Final Scream by Lisa Jackson (49)

This was a stupid idea.

Make that a really stupid idea.

Bianca ran through the darkened forest with only a weak shaft of moonlight as her guide. She’d been a fool to agree to come here, in the middle of the night, lying to her parents, for what? Some sick kind of game in the woods? Frowning, she slapped away a mosquito as the heat of the summer simmered through the Bitterroots and the sounds of crickets was a low hum. Faintly from a distance she thought she heard the sound of voices, but then there was silence. Just the crickets. She decided to stick as closely to the trail as possible, that way she wouldn’t get lost.

At least she hoped so.

Up, up, up, she loped, the path dusty, rocks poking through the dry soil, a canopy of pine branches nearly destroying what there was of the moonlight. Why had she agreed to this, she wondered for about the millionth time as her legs began to ache.

The idea had been Maddy’s. Make that Madison Leona Averill, Bianca’s here-to-fore best friend. Well, after tonight, maybe she’d change all that. Maddy’s status was about to go down. Big time.

A branch slapped her in the face and she let out a yelp, then bit back any more noise as she didn’t want to be heard. That was the whole point of the game, an idiotic teenage version of Hide-And-Seek, up here at Reservoir Point. Again, it was dumb. She rubbed her cheek where the pine limb had hit her and swore under her breath. Her calves ached, her lungs had started to burn with her run up the hill.

She should never have come, she knew that now, but it was too late to back out. A group of kids from school had come up with the brainstorm of meeting at midnight at the lower parking lot of the wilderness that butted up to the Long property where Bianca’s stepfather worked as a manager. That was another problem. If Nate Santana ever got wind of the fact that Bianca was one of the kids who trespassed across the Long property to get to this spot, he would have a fit and probably ground her for life or something, that was if her mother didn’t kill her first.

Yeah, a bad idea.

She was reaching the highest point on the trail, where the path jogged around several massive trees, and she slowed a bit, catching her breath, glancing over her shoulder to the darkness below. For a second she was certain someone was following her, chasing her up this ridge, and her nerves pulled tight. Even though that was the whole point, that a random boy would “catch” her, it was scary. She didn’t know who was behind her. Or what. Her pursuer could be a moron of a teenager or it could be a deer or an elk. Maybe a mountain lion, even a bear. Crap, right now an innocent rabbit hopping through the underbrush was enough to scare her to death. Anything larger would give her a heart attack. Her nerves were strung that tight.

She swallowed hard and slowed, taking in deep breaths, feeling the forest close in on her. Cautiously, she looked over her shoulder, her gaze piercing the blackness. Was that a pair of eyes staring at her from beneath a nearby tree, or just her imagination?

Her insides went cold. She stopped breathing.

The eyes disappeared as if swallowed in the malevolent darkness.

Oh. God.

A twig snapped in the summer night.

She didn’t take the time to find out.

Bianca bolted.

Fear propelled her. Up the hillside, the sensation that she was being followed by something malevolent driving her upward. Her feet slipped a little and she pitched forward, caught her balance and kept moving. Ahead, the trail would crest on the ridge, then wind its way down the backside of the mountain. She’d end up in Desperation Flats, which wasn’t a lot better.

Did she hear footsteps? Heavy breathing?

Oh, Jesus.

She ran wildly, crazily, one foot in front of the other, panic gripping her, her breath coming in short gasps, her legs cramping, her damned lungs burning.

Upward ever still she raced, driving forward until her lungs felt as if they might explode and she came to a narrow spot where the trail twisted between two huge boulders. She flung herself against one. Certain a bloodthirsty demon were on her tail ready to leap out at her she turned to face the creature or lunatic or creep of a teenager only to find nothing but the still black night.

No footsteps pounded up the path, no labored breathing echoed through the night, no guttural sounds of a beast’s warning reached her ears.

She saw and heard nothing.

