Shadow in the Woods by J.P. Choquette

Author:J.P. Choquette
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: psychological suspense, suspense, modern day suspense, gripping, thriller, woods, nature, supernatural, big foot, spirit, heather graham, John Saul, Vermont, New England, survival, camping, psychological, mental health, artist, cave, lost in woods, terror in woods, occult, horror, series, mountains, paranormal
Publisher: J.P. Choquette
Published: 2017-10-15T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Twenty-Four

MARIA HEARD KIDS LAUGHING. The notes tumbled over one another, bubbles of innocence. She smiled, leaning back against the old maple tree. The leaves above whispered as they moved in an invisible breeze. The sun was warm on her face, the smell of fresh greenness and new beginnings all around her.

Then a stick poked her leg. She frowned, readjusted her position. But it was there again. Poking her. She moved a hand to brush it away but the pain became more intense, sharp and hot. Maria wiggled again, trying to move her leg away from whatever it was that was hurting it. The pain only followed. Anger bubbled suddenly in her chest. Such a beautiful day! Spoiled by this stupid branch. She moved her hand down her leg more gently this time, exploring. Heat radiated up from her thigh into her hand. Why was her skin so hot? Burning.

Suddenly Maria realized how thirsty she was. Her throat was nearly raw with it. She turned her head, looking over the landscape for water. But there was none. The trees above, green and lush, began to turn brittle and dry. The sun, no longer dappled by the canopy of green leaves, fell onto her, drifting down in tiny piles of ash.

The children had stopped laughing and in the silence Maria heard something else: a dull, roaring sound. A train? No, something else. She searched her mind for the right noise but her brain felt slow and stupid. Too hot. She couldn’t think straight. Water. Where could she find water?

Another sound filled the space. Something strange and garbled. It sounded like, aahhhhgggaaa. The pain in her leg intensified the hotter she became. Now it felt as though someone were sticking a poker into her flesh, a hot poker between the muscle and bone, prying it apart.

Please, water. She tried to make her lips form the words but they were too sticky, like hot candle wax. Water.

Aahhhgggaaaa. The sound again. Was it human? Maria turned her head to the right and then the left, scanning the brown horizon. Dead trees with bare branches framed a field with charred grass. The heat pressed in on her, came in waves like ocean water. The tree behind her was suddenly scratchy and rough, pressing its bark sharply into her shoulder bones and spine. She craned her neck, looking behind her. There was something there ... something she couldn’t see.

A brown figure walked toward her. Tall and covered in a black suit. An astronaut’s suit but without the helmet. Like a hood or a winter toque pulled down over its face. It was dark too, like the rest of the suit. It moved gracefully, as though the cumbersome suit was its second skin.

Skin. Maria’s felt like it was on fire. The closer the creature got, the hotter she felt. Maria moaned, tried to turn her head away but it was pinned to the tree. Stuck in place. Melted? She cried out—tried to. But her lips had stopped working.

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