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

know I didn’t see one, and I’ve been back out there three or four times to that site trying to find it.”

“You sure you have the right place? I mean, it’s the woods,” Tristan pointed out.

“Nah, it’s the right place. I ran these woods with Avery and her siblings. We’re familiar. I know the place. There isn’t a knife there.”

“What are you saying, Alex?” Tristan asked what they were all thinking.

“I guess I don’t think she killed herself at all. I think someone killed her,” he answered honestly. Alex was not a person prone to exaggeration. He was very somber and severe all the time to the point of being off-putting and cold.

“Killed?” Jane gasped.

Avery did the same and seemed about on the verge of a hysteria fit. Tristan swallowed hard and wrapped an arm around her shoulders this time. She laid her head against him.

Alex nodded, “Yes. I don’t think she killed herself. I know she was sad ‘cuz of her mom and all, but I think she went outside for fresh air, maybe to be alone for a few minutes, and someone found her wandering around by herself.”

“But who?” Renee asked, also getting worked up.

“Whoever attacked Jane’s mom. Whoever killed Bianca. I don’t know. All I know is that I never found a knife. That girl couldn’t have slit her wrists with a piece of bark. Right?”

“Yeah, right,” Tristan agreed.

“Doubtful,” Gyles affirmed.

“They were clean slices,” Tristan said.

“And her neck looked bruised,” Roman spoke up, gaining everyone’s attention. “Now that I’m remembering it. I guess I didn’t want to look at her too closely at the time, but now that I remember back, I think she was bruised on her neck. Maybe I just wrote that off to what happens to a body in the cold after death or something. Heck, I don’t know.”

“Shit,” Tristan stated as if exasperated.

“Crawlers kill people,” Spencer said.

Gyles said, “Not like this.”

Tristan nodded. “He’s right. Not like this. They’re pure violence. I’ve seen them beating people, clubbing them with their fists. I’ve even seen them bite someone’s neck like a damn vampire. They wouldn’t take the time to slit someone’s wrist to stage a suicide after choking her to death.”

“Plus…” Tristan started but stopped.

“What?” Avery asked.

“I wasn’t gonna bring it up because it’s already bad enough, but I think she was raped, too.”

“Oh, dear God,” Avery exclaimed and clamped a hand over her mouth.

“Was Destiny?” Jane asked brokenly.

“Don’t know, Jane,” Alex said. “We didn’t look, but I do think Roman’s right. I think I saw bruising on her neck, too.”

“How was Bianca killed? You never said,” Roman asked Tristan.

“Strangled.”

Chapter Twenty-one

Elijah

He and his brother were following the men on horseback and ATVs until they came to the spot where Tristan said it was too steep to take either into the gorge. Roman and Abraham grabbed the supplies while Alex brought the shovels. They needed to bury that girl, who was a really sweet person.

“We need to hurry this along, guys,” Tristan stated as they descended the side of the hill. “Gonna be dark soon. We’ve got maybe an hour to dig a grave.”

“Yeah, don’t want to be this far away from home after dark,” Elijah agreed.

He could see the odd rock formations Tristan spoke of jutting out of the hillside. It was pretty cool. He wished Wren could see it. He knew she used to like taking photographs of the places she’d been. They knew almost nothing about the girl they were about to bury other than she wanted to be with her mother so badly she’d been willing to risk it all.

When they got to the bottom, sliding a few times each, Tristan led them over to where her body was, which wasn’t that well-hidden. Elijah didn’t want to look at her but forced himself to anyway.

“Her pants were off when we got here. Didn’t want to get into all that back at the house. We covered her with those pine boughs. I assume she was raped. There were bruises on her legs.”

“Damn,” Alex swore in disgust and anger.

Roman jogged away and threw up in the bushes. He wanted to, too but forced himself to calm down. However, Elijah could feel a swell of rage building within him. They were losing people left and right, and not just from the plague. Someone was in their area picking off women, or trying to in Jane’s mother’s case. They’d stopped briefly at her house to talk to her about Noah, but she wasn’t able to tell them if she thought it was him or not. Elijah hadn’t really spoken during their exchange. A battle had been wagered, by her account, and one she’d fought for her life not to lose to her assailant. She was a tough woman.

Tristan pointed out the girl’s neck bruising. There was blood on the ground, too, which Alex explained looked like from a knife wound to her abdomen. Upon further inspection by Tristan, he agreed with the assessment before pulling the girl’s shirt back down.

“Who the fuck is doing this?” Roman asked in a tone he never used. Nor with such profanity. They were all pissed.

“I don’t know, but we’d better up our security and guard shifts,” Tristan said. “None of the girls should be going anywhere alone now whether they disagree with that or not. There’s no time for feminist arguments.”

“That ought to go over big,” Alex said with sarcasm.

“Don’t care,” Tristan stated with finality. “They can get over it. Clearly, this asshole’s targeting women, not men. We’ve got ourselves a serial rapist or serial killer or both on our hands.”

“Unfortunately, he’s only targeting women,” Alex added. “I’d like to be his target for about ten minutes.”

“Yeah, agreed,” Roman said.

Elijah noticed that Abraham was quiet, which was pretty normal for him, but he also wasn’t looking at the girl. It didn’t feel right, so Elijah stepped forward with the sheet Avery had given them. As soon as he did, the others quickly rushed in to help wrap her body, as