The Deepest Red Read Online Free PDF

firmly.
    “Don’t move, just stay where you are so it can see you. We need to keep it distracted.”
    He doesn’t say another word. When I begin to ask why I’m cut off by a horrible scream. I turn my attention back to the man to find Clover kneeling on the ground behind him. The knife that was strapped to her back, now gleaming with rustic brown blood. The thick liquid slowly drips from the blade’s jagged edge. She must have been in a tree this whole time waiting for the injured man to drag himself by.
    The mangled stranger’s body tilts forward. I realize then that she didn’t gash the back of his calves but in fact went straight through them, right below his knees- severing the limbs. His body topples off the now separated legs. Connor takes action with a practiced grace, rushing toward Clover and the now screaming victim.
    The man’s strange screams echo through my ears. The sound is sharp, piercing my eardrums and sending a state of shock throughout my soul. I gape at how skillful Connor is when he attacks. I can tell he has had plenty of practice using these life ending techniques. With a start, I understand now that he was going easy on me earlier. He moves so flawless and oddly artful but I don’t stick around to witness the final strike. I spin sharply, away from the scene and run. I race hurriedly toward where I believe the creek to be. I run as deliberately and as silently as I can. I run with a terror that has lodged itself in my heart and doesn’t seem to go away. I don’t see the final blow to whatever that creature was behind me. I only hear the last sick slice of the blade and listen to the silence of his screams.
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
    Chapter Three
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
    I feel the breeze on my face as I sprint. My eyes are wet either from the force of the wind or from my tears, I’m not certain which. As I run my body relaxes into a steady pace. I always enjoyed jogging the fences of the prison so running the distance back to Tom doesn’t bother me much.
    I try to stay alert and discover my now beloved pine cones that tell me the way back to Tom’s familiar face. I am exhausted when I finally reach the creek but I take comfort in the fact my supply bag is still on my back and my knife in hand.
    Before I step out into the open, I study the surrounding area- venturing to distinguish anything that might be strange. Nothing seems off but I still wait in silence for long moments. The full moon lights up the creek so that I see the bottom of Old Tom’s shoes sticking out of the embankment across the water.
    I whisper out into the open space , “Tom?” His shoes start to wiggle as he sits up looking in the direction in which my voice came.
    “It’s about damn time you show up. I thought I was going to die alone out here in the woods.” His gravel voice calls out into the darkness.
    I roll my eyes at the statement, sorry that with the lack of light he can’t witness me doing so. I quickly step out from behind a big pine tree and walk toward him. A few large jumps across the flat stones protruding out of the creek’s stream and I’m climbing up the embankment to his side.
    Tom appears a little paler in the face than before. After I set his broken leg he had passed out on the dirt for awhile. I took that time to dig his trench and hope he woke up long enough for me to tell him I was going out for supplies. He didn’t want me to go at first but what could he really do; Staying off his leg was important and I was as capable as any.
    I step beside the trench and reach down to grab his extended hand.
    “I didn’t think you were coming back.” He pauses. “I’d just about decided in the morning, I would hop off toward the prison, leg be damn,” he says looking up