My stomach dropped. Every muscle in my body tensed.
I whirled around, alarm bells screaming at me torun, run, run!
A man stood a few feet behind me, silhouetted against the harsh motion sensor light, his face hidden in deep shadow.
Voice shaking so much my words were barely discernible, I said, “I know who you are. Get the fuck away from me.”
He chuckled, low and without feeling.
And lunged.
I threw myself backwards to avoid the heavy object he swung right at my head, and tripped on something crinkly and plastic covering the floor of the shed. The air in front of my facewhistled with the force of his swing—he’d missed by a hair’s breadth.
Still wielding the blunt object, he lunged again. I took another step back. Desperately, I reached out for something,anythingI could use to defend myself.
I’m bigger. If I can disarm him, I’ll be able to?—
SNAP!
The shock hit me first, and then an overwhelming pressure, like I’d shoved my entire lower left leg into a vise. I looked down, uncomprehending what I saw.
A bear trap, quintuplet to those hanging from the rafters above, clamped around my left ankle. Giant, serrated teeth ripped through skin and muscle and lodged firmly into what could only be bone.
Then, pain.
I screamed. And screamed. And screamed.
Collapsing onto the plastic-covered floor, I cried out when it jostled my leg. I reached out with shaky hands to where the trap chewed through skin and viscera, as if I could simply pry it off.
My vision grew spotty before I even touched the wound, and I fell backwards, writhing and groaning.
Heavy leather boots stepped over to where I lay on the crinkled tarp. Dazedly, I followed them up. He carried a large MAGLITE flashlight in one gloved hand and wore dark clothes. His face still hid in shadow, but it didn’t matter.
Whoever he was, he wasn’t human anymore.
He was a monster.
His head cocked to the side. Chest rising and falling rapidly, he relished in watching me bleed out on the floor of my father’s shed.
As if itexcitedhim.
“Gotcha.”
And then he swung that heavy flashlight at my face. I didn’t even have time to try to dodge the blow before the world went dark, and there was nothing at all.
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
“You have to wake up, Reece.”
I blinked my eyes open to find Charlie standing in front of me, his hands gently cupping my face.
I smiled at him. “You came back.”
Something was wrong, though. He didn’t return my smile, and he looked… Sad? No, that wasn’t right. Angry, maybe? Determined?
He shook my shoulders. “You have to go back. I’ll do what I can to help them find you, but you need to hold on for just a little while longer.”
“I don’t understand. What’s wrong? Why are you so upset?” I looked around.
