Cole: Mind of Madness: a prelude (a Phoenix Club thriller) by CJ Bishop

Author:CJ Bishop [Bishop, CJ]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2023-04-29T16:00:00+00:00

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Never had the woods felt so eerie as they did right now. Ezra followed the familiar path, yet nothing seemed familiar this morning. The forest had an ominous, strange air about it as if he’d unknowingly passed through some portal into an alternate dimension rife with unimaginable creatures and dangers.

His boots crunched the frozen debris scattered over the forest floor, an earthy smell of decomposing leaves and rotting wood mingled with the stale scent of pine and cedar, clogging his nostrils. He listened for the usual forest sounds, but all was quiet. Eerily quiet. So quiet he began to feel the pressure in his ears. His eyes darted around, noting the familiar sights; animal trails running this way and that, disappearing into the underbrush; clumps of moss on fallen logs rotting into the ground; bits of debris caught in frosted spider webs. All of it familiar… yet oddly strange at the same time.

Calm down. Everything is the same as always. There’s nothing… no one… out here in the woods with you. Nothing to be scared of, anyway.

A twig snapped and Ezra froze mid-step. His heart thumped furiously against his ribs and his breath stuck in his throat. He listened so hard he thought his eardrums would explode. The sound had come from his right, somewhere in the fog.

It’s just an animal. A deer, probably. You hear sounds out here all the time.

Another snap… like someone taking a calculated step.

Stop it—you’re just freaking yourself out.

Maybe so, but the fear was real—rational or not.

Ezra’s paralysis broke and he shot forward, running haphazardly through the trees, swiping brush out of his way as it slapped ice-brittle twigs in the face. His throat and chest constricted, clenching tight until his breath wheezed out of him. He didn’t know if he actually heard something pursuing him—or if it was all in his head—but the sudden terror poured into his legs and he ran harder, sailing over downed limbs and logs, somehow not tripping.

Real or not, he could feel it right behind him, closing in… fingers reaching out… closer… closer… grabbing for the back of his jacket. His scalp prickled and the hair on the back of his neck stood on end.

Fuck-fuck-fuck!

Ezra burst out of the woods at a dead run and stumbled to the ground. He pushed up on hands and knees, laboring for breath as his lungs locked up, panicked gasps choking him, his surroundings distorted through his tears. Where am I? His legs gave out when he tried to get to his feet, and he landed on his back. Nothing launched out of the forest after him. Nothing was chasing him. It was all in his head… fear-induced paranoia.

He lay still, his insides shaking as he struggled for breath. From the corner of his eye, he spotted the huge building in the fog. The barn.

I made it… I’m here.

Had he thought he wouldn’t make it?

The uncertainty of that answer sent chills down his spine.

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