1.

Higgins hears the deer approaching. A buck – five-pointer at least. He spent enough time canvassing the Allegheny’s to know the difference between the dainty sound of a doe and the lumbering sound a buck. But he can’t do anything about it, except hope the deer continues on into the shallow woods.

Higgins clears his throat to whisper into the headset, but Whitney’s voice crackles through his ear-piece before he has the chance.

We see him, Whitney says. (more…)

CHAPTER ONE

“Wait for me…”

The thought touched briefly in Jason’s mind and he looked up at the blazing sun. Who had said that? And when? Just as quickly, the thought was gone and he looked down at the road again, his feet scraping against the concrete. It hurt to move. The sun was too hot against his sunburned skin and his eyes felt too dry. Two days ago someone had shot him-not too bad, just a scratch against his leg, but a small cloud of flies were starting to gather around the wound, irritating the skin. He wanted to brush them away, but most of the time he couldn’t communicate the simple thought to his brain. Part of him wanted to sit down and do nothing, but hunger kept his legs moving shakily forwards.  (more…)

Josiah smelled the stinker as he was building a house of cards to stave off boredom.  He froze, considering his options. Papaw always told him, ‘Measure twice, cut once. You can’t put four more inches back on the board if it’s too short.’  The black-out curtains on the windows of their hidey-hole were down (he had checked them earlier, something he did obsessively). With the curtains down at this time of night, the second floor section of the old factory they called home would be literally pitch black. He didn’t know how much stinkers depended on sight, but he’d take any scrap of an advantage he could get. (more…)

“Alright,” you think. “That should be enough.”

You have been banging on the air conditioning unit on top of the rooftop of the store for some twenty minutes now. Although you look at your now-dented aluminum bat with some regret, you remind yourself that if this works it will be well worth it. (more…)