Page 3 of Not This Soon

Pulling futilely on the chain, Rebecca tried to stand but found her range of movement distressingly limited. Her mind raced to make sense of what had just transpired. Was this about the story? Had the corporation found out she was snooping around and decided to scare her off?

A shiver ran up her spine as another thought occurred to her. Maybe this was no warning: she was the story now. She fumbled in her pocket for her phone, only to remember it was gone, lost in the struggle.

"Hello?" Her voice echoed back at her from all sides, chillingly solitary in the vast desert expanse. She squinted into the dark, trying to discern where the shadowy figure had disappeared.

Panic began to set as she tugged at the chain holding her captive. She could hear a faint hissing sound.

Her blood ran cold as she realized what it was.

A rattlesnake's warning cry sounded like a sizzle in a pan. The snake slithered towards her, its body undulating over the sand with eerie grace, its diamond-shaped head raised defensively. Its beady eyes glowed under the frail moonlight, and its forked tongue flickered out testingly.

"No...no," Rebecca murmured, pulling back until she hit the limits of her chain. She had nowhere to go, trapped helplessly as the snake moved closer.

The rattlesnake's tail shook faster and louder, creating an ominous soundtrack that echoed through Rebecca’s racing heart.

It paused a few feet away, just watching her.

“Help!” she screamed. “Someone help!”

But she knew it was futile. She was out in the middle of nowhere, all she was accomplishing now was to further attract the rattler’s attention.

She tried not to look at it. Don’t meet it’s eyes… or was that dogs?

What was the key with snakes?

Shit… That person chained her here. Left her here…

Had lured her here?

It seemed likely now.

“Shit,” she whispered. “Shit… shit…shit!” her voice echoed dully.

The snake still remained on the ground, coiled in the sand, motionless.

The dunes loomed large around her, the narrow gap between them a menacing black void in the stark desert night. Rebecca frantically tugged at the chain, the coarse metal biting into her soft flesh. Panic fully gripped her, the wild terror pricking at the corners of her mind like a relentless nightmare.

The wind picked up, carrying with it a low, haunting moan as it cut through the sinewy crevices of the sand formations. Tiny grains of sand whirled around her in frenzied bursts.

Her eyes darted around in wild desperation, trying to spot any signs of the dark figure who had chained her here. But all she saw was an endless expanse of shadows, the gloom pressing in on her from all sides.

Once again, she yanked violently at the chain holding her captive - this time a sharp pain shot up her arm. It was useless. The metal cuff was securely fastened around her wrist, and the other end firmly rooted into the ground.

She was trapped.

“No… No, please!” she cried.

She realized she was calling out for the man who’d left her here. As if somehow he might change his mind and return to freeher. But the desert was silent save for the rattlesnake's deathly hiss.

Rebecca's breath hitched as the snake uncoiled and began its slow approach. The rattling sound grew louder with each moment, echoing in her ears like a death knell. Its beady, unblinking eyes stared back at her, reflecting the moonlight and her fear.

"No! Back off!" she yelled. She kicked sand toward the creature, but it only seemed to agitate it more. The rattling became a frantic buzz, the sound ricocheting off the dunes around them.

She could feel tears streaming down her face, carving cold trails through the dust and sand clinging to her skin. Her heart pounded in her chest, a frenzied drum against her ribs as she pulled one more time on the chain securing her to this nightmare.

Her fingers groped at the sand around her, looking for something, anything that could help. She found a sharp-edged stone and grasped it like a lifeline, swinging it toward the snake when it moved too close.

The rattlesnake lunged suddenly, its diamond-shaped head darting forward quicker than she could react. She shrieked as pain erupted in her ankle, white-hot and searing.

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