeting moment.
Crack.
Hope frowns. “Mom…”
“I heard it,” Mom says in a hushed tone. “Keep walking. We’re almost back to the campsite.”
But we’re not. We’ve been walking for hours looking for it. Long after it got dark. We were on a trail but then it started to rain. Not just a little but a downpour so hard we’d lost our direction. When the rain let up, we were deep in the woods, soaked to the bone, and with no idea how to get back to where we’d been.
“I’m tired,” I complain. “Can we rest and have s’mores?”
“Enough about the damn s’mores,” Mom rushes out. “Please.”
My stomach grumbles in protest, but I don’t say anything. Something howls in the distance. I shiver, wishing we could stop to make a fire.
“I’m cold too,” Hope says, voicing my thoughts. “And scared.”
Scared?
“’Cause you’re a girl,” I offer, shrugging.
She smacks me in the back of the head. I try to swing at her, but a growl nearby stops me in my tracks.
“Mom,” I whimper.
I miss Dad. I try not to think about him because it hurts too much, and Mom won’t ever talk about him or anything in our past. Always the future. What’s ahead of us. Staying safe on our adventure.
“Stay behind me,” Mom urges as she bends to pick up a stick. “I’ll scare it away.”
Mom can’t do much with a stick, but I have a sharp pocketknife she bought me at the souvenir shop yesterday. Slowly, I draw it from my pocket and flip open the blade.
Hope’s scream is so loud behind me, I drop my knife at being startled. Something snarls and then she’s being dragged through the woods. Mom screeches and chases them. I fumble in the leaves looking for my knife. Once I have it in my grip, I take off running to where my mom is yelling at whatever has my sister.
I run blindly after the sounds, hoping I can save my sister. Hope is a butt most days, especially when she’s on her period, but I don’t want her to get hurt.
No matter how fast we run, we can’t seem to catch up or find my sister. Everything goes quiet aside from my deep breathing and Mom’s yelling of my sister’s name. Thirty minutes must pass. Maybe more. We keep running and searching for her.
It feels like we’re running forever until I hear Mom’s wail up ahead. She’s not that far away from me, so I run as fast as my legs will carry me, ready to save my mom. When I reach her, I nearly slam into her back.
Hope.
She’s all bloody and lying on the forest leaves, convulsing each time the massive, growling beast thrusts his body against hers.
Why is she naked? Why isn’t she fighting it off?