Broken Silence
an excerpt

Broken Silence Blurb

How well do you know your neighbors?

When a major ice storm cripples, and traps, the residents of Fox Court, they are forced to leave the solace of their homes, forego creature comforts and interact with their strange, and dangerous, neighbors. Fear and doubt escalate when people die, children disappear and a strange presence materializes in the ravine. Soon, it becomes apparent that they must not only survive the inclement weather, they must also survive each other and live to tell the world what happened at Fox Court.

Prologue

“Are we dead?”

Charlene Kidder slowly opened her eyes and blinked in the darkness. Why was it so dark? She closed her eyes and took a deep breath.

It hurt to breathe.

She opened her eyes once more and tried to blink in what was happening. Something heavy was lying on top of her and her head was pressed against something firm, but pliable. She took a few moments to test various extremities – first her toes and then her fingers.

She couldn’t wiggle the fingers on her left hand. In fact, she couldn’t even feel her left arm at all.

An injection of pure fear shot through her body and she tried to sit up, only she couldn’t because of the object on top of her. She fought back an overwhelming urge to scream and swallowed her claustrophobia. She forced herself to calm down and focus on exactly what was happening.

She turned her head, as much as the confinement allowed, and noted she was in a car – an SUV of some sort.

She also noted that she was looking up at the floorboard; her head was resting on the roof of the car.

Confused and more than a little frightened, she tried to move again.

Her body refused to cooperate.

“This is bad. This is very bad.”

A groan sounded above her and the timbre vibrated throughout her body.

She gasped. She suddenly remembered.

Everything.

“Oh my God, Darrell??”

She shifted under Darrell’s weight hoping that the movement would stir him to consciousness. “Can you hear me? Darrell?”

The man groaned again, only this time the sound was barely above a whisper.

“Are you hurt?”

She bit her lip and fought the urge to cry. Sobbing her eyes out wouldn’t get them out of this situation. She needed to think. She wiggled her toes again and took comfort in the fact that her legs appeared to be working. Now, if she could only get Darrell off of her.

“Darrell. I’m going to assume you can hear me. I need you to scoot over so I can slip out from underneath you. I’m,” she gave a little wiggle and winced at the spear of pain that snaked through her left arm, “quite stuck.”

She paused and waited for Darrell to move.

He did not move.

“Darrell?” her voice was squeaky and unsure. She cleared her throat and assumed a more authoritative voice. “Come on, Rowe. Move your ass. We need to get out of here.”

The silence was unbearably loud.

Darrell’s prone body was deathly still. Charlene’s lower lip began to quiver as she realized their situation was more serious than she thought.

She took a shaky breath and forced a steeliness in her voice she was far from feeling. “Now you listen to me, Darrell Rowe. We have come too far and been through too much for you to die on me now. We were close, we ARE close, to escaping that hellhole once and for all. Now we need to move, and fast, or The Shadow will find us and you know what that …”

A rustling outside the vehicle drew her attention and she abruptly stopped talking. Her heart skipped a beat and her bladder felt unbearably tight as she listened to someone approaching the car. The soft sound of crunching footsteps was very close to the window beside her.

She slowly turned her head toward the window … and screamed.

A pale face was staring back at her. She tried to blink the blurry features into focus but it was no use, it was like trying to make out a bad reception on an old television.

The face peered closer and she screamed again when she heard a soft tapping on the window – the window mere inches from her nose.

This was it. She was going to die. She was going to die and it was going to be painful and gruesome, just like all the others.