BACKWOODS RIPPER: a gripping action suspense thriller Read Free

it from lightly tanned to almost purple. He was bathed in sweat and pain. Paige’s eyes moved between Hal and the snake. She wanted to speak to him, tell him everything was going to be okay, but with each fraction she moved, the snake’s head weaved between its hiding place next to Hal’s head and Paige’s feet. If she made a sound, it would strike.
    She took another side step to the right. The snake lifted its blunt head, regarding her with blank, blackish-brown, reptilian eyes ringed with orange. Paige tried to swallow but couldn’t. Hal’s breath came heavy and raw.
    “Don’t move your head, it’s right next to you,” Paige whispered when Hal attempted to watch her progress. He didn’t respond, but kept still.
    Paige didn’t know a great deal about snakes, but she did know that Western Australia was home to some of the world’s most venomous. Snakes were one of the things that scared her when she and Hal made the move from Melbourne to Perth only six months ago. She remembered telling herself the fears were irrational. The chances of her ever coming face to face with a snake were slim to none. Right.
    The thick-bodied creature coiled in front of her and darted its forked tongue out, tasting the air. Paige recalled reading that snakes were shy creatures, more scared of us than we were of them. It didn’t look scared, in fact it looked supremely confident. Although it could be anything from mildly venomous to deadly, Paige knew she had to get it away from Hal before it struck again. And then there was that voice in the back of her head asking, if it bites me, will it kill the baby?
    Paige felt beads of sweat run down the back of her neck. She resisted the urge to wipe them away and took another step. Now on Hal’s right side, she noticed him following her progress from the corner of his eyes.
    “Don’t try and move it,” he managed through clenched teeth. “Just go get your phone and call for help.”
    The sound of Hal’s voice alarmed the snake. It moved with lightning speed, its sickly olive coloured body flicking up dried leaves and sticks as it darted for Hal’s face. Paige stamped her foot and clapped her hands. The creature turned back towards her. She stooped and grabbed the tyre iron as the snake left Hal and lunged towards her, hissing. Its open mouth revealed small sharp fangs and the soft pink flesh within.
    Paige screamed and tried to step back, but the creature lunged upwards as if about to take flight. An evil hissing filled her ears, blocking out all other sound. She crossed her left arm over her stomach hoping that the snake would bite the sleeve of her jacket and not her belly, but just as its head came within striking range, it jack-knifed backwards and landed on the ground with a thump.
    It took Paige a split second to realise Hal had grabbed hold of the snake’s tail. The creature wreathed and twisted in his hand, its head turning towards her husband’s face, its jaws gaping at an impossibly wide angle. Using both hands, Paige swung the tyre iron over her shoulder and down, landing a shuddering blow on the creature’s head. The iron crushed the snake into the bitumen, the impact sent a shock wave up Paige’s right arm.
    Lifting the tyre iron with shaking hands, she pounded the creature a second time. The first blow crushed the snake’s skull, the second almost separated its head from its long thick body.
    “Are you okay?” Hal’s voice sounded distant.
    Paige looked past the crushed snake and found her husband’s eyes. Unshed tears glistening on his lower lids. She nodded stiffly. He’d turned onto his right side, still gripping the snake’s tail.
    Paige used the end of the tyre iron to flick the reptile’s lifeless body away from Hal. She stepped closer and sank to her knees, ignoring the roughness of the broken bitumen under her skin, she leaned down and put her head on his chest. She felt his hand grip the back of her head and hold her against him. For a moment the only