Skinwalker: A Thriller (Creatures Book 14) by K.T. Tomb

Author:K.T. Tomb [Tomb, K.T.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Rain Press
Published: 2024-09-13T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Thirteen

They arrived at the first side draw further along Ruin Wash. Dustin and Hosteen Hanai mounted their horses.

“What do we do with the others?” Ben asked.

“Take them along an’ tie them up before you go around that big bend in the canyon. If all hell breaks loose an’ my plan doesn’t work, you’ll need ‘em.”

“That’s comforting,” Jackson said.

“Hosteen Hanai an’ I are gonna munch on some jerky goin’ up the draw. You fellas ought to sit a spell an’ enjoy some lunch in the shade.”

“MREs are hardly something to enjoy,” Jackson returned. He’d eaten them several times but had never been fond of them, claiming that food was never meant to be in that state. “I’d hate for that to be my last meal.”

“It’ll work, pard” Dustin smiled. “Just like you hoppin’ off an’ catchin’ that calf.”

Dustin turned his horse up the side draw. Behind him, he heard Ben’s voice. “Do you know what that crazy cowboy did when we were in Scotland?”

The climb out of the main canyon was not an easy one, even in the narrow draw. They had to stop several times along the way to allow their horses catch their breath before continuing forward. It suited Dustin just fine that the haatali did little talking. He wasn’t used to talking a lot when he was riding, supposing that it was because he was usually alone with a horse and they weren’t given to making conversation. Their companionship was communicated in a different way.

His mind wandered. He had seen mythical creatures on Everest and in Bhutan that most people insisted didn’t exist. He and Ash had crossed into a parallel dimension in the Ozarks, something he never thought was real. In Alaska, he had stumbled upon the den of a nantiinaq with her babies. He’d even carried an egg, either from Nessie or her mate—he never bothered to ask which. He had watched a wolfman shrivel into a witch after Jackson’s lucky shot finally took it down. And now, jackrabbits and sage hens were popping out of the brush with rifles in their hands.

Nothin’ is what we think it is, he mused. Then, another thought crept in: What if the horse you were ridin’ was actually a skinwalker?

They made the head of the side draw, breaking out onto the flat he had seen from above. A point with shallow slopes protruded from the flat, prompting him to ponder the worth of circling it in case someone monitored the canyon from the rim of the flat they traveled on. Somebody had probably been there earlier that morning, sending the signal to the others to let them know they were coming up Ruin Wash, but he wouldn’t have stayed there once they had sprung their first trap. If he had, he would have noticed Dustin on the flat across the canyon and fired a shot to alert the others. He decided nobody was there, and they didn’t have time.

Just like he planned, they rode around to the head of the wider draw and started down it without being discovered.

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