Sara Read Online Free PDF

ribs. Her lungs filled cleanly with cold air and no bubbles appeared in the wound. Good! That meant that her lung was not punctured.
                  While still holding her breast out of the way, Sara used her pinky finger to probe the knife wound in her chest. The knife had entered just under her right breast and was luckily deflected by her ribs. The blade had torn muscle from the rib-cage and finally exited near her right arm-pit. It was a deep purple mass of mottled tissue and clots, but not life threatening at this time. It needed to be cleaned soon. Flies were already being drawn to the smell of the dying flesh.
                  A twig snapped to her right and wrenched Sara from her evaluation. Fear flooded her senses as adrenaline dumped into her system and she physically began to shake. The solitude of the rain soaked forest closed in and threatened to smother her with its isolation. Sara had always felt at peace in the mountains; felt a part of the forest, teaming with life and rugged beauty. At present, she only felt seclusion. The mountains were now a place where men could bring a young woman and do unspeakable things without recourse. A place where no help would arrive and death seemed to stalk in every shadow.
                  Her breath came in short puffs as she waited for the two men to emerge from the tree-line where the trail disappeared downhill. She used her good hand to search for any weapon and came up with a jagged piece of white quartz. Her ribs screamed in agony. Her eyes watered, and for the first time since she had awaken, she felt her naked vulnerability under the cold rain.
                  A twig snapped again. Sara could do nothing but sit, frozen in place, shaking violently, staring toward the shadows from which the disturbance originated. She saw his legs first. Gray pants, dirty knees, dark shirt. No, maybe it was a fur coat.
                  A six-point buck stepped from the gloom and looked past Sara as if she wasn’t there. He was looking for three does which had remained in the trees and skirted the clearing where Sara sat. The mule deer lowered his rack and grazed on green grass near the trail.
                  Sara slowly released the breath she had been holding and lowered the jagged quartz to the ground, relieved in the knowledge that if the deer were here, then the men obviously weren’t.
                  The buck raised his head at the sound of the rock striking the ground and bolted when he saw the half-naked girl sitting in the shallow hole.
                  The flurry of action startled Sara. When the buck and three does finally disappeared, she was once again left to the soft rain and shallow grave. She looked around the clearing one last time. She had to leave this place. She knew the men who had raped and tried to murder her would return to finish the job.

 
     
     
    six

     
    Mike Haller actually smiled when he drove into the small town of Ranch Springs, Colorado. The welcome sign proudly announced a population of 1149 and presented the town’s motto, “Under God’s Gracious Sky,” in elaborate painted script.
                  Mike pulled into the dirt parking lot of a small general store and café and climbed from his car into the crisp mountain air. Looking toward the sky, he noted the gray clouds that covered most of the peaks of the Rocky Mountains. Rain’s coming, he thought to himself. The soft smell of wood-smoke reminded Mike of home and the fatigue from a long night without sleep washed away on the song of a male robin, sitting in a nearby Conifer. He straightened his wrinkled uniform, entered the store and found an older woman behind the counter, putting away a stock of cigarettes and tins of chewing tobacco.
                  Feeling Mike’s presence, the woman turned. “Hello, hun,” she greeted in a familiar tone. “Are you here for