“Goddamn it, Destiny! What the fuck did I tell you about hanging out in those woods? Why would your crew leave you there?”
They hadn’t wanted to. They tried to get her to leave with them, but she persisted in staying and everyone got fed up. “I don’t know. It was the weirdest thing. They all just left.”
He growled again and let out a stream of Portuguese curse words. A door slammed and the engine of his car cranked to life. “Send me your location so I can kick your dumb ass when I get there.”
“Calm down, Vito. That’s why I have the crossbow.”
“Are you insane? There’s a fucking killer in those woods! Why can’t you have a normal job?”
“Like what? All the strippers you work with?”
“At least they’re safe! You, on the other hand, have a death wish.”
Her phone beeped in her ear. “Look, V, I gotta go. My phone’s about to die.”
“Of course, it is. Send me your fucking loca—”
The phone powered down. “Merda!”
Her eyes widened as soon as she realized how much light the glow of her screen had been giving. It was dark as fuck in the woods now that the sun had set.
Fear teased her stomach and she pocketed the useless device. Maybe this was a bad idea.
She could yell for help, but what if the killer heard her?
Fingers freezing, she shoved them into her gloves and crossed her arms, bouncing in place for warmth. Pine needles and crunchy dead leaves peeked from the snow on the forest floor.
A low squawk came from above. Could have been an owl or chipmunk or maybe a bat. Did bats squawk?
Searching the shadows, she debated which direction would lead to the bottom of the mountain. That would be the safest place to wait for her brother.
Leaves crunched behind her, way too loud to be a small animal, and she spun around. “Who’s there?”
She lifted the crossbow with gloved hands, fumbling to find the trigger in the dark. “Don’t come any closer!”
Spindly trees cast black shadows over blue puddles of moonlight. Branches and vines resembled legs, giant hands, and long, gnarled fingers. Her mind was playing tricks on her.
Lifting the crossbow at her chest, she pointed the loaded tip ahead of her. So long as the arrow wasn’t aimed at her, she figured she was safe.
Her hands trembled under the weight of the weapon after a few minutes. She hadn’t moved, but anxiety left her breathless.
Another branch snapped and something crunched behind her. Her body did an about-face so fast she got dizzy.
“I’ll shoot anything that comes closer!”
Wind whined above, followed by a creak. She gasped as a large, dry limb whipped through the branches and hit the ground with a loud thud, and her finger clenched over the trigger, sending the arrow whizzing into the darkness. She yipped and continued to search her surroundings.
If a tree falls in the woods and no one’s around… “I guess it does make a sound,” she muttered, trying to calm her nerves with lame humor.
She could not shake the sense that she was being watched. With trembling hands, she pulled out her last arrow. It took forever to load the sophisticated bow in the dark. She just prayed she didn’t lose an eye.
Once she heard it click into place, she searched the ground. “Where the hell is my glove?”
Sweeping her hands over the covered earth, she rummaged around the leaves and snow for her missing glove and hissed when her fingers swept over something sharp. She pressed her finger to her lips and tasted a warm trickle of blood.
Great. She didn’t have a first aid kit on her because she was seriously the stupidest woman alive in Jim Thorpe tonight. She sucked her finger into her mouth and froze as something let out an ominous growl behind her.
Paralyzed by fear and certain it was no chipmunk, she gripped the bow and stared straight ahead.
Something big jumped from the trees—maybe a mountain lion or a bear—she didn’t fucking care. It landed close and she screamed, bolting into a dead run and plowing headfirst into a tree.
Red eyes flashed, and she was sure this was the thing that had been killing the girls in the woods. She screamed as loud as her lungs would allow and scrambled to her feet, running as fast as her legs could carry her.
It was incredibly fast and she failed gym class in high school, but she kept going, panic pumping her legs as every breath burned through her like fire.
It grabbed for her, claws scratching down her back and shredding her coat into ribbons. It fucking cut her and the intense searing pain upset her stomach. She couldn’t take it. A stubbed toe was basically her threshold for pain, and her back burned as if acid ate away her skin. She was going to pass out, and whatever that was, it was going to fucking eat her!