Total pages in book: 36
Estimated words: 32116 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 161(@200wpm)___ 128(@250wpm)___ 107(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 32116 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 161(@200wpm)___ 128(@250wpm)___ 107(@300wpm)
“I can hear you; you’re close.”
“You can hear me even though you’re buried?”
“Vampires have keen senses.”
My stomach turned as realization hit me. “You’ve been able to hear everything happening around you while you’ve been trapped?”
“Yes.”
“That sounds fucking miserable.”
“It has been difficult, but seeing you, my beloved one, will erase all memories of misery.”
I could tell Viggo had been away for a while; his romantic way of speaking put modern guys to shame - especially Josh and his uncouth offer for casual sex. I stood up and stretched out my aching back before I began hustling through the cemetery.
I dodged grave markers, both new and old, as I scampered across the grass. I whispered apologies to the people I was walking on as I followed the instinctual pull that led me.
Soon, the graves cleared away and I reached an empty patch of grass near the far end of the gate. I asked out loud, “Can you hear me?”
“Yes!” I could still only hear Viggo’s answer in my mind. “You are right above me!” There was no marker where Viggo was buried. My guess was that he was never meant to be found. “Please, Skyler; please release me!”
I suddenly realized that I had no shovel or way of digging him free. I dropped to my knees and clawed at the ground. Dirt caked beneath my fingernails, but I was only able to move a small patch of earth at a time. It would be impossible to free him this way.
I desperately looked around and my heart leapt when I saw a small excavator in the distance. “I’ll be right back,” I announced out loud before sprinting across the lawn once more.
My lungs ached and my legs shook by the time I reached the piece of equipment. I wasn’t used to running any distance, but I was in a rush to free Viggo. Granted, he wasn’t going anywhere, but he had been trapped long enough.
I hoisted myself into the open air cab and sat on the seat inside. Lucky for me, the keys were hanging from the ignition. Apparently, the cemetery employees assumed the locked gate would be enough to keep people out, and weren't worried about their equipment being stolen. I wasn’t stealing it…I was just using it without permission.
I turned the key and the excavator roared to life, shaking all around me. Beyond turning it on, I had no idea what I was doing. I'd never used machinery like this. There were buttons, switches, and levers all across the dash, and didn't know what else to do but try them out.
Hoping it would propel me forward, I gripped a long lever and pushed it away from me. But instead of rolling, the cab of the excavator quickly spun in a circle. I let loose of the lever and clutched my stomach, willing my dinner to stay down.
Once my nausea settled, I held my breath and tried another lever. Thankfully, the machine crept forward. Wanting to go faster, I pushed harder, and the excavator moved surprisingly quickly. I flinched when I rammed into a headstone, but relaxed when I noticed it was unharmed.
I rushed across the cemetery until I returned to the place where Viggo waited; the place that caused my heart to race and my palms to sweat. I released the lever, causing the machine to come to a stop.
“I’m here,” I said out loud, knowing Viggo could hear me. I promised, “You’ll be out soon,” even though I was unsure how soon it would actually be. First I had to figure out how to dig with this hunk of metal.
I studied the buttons, wishing they had instructions on them. Of course, people using these things legally didn’t need them; they were trained by professionals. Even though they used them to put people in the ground, not get them out, I assumed the mechanics were the same.
I shrugged and pushed a button, beaming when the claw-shaped scoop clenched shut. When I pressed the disc next to it, the scoop opened once more. When I gripped the final lever and pushed it forward, my heart leapt when the scoop lowered to the ground.
It took a few minutes to get the hang of things, but I fell into a rhythm of lowering the scoop, using it to swallow a load of dirt, and then rotating the cab to dump the earth off to the side. As the hole deepened, I thought to myself that running one of these things wouldn’t be a bad career option; it sure as hell beat my current job of flipping burgers.
My breath caught when the scoop hit a hard presence. I leaned forward to look into the hole, finding a wooden box. It was weathered and worn, and wrapped in chains. Whoever put Viggo inside really didn’t want him to get out.