Which was weird. Less than an hour ago, there had been at least fifteen kids when they started the stupid game, maybe closer to twenty. Who counted? All she knew was that she was with a group of teenagers who had collected in the scrubby area that had once been a parking area for some of the Long family’s lumber business. Cars and trucks had been parked haphazardly over the sparsely strewn, weed-choked gravel, music pulsing from the speakers of Austin Reece’s car, a BMW, the only one in the mix of beaters, pickups and ancient SUVs. Kids had been hanging out in clusters, some drinking, more smoking, some toking it up from the sickly sweet scent of weed mingling with the more acrid scent of cigarettes. A low murmur of conversation punctuated by laughter had rumbled across the open area while silhouettes moved across the smoky beams of headlights from some of the vehicles. Red tips of cigarettes and the glow of cell phone screens indicated where others had been gathering.

Bianca knew some of the girls. Red-haired Kelsey Delaney had been in her English class and Seneca Martinez, who had been on the track team, lived just down the road from the little cottage in the woods where Bianca had grown up. They’d ridden the bus together all through grade school. But they weren’t close now.

Maddy had come to one of these parties before and her reason was simple: She hoped to hook up with TJ O’Hara. As if she had a chance.

Lara was definitely the “it” girl of Bianca’s class. And Teej, with his quick, killer smile, athletic body and sharp wit, was out of Maddy’s league, at least in his inflated opinion of himself. Bianca suspected Maddy knew she was being used, but didn’t care, or thought it was a way to make TJ fall in love with her.

While they’d hung out before the game had started, Maddy had barely shown interest in what Bianca had been saying and it wasn’t just because even then Bianca had second-guessed the idea of the party.

“I really should get back,” she’d said. “This doesn’t look good.”

“Stop being such a wuss.” Maddy’s fingers had still clutched her phone, her head moving slightly, her eyes squinting as she surveyed the group that had gathered.

“He’s over there. By Reece,” Bianca had whispered, hitching her chin to a clutch of boys passing around what appeared to be a bottle on the far side of Reece’s Beemer. With its parking lights giving off an unearthly golden light, a throbbing beat coming from its speakers, the silver car was the hub of the party. “He’s with Castillo and Demeritt,” Bianca had added. “Big surprise.” The other two were always hanging around Teej, hoping some of his popularity would rub off on them.

Finally Maddy had caught sight of TJ and the faintest of smiles had slid across her jaw.

“You know the idea is to run from him, right?” Bianca had said.

“Run, but not too fast.” Arching a brow, Maddy had slid Bianca a knowing glance and from that point on Bianca had realized she was on her own. The minute the girls took off into the woods at Reece’s command, “Go!” she’d lost sight of Maddy. It was as if her friend who had begged her to sneak out and join the others, had planned to ditch Bianca from the get-go.

Even now, Maddy was probably trying to hook up with Teej, that was if she wasn’t with him already.

But that didn’t explain why there were no others near - by. What was up with that?

In the parking lot, the “rules” of the game had been explained by Kywin Bell, a nineteen-year-old with a nearshaved head of blond hair, intense blue eyes. A couple of important inches shy of six feet, Kywin had one claim to fame. He, as a senior this past football season had scored the winning touchdown in the big game against their arch rivals by intercepting a pass and snaking his way to the end zone with two opposing players clinging to him but unable to bring him down.

That had been nearly a year ago. Kywin had since graduated, worked in a local feed store and still hung out with the younger kids. He kept saying he was going to college, but was waiting for the “right” offer to play ball, which was all BS, as most of the colleges Bianca knew about had already started practicing for the coming season. It was the end of August, for God’s sake.

Obviously Kywin was either a liar or self-deluded or both. Somehow he’d placed himself and Austin Reece in charge of the phones so that everyone was “cool” with the cells and keys being confiscated. Then, while the burning tip of a cigarette had bobbed from the corner of his mouth, Kywin told everyone that the girls were supposed to go “hide” and the boys would “seek.” That produced a snort of laughter from Austin. The object, Austin had interjected, was for the girls to elude their hunters by running, or hiding or using any trick they could. The two boys, tall, broad-shouldered Austin and all-bunched-muscle Kywin, had shared a knowing look that should have sent alarm bells ringing through Bianca’s brain. Reece had explained that the last girl who didn’t get caught was the big winner though Bianca didn’t know exactly what that girl might win. Kywin the bo-hunk hadn’t explained. Nor had any of the other idiot boys, most of whom she’d known since preschool, including TJ, who had, she hated to admit, turned out to be a real hottie, with a killer smile and dimples and flashing dark eyes all packed into a tightly muscled, soccer-player’s body.

