BACKWOODS RIPPER: a gripping action suspense thriller Read Free Page B

the screen, then stopped. She stared at the phone and tucked her lower lip under her teeth.
    “Hal, it’s not working. I’m going to have to go for help,” She said. “I … Will you be …”
    Hal pulled his arm from under the rug and grabbed her hand. “I’ll be fine,” he said. “It’s just a broken leg.” He tried for a smile, but it looked more like a grimace.

Chapter Two
    Paige strode as fast her aching back would allow. She headed back along Spring Road in the direction they’d taken after leaving the highway. From there, she planned to backtrack the ten or so kilometres it would take to reach the Albany Highway. With any luck, someone would drive past before she got that far.
    She walked on the road rather than risk turning an ankle on the shoulder, trying to keep left, and concentrated on taking even breaths every two steps. She checked her watch; three-forty. The snake bit Hal just after three. She wondered, not for the first time, how long it would be before the venom spread and became fatal. She knew one thing for sure, he needed medical help, now.
    Paige increased her pace, wishing she could break into a run. After leaving the cheese factory, she tried wrapping both arms around her belly for support while running. Within minutes, her heart pounded as her legs hit the underside of her stomach, making her woozy. The breeze blew up crisp and carried a chill, but the pace she’d set for herself kept her warm.
    The only sounds came from the constant beat of her canvas shoes, her steady breathing, and the rustling of the trees and shrubs as the wind whispered through their branches. Overhead, the sky darkened with murky clouds. She tried to ignore the dimness creeping in and kept her mind from imagining what it would be like to spend a night surrounded by thick twisted trees shrouded in spider webs. She focused on the road, scanning the horizon for oncoming cars and occasionally looking back in case someone approached from the other direction. Her mind kept returning to Hal: the ashen colour of his skin and the clammy feel of his hand when she tucked it back under the picnic rug and kissed him goodbye. Goodbye. Was it goodbye? Would he be gone when she got back? Paige didn’t know where the irrational thought kept coming from, but out here, amidst a wildness that didn’t exist in her world of cafes and yoga classes, anything might be lurking. In a place where snakes hid under your car and birds fought over their carcases; her worst fears seemed possible.
    She glanced at the tightly-packed trees and ragged scrub lining the road, wondering what lurked just out of sight. She hugged herself and felt the goose flesh. Spots of cold rain hit her shoulders. She thought of Hal semi-conscious as the rain attacked his unprotected head. Paige could only hope he’d be able to pull the rug up to shield himself.
    She reached under her bra strap, pulled out her phone and checked for a signal. Still nothing. This is the South West, not the Gibson Desert . Paige let out a long, shaky sigh and stopped walking. She wiped sporadic rain drops from her cheeks and turned in a circle. The sky, heavy with dark threatening clouds blocked the sun and cast a shroud over the landscape.
    Paige turned back in the direction of the highway and blinked away the drops that ran down her forehead and clung to her eyelashes. She heard the ute before she saw the glow of its lights: a reverberating rumble, low, barely audible above the sound of the rain. At first, she thought the sound came from her chest, until it grew louder and twin orbs of light filled the road.
    “Stop!” She called, her voice barely louder than a croak.
    Stepping into the middle of the road, she waved her arms above her head. “Stop! Please, help!”
    The bull bar and the silver grille glistened between the yellowy glow of the headlights as the engine shuddered with a roar of vintage engineering. Paige’s heart fluttered and her arms shook as she held them out in