Depraved Read Free Page A

extreme thing she was doing. She meant to see it through, but that didn’t mean she was unaffected by the prospect of taking a human life. It would haunt her the rest of her life, despite the righteousness of her position. Little things like auditory hallucinationsand other faulty perceptions were to be expected, given the circumstances.
    Something moved beyond the line of trees, a flicker of white passing through shadows.
    Startled, Jessica squeezed the .38’s trigger. The bullet hit something alive. There was a cry of pain, followed by the heavy thump of a body hitting the ground. Another sound behind her spun her around, but this time her finger froze on the trigger as she saw a man step into the clearing.
    A man, but not a normal man.
    Too big, and with a face like something out of a nightmare.
    Jessica could only stare at him.
    Hoke let out a low whistle and said, “I think I done shit my shorts, sugar.”
    The sound of snapping twigs came again.
    More nightmares stepped into the clearing.
    Jessica’s knees began to shake. The gun felt heavier in her hands now. She began to move backward, but heard another sound of snapping twigs behind her. She stopped moving. A hopeless thought streaked through her consciousness. I’m surrounded . She gave a moment’s consideration to putting the .38’s barrel in her mouth and pulling the trigger. Suicide was certainly a better option than whatever these monstrosities had in mind for her.
    The first one through the trees moved a step closer to her. He wore only faded and tattered overalls over a body roughly the size of a houseboat. Something vaguely like an elephant’s trunk dominated the center of his jowly face, where a nose should have been. One eye socket was much larger than the other. A bulbous red eye protruded from it. The trunk twitched in her direction. Jessica’s stomach churned. A big double-barreled shotgun waspropped on the man’s shoulder. He grinned at her, showing her a mouth full of rotting teeth.
    He began to lift the shotgun off his shoulder.
    No time to think.
    Jessica glanced left, glanced right.
    Saw the only possible way to go.
    And took off running.
    The shotgun boomed behind her.

C HAPTER T HREE
    “We’re gonna have to stop here.”
    Pete Miller slowed theVW Jetta and cranked the steering wheel slowly to the right, easing into the gravel-strewn parking lot. He pulled to a stop next to a gas pump that looked like a relic from another age. It had spinning rotary numbers rather than the digital displays he was used to seeing. There was no slot for a credit or debit card.
    “Welcome to 1970.” He made a sound of annoyance. “Guess I’ll have to go inside.”
    Megan Phillips looked up from the paperback novel she’d been reading—a lurid-looking thing called City Infernal —and squinted at him from the passenger seat. “Inside? Why?”
    Pete rolled his eyes and hooked a thumb at the antique gas pump. “Because apparently we passed through some kind of time warp a few miles back. Fuck. I hope these rednecks take credit cards.”
    “Don’t you have any cash?”
    He shrugged.“Didn’t think I’d need any for a while.”
    “Maybe you should hit up their ATM while you’re in there.”
    Pete showed her a deadpan expression. “Oh. Yeah. Right. And while I’m at it, I’ll grab us each a chilled latte and a copy of the New York Times .”
    Megan wasn’t looking at him anymore. Her attention had returned to the apparently fascinating book. He watched her lick her lips and turn a page. She scrunched down in her seat and brought the book closer to her face. She said,“Sounds good, honey.”
    Pete looked at her. He loved her. He really did. Or maybe it was just lust mixed up with a serious case of like. But that was splitting hairs. He was genuinely fond of her, both for her lithe, supple little body and her fun personality. They’d been dating for seven mostly drama-free months, which was some kind of record in his experience. They had yet to