Page 5 of Sinner

I knew the bastard was staring at me, daring me. Watching me. Hungering for me. Even if I couldn’t see the whites of his eyes, only the evil glow penetrating my fuzzy brain.

An endless quiet stretched between us, no other sound capable of penetrating the crisp air.

Seconds, maybe minutes passed.

“Who are you?” I managed.

“Your savior.”

The words jogged something inside of me, a deep-seated need to survive. There were few choices, few options for protection or safety. So I did the only thing I could do.

I ran.

CHAPTER 2

Jessica

Darkness.

Fear.

The rush of adrenaline.

Anger.

Every emotion roiled inside of me, churning in my gut as I raced through the forest. Tree limbs slapped against my face, debris almost making me stumble more than once. But I refused to be that girl, the stupid one in the movie that was killed first. I was better than that. Stronger. Faster.

I could outrun him.

Then what? What are you going to do?

Go to the police. Yes, that’s what I had to do.

Hope drowned out fear, but only for a split second. He would never allow me to escape.

Panting, I tried to get my bearings, but the darkness was too thick, my mind still processing the killing. I’d never seen anything so gory. So easy. The monster had no issue with the horrible deed. Images of the arc with the knife, the steel blade coming down slammed hard against every synapse.

Run. Run.Run!

That was all that mattered. To get as far away from the monster as possible. Another tree limb snapped against my face, the pain biting. A scream erupted from my throat, but the agonizing sound was short lived.

The predator caught my hair, yanking me painfully with a brutal jerk. A wave of agony tore through me just before my back was slammed against a tree. Suddenly, he was there. The bad man. The monster.

My savior.

This couldn’t be real.

But it also wasn’t a virtual moment. I knew by the savage way he was holding my hair. He was extremely strong, enough so he could rip the strands from my scalp with ease. Even worse, he could use the same sharp blade to end my life before it had even begun.

He took a deep breath while wrapping his arm around my throat, pushing the tip of his thumb just under my chin. The eerie glow from his mask was the only light, the denseness of the trees’ canopies blocking the almost full moon. If he was trying to intimidate me, it was working.

The stranger tipped his head to the side, obviously studying me, maybe deciding what he would do with me. I’d seen the crime. I’d witnessed the brutality.

All I could hear was the rapid thudding of my heart, but he was calm, completely collected.

“You shouldn’t have left,” the bastard told me.

“Why? Did you want me to stick around while you murdered another innocent person?”

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