The Winter Creek Beast Read Free Page A

at her, daring her to move.
    All she could do was slide her right hand into her pocket. It was the side facing away from the beast so it wouldn’t see what she was doing. She pulled the folded pocket knife out and with practiced skill, pushed the blade open. The click of the blade locking into position brought a roar from the beast, but it sounded more like a laugh to her.
    Janet knew she was doomed, but if it caught her maybe she’d be able to give it a wound that’d make it back off. Deciding she had no other choice, she sprinted into the woods toward the road and the car. She heard the beast behind her as it crashed through the brush and closed the distance between them. She wouldn’t make it more than a handful of steps before it caught her. Out of instinct, she lunged to the left as the beast leaped past her. She was still alive, but now it was between her and the car.
    Before she could take another breath, the beast struck her with a force she never imagined possible. As she fell, she wondered if that was what being hit by a shark was like. It was her final thought before sharp teeth tore into her neck.
     

Chapter 3
     
    Aside from an emergency call from the Lancaster’s teenage daughter about needing someone to kill a large spider, the following days passed without much fanfare for the Sheriff’s Office in Winter Creek. It was the way of things in the small, sleepy town and the people living there enjoyed it.
    For all intents and purposes, the Mitch Rhodes case was classified as an accident and the mayor even did a brief press conference over the tragedy of Rhodes’ passing. It meant the town played host to six, count them six, reporters from the surrounding area. Not quite the stir the mayor expected, but then Jay always thought he had delusions of grandeur.
    Of all the people in the town, the Sheriff was the only one that couldn’t find any peace. Since finding Rhodes’ body something continued to nag at him like an annoying itch. The problem was, he couldn’t find the answer because he didn’t know the question to ask. The more he tried to corner what caused him to feel uneasy, the more distant the reason became. It got to the point where he took an afternoon off to visit his grandfather. It wasn’t something he did often, but he needed someone to talk to that would understand him.
    Jacob Bearfoot was the oldest living member of Jay’s tribe. At a hundred and fifteen, Jay believed him to be the oldest living person in the world. Whenever he went to visit, Jay had to fight against the urge to run away and feel like a child next to the man. It was for that reason he remained sitting in his Jeep staring at the small cabin his grandfather lived in for several long minutes.
    He wanted to go inside. Hell, he needed to see his grandfather. But the fear he’d felt since his parents were killed in a drunk driving accident when he was twelve wouldn’t allow him to move. From the moment he first stepped into his grandfather’s presence following their deaths, he’d been wrapped in a fear he couldn’t explain. Jacob had taken him in and raised him as if he was his own. It was their tribal custom, but few followed the Old Ways anymore.
    Jay felt a pang of regret at having forsaken the Old Ways himself, but a man had to live and put food on the table. The time where one could go out and hunt without fear of being accosted was gone in most places. Besides, relying on the land or anyone but himself wasn’t something he’d ever been good at doing. Sure, Jay had gotten better as the years passed, but given he was in his late forties he didn’t foresee the habit being kicked to the curb anytime in the future. His was a life of bringing order to a chaotic world and protecting those weaker than himself. It was a noble belief, or so he thought before he told his grandfather his decision to become a policeman. The look on the old man’s face was one he’d never forget for as long as he lived.
    Jay pulled a pack of