The Dead List Read Online Free Page A

thick shadows between the cars.
    I saw nothing.
    Seconds past and I didn’t dare move or breathe too loudly. My ears strained to hear the footsteps, but there was nothing but the low hum of insects that came out at night. What if there really was a Big Foot? Or a chupacabra?
    Or a giant, flesh eating stinkbug?
    Now I was just being stupid.
    No one was out here. It was just another case of Ella’s Overactive Imagination. Instead of planning on attending college for a law degree, I should major in creative writing. The way I could creep myself out over something so harmless, I could be the low rent version of Stephen King or something.
    Laughing softly, I turned back to my car and reached for the door handle. The tips of my fingers brushed over the metal just as a rush of warm air stirred the hair next to my temple.
    That was the only warning.
    Every instinct in my body flared alive, screaming out a warning, but it was too late. A hand smacked down on my mouth. Jerking back suddenly, my keys slipped from my fingers, clanging off the road.
    My brain grinded to a halt, unable to process what was happening. In the next second, my feet were off the ground and space was increasing between my car and me. I was being hauled away—carried backward.
    Horror seized my insides in an icy grip, snapping me out of my shock-induced immobility. Instinct roared back online. Heart pounding double fast, I struggled against the hold, throwing my weight forward and then back again, trying to dislodge the arm that felt like a steel band under my chest.
    The attacker grunted, but held on. Panic rose inside me like a great wave crashing over a beach. I clawed at the hand over my mouth, but my fingernails only scratched over rough gloves. Air puffed out from my nose in short, wheezy wisps.
    This isn’t happening. Oh my God, this isn’t happening.
    I swung my arm back, desperately trying to make purchase, but I was hitting nothing, only air. My car was several feet away from me now, the woods close at our backs. Deep down, in a part of my brain that was still functioning beyond the terror, I knew that if he got me in the woods it would be bad—real bad on a stranger danger kind of level.
    Not knowing how to fight or defend myself, the panic took full hold. Kicking out my legs, I lost my sandals, but the sudden movement caused the attacker to stumble. I threw my legs out again and his footing slipped on the embankment.
    We went down in a tangle of legs and arms. I hit the ground hard, knocking the air out of my lungs. Survival had full hold on me. Ignoring the spark of pain in my ribs, I rolled onto my knees, scrambling up the small slope. My toes dug into the damp earth, kicking up grass and soil.
    A scream burst out of my mouth, breaking the silence. Birds took flight, their wings beating together as the rattled the thick tree limbs above me. My feet hit the warm asphalt as another scream tore out of me.
    “Help!” I shrieked into the empty road. “Someone, help—”
    Weight crashed into my back, forcing me down. My knees and palms skidded across the coarse road, ripping open skin. The fiery lick of pain was overshadowed by the swelling terror.
    My cry ended in a grunt as something slammed into my lower back, stunning me. Arms giving out, my cheek smashed against the pavement. Flipped roughly onto my back, I found myself staring up into a face shadowed by a dark hood. The glint of a zipper reflected briefly, but there was nothing under the hood it seemed, nothing but darkness.
    I immediately flailed under his weight, buckling my hips and trying to force him off, but strong legs pressed down on either side of mine, trapping them together as hands wrapped around my throat, cutting off my scream. I’d lost my next breath before I even realized I’d taken my last.
    I opened my mouth to drag in oxygen, but nothing flowed in my parted lips. Nothing. Not a wisp of anything. The pressure increased, bruising. I could feel the muscles and bones in my