Countdown by Elizabeth Rain

Author:Elizabeth Rain
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: thriller, mystery, paranormal
Publisher: Elizabeth Rain
Published: 2023-08-25T00:00:00+00:00

HE WAS GOING TO NEED an entire handful of aspirin to touch the headache he had going on. It was his first thought when consciousness returned. His second was that he had to get the furnace going, because it was colder than hell in there. And then he remembered he wasn’t in his bed anymore. He opened his mouth and immediately spat when the water and mud ran inside. He rolled to his back and opened his eyes and saw nothing until the lightning flashed, and all he saw was trees above him, illuminated by the sky, churning in a mad tangle high overhead. That was when he realized something sharp and painful was poking at his naked backside.

With a cry, he scrambled to sit up, the sudden movement almost making him pass out a second time. Where the hell was he, and what had happened to his clothes?

It occurred to him then that where might not be nearly as important as why. He looked around him. He wasn’t in Kansas anymore. And he couldn’t see the house or any of the outbuildings either. He reached up, wincing when he touched the lump on the side of his head and his fingers came away sticky. The next flash of light revealed the river of pink running off his hands.

Along with his clothes, the flashlight was missing, too. But his hearing was fine, and the unmistakable snap of a branch nearby, followed by the sound of a rifle chambering a round, had him scrambling to his feet, the first tendrils of terror sinking deep in his subconscious.

He looked wildly around, his hands reaching in the darkness, his ears straining for the next sound. And it came, the voice soft and cruel.

“Run...”

It was punctuated by the deafening roar of the gun, and an explosion of splinters and bark from the tree next to his head.

With a hysterical scream, Tate turned and took the first steps, barely even registering the sharp twigs and stones that dug into the soles of his feet. He broke into an uneven run, his hands out in front of him to brace against whatever popped up in front of him. Despite the lightning, the night was darker than pitch between flashes. Behind him he could hear the movement of something heavy threading through the woods in pursuit. Soft, taunting laughter followed him. “You can run, little deer...but you can’t hide...”

He looked back over his shoulder in the middle of a flash of light, and saw the silhouette of a man, his rifle bearing down on him, his smile a dark slash in his white ghostly face as he walked casually in his direction. Above his forehead a small headlamp was mounted, the red eye shining eerily in his direction.

Instinctively, Tate ducked, hearing the explosion, the whistle of the slug singing the hair over his left brow. He felt something warm run down between his legs as he dug in and ran faster, literally for his life.

It wasn’t fair, he wanted to shout.

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