Last to Die: A gripping psychological thriller not for the faint hearted Read Online Free

Last to Die: A gripping psychological thriller not for the faint hearted
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back?’
    She blinked at him and licked her lips a number of times.
    ‘Well, did you or not?’
    She nodded.
    ‘Yonder through those trees is a path of sorts. If you can find it you can follow it along ’til you reach a creek. Follow that, you might make it back to the bridge. You make it that far you might make it further and hit on a road.’
    She blinked, turned her head towards the trees, then back to him, disbelieving. Her throat glowed white in the gathering light.
    ‘Mister?’
    ‘I’m giving you a head start of five minutes. I suggest you make the most of it.’
    She shrank back against the truck. ‘You’ll hurt me if I run.’
    ‘I’ll hurt you if you don’t.’
    ‘I don’t want to die. Please mister, I don’t want to die.’
    ‘Then you best get moving.’
    She hesitated. He waited. They always hesitated.
    She looked this way and that, sizing up the situation, such as it was. He wondered what she thought was going to happen? Did she think it would be like the movies? The good guys would land in a helicopter and whisk her to safety? How come they never got it until the last second?
    Finally, she moved off, walking first, keeping one eye on him. Caleb stood perfectly still. At ten feet she began to run awkwardly over the rocky ground. She had not gone forty feet when she tripped and fell over. He watched her pick herself up and stumble on again.
    Category B, he thought, no doubt about it.
    When she finally reached the trees at the other side of the clearing, Caleb turned his face to the rising sun and counted down the minutes. This was why he rarely bothered hunting street trash. They had no real fight in them, no gumption. No will to survive.
    When the correct amount of time had lapsed, he fetched the rifle and the bow from behind his seat and set off after the girl.
    It was time to hunt.

3
    D arla Levine was prodding a broccoli and grated carrot salad with complete disinterest when the cell phone set on the dash of the Escalade trilled to life. She checked the number and groaned. It was the boss of the local ‘schutzhund’ association returning her call to arrange a photoshoot and short interview for the weekend edition of  The Rockville Gazette , the local newspaper for which Darla worked.
    Darla let the phone ring. She was supposed to be a busy reporter and busy reporters didn’t hover over their phones praying for a story to come to them.
    ‘You gonna answer that?’ Chippy Gomez reached for it with his grease-smeared hands.
    ‘Don’t touch that!’ Darla slapped his hand away and snatched up the phone.
    ‘Ow.’
    ‘What did I tell you about the phone?’
    ‘Let it ring.’
    ‘And?’
    ‘Don’t touch it.’
    ‘Right.’
    Chippy shook his hand and returned to his burger. The ringing stopped.
    ‘Shit,’ Darla said, staring at the message indicating a missed call.
    ‘You shoulda answered.’
    ‘Why don’t you mind your—’
    The phone began to ring again. This time Darla didn’t wait.
    ‘Darla Levine.’
    ‘This is Andrea Wilson.’
    ‘Mrs Wilson, great to hear from you!’ Darla sang in her professional phone voice.
    They exchanged pleasantries and got down to business. Darla forced herself to at least sound interested in what she was hearing, but it was hard work. Darla considered dumb men training dumb dogs as weapons to be spectacularly stupid, but her boss liked mutts and – inexplicably – schutzhund was becoming a popular pastime in Rockville. On any given Saturday, a person could find groups of grown men standing in fields, beating their padded arms, shrieking and threatening each other with sticks while German shepherds, rottweilers and Belgian Malinois strangled themselves into a foaming frenzy until their release, upon which they would sprint across the open ground and launch themselves at their padded assailant. If the dog took a man down the spectators whooped and hollered and clinked their beers together. Man’s best friend, the greatest penis extension ever
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