Apokalypsis | Book 6 | Apokalypsis 6 Morris, Kate (cheapest way to read ebooks TXT) 📖

was not a night crawler was solidifying at a steady rate of logic and reasoning.

Under him, his horse startled and jumped to the side. The mare had done that before. Jane explained that she was a little jittery and had to be ridden with other horses in company just to keep her level-headed. But it, in turn, startled Tristan, who jerked too hard on the reins, causing the animal to toss its head.

“What is it?” Abraham asked quietly.

Tristan’s horse began prancing in place. None of them had a lot of experience on horses, he being the one with the most. Spencer’s horse snorted and pawed twice at the ground. His own swiveled in a three-sixty circle, and Abraham’s snorted irritably.

“Easy,” Tristan murmured to her and patted her neck to try to calm her.

A branch somewhere in the forest snapped. Spencer looked at him, and Tristan knew they needed to leave in case it was a cluster of crawlers. But he wanted to stay.

“You guys go ahead,” he said, swinging down from the horse and handing the reins to Abraham since Spencer’s arm was sore.

“What the hell are you doing, man?” Spencer asked.

“Just gonna check things out,” he answered honestly. “I’ll catch up back home. Get Abraham home for me.”

“You sure?”

He nodded. “Yes, absolutely. If it’s him, I want to deal with this. I’m sick of having it hang over our heads. Go. I’ve got my radio. Just go.”

They left quietly since the horses’ hooves didn’t make a lot of noise in the deep snow. It was one thing for which he could be thankful. Getting tossed off by that high-strung mare was not a smart idea, which was the reasoning behind sending her with them.

Tristan waited on the road a minute until they were gone to make sure they weren’t attacked. Then he pulled his rifle around from his back where it was hanging by its sling.

He took a tentative step into the woods and pushed forward. Tristan didn’t feel fear. He just wanted to know if the serial killer was still lurking in their area. Someone sure as hell was, and he wanted to know who.

Pushing a heavy, snow-laden pine branch out of his way, he climbed over a fallen tree and kept going. The deeper he went into the woods, the darker it became. No strange, ear-splitting cries exploded in the dark. No sounds of grunting or huffing, which they tended to do since words and language were apparently beyond them after the infection set in. It was just quiet, peaceful almost.

He was probably a hundred yards in when he heard another branch snap. Then a crack of a smaller twig to his south.

Trying to move faster but also with great stealth and silence, Tristan jogged and attempted to stay in the snowier areas and less off of the well-trod animal trails. He was almost to Maureen’s farm, which was not inhabited by her at the moment since they’d assigned her to stay with the Miller kids at Alex’s farm while the others were gone. Benjamin Miller was only nineteen. He had a lot on his plate trying to keep his three younger siblings safe.

It didn’t take long before he found the trail of whoever was also occupying the woods with him at this dangerous hour. The moon was rising, the sun set, but the night sky was overcast with low hanging cloud cover, making it very difficult to see. Just when he considered calling it quits, another snap!

Tristan picked up the pace and went in the direction of the twig being broken underfoot. Then he spotted him, a flash, a blur of black moving fast through the woods.

Jogging to catch up to him, Tristan knew he was being careless, but felt he didn’t have a choice. Someone had killed Bianca and likely Jane’s friend, Destiny. Someone had attacked Jane’s mother. It was probable that the same man had done all three crimes, but he wouldn’t know unless he was able to question him.

He was almost to the clearing where Maureen’s farmland would open up into pastures when he heard a loud splash. Whoever it was, they’d just jumped into the creek between Maureen’s farm and Gyles’s property. Gyles had caught fish from that creek, which moved pretty fast. Tristan had even warned the kids to stay away from it because it wasn’t entirely frozen over. He didn’t want anyone to fall in and be swept away.

Sliding to a slippery stop at the top of the steep bank, he wondered if the person had just misjudged the steepness of the bank and had fallen in. Tristan held onto a tree, one bent over from the roots being exposed due to severe weathering of the ground of the bank eroding out from underneath it. Another winter, or even another big snowstorm, and this tree would likely fall into the river or even land on the opposing bankside.

Peering through the ever-increasing darkness, he couldn’t see anything but black water and hear the loud gurgling of the creek. If he had night-vision binoculars, it would’ve been much easier to look for a body in the water or one being swept away. Nobody cried out for help. All he could see was dark water and shadows that probably weren’t anything.

The killer had gotten away. He considered going further, but that would’ve been dangerous for him, as well. Perhaps the man had fallen in and would drown. He couldn’t risk drowning and leaving Avery to deal with everything going on in their lives, including her pregnancy.

When he turned to go, the moon’s rays were able to breach the cloud cover. He caught a glint of something in the water and peered closer. He even risked turning on his flashlight for a second. He’d been right. There was a body. At least, he was pretty sure it was. What he was seeing looked like long, blonde hair. Tristan peered closer and couldn’t be sure if it was a floating, dead body or actually the