Big deal. He was also one of the biggest egomaniacs in the school and his two sidekicks, Rod Demeritt and Joa - quin Castillo, weren’t much better.

After the girls had taken to the woods, a minute or so later the boys were let loose. All part of the plan. She’d heard the boys hollering, big feet thundering as they gave chase. It had been unnerving and energizing and scary as hell. For the first time in her life she’d felt like prey being stalked. Adrenaline had fueled her as she’d picked her way through a copse of saplings. All she’d known was that she didn’t want to get caught. As careful and silent as she’d moved, it had worked. For a while. Then she’d cautiously stepped around a clump of brush.

A meaty hand, slick with sweat, had clamped out of the umbra. She’d shrieked as Kywin had lunged out of the darkness.

“Got you, you little cop-kid-bitch! Now, you’re gonna git it!” There had been an evil, almost sexual tone to his deep voice, and she, quick as a cat, had managed to slip out of his thick-fingered grasp.

Heart drumming, she’d yanked back her arm and spun away from him, then taken off, cutting up the north face path that she’d hiked as a kid with her father.

“Hey! Wait. I got you!”

She’d ignored his outrage.

She was fast and sly and had quickly eluded him, but if that jackass caught up with her and tried to scare her again, she planned to nail him good by kicking him hard, right in the nuts. She only wished she had a pair of steeltoed boots to make it worth her while instead of her pink Nike running shoes.

Gulping in lungfuls of air she forced her heart rate to slow as she listened for any sounds from the others. No voices. No excited screeches of a girl being found. No laughter. No running footsteps. Not one damned sound other than her own breathing.

Weird.

Weird.

Aside from a hoot of an owl or the occasional riffle of air as a bat passed, the woods were silent. And dark.

What the hell was going on?

She considered the fact that this whole “game” might have been a setup. That she was being pranked, or hazed or whatever, that while she was running and trying to elude the boys, everyone had let her go off in the woods alone and now were partying somewhere else.

Leaving her alone.

Great.

Despite the heat rising from the forest floor, a chill slid down her spine.

Truth to tell, she wasn’t sure what to believe.

A darker voice inside her mind reminded her that she could be a target, that as a cop’s daughter she was looked upon with suspicion. Hadn’t her mother arrested Kywin Bell’s old man just a few months ago for some kind of domestic violence?

It would be just like that jerk-wad to turn this on her. Hadn’t he called her a “cop-kid-bitch”? Damn. And Reece, he was just bad news, the only son of a rich lawyer. Smart, surly and smug all rolled into one Princeton-bound golden boy. Ugh.

Even though she was sweating from her exertion and the heat, Bianca shivered, rubbed her arms and considered heading back down the hill. They were just boys, after all. Boys she knew.

Then she heard it.

A muffled sound.

Well, that would make sense.

Again, that would be a normal sound in this game.

And yet . . .

From the corner of her eye, she caught movement, a shadow darting. Then the rustle of dry leaves sounding like the warning from a coiled rattler ready to strike.

Her skin prickled.

The wind?

Not on this still, hot night.

Without another thought, she took off, willing herself up the final point of the hill, hearing the big snorting beast following after.

What the hell was it?

She wasn’t going to slow down to find out, as she crested the ridge, the trees parted and moonlight filtered from the sky. Breathing hard, she hazarded a quick glance over her shoulder and saw the creature, whatever it was still running, on hind legs, its eyes catching the weak light and seeming to glow. Man? Beast? God, the hairy thing had to be seven feet tall!

She let out a terrified scream and kept running.

But she wasn’t listening to the rational side of her mind, not when her heart was pounding double-time and all her instincts told her to run, get away, put as much distance as she could between her and the . . . the damned monster. Downward she ran, having to be more careful, sliding and slipping on the trail, trying to see the path as she heard the creature crashing through the underbrush. No longer was it being stealthy, content to surprise her. No. Now it was in full pursuit.

Oh, God, oh, God, oh, God!

Down, down, down!

Faster, faster . . . oh, Jesus. She stumbled. The toe of her sneaker caught beneath an exposed root. She pitched forward, her leg twisting.

Her arms flew out. Her knee wrenched as her foot became untangled and she hit the ground. Hard.

“Oof!” All the wind in her lungs came out in a rush.

Pain streaked from her shoulder, but she couldn’t stop moving, had to get away as the forest seemed to snare around her as the creature crashed through the underbrush.

“Damn it,” she muttered, forcing herself to her feet. Her leg ached, but she gritted her teeth and moved more slowly, not by design but because the pain prevented her from running all out. Limping slightly, she hurried along the path. Batting away branches, listening hard, she eased downward.

She eyed the surrounding copse of trees, the shadowy hillside, the unknown. Could she risk it? Biting her lip she strained to hear. Was the thing closer? Had it given up? Was it even now waiting further down the hill, ready to leap out at her? If only she had her damned phone! She could call or text, use her GPS to find out where she was or get hold of someone to help her, even if she had to call her older brother and listen to him read her the riot act. It didn’t matter.

For now, she stuck to the path. She figured she was more than halfway down the hillside. Once she reached the bottom, she’d follow the creek knowing that it would lead back to the Long property. From there, given enough moonlight, she could make her way home and hopefully sneak back into the house.

She heard a growl behind her and jumped, scrambling faster, losing her footing on the gravel again.

“Shit.”

Down she went, her feet sliding out from under her as she began to roll down the hillside, the world dark and spinning. Scrabbling to grab hold of anything solid, she tumbled over rocks and twigs and pine cones that scraped and cut her bare arms and legs. She couldn’t help the cry that escaped her as she wildly grasped for grass or roots or shrubbery, something that would slow her plummet. Her heart was thudding, her mind spinning, her fingers bleeding, nails splitting as she clawed into the dry earth.

Until she landed, at the bottom of the hill, in the nearly dry creek bed where a thin sliver of cool water slipped over the exposed rocks.

Get up! Get moving. Her mind was screaming at her, but she was dizzy and woozy, her body aching, bruises, she felt, were forming as she gazed upward to the stars far, far away, winking in the heavens. A thin veil of clouds scudded across the moon. The vision of the heavens was surreal, a balm over her pain.

Her mind was screaming at her, yelling at her to get her battered body moving again. Water splashed against her legs and torso. With an effort she lifted her head, pain searing through her brain. Oh, God, was she seriously hurt? She squinted into the surrounding scrub brush and trees as she moved her arms and legs.

She saw nothing. No huge, towering beast. Heard not a whisper.

Thank God.

But the others? Maddy . . .

She listened again, her ears straining, all her senses on alert. She noticed a weird rotting smell. A skunk spray?

Struggling, she rolled over, found a rock or limb or whatever to push herself upright when she felt that branch give a little. She gripped harder and realized that she wasn’t holding onto a limb at all. It was too soft. Almost mushy with a hard core. And . . . oh, God, as her mind cleared, she realized the stink was something awful, not a skunk smell at all, more like the odor of something dead.

She recoiled. Backed up. Scrambling and sliding away from whatever it was, the trickle of water cold on her buttocks, she stared at the dark mass lying across the creek bed.

What the hell?

The thin wisps of clouds moved, moonlight shined along the silvery stream, Bianca’s head cleared and she found herself staring at a corpse. Decomposing, flesh rotting, bones exposed to the scant moonlight, the dead woman lay face up in the ravine. Pale hair floated around a skull in the slowly moving water, teeth were exposed, no lips to hide them and black holes where once her eyes had been drilled deep into her skull.

Oh. Jesus. No!

Bianca threw herself to her feet, and running along the creek, she let out a scream loud enough to wake the dead.