Dead of Winter Read Free Page A

intensifying . There was only one cure for that particular pain.
    It was then that he decided he would hurt her. Badly.
    He gunned the Rover forward, showing-off its muscular prowess . The brute roared with satisfaction before munching its way greedily through the snow.
    For the next few minutes of driving, silence accompanied them, until Harold finally decided to break it.
    ‘Must have been frightening, travelling from Bangor in all that snow, Kerry?’
    Kerry nodded slightly. ‘Yes. It was my first time driving in such conditions. I’ll never do it again, I can tell you. It was very scary.’
    ‘Well, it’s good we don’t get this kind of weather too–’
    ‘Arghhhhhhh.’
Kerry suddenly held her stomach tightly. She buckled forward slightly.
    ‘What is it, Kerry? Are you okay?’
    ‘Ohhhhhhhh,
my stomach. Stop. I need to get out.’
    ‘What’s the–?’
    ‘Stop! I need to get out, right now!’ Kerry began struggling with the seat belt.
    ‘Okay, okay! Take it easy.’ Harold quickly eased the Rover over to the side of the road.
    ‘It…it must be something I ate earlier.’ Kerry looked queasy. ‘I need to go to the toilet, really badly. This is embarrassing. I’m so sorry.’
    ‘Don’t be silly,’ assured Harold, smiling. ‘When nature calls, we all have to answer it.’
    Kerry stepped quickly from the Rover, glancing all about, looking lost.
    ‘Down that little pathway,’ said Harold, pointing at an old walkway no longer in use. ‘Plenty of trees to give you a bit of privacy. Don’t take too long, though. It’ll freeze the arse off you.’
    The woman moved quickly but gingerly down the pathway, gripping onto bushes for balance. She looked back once, and then disappeared behind thickets and uprooted trees long gone to rot.
    Harold’s eyes never left her.
    He tried picturing Kerry on her hunkers, vulnerable and exposed, panties handcuffed around her ankles. The urge to sneak down and watch her was overwhelming. But what if she caught him? That would give the game away. Why risk it? In about fortyminutes he would have her all to himself. The thought of her beautiful panties wrapped around her ankles, though, gave him a lovely shiver. The urge became stronger, more intense.
    ‘Fuck it.’ He quickly opened the glove compartment. Found the serrated hunting knife. Touched its curved teeth with his index finger. A tingling sensation shot through his body. He licked dry lips before sliding the knife up the sleeve of his coat, careful of the weapon’s deadly honed blade.
    Stepping quickly out of the Rover, he glanced up and down the Antrim Road. Not a sinner in sight. The urge in his pants began tormenting him again. His cock was quickly becoming rock-hard. The hardwiring in his brain began sizzling with electricity . His skull felt on fire. He wanted her. Needed her.
Now
.
    Silently, he tracked the exact same path as Kerry. He could see where her dainty footprints led the way, before being disrupted by a scattering rock formation.
    For fuck sake, which way did she go? She can’t have got too far in this snow.
    Suddenly, he heard a faded rustling sound, just beyond a heavily snowed hedging.
    He stopped all movement. His back went taut. He brought the knife out. This would be easy.
There!
He could see the top of her head now, clearly, just beyond the far hedging. She seemed to be standing, looking all about.
    His heart began pumping buckets of blood into his brain. His knees felt weak. Wobbly. It had been a long time since he had felt this beautiful sensation.
    She disappeared from view.
    Fuck! Where’d she go? Probably behind the hedging, squatting on
 
her hunkers. Probably got the shits
. He pictured her naked again.
    His hands began trembling as he edged closer, desperately trying to control his breathing. He sniffed the air like a wolf hunting down its victim. She was close by. He could smell her.
    ‘
Harold?
’ said a whispery male voice behind him.
    ‘What the fuck…?’ He turned. His