The Stalker Read Online Free PDF

alllistened to the pouring rain, waiting for the gunfire to start again.
    “Oh, god,” said Liz. “Now we really are trapped. We can’t get off the island.”
    Sam’s voice rose in alarm. “He shot holes in our kayaks, and now he’s going to kill us, like he killed that tourist!”
    “We can’t afford to panic,” I said. “So far he seems more intent on scaring us than killing us.”
    “What are we going to do?” said Gerald.
    “What can we do?” Liz said. “We wait this guy out. And we wait this storm out.” She pointed at the shallow caves in the cliff wall on either side of us. “We can hide here.”
    “At least that way he’ll have to show his face if he plans to kill us,” said Sam. She was right. The cliff was a natural fortress. The stalker would have to stand on shore or climb up the rocks below us if he intended to shoot us. We would see him coming.
    “All right,” I said, taking charge. “Each of these caves is big enough for only one of us, so I’ll give you each a cave.”
    “I’m not going into a cave with a body,” said Sam.
    “There are several here without remains,” I said. “Stay in there, keep your head low. We’ll just wait it out, like Liz says. As soon as the storm lets up and our phones work, I’ll call for help.”
    I led Sam and Gerald along the cave face under the overhang. I chose caves for each of them that had boulders in front of them. These rocks would provide at least some protection if the gunman decided to fire directly at us. Gerald’s cave was little more than a shallow dent in the rock face. But it was fairly dry, and it held nothing for him to steal.
    When Gerald saw the cave was empty, he backed out and said, far too loudly, “But I want to see the other burial caves.”
    I pushed him into his cave. I feared that the stalker might take another shot at him for that one. “Look, asshole,” I said. “You dragged us here and got us shot at. For your own safety, you will shut up and do what I say for the rest of the trip. Understand?”
    As Gerald nodded, rain dripped from his hair. “I understand.”
    Sam, listening from her own cave, began to clap. Quietly at first, then in real applause.
    That night, I kept watch from my little cave. My jackknife stayed in my hand, open and ready. The rain didn’t let up. The wind howled eerily across the mouths of the burial caves above and around us. Sometime in the night, I heard footsteps outside my cave. My heart beating hard in my chest, I sat up too quickly and jabbed myself in the shoulder with my own knife. I pressed my hand against the small wound, feeling the blood slick on my fingers. “Who’s there?” I said. “I can hear you.”
    “It’s just me.” Liz appeared in the cave entrance. She carried the tiny flashlight she kept in her dry suit. Her hair was completely wet from the rain. She looked helpless, beautiful.
    “Can I double up with you tonight?” she asked. When I didn’t answer immediately, she said, “I’m not here for that .”
    “I didn’t think you were.”
    “I’m just so scared and cold.”
    I closed up the jackknife and shifted over to give her room. The cave was barely big enough for one person, let alone two. We had to lie curled up together on our sides to fit. Liz laywith her back to me. She smelled clean, of Ivory soap and rain. I liked her for that.
    “You can feel the spirits of the dead all around us,” Liz said. “The stalker is right. We don’t belong here. What are we doing bringing tourists to these graveyards?”
    “We don’t know for sure the gunman is from the band,” I said. “The guy could be your ex, for all we know.”
    “Thanks for that cheerful thought,” she said.
    “I’m sorry,” I said. “Being trapped here is frightening for all of us, but it must be so much more terrifying for you. You went through all this before, with your ex-husband.”
    “He didn’t try to shoot me.”
    “But I get the idea that he threatened you.”
    “Yes,