Bonechiller Read Online Free Page A

it.
    The night is dead quiet. No wind, no rustle of tree branches. Nothing but the thud of my pulse in my eardrums. The shadow has melted into the dark again.
    I look at the wall of the ditch. How fast can I climb it?And what’s going to be waiting for me up there when I get out?
    But I have to try. Or I’m dead meat.
    I push up on my elbows, about to make my move.
    Then the light is blocked out by a huge form leaping into the ditch.
    The ground shudders under me when it lands.
    What I’m seeing can’t be real.
    It’s on all fours—but its shape is almost
human
. The thick trunks of its arms rise to hugely muscled shoulders. There’s a torso and rib cage wide as a horse’s, ending in legs that are flexing now, ready to pounce.
    The air is electric. Every hair on my body is standing straight.
    What gives it even more of a human look is its bald
skin
. No fur. Ghost-pale, like something that’s never seen the sun.
    It moves toward me. I scramble backward on my butt, scratching my palms on the branches and trash frozen in the mud.
    With one step the beast closes the distance.
    I freeze, propped on my elbows, staring up at its head looming over me.
    Not human, but some twisted freak-show nightmare. The face is deformed, like a reflection in a warped mirror, with the nose pinched tight into two long slits, and the mouth stretched so wide its edges touch the flattened bony curves of the ears. There’s a broad hump of a forehead, and jutting brows above the eyes.
    And the eyes. Nowhere near human. They gleam silverin the weak light from the road above. Like perfect round mirrors, they bulge from under the brows, the size of softballs in that huge white head.
    My gut twists, the breath shivering out of me.
    It sniffs at me, steam trailing from the nostril slits, then rises up on its back legs to its full height.
    As it towers over me, its wide mouth opens with a roar that flattens me. Just when I think my eardrums are going to rupture, it cuts off.
    Holding my hands up, I press my spine deeper into the muck.
    The beast falls back down on all fours, making the ground quake.
    This is not happening. Not real.
    It lowers its head, and I see reflections of myself in those silver eyes, tiny as an insect.
    That mouth gapes open. And I see the teeth.
    Gleaming rows of eight-inch teeth, like long, thin blades. Those vicious jaws stretch farther apart, showing more, row after row of curved white blades reaching all the way down into its throat.
    My arms are frozen in place, hands held up to shield me. Can’t shut my eyes. Can’t even blink.
    A tongue emerges from the mass of teeth, like an albino eel. It stretches all the way out of the mouth and hangs above me. On its tip is what looks like a scorpion’s stinger.
    In a whipping blur the tongue stabs the back of my hand with that stinger, so deep it feels like it’s going to come right through my palm.
    A jolt of pain shoots up my arm and into my chest, a hundred icy needles jabbing into my heart.
    I see a blinding flash of white light.
    Then deepest black.
    My eyes open on nothing. I blink them wide, straining to see. I try moving my head, wincing as a jolt of pain pierces my skull.
    But past the pain, I see something now. The sliver of a crescent moon hangs above me, white as a tooth. I make out walls of earth on both sides of me, stretching up a good eight feet.
    A grave! I’m in a grave, waiting to be buried. I’m dead!
    I hyperventilate puffs of steam into the night air. Then my breath catches in my throat.
    Wait! I’m still breathing. The frosty air smells like dead leaves and dirt.
    Slow and aching, I sit up. I see more light now, shining down from the post on the road.
    In a rush, everything comes back.
    I crawl onto my knees and do a quick scan of the ditch. I’m alone. Somehow I manage to get to my feet.
    I brace myself with a few deep breaths, then stumble over to the wall of the ditch. I search the shadows for a handhold, find a cluster of roots and climb up. I