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over a shovel that she had left lying on the ground from her mucking duties earlier in the day.  Falling forward, Ava landed on both her hands and knees. 
    “Shit, shit, shit”, Ava muttered as she pushed herself up off the ground and wiped her dirty hands on the legs of her sweatpants. 
    Way to go Grace Kelly.  
    Grabbing the shovel, Ava stomped off along the side of the barn toward the house.  Being careful to watch where she walked, in case her stupidity had caused her to leave any other farming implements lying around, Ava reached the end of the barn.  From the corner of her right eye, she caught a bit of movement. 
    Bing!  Ava turned with a smile on her face although she fully intended to give him a little tongue lashing for making her work this hard to find him.  Instead, Ava came face to face with what she could only describe as a monster straight from a nightmare.
     
     

CHAPTER 3
     
    Blazing red eyes that radiated pure evil.  That was the first thing Ava noticed.  It was quickly obvious that this was not a human.  Whatever this thing was, it was tall and somewhat shaped like a man.  It had blotchy, gray skin and was completely bald.  The thing was reed thin, except for a pot belly.  Its arms were extremely long with its hands hanging almost to its knees.  And a dirty loincloth was the only thing that kept it from being termed totally “naked”.  Gross .    
    While it seemed like she stared at the creature for an eternity, it was probably no more than a second or two.  Just long enough for the loathsome thing to appraise her and issue a low, rumbling growl. 
    Ava didn’t hesitate. 
    She swung the shovel with all her might and smacked the thing in the head.  The creature fell to the ground.  Score one for the defenseless, female human.
    Her celebration was cut short.  While her smack job was good, Mr. Gray didn’t stay down and lurched up off the ground.  Once it was standing again, it swayed back and forth.  Ava took a bit of pride in the fact that she had hurt it.  Or maybe that was a hypnotizing pattern the monster employed before striking a death blow. 
    Regardless, a hard hit with a sharp shovel had not really phased Mr. Gray.  Not wanting to ponder the scenario further, Ava bolted back down the side of the barn toward the back door, thinking that at least she had her shovel as a weapon.  Maybe she could get in another lucky hit. 
    DAMN!
    Ava realized she had dropped the shovel, probably from shock, after she bashed Mr. Gray in the head. Oh, well.  She had to depend on swiftness of feet at this point. 
    Running as if her life depended on it, and she was most confident that it did, Ava rounded the back corner of the barn and slammed straight into a hard, muscled male body.  Ava involuntarily screamed but it was cut off as a hand came down over her mouth.  Thinking Mr. Gray brought a friend to this party, she immediately started punching, kicking and clawing like a wild hellcat.
    Keeping one hand over her mouth, her captor wrapped his other arm around her, pulling her tight to his chest.  This pinned her arms, stilling her frantic blows.  Then he leaned down and whispered to her.  “Hush and be still.  I’m here to help you.” 
    Whether it was the calmness of his voice, or the fact that her lifetime supply of adrenaline had been expended, Ava sagged in relief.  She nodded to indicate she understood and his arms released her. 
    She immediately took in the fact this man was very tall.  Easily taller than her father’s 6’5” frame.  He had light colored hair but she couldn’t tell the exact shade with just the ambient light from the back of the barn.  He wore his hair long, with varying lengths that brushed his shoulders.  Again, the lighting was not being very cooperative so she couldn’t tell the color of his eyes, but she felt them boring into her.  Then the stranger grabbed her hand and softly said, “Follow me.”
    Ava blindly followed, never once