Goblins Read Online Free Page A

he worked feverishly with his hands to get through the brush. Vines and branches were snapped, weeds and bushes trampled and uprooted as he pumped his arms and legs.
    He wanted to glance over his shoulder, see what was chasing him. But he was too terrified. It would do him no good. To look back would be to slow down and he wasn’t about to do that.
    The odor of rot and putrefaction fell over him. He worked harder, feeling his flesh rip and tear as vegetation bit into him. He cried out, feeling as if he was about to die. With one last push, he burst through the tree line and onto open field. He stumbled and fell forward. He looked back and saw nothing but forest, then got to his feet and hurried to the fence. He didn’t feel his pulled hamstring until he landed on the opposite side of it. The pain was sharp, but he would worry about it later.
    He felt safe now with the eyes of others upon him, but his fear for Jacob was as present as ever. He jogged, wincing with every stride, up to the dugout where his assistant coach stood. He must’ve looked terrible because all the kids stared at him and were silent, their faces masks of concern.
    â€œWhat the hell is going on?” the assistant coach asked.
    The coach glanced back at the woods, half expecting to see some kind of wild animal running around with Jacob’s body dangling from its maw. He faced his assistant coach and said, “Call the police. I think something’s happened to Jacob.”

Chapter Three
    Every member of the Manteo Police force and Dare County Sheriff’s Department were out looking for Jacob Brown. Friends and neighbors joined in the search. Marcus Hale, Manteo’s chief of police, went to the scene as soon as the call came in. An Amber Alert went out. The Manns Harbor Bridge, Virginia Dare Memorial Bridge and Washington Baum Bridge—the three bridges that led to and from the island—were monitored. Vehicles were stopped and checked. The airport and numerous marinas were put on alert as well. Chief Hale wasn’t taking any chances. Roanoke was an island, and he was going to do his damnedest to lock it up.
    Roanoke Island was a small community. Many of its residents knew each other, whether from Manteo or Wanchese. Everyone seemed to come together in times of crisis, like when Mary Pritchard’s mother, ailing from Alzheimer’s, wound up taking a walk without her daughter’s knowledge and was found down by the Olson’s Marina. It seemed half the town had gone looking for the old woman. And whenever there was a fundraiser or picnic or town event, people pitched in to help. It was one of the reasons Hale had come to the island from Chicago, but not the main one. There were plenty of outsiders that visited the island for vacation, mostly families, but crime and the bad element were everywhere these days. Hale had thought he’d left the worst of it behind when he left the Windy City, but recent events might prove that wrong. He never thought he’d have to deal with child abduction on Roanoke Island.
    When he’d first arrived at the scene and before entering the woods, he imagined the whole thing was a misunderstanding, a prank. Maybe the entire team was in on it, and once he arrived, the boys would come clean. But when he saw the coach’s face and the faces of the other kids, he knew, if it was a prank, no one else was in on it.
    The coach took him into the woods and to the scene of what he called the struggle. Officers Keller and Levy had arrived by then and were tagging along.
    Hale felt like he’d stepped on an exposed electrical wire when he saw the disturbed forest area. There had definitely been a struggle, as the coach had suggested. Branches had been snapped and were hanging from larger limbs. Low growing flora was trampled and the ground was showing, the dirt scuffed up and fresh. As Hale surveyed the scene, he noticed a snot-green colored fluid about the scene, and then he saw