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

to be lost in thought so Poppy took her chance, she tried to lift her arm but as soon as she moved the killer’s eyes were on her, he was obviously very alert to his surroundings. Poppy hoped and prayed that nothing had happened to Sean, he should’ve been here by now, had something gone wrong?
A bird whistled in the trees to her left and Poppy suppressed a smile, because that was Sean’s signal to say he had what he needed. The killer looked down at her as the sun came out fully and said “Any last wishes before I take your life?” Poppy let a hint of a smile cross her features “Yeah I do actually.”

* * * *

The killer wondered what could possibly make Poppy smile when she was about to die, but he replied “Oh? And what might that be?” Poppy continued to smile, and as she went to reply a slight rustling of the woods behind him made him turn his head, and that was when he knew he’d been tricked.

* * * *

Poppy waited until the killer moved his head and then she put as much power as she could into the hit and punched the killer hard in the face. The killer had a look of shock on his face that quickly turned to rage. Poppy suddenly shouted “Sean now! Do it now!” Poppy managed to throw the killer off to the side and kicked him hard in the ribs.
The killer went down and Sean suddenly appeared out of the tree line to Poppy’s left, the killer tried to get up but Poppy punched him back to the floor again; Sean ran behind the killer and tried to pull him away from Poppy but with little success and Sean received an elbow to the eye for his efforts. Poppy was trying to scramble to her feet but the killer kept making her off-balance with his own efforts to get vertical.
“Sean, get the rock and hit him for Christ’s sake!” Gasped Poppy between breaths, Sean didn’t want to turn his back on Poppy whilst she was fighting for her life so Sean did something completely reckless; and threw himself into the fight, pushing Poppy out of the way as he did so. Poppy rolled to her right, away from the killer and Sean then started searching for a rock herself.
As Poppy looked around her she saw to her dismay that there were no rocks, large or small around her to hit the killer with, she circled the clearing twice but still couldn’t see anything that would be of any use to them. Poppy looked at Sean who’d just landed an uppercut to the killers chin and said “Where did you put the rock?” Sean quickly pointed to this left and then dodged a punch to his face.
Poppy ran towards the place where Sean had come from and found a large sharp rock next to the tape recorder, she picked it up and ran back to where Sean and the killer were fighting. Using the strength she had left, Poppy went to hit the killer over the back of the head, but at the last moment the killer moved and Poppy hit his temple instead. Poppy hit the killer harder than she thought possible, the killer gave a grunt of surprise and then fell to the floor where he lay unmoving.
Poppy looked at the rock and saw blood on one corner of it where she’d hit the killer, Sean took a step back and looked at Poppy as she let the rock hit the floor with a dull thud. A full minute passed but the killer still hadn’t moved, Sean tentatively nudged the killer’s side with the toe of his boot and when nothing happened Sean knelt down beside him, breathing heavily.
Poppy moved next to Sean and helped him turn the killer over; the killers’ eyes were open but looking at nothing, and they had a sort of glassy look about them. “Is he dead?” Poppy asked Sean, he looked at Poppy first then the killer and moved his fingers to the killers’ neck to try and find a pulse, Sean removed his fingers a moment later and replied “Yes Poppy, he’s dead.”
Sean and Poppy both stood up together in a state of shock and left the clearing together, an hour later they returned to the clearing with a pair of shovels and began to dig a grave. Once that was done the pushed the body into the grave and covered it over. Before they headed back to the ranch Sean went over to the tree line and retrieved the tape recorder, as he walked back to Poppy he saw her remove the small microphone from her jeans pocket. They then headed back to the ranch with an arm around each others’ waists for support.


Epilogue

Four Days Later


Poppy and Sean were sat in the departures lounge of the Taos Airport waiting to be called to board the plane that would take them back to Ohio. In the following few days since Poppy had killed the killer they had phoned the local police station to claim the body of Jamie, who’d been killed in the car crash along the highway.
They had tried to claim the body of Thea but her body hadn’t been found. Poppy had requested that Jamie’s body be shipped out to Ohio where he could be buried next to his parents. After explaining the unique situation to the police officers they had accepted, and both Poppy and Sean had filled out the paperwork involved. And were then informed it would take a little over a month for the transfer to take effect due to the ongoing investigation.
Sean and Poppy had returned to the ranch to pack a bag and prepare themselves for the return to Ohio neither of them were truly ready to go back to where it had all started, but the information the killer had taunted Poppy with had confirmed their suspicions that Poppy’s father was truly behind the deaths of their families and friends.
Sean had been pacing the departures lounge since they arrived, he was deep in thought but Poppy was battling with her own demons, was it really the best decision to go back? Would she be able to face her father after everything he’d done? Poppy knew the answers almost before she’d finished asking herself these questions. No it probably wasn’t the best decision to go back, but it had to be done! Her father had to be stopped.
She knew that she had no choice but to confront her father and put an end to schemes to get her inheritance money. The first call to board the plane was sounded and Poppy froze, Sean had moved to the chair next to her and said “C’mon Poppy, this is us.” Poppy shook her head and watched as the other people started leaving the lounge for the gate, “No, you go on ahead and I’ll catch the next flight, I’m not ready to do this.”
Sean placed his hand on her shoulder, “I’m not ready for this either Poppy but we both know that it has to be done and I’m not going without you, you won’t get the next flight you’ll just continue to sit here staring out of the windows. We need this Poppy, you know that! We need for all of this to stop and getting on that plane is the only way it’s going to happen.”
Poppy looked at Sean and shook her head, “How can I face him after what he’s done Sean? I don’t even know where to start looking for him.” A muscle in Sean’s jaw twitched and he stood up and held his hand to Poppy as the second call to board sounded through the lounge. “You won’t be facing him alone Poppy, I’ll be with you every step of the way, and as for where to look for him, I know where we can start.”
Sean was looking at her expectantly so Poppy took a deep breath and stood up taking Sean’s hand, they both headed towards the gate where they would depart for Ohio and towards an uncertain future...

To Be Continued...
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