One Last Step by Sarah Sutton (free e books to read TXT) 📗

smell the blood already, hear the screams, and the thought of it flooded his body with life. It was a high like no other—a necessity to him now—and he itched for the next kill.

His four-wheeler sat back in the woods. This time, he wanted to take a different approach. He wanted to make it interesting.

He knew they were coming—the two girls. He saw them on the trail earlier that day, when his four-wheeler crept up behind them and they turned around at the sound. They were exactly where he wanted them—south of his last kill and just outside of where the trail was closed. Their surprised expressions gave him a small taste of the drug he needed and he knew they were the ones. He stopped and spoke with them a moment and their faces relaxed from the interaction. They asked if he knew a good spot to set up camp, which he did, and led them to where they were now. He told them to be careful—they were young after all—and said his goodbyes. Little did they know they would meet him again.

Now he waited, watching them carefully. They were sisters. He could tell by the way they teased each other. By the way one always seemed to take charge. She must be the older one, he thought. He would get the younger one first. Protective instincts were always fun to toy with.

The youngest couldn’t be much older than sixteen or seventeen. She was telling her sister about high school, about teachers her sister used to have, and about some boy she liked.

They seem so happy, he thought. But that was always his favorite part—how fleeting happiness could be. And how he himself could turn it into the darkest moment they’ll ever have.

Just then, the youngest stood up from around the fire. She insisted to her sister they needed more brush to keep it burning, and she made her way to the surrounding woods. She was walking in his direction and he carefully made sure he was fully concealed behind the bush in front of him.

This is perfect, he thought as he aimed his crossbow.

She walked closer. He had a good shot and he carefully placed his finger on the trigger. He stared into the scope and just when he had a good shot of her leg, his finger pressed down hard.

It was just one shot, but it was all he needed. Her screams echoed in the forest. She held her leg in agony—in confusion—as her sister whipped her head toward the sound. When she saw her little sister on the ground, she ran toward her, screaming frantically, as her sister’s blood poured out onto the forest floor.

She wrapped an article of clothing around her leg. She was so distracted with her sister’s wound that she didn’t even see the movement in the woods, him pulling back the bowstring and placing another bolt in the barrel groove.

She reached for her phone in her pocket, disoriented by confusion as she scanned the forest around her. But then he stepped forward, crossbow in hand, and a cloud of terror flooded through her eyes.

It sent a thrill through his body and he waited for a second, letting the moment flow through him like a drug, and just when he craved one more taste, he took aim.

Chapter Twenty One

Tara lay in bed in her hotel room, trying to keep her eyes closed. It was late and it had been a long night, but her mind was wide awake. Another day had come and gone and she couldn’t help but hear a clock ticking in her head, reminding her that they were running out of time.

When sleep didn’t come, she finally sat up, reaching for the lamp on her nightstand. Light filled the room and she turned the TV on, hoping that watching something would make her grow tired and distract her mind from the case. She flipped through the limited number of channels the hotel provided, but suddenly, something caught her eye and she stopped on the local news.

On the bottom of the screen were the words SUSPECT CAUGHT IN TRAIL KILLER CASE. The reporter stood in front of an entrance to the trail, detailing that someone had been caught, but the trail remained closed as the investigation was still ongoing.

Tara turned it off. This is crazy, she thought to herself. Her blood boiled, as she thought of people assuming the trail might be safe now, even though there was a killer still out there.

She reached for her phone and checked the time. It was late, but she decided to text John. If anyone could calm her down and coax her to sleep, it was him. He had a track record of doing so and would always talk her back to sleep when she had a nightmare.

Are you up? she texted.

Seconds later her phone rang. She quickly picked up.

“I hope I didn’t wake you,” she said.

“It’s all right. I’m just happy to hear from you,” he replied as he yawned into the phone. “I was pretty much up anyway.”

Tara knew that he had trouble sleeping too when he was worried about her.

“Why are you up so late?” he finally asked.

Tara sighed. “We had a long night. I just got back about a half hour ago.”

“Wow, that is a long night,” he agreed. There was a brief pause and then he spoke again. “How are you doing?”

Tara had been with John for three years now and he had learned her habits of internalizing everything. Most people would never pick up on her being upset about something, but he could sniff it out like a trained bloodhound.

“I’m okay. This case is just a lot harder than I thought it would be,” Tara said as she stared at the blank screen on the TV.

“Well, I’ve been watching the news. It’s sounds like you caught someone, right?”

“Yeah, we caught someone, but we’re not convinced that it’s him,” she confirmed. “This whole case is just crazy…I