Total pages in book: 29
Estimated words: 27296 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 136(@200wpm)___ 109(@250wpm)___ 91(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 27296 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 136(@200wpm)___ 109(@250wpm)___ 91(@300wpm)
Trudy appeared by her side and took her firmly by the arm. “Sit down, dear.” She guided Kaliah back into her seat. “Just let the tea do its work. I’ll take care of these plates.”
“Let the tea woooork…whaaat ddoo you mean?” Kaliah’s words slurred. Her tongue began to tingle and her vision blurred.
Trudy stroked the back of Kaliah’s head. “I told you it’s my special blend, something to help you to relax. You know, when you said you wanted to stay at Serenity Falls for a bit, that made me so happy. Not many outsiders appreciate the beauty of this place. Although most of them don’t last very long either. But I have a good feeling about you.”
Her heart sped up and a moment of clarity reached her. “You…put some…thing in the tea.”
Trudy continued to stroke her head almost like she was a much loved pet. Kaliah tried to flinch away but her body had grown heavy and she couldn’t lift her limbs. She wanted nothing more than to lay her head down on the table.
What was happening? Why had Trudy drugged her? She seemed so nice.
“Of course I did. You’ll need your rest for tomorrow night. I want to give you a fighting chance after all.”
“Fi…fighting…chance?”
“Yes, dear. For tomorrow’s hunt. You mentioned you and the other ladies attending some Halloween festival. Well, lucky for you, we have our own Halloween celebration. Some call it a rabbit hunt. Others call it the meat market but either way, it’s a big town event. I can’t say the same about those other ladies you were with but I’m rooting for you, dear.”
Bright spots danced before her eyes as the lights went dim and her thoughts melted together. As she slumped in her chair and closed her eyes, it dawned on her that she was the rabbit in question.
Had they stumbled in a town full of crazy cannibals?
CHAPTER 7
Acool breeze brushed her cheeks and the chill of the wind slowly brought Kaliah back to consciousness. Slowly she opened her eyes and she realized she was outside.
And it was nightfall. The only light was the a quarter moon illuminating the starless sky.
“She’s awake,” someone whispered. “I thought she was dead.”
She wasn’t alone!
Kaliah sat up and took in her surroundings. She was in what appeared to be a large jail cell in the middle of the forest. There were five other people with her. One of them was Brianna who was sitting in the corner with her knees pulled up against her chest.
Everything suddenly came back to her. The car had broken down. They were brought to Serenity Falls where they met a nice lady at a B&B…who drugged her.
Trudy mentioned something about a rabbit hunt and now that Kaliah was able to think with more clarity, she remembered, they were the rabbits.
She attempted to stand but her knees buckled causing her to fall on her ass.
“There’s no point in trying to get out of this cage. It’s locked and the bars seem pretty solid. There’s no escape.”
Kaliah recognized the voice she’d heard from earlier. A redhead woman huddled in one of the corners nodded in her direction.
“I don’t care what the rest of you losers say, I’m getting out of here,” said a short bald man, leaning against the bars. She couldn’t make out his face but she didn’t need to in order to tell he was pissed.
Ignoring him, she made another attempt to stand. This time she was successful. She didn’t know any of the other people here so she headed to the one familiar face. They may have had their differences but this was the kind of life or death situation that called for them to put those pretty grievances aside.
She knelt down next to Brianna who appeared to be in a state of shock. Kaliah gently touched the woman’s shoulder.
Brianna jumped and flinched away before looking up. “You’re not dead. I thought you were gone.”
A gasp escaped Kaliah’s lips when she noticed a big bloody ‘R’ carved into Brianna’s forehead. Her hand flew to her own head to see if she’d received the same fate.
Her forehead felt smooth. Had Trudy done this? “No, I’m still alive. For now. But do you remember what happened? Where’s Sasha and Nicole?”
Brianna’s eyes were swollen and it was obvious she’d been crying. She sniffed. “I don’t know. The last thing I remember is that old bitch taking me to the hallway and then I felt something hard at the back of my head. I guess she knocked me out. I woke up in this cage with these people. You were hunched over in the corner, barely breathing and I thought… Oh, God, what’s going to happen to us?” She burst into loud tears.
Her cries were met with distant howls in the night.
Kaliah was no animal expert but that didn’t sound like any ordinary wolves she’d seen in the movies. This was something more sinister, something monstrous.