Page 2 of Not This Soon

A rock shifted underfoot. Rebecca stumbled, catching herself on a nearby boulder. As she steadied herself, her hand brushed against something rough. Not rock. Not sand.

She angled the flashlight. Carved into the boulder's surface was a crude arrow pointing deeper into the desert.

"What the hell?" Rebecca whispered, tracing the arrow with her fingertips.

Her journalistic instincts fired up. This was no natural formation. Someone had left this here. Recently.

Rebecca swept her light along the ground. Another arrow, this one etched in the sand. And beyond it, barely visible, a narrow path snaking between two towering dunes.

She hesitated, glancing back the way she'd come. The sensible thing would be to turn back.

The snake had frazzled her nerves.

But the story beckoned. How many years did most journalists have to wait to find their big break?

Rebecca squared her shoulders and stepped onto the concealed trail. The dunes rose on either side, plunging her into deeper shadow.

"No turning back now," she muttered, pressing forward into the unknown heart of the desert.

The wind picked up, howling through the narrow passage between the dunes. Rebecca shivered, pulling her jacket tighter. The sound was eerie, almost like a distant wail.

Her flashlight flickered, casting dancing shadows on the sandy walls. For a moment, she thought she saw movement in her peripheral vision. She whirled, heart pounding, but there was nothing there.

"Get it together," Rebecca muttered to herself. Her voice sounded small in the vastness of the desert night.

She pressed on, following the winding path. The sand shifted beneath her feet, making each step a struggle. In the distance,something skittered across her path. Too quick for her light to catch.

Rebecca paused, listening intently. Nothing but the wind and her own ragged breathing.

As she rounded a bend, her foot struck something solid. She crouched, brushing away sand to reveal a metal object. A canteen, old and rusted.

"What's this doing out here?" she whispered, turning it over in her hands.

Her fingers found an engraving on the bottom. She angled her light to read it, but she couldn't make out the words.

She stood, scanning the ground around her. There, half-buried in the sand, was a small mound. Unnatural. Deliberate.

She wrinkled her nose, peering closer.

And then a shadow moved again. This time, emerging from behind a granite boulder.

She whirled around, a scream dying on her lips. A figure lunged at her faster than she could react. A scream died on her lips as strong hands grabbed her wrist.

She tried to strike the figure, and her phone went flying.

But the hands moved methodically. They didn’t strike her but rather held her fast. As terror burst in her chest, she felt somethingclickaround her wrist. Cold and metal.

The shadowy shape was large, though perhaps that was just from the puffy jacket they wore. A hood obscured the figure’s face. They moved swiftly in the dark, their legs a dark blur.

One moment, they'd emerged from behind the boulder like a wraith. The next, they disappeared again, like melting into shadow. They disappeared around the dune just as quickly.

Rebecca sat in the sand, gasping, adrenaline pounding, terror like ice in her veins.

What the hell…

She stared after the retreating figure, and only then did she glance down at her wrist. A loop of metal bit in her flesh, secured to a chain staked in the ground.

She frowned at the handcuff securing her in the dark.

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