Book 2: Chase Ryan & The Girl In The Swamp

Teaser

    ...Just then a twig snapping, leaves crunching, and rustling came from within the trees.  Besides the sound of the swamp, we were silent.

    "SNAP!" Another twig halfed and now Noah was constricting the blood flow to my legs.

    We looked into the trees seeing nothing but their shadows against the moonlit background as Noah shivered around me.  I put a hand, slowly, onto his shoulder.  Then I saw it.

    "It must be her!" Buck whispered loudly to himself.  I didn't dare look away from what I saw to question him, but who was the "her" he was talking about?  He had a drop of fear in his whisper when he said it.

    A shadow poked out from one of the trees' verticle shadow.  It emerged from there and, to Buck's fear, it took the shape of a girl.  The figure stepped forward and leaves crunched under its foot.  Noah tightened his grip around me and I fought the urge to scream out from the slight pain he was causing.  As more leaves crunched in outcry the figure came closer.  On the hand that I had placed on Noah's shoulder, the ring wrapped around my finger that was given to me by my Uncle Joshua started to glow just like it had when I was around "Jeremy."

    "It's only a legend!  She can't be real!" Buck continued whispering out loud to himself.

    "Buck, what're you talking about?" I asked, still watching the figure advance.

    "The Girl In The Swamp." He answered, like I was suppose to know that.

    "What?" I asked.

    "There's a legend about the swamp besides the one about the Crozik.  The legend says that there's a girl who lures men into the swamp and the men are never heard from ever again.  Some say that at first she's a beautiful girl who just wants to have fun but as soon as she gets to the swamp she changes into a monster with a huge mouth of sharp teeth and killer nails.  I heard that she devours the men whole like a snake.  No on knows who or what she is, so we just call her The Girl In The Swamp." He explained.

    That's when the figure started running at us.

    "Chase!" Noah screamed.

    "Run!" I yelled in addition.  I grabbed Noah from the waist and thew him on my back.  I turned and with heavy adrenaline I ran for both of our lives.  I avoided the wet ground that had tried to stop me in my dream before and shot into the trees.  Dodging them, I kept running.  "Buck, where do we go?" I asked, thinking he was right behind me.

    "Buck!" Noah yelled and I took a glance.  Buck wasn't behind us at all.

    "Buck!" I yelled too, stopping and turning around to see if we had just ran faster than him (even though he should've been faster than us because I had Noah on my back.)

    "Chase, don't stop!" Noah pleaded, hopping on my back to turn back around and keep running.  "Don't stop!  Let's go!" He yelled.

    "CHA-AGH!" Buck tried to call out but was silenced abruptly.

    "Buck!" I called out.

    "Let's go, Chase, before it get us!" Noah kept begging.

    "SNAP!  CRUNCH!" Another twig snapped and more leaves crunched to warn us and I was running through the trees again.  Twigs and branches grabbed at Noah and I, snagging at out clothes as we protected out faces with our arms.  The roots all around the ground rose up in arches and tried to trip me but I tried my best to keep up my pace and my balance.

    "Chase, look out!"

    At the end of the trees I jumped out into the middle of a road.  All of a sudden bright lights blinded me and a loud horn deafened my ears.  A pair of headlights sped towards us as the sound of the horn intensified.  I covered my face and braced myself for impact, flexing almost every muscle in my body and holding my breath.  On my back I could feel Noah do the same, as he crushed my nech in his arms...