CHAPTER 2 — The Push That Should Have Killed Her... But Didn't
The road into the mountains became narrower with every mile.
Tall pine trees blocked the fading sunlight.
Fog rolled across the road like pale ghosts.
Ryan hummed softly while driving.
Emily watched him from the passenger seat.
He looked completely relaxed.
Too relaxed.
Finally they reached an isolated overlook nearly one hundred feet above a rocky canyon.
No tourists.
No cameras.
No park rangers.
Only silence.
"It's beautiful," Ryan whispered.
Emily forced herself to smile.
"It really is."
He wrapped an arm around her shoulder.
"Go stand closer to the edge."
"I'll take the most beautiful picture you've ever seen."
Emily hesitated.
Something inside her screamed...
Don't.
But refusing now might expose everything.
So she walked forward.
The wind roared around her.
Loose stones rolled over the cliff.
Clouds drifted beneath her feet.
It felt as if she were standing above the world.
"Perfect!" Ryan shouted.
"Just one more step."
Emily obeyed.
Then...
Silence.
No camera shutter.
No footsteps.
She frowned.
"Ryan?"
No answer.
She slowly turned around.
Her husband...
Had vanished.
Instead...
Three enormous men dressed in black stood behind her.
None of them smiled.
One cracked his knuckles.
Another pulled black gloves tighter around his wrists.
The tallest one spoke first.
"Mrs. Carter."
"I'm afraid this is the end."
Emily's heart nearly stopped.
She turned to run.
Too late.
One man grabbed her arms.
Another wrapped both hands around her waist.
The third covered her mouth.
She fought with every ounce of strength she had.
Kicked.
Scratched.
Bit one of them so hard he screamed.
But they barely moved.
She was hopelessly outmatched.
The tallest thug leaned close enough for her to smell cigarette smoke on his breath.
He smiled.
"Your husband sends his regards."
Then he whispered one final sentence.
"Enjoy hell."
A violent shove.
The world disappeared.
Emily screamed as her body flew backward into empty space.
Wind exploded past her ears.
Sky.
Rock.
Sky.
Trees.
Everything spun together.
She slammed through thick branches that snapped beneath her weight.
Pain shot through every bone.
Then—
Darkness.
...
Minutes later...
The three hired killers carefully climbed down the steep mountainside.
One carried a shovel.
Another had heavy plastic sheets.
The third lit a flashlight.
"Boss wants proof."
"We bring back her phone."
"And make sure nobody finds the body."
The closer they came...
The quieter the forest became.
No birds.
No insects.
Only an unnatural silence.
Then...
One of the men suddenly stopped walking.
"What..."
His flashlight began shaking violently.
The others looked ahead.
At the bottom of the cliff...
There was no body.
Instead...
Fresh footprints led deep into the dark forest.
Large footprints.
Not Emily's.
Something else.
Something that had come toward the place where she should have died...
And something had dragged a heavy object back into the trees.
Then...
From somewhere inside the darkness...
A low growl echoed through the canyon.
Not human.
Not quite animal.
The three killers exchanged terrified glances.
For the first time in years...
Professional murderers felt genuine fear.
Because they suddenly realized...
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Whatever had found Emily first...
Was now hunting them.
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