The Lynnie Russell Trilogy Read Online Free PDF Page B

scooped me up from the chilled earth. I could hear him talking to me but I couldn’t figure out what he was saying. It sounded like he was talking under water. He moved quickly with me hanging over his forearms.
     
    “Miss? Miss? Talk to me honey. You hurt?” He was breathing real heavy into my face while he trotted through the woods. “What the hell happened here?” He asked himself.
     
    He laid me down on the cold steal of the bed of his truck. I was so cold. I heard him talking over a crackling radio.
     
    “I got her. I got her,” he said loudly with short breaths.
     
    My eyes were wide, I could see everything. I just couldn’t make myself do anything about it. The man that had carried me away from the mess was a deputy, handsome and middle-aged. The sweet thing pulled a blanket out of the cab of his truck and wrapped me in it. Until then, I’d not even cared that I was naked.
     
    It seemed like only seconds passed before the sirens were coming. They were coming. The State Police, the Sheriff, my mama, and my brother. I cried hard and loud. It was the first noise I had made since the deputy came. He jumped and came running to me in the bed of his truck.
     
    “Talk to me honey. You ok?” He said very sweetly.
     
    “No,” I sobbed out. My body shook with every breath I pulled into my lungs.
     
    “It’s gon’ be a’ight. You’re a lucky girl. Lucky your brother knows you good enough to know you’d be all the way out here.” He ran his hand over my head.  It hurt real bad when he did that.
     
    The sirens stopped and the crunch of more police cars and trucks started up. I could hear doors opening and slamming shut. More heavy boots and a chorus of crackling radios. They were all talking to each other. It was so loud I wanted to scream. The police cars were all parked at least a hundred feet away and all the men in uniform and big brimmed hats stood around the edge of the lake. No one was crowding me or yapping their mouths right over my head. But I could hear them like they were standing on the tailgate. I sat up all the way and looked around. The sun was shining so bright I had to squint my eyes half shut just to see right. We were far enough away from the fire pit that I couldn’t see Rusty or the woman. Parked right were we had left it was Rusty’s old truck. The police cars were all parked around it, but not close. One of the officers was winding yellow tape around trees to block off Rusty’s truck. The clearing where the bodies were was already taped off. I couldn’t see the bodies but I could smell the death from where I was sitting in the bed of the deputy’s truck. The trees got real thick just after Rusty’s truck, with no way a vehicle could squeeze through, so all the officers had to walk deeper into the woods to see the carnage. I was surprised that the deputy actually found me when he did. Maybe he smelled the death too.
     
    A Logan County deputy noticed I was sitting up and came rushing to me. He brought a heavy coat with him. Without saying a word he wrapped the coat around my shoulders and helped me off the end of the tailgate. We walked together to the ambulance that was waiting just a spell from where the action was. The young deputy smiled at me and held my hand while the paramedics looked me over. Everyone was treating me like the victim. They all thought I was a survivor. No one knew I was the monster.
     
    One of the paramedics said I had a high fever. Said I was probably in shock. They laid me down on the bed in the back of the ambulance and strapped me in. I still hadn’t spoken to anyone. No one talked to me either. One of the paramedics, a woman, poked a needle into my arm and set up a bag of something to flow into my body. She said it was fluids. I let them do their work. My mind was running wild and standing still at the same time. Flashes of memories, fears, and sorrow, flowed into my head in waves. I was staring at the ceiling of the ambulance when I heard a