Mean and Evil by William W. Johnstone

Author:William W. Johnstone
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Pinnacle Books
Published: 2022-07-26T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 20

Heart thudding, Adam turned to Calhoun and said softly but stridently, “Hey, Tom!”

Calhoun stopped snoring, grunted, then resumed sawing logs again.

“Tom!” Adam said, louder, rising quickly and lifting his gun and holster up off the ground.

He wrapped the belt around his waist, cinched it, then stooped to retrieve his hat. He glanced at his partner again. He was about to call to him again but then it occurred to him that the horses might have simply pulled their picket pins and wandered off. It had happened before. Maybe that was what he’d heard. He’d let Tom sleep. The poor man hadn’t gotten much sleep the past several nights; his own coughing had kept him up. Finally, he was getting some good sleep.

Adam grabbed his rifle and walked into the trees where he and Calhoun had picketed the horses, moving slowly, looking around, able to see little but the fog that rose and fell, swirling like heavy smoke in a closed room. He continued walking away from the camp, squeezing his rifle in his hands. The mounts had probably drifted off for better graze.

He stopped suddenly.

The sound came again. It sounded like the soft, forlorn cry of a girl.

What would a girl be doing out here?

The cry had come from ahead and to his left, so he angled in that direction, glancing over his shoulder toward the camp. Calhoun was still snoring but far enough away that Adam could barely hear him.

“Help!” came the girl’s cry again, clearer this time. Anguished.

It had come from the smoke-like clouds of swirling fog straight ahead of him now.

He continued forward, squinting, straining his eyes to see into the fog but able to see only a few feet ahead of him. The fog was disorienting, dizzying. Several times he stumbled over his own feet.

“Help me!” came the girl’s cry again. “I’m hurt!” A sob followed the plaintive wail.

Adam moved slowly forward, looking around but keeping a close eye on the ground so he didn’t trip and fall. As the fog slithered around him, sometimes opening briefly then closing again, he had the sense of wading through water. “Where are you?” he called.

“Here! I’m over here!”

Frowning, Adam adjusted his course slightly then continued walking. The fog opened and closed, revealing pines and gold-leafed aspens before obscuring them again. He found himself crossing a clearing in which the fog was thicker than before. His boots crunched the lightly frosted grass. He tripped over a rock, stumbled forward, and nearly fell.

“Here!” the girl cried, closer now, somewhere not far ahead. “I’m here! I’m injured!” Another sob. “Oh, it hurts!”

“I’m coming!” Adam returned then stumbled forward and dropped to his knees when he found himself climbing a rise that he hadn’t seen. He grunted, cursed, pushed to his feet, continued climbing.

Warmth touched the back of his neck. Gold light shone through the fog to dapple the ground around him. He glanced behind him. Through the mistlike fog he could see the buttery orb of the sun lifting its head between two eastern ridges.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.