Here’s an excerpt from Whiteout, a story about several people trapped and hunted in an abandoned mountain village in the dead of winter – and I do mean “dead”.
The remains of the door glass flew tinkling into the darkness and the door itself smashed into the wall. The entire structure shook with the force.
Sean and Sarah crouched together in the blackness, not even knowing if they were completely hidden from view, but praying they were.
Sarah had both hands clamped over her mouth, for fear of uttering a cry. Sean was clutching her closely, his own shoulders hunched and his forehead pressed hard into her shoulder, as if he could keep both of them silent by physical force.
The light in the room didn’t change, as it was almost as dark outside as in, but a wave of colder air swept through the room. After the sudden crash of the door, it was now so quiet the room seemed to hiss with the rushing of blood in their ears.
They huddled, petrified, barely breathing, knowing that whoever or whatever sought them was at the threshold of the door, waiting for the slightest noise.
Seconds ticked into almost a full minute. Sarah thought her head would explode from the stress, but it had been a long time with no hint of sound. Her own heart was pounding so hard it hurt in her neck. She didn’t know how much longer she could hold out, but Sean’s almost painful grip kept her silent and still.
A long, slow scrape; the sound of something moving across the wooden floor.
Something heavy.
Though she couldn’t see a thing anyway, Sarah clenched her eyes shut and concentrated on the pinpricks of light that danced behind her eyelids.
The scraping drew closer in the dark; a long, steady sound, like something was being dragged.
She felt Sean’s hands tighten on her, trying to keep her silent and motionless through sheer effort.
The noise drew close, seeming to be within inches of them.
She knew that its source was just on the other side of the counter they were behind.
A creak from above.
Something in the dark was putting weight on the counter, perhaps peering over or beyond it, pressing against it.
Now she could hear another sound, a low, liquid rattling that echoed almost metallically in the room. It was rhythmic and slow.
Breathing. From directly above them.
She held her own breath, feeling the tremor in Sean’s hands, certain that whatever it was could see them clearly in the dark.
Sean had never felt such fear.
He knew they were in great danger. This was not just a bunch of kids playing a joke. This was something much different. He didn’t know what was going on, but he knew they had to stay still.
Or they might not survive.
The thing – that’s what he instinctively called it in his mind – was right above them, on the other side of a thin layer of wood. Every nerve and muscle in his body was screaming for him to run, but something in the back of his mind held him in check. His subconscious was telling him, You move, you die.
And he knew that was true. Something inside him recognized what was going on – a deeper, animal part of him knew.
They were being hunted.
Somehow, unbelievably, in the last few minutes, the two of them had ceased being a young couple on a drive to visit family.
Now they were prey.
All he could do was hang on to Sarah and hope she knew it too.
I hope you enjoyed this excerpt. You can find WHITEOUT, as well as all my other books, on Amazon by entering the title and my name, or by visiting my author site there at:
amazon.com/author/jaygould
Stay tuned for more excerpts from more books…
Author Jay Gould 