Fight For Your Life by Catherine Holland (simple e reader txt) 📖

if they’ll privately tutor us on our home-turf, I’m sure one of them will agree to do it.” Sean didn’t seem to have any more arguments and finally nodded his agreement to the ideas. Thea seemed to perk up considerably as she said, “So I take it we’re going shopping?” Poppy laughed and nodded her head, “Yes Thea we are.”

* * * *

The killer followed the cab from a discreet distance so as to not be seen, he found a parking space near the front of the shopping complex, switched off the engine and got out of his car, he locked the doors and followed the teenagers inside. He knew it was too risky to kill the teenagers here with the security cameras.
But he smiled to himself as he let the thought enter his mind, he would imagine the looks of shock and horror on their faces as he looked into their eyes and pulled the trigger, he could imagine the screams and chaos it would cause as the shoppers ran for cover whilst the security personnel tried to control the situation. No, here wasn’t the best place for their execution, besides he was mildly interested to see what would bring them out of their safe haven to risk death for.
His smile widened as he followed them into a hardware store and watched as they picked up flashlights and batteries. As they paid at the counter he drew his cell phone out from his jacket pocket and started to speak to himself so as to not draw attention when he followed the teens out of the store. The killer then followed the teens into the pharmacy and was in the next aisle over and saw them buy first aid kits and extra supplies of bandages and various creams.
He stopped outside a clothes store pretending to be interested in the various gadgets for sale whilst the teenagers selected then purchased their various items, once they emerged they were smiling and telling jokes like typical teenagers; all the while scanning crowds of people around them. He watched from a discreet distance as the teenagers stopped at a phone store and purchased identical cell phones along with the top-ups.
Their last stop was the food court where they purchased lunch and then ate in silence still glancing around them uneasily, the killer sat at a nearby table with a paper in his hands not paying attention to the words but glancing at the teenagers from the corner of his eye. When they left the shopping complex half an hour later he followed a few minutes later then went into the phone store.
He spoke to the clerk who’d sold the cell phones to the teenagers, after flashing a fake police badge he asked for the details of the cell phones that had been sold and then asked for the cell numbers, feeling satisfied with his information the killer left the shopping complex and returned to his motel room where he planned the attack on the teenagers.


Chapter Four

Nine Weeks Later


Poppy, Thea, Sean and Jamie were sat in the large and comfortable lounge drinking coffee and watching a DVD when the lights suddenly went out. Acting out of instinct and the training sessions that they’d subjected themselves to, they fumbled their way to the kitchen and grabbed a flashlight each, Thea spoke first. “What do we do?” Sean looked at her and said “Don’t panic, it may just be a power cut. The generator should come on any minute now.” Thirty seconds later the ranch was still in darkness and a sense of dread settled over the teenagers.
Jamie grabbed Poppy’s hand and started to lead her to the back door, behind her Poppy could feel Sean and Thea following closely, they were heading for the four car garage. “Wait, we need the ‘go’ bags.” Poppy said, “We don’t have time for that Poppy.” Jamie replied gently, Poppy refused to budge “then what was the point in preparing for this if when the time comes we don’t use what we have available?” Poppy snapped.
She felt Sean beside her and he said “Poppy’s right Jamie, we need to be prepared.” Jamie reluctantly nodded and the four friends turned around and headed back through the kitchen and to the foot of the stairs, as they were heading up the stairs Sean said “We’re all to meet in the garage in one minute does everyone understand?” Poppy, Thea and Jamie all replied “Yes.” And they carried on up the stairs cautiously.
One minute later the four friends met in the car garage and collected the car keys from the underside of the wheel, they then got in their jeeps and started up the garage door, once the door was three quarters of the way up, Poppy started her engine and drove out of the garage, the others followed in her wake. Poppy reached into her ‘go’ bag and pulled out her cell phone.
She switched it on and waited for it to power up before she phoned Sean. “Hello?” He answered, “It’s Poppy, at the end of the drive I think we should split up into two groups, you and I go one way whilst Jamie and Thea go the other, and then we can meet up at the Theatre in town and go from there.” Sean mumbled his agreement and phoned the others to tell them.
It was only once the four friends got to the exit to the highway that they noticed something was wrong, Thea’s jeep was nowhere in sight, Jamie had taken his turn by himself. Poppy phoned Thea’s cell, but the voice on the other end wasn’t Thea. “Well hello Poppy, I’m afraid Thea can’t come to the phone right now, although I do appreciate you telling me where you’re going-.”
Poppy abruptly hung up and swung her jeep around to chase after Jamie, Sean copied her movement and they raced after Jamie’s jeep, only to stare in horror as Jamie’s jeep suddenly turned and was now coming at them head-on, Jamie tried to brake but it was no use. Poppy swerved and glancing in the rear-view mirror she saw Sean do the same. Jamie’s jeep kept going, it was as though he couldn’t stop.
Poppy rang Jamie’s cell phone, “Poppy? I can’t stop” I have no brakes! Get out of here now whilst you-.” There was an almighty crash and the conversation was abruptly cut off, Poppy stared in horror as the jeep that Jamie had been driving hit an eighteen wheeler lorry head-on. Jamie’s jeep exploded into flames and bits of debris littered both lanes on the highway.
The cars that were behind and in the lane parallel to the lorry tried in vain to stop, for some of the cars it was too late and the sounds of metal grating on metal filled the night as further explosions rocked the highway. The traffic behind the wreckage had crawled to a stop and Poppy got out of her jeep, she didn’t know what she was going to do but she knew that she just had to do something.
Tears ran in uncontrolled streams down her face and her body was shaking with the force of her tears, Poppy was running blindly towards the crash site but before she could too near it a strong arm wrapped around her waist in an iron grip preventing her from moving any further. “ No!” Screamed Poppy, she tried to struggle but the arm around her waist refused to move an inch. “Let go! I have to get to Jamie!” Poppy was turned around and crushed against a strong chest, “Poppy listen to me! Jamie’s dead! We have to get out of here, c’mon we have to go.” Sean’s voice said urgently into her ear.
Poppy sagged in defeat and then let Sean lead her to his jeep, once she was in the passenger seat Sean disappeared for a few minutes the returned, slinging something onto the back seat of the jeep. As Sean turned the jeep around and started to drive back the way they’d come, sirens could be heard in the distance.

* * * *

The killer watched the crash with malicious intent from the top of a hill where he had a perfect view of both sides of the highway. He watched the commotion in the after math of the crash with a savage glee, thinking to himself that his plan had gone without a hitch.
There was a dead girl in the back of the stolen jeep, her throat slashed after he’d forced her to reveal the location of where the teenagers were going to meet. He’d cut the brakes on the second jeep - and had bugged all four - hoping that Poppy would be the one to drive it; but it didn’t matter so much anymore to him. As the red and blue flashing lights approached, signalling the arrival of the emergency services he saw a jeep turn around so they were facing the right way and exit the highway.
The killer waited until the jeep was lost from view, a cruel smile played on the corners of his mouth and he said aloud to himself “You can run, but you can’t hide.” With slow deliberate movements, the killer returned to the jeep and opened the tailgate; he reached in and dragged Thea’s body out then dumped her unceremoniously in the shade of a tree then returned to the jeep.
Just before he started the engine, the killer took out a small hand held device from his jacket pocket and stared at the three dots on it. Two of the red dots were stationary and the third was on the move, the killer adjusted the screen to the moving red dot then put the device on the dash board of his jeep, started the engine and began the hunt.

* * * *

Once Sean and Poppy were a short distance from the highway, Sean pulled into the parking lot of a McDonald’s restaurant and killed the engine. Sean took a few deep breaths and then looked at Poppy who was staring blankly out of the window. But before he could speak Poppy said.
“Sean, you should get out whilst you can, I’m sorry that you were ever involved in all of this. It isn’t fair to you and you deserve better, maybe if I’d been a better friend I would’ve hidden you all away where you couldn’t be found, at least that way Jamie and Thea wouldn’t be dead.” Silent tears were rolling down Poppy’s cheeks, as she looked at him for the first time since the crash on the highway.
Sean wiped a tear from her face and replied “I’m not going anywhere, and don’t beat yourself up about not being a good friend because you and I both know that you are. You also know within yourself that none of us would’ve hidden away whilst you were in danger and it isn’t your fault that Jamie and Thea are dead, so stop it right now!
“What we need is a plan and something to eat, so we’re going to go in here and do just that, don’t forget you bag to change your clothes; I’ll meet you by the counter in ten minutes OK?” Poppy simply took the bag that Sean held out for her and nodded her head, once they were outside of the jeep Poppy noticed how cold it was and shivered slightly; she then looked at Sean and shook her head. “What?” He asked, “Nothing, I’m just thinking about what you