A New Fear Read Online Free Page A

rock.
    Nora began running again.
    Faster.
    I have to run faster. I have to save Nicholas. I will not let the evil touch him. I will not let the fire burn him.
    She darted down the stairs, shoving people aside. Doctors and nurses yelled orders. They did not notice Nora.
    A man grabbed the hem of her shift. She heard the material rip as she jerked free and continued to run.
    Her eyes stung. The hot air scorched her lungs as she breathed.
    Her heart pounded. Her ears rang. Her throat grew dry.
    We have to escape, she thought, as she forced her blistered feet down the final flight of stairs. We will escape. We will.
    She ran out the front door. Out into the night.
    Screeching sirens and clanging bells greeted her. Behind her people screamed, the fire roared, the building began to crumble.
    Nora did not pause to catch her breath. She darted across the lawn. The cool grass eased the pain in her feet.
    When she reached the safety of the bushes, she crouched and watched the insane asylum burn.
    I am free, Nora thought. She could hardly believe it.
    What should I do now? Hide. I need a better place to hide. Then I can make plans. Find a way to get out of Shadyside without being seen.
    She trailed her fingers along her son’s soft cheek. “We must go where no one knows us, Nicholas,” she whispered. “We must find a town where no one has ever heard of the Fear family. We must go far, far away.”
    She looked one last time at the asylum. She could see the window to her room. The bars did not seem so frightening from the outside.
    The glass burst out of the window. Like long arms, flames reached out for the nearby trees.
    Nora saw Daniel standing at the window. Staring down at them.
    “We must go, Nicholas. We must go now. Goodbye, Daniel.”
    Nora struggled to her feet. Cradling her infant son, she staggered away from the asylum and stumbled toward the unknown.

Chapter 6

    S hivering, Nora curled around Nicholas. She felt the warmth from his tiny body as he nestled against her chest. They had taken refuge in the hold of a ship. It held no warmth. It had no fire.
    Nora’s fingers felt like icicles, frozen and stiff. She was afraid she would wake Nicholas if she touched him with her cold hands.
    She knew he was hungry. Just as she was. There had been no time to gather food as they ran from the asylum. No time to think about how they would survive alone, with only each other. She had only cared about escape.
    They had traveled through the night. Avoiding the main roads and people, they slowly made their way to the docks in a neighboring town.
    With the early-morning fog draped over the land, Nora sneaked aboard the ship. She did not know itsdestination. She did not care. The ship would take them away. That was enough.
    She felt the movement of the boat and heard it scrape against the dock as it headed to sea.
    Nora gazed down at her son. Nicholas slept peacefully in a wooden crate lined with some old flour sacks.
    Nora’s eyelids grew heavy. I must not sleep, she chided herself.
    She rubbed her puffy eyes. Her eyes stung when she closed them. They burned when she opened them wide.
    I must keep watch, she reminded herself. If I do not, they will come. They move quickly. Even in the darkness, I can feel their tiny beady eyes watching us from the rafters above.
    She shuddered. If I close my eyes for a moment, they will attack.
    The ship groaned with the motion of the sea. Concentrate on the noises, Nora told herself. Anything to stay awake.
    She listened to the footsteps of the sailors overhead as they worked.
    The wind whistling across the sea.
    The scrabble of tiny feet.
    They are moving closer, Nora thought.
    Nora peered into the blackness surrounding her. She couldn’t see anything.
    She felt exhausted. Her body ached.
    The skittering of sharp little claws grew louder.
    They were coming.
    But Nora was too tired. Too tired to worry.
    A long, cold, hairless tail brushed along her cheek.
    The rats had arrived.
    Nora bit